2 Kings (4 Kings) 11

Athaliah exterminated all the royal children. In fact, after her son had been killed by Jehu, she had conceived an extremely perfidious and vicious scheme, saying to herself with anger, “I will reign just the same against the will of God by fighting God’s promises, and I will make the posterity of David’s house perish, as the descendants of my father’s house have perished and have been exterminated.” That scheme resembled the treachery that Satan plotted at the beginning against the chief of our race. However, her scheme was not accomplished, but after seven years the kingdom returned to the family of David, thanks to a righteous man, Jehoiada, the husband of Jehosheba, Joram’s daughter, who had brought up Joash, son of Ahaziah.

Books of Sessions 2 Kings 11:1

"Let a third part of you come in on the Sabbath, etc." [2 Kings 11:5] This is what the high priest Jehoiada said to the priests and Levites when he brought forth Joash the son of Azariah, whom he had secretly nurtured in the temple for six years during Athaliah's reign: "Let a third part of you come in on the Sabbath and keep watch at the house of the king; let a third part be at the Gate of Seir, and a third part at the gate which is behind the habitat of the guards; you will keep watch at the house of Mesha. Let two parts of you, all going out on the Sabbath, keep watch at the house of the Lord around the king, and you shall surround him, having weapons in your hands," and the rest which is mentioned or done there. These things can be better understood if some things about the places in the temple where these events occurred are more broadly recalled. The temple itself, excluding the porticos which surrounded it on all sides, was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide within its walls (this is the initial measurement named in the Words of the Days). The entire circumference of the courtyard was surrounded by a wall three cubits high, having an entrance on the east side, of which Scripture in the Book of Kings thus makes mention: "And he built the inner court three rows of hewn stone and one row of cedar logs" (I Kings VI). This court is called inner because there are other outer courts surrounding it. Furthermore, in the Words of the Days, it is thus written: "He made also the court of the priests and a great hall and doors in the hall which he covered with bronze" (II Chronicles IV). This court of the priests is so named because it was made to guard against the entrance of others into the temple, signifying that only the priests were permitted to enter. This same court was closer to the wall of the temple from the south, west, and north sides. Further to the east, where it also had an entrance through steps, it extended to a great length from the temple, as in that part it had the altar of burnt offerings, in that part ten lavers in which the offerings were washed, in that part the bronze sea in which the priests who were about to enter for ministry washed, in that part the choirs of Levites for the sacrificing and chanting priests. This courtyard, however, was surrounded all around at a distance by a very large square building. Its inner wall, that is, the one facing the temple from the four parts of the world, was constructed entirely in arches below, but further up it was founded in solid firmness. And it had bronze doors, as we mentioned earlier. And doors in the basilica, which it covered with bronze; which was also provided with very large porticos and was separated by suitable upper rooms. And again outside this building, another one was made in a similar scheme in a circle. But also a third one, nonetheless, made in the same order around those, surrounded all the interior at length and breadth in a circle, differing only from the previous buildings in that its Eastern and Northern wall did not have doors, for each of them pertained to the walls of the city. However, these are the courts sung about in the Psalms: "Who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God" (Psalms 113, 135). And since the house of the Lord itself was constructed in a higher place, it happened that the farther the courtyards were made, the higher their walls were, as they had foundations below; so much so that the outermost had walls in height up to four hundred cubits, yet they did not come close to matching the height of the temple. Of all these things there is a general mention in the book of Chronicles as follows: "And David gave Solomon his son the description of the porch and of the temple, and of the storerooms, and of the upper rooms, and of the innermost chambers, and of the place of atonement, and also of all that he had thought of the courts of the house of the Lord and of all the surrounding rooms and of the treasuries of the house of God and of the treasuries of the dedicated things" (1 Chronicles 28:11-12). But the writing or painting of Joseph formed by the ancients distinguishes more fully how these were made in order. With these thus arranged, it was the prerogative of only the high priest to enter into the Holy of Holies once a year with the blood of sacrifices, into the sanctuary before the oracle, only purified priests entered, into the inner court all priests and Levites. Around this courtyard, under the open sky, or if weather prevented, in the surrounding buildings, Israelite men would gather to pray or hear the word. In the third order of courts, Israelite women stood to pray under the open sky, or if the weather did not allow it, they moved under the nearest roofs of the surrounding buildings. Moreover, into the outermost order of courts, the Gentiles, who had perhaps come to pray, would enter. Where also, after times of dispersion, those who had recently come from among the Gentiles, purified for seven days, finally sought the inner sanctums. And the pavements between the courts or in the courts were all paved with various stones. The doors in the buildings were so positioned opposite to each other that even those standing in the outermost parts could see the temple. There were, moreover, twenty-four lots of priests and Levites and doorkeepers, who would succeed each other in as many weeks, with a new group entering for duty on the Sabbath and after the Sabbath, the group that had served for the previous week returning home. But this high priest, because of the necessity of increasing the army around the new king, both welcomed those who were due to enter for the week and retained those who had already served their week of ministry so that they would not leave. He also gathered other Levites from all the cities of Judah, as well as the leaders of the families of Israel, having sent centurions for this purpose to Jerusalem, as the Chronicles recount (2 Chronicles 23). When bringing them out, he distinguished the king's son in such a way that all those who had completed the Sabbath, and were about to depart, divided into two parts, would surround the king armed in the inner parts of the court. But the remaining crowd, that is, those who were not of the tribe of Levi, would guard the outer gates of the courts against the queen's rage, in case she attempted anything adverse. Moreover, those priests, Levites, and doorkeepers who had recently come for the Sabbath, divided into three parts, would observe the house of the king, that is, the palace, so that the queen would not defend it against the king with a gathered army. They would also keep the gate of the shield-bearers' residence, through which one would descend from the temple to the palace, as is said below: And they led the king out of the house of the Lord, and came by the way of the gate of the shield-bearers to the palace, and he sat on the throne of the kings. Here also the gate of Seir and the house of Millo, named with the gate of the shield-bearers, seem to be present. He calls the shield-bearers guardians of the king, as the book of Chronicles affirms; and when Rehoboam had made bronze shields in place of the golden ones, he added: And he handed them over to the leaders of the shield-bearers, who guarded the entrance of the palace (2 Chronicles 12). In which book, of course, all these things are recounted more distinctly: A third part of you who come to the Sabbath, of priests, and Levites, and doorkeepers, shall be at the gates. A third part at the house of the king, and a third at the gate that is called the Foundation. And let all the remaining crowd be in the courts of the house of the Lord. And let no one else enter the house of the Lord, except the priests and those of the Levites who minister; they only shall enter who are sanctified, and let all the remaining crowd observe the watches of the Lord. But let the Levites surround the king, each having his weapon (2 Chronicles 23), etc.

Questions on the Book of Kings #18

"And he brought out the king's son, and put the diadem and the testimony upon him." [2 Kings 11:12] What follows about the same: He brought out the king's son, and put the diadem and the testimony upon him, signifies the kingly insignia on the head in the diadem, and the decrees of God's law, by which it is declared what the king should do and how he is commanded to live, in the testimony. Finally, more openly in the book of Chronicles: And they put the diadem on him, and gave him the law to hold in his hand (2 Chronicles 23); and it was indeed of great and salutary wisdom, that after the death of the tyrannical and impious queen, to the succeeding son of the legitimate king, simultaneously with the state of kingship, the discipline of God's law should also be entrusted, so that he who saw himself set over the people in rule should remember that he himself was to be subject to divine laws in rule.

Questions on the Book of Kings #19

13–16

While these things were happening in the temple, Athaliah, being alarmed by the shouts of the gathering people and by the noise of the crowds, ran to the temple. But while she was trying to restrain the riot with her presence and voice, she was arrested by the guards of the king and was brought outside the walls of the temple, where she was killed by order of the high priest, lest her blood might pollute the house of God. So the prophetic predictions about the annihilation of the family of Ahab were gradually accomplished through different deaths.

On the Second Book of Kings 11:13

17–18

After the kingdom had been pacified and its problems settled down, Jehoiada devoted himself to restore the religion of God, which had been destroyed by Joram and his successors. Therefore, in the first place, he persuaded the king and the entire people to renew the covenant made with God by their ancestors according to the words used in the traditional rite and to take an oath of reciprocal trust with one another. After that he turned to erase all the new cults and found that the people consented with him in an admirable manner. And so, after gathering a corps of soldiers, he immediately entered the sanctuary of Baal and destroyed its altars, smashed its statues and killed Mattan, the priest of that impious cult. Therefore, thanks to the authority of Jehoiada and his pious observation of the Law, the order of the sacred ministry, the sacrifices and the ceremonies were nearly brought back to the same honor that they had during the reign of David.

On the Second Book of Kings 11:13