Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Chronicles 23

THE FALL OF ATHALIAH, AND SUCCESSION OF JOASH.
(Compare to 2 Kings 11:4–20.)

Jehoiada strengthened himself. — Showed himself strong or courageous, behaved boldly (1 Samuel 4:9). The chronicler has substituted a favorite expression (hithchazzaq) for the term used in Kings, “Jehoiada sent.”

The captains of hundreds. —Their names, added here, are not given in 2 Kings 11:4. On the other hand, Kings reads, “the captains of the hundreds of the Carians (or body-guard) and the Runners (or couriers, i.e., royal messengers) “—terms which were probably obscure to the chronicler.

Azariah ... and Azariah. — Heb.,’Azaryâh ... and ‘Azaryâhû. (Compare to 2 Chronicles 21:2.) These names are introduced in the chronicler's well-known manner (by the prefix le , marking the object of the verb). His style is very visible in the additions to the narrative as compared with Kings.

And they went about in Judah. — 2 Chronicles 17:9; 1 Samuel 7:16.

The chief of the fathers. — The heads of the clans, or chiefs of houses.

This and the next verse are added by the chronicler. In Kings the narrative passes at once to the charge of 2 Chronicles 23:4: This is the thing that ye shall do, which is there addressed to the “captains of the hundreds,” or centurions of the royal guard. In fact, the parallel text is nearly if not altogether silent as to the part played by the Levites in the Restoration; and the chronicler appears to have supplemented that account with materials derived from other authorities, and perhaps from Levitical traditions. His doing so is only consistent with his general practice and the special purpose of his history.

At the same time, allowing for certain characteristic additions, interpretations, and substitutions of phrase for phrase (which will be specified in these Notes), the chronicler's narrative absolutely coincides with that of Kings. This narrative treats the same events, rigidly observes the same limits, and maintains a general identity of language. We conclude, therefore, that in this case, as elsewhere, the chronicler has used as the groundwork of his account a historical text which contained sections substantially identical with the present narratives of Kings, but accompanied by numerous details not found in those books.

And all the congregation. — Of the assembled Levites and family chiefs, as well as the royal guard.

Made a covenant with the king. — Compare to 2 Kings 11:4: And he made a covenant for them, that is, he imposed a compact on them and made them swear fidelity to the young prince. (Compare also to 2 Samuel 3:21; 2 Samuel 5:3.)

The king’s son shall reign. — Or, Behold the king’s son! Let him be king.

As the Lord has said. — Spoke concerning the sons of David, in the oracle delivered by the prophet Nathan (2 Samuel 7:4–17).

This is the thing that you shall do. — 2 Kings 11:5: And he charged them saying, This is the thing, (etc.). There he charges the captains of the guard as being the leaders of the conspiracy.

A third. — The third. So 2 Chronicles 23:5. The third of you who come in on the Sabbath is read also in 2 Kings 11:5. The chronicler has added the explanatory words: “belonging to the priests and to the Levites.” This can hardly be harmonized with 2 Kings 12:4–12.

The chronicler may have misunderstood the words, which in the older account designate the royal guard, and it might have appeared to him impossible that any but members of the sacred orders would be called together in the Temple by the high priest. (Compare 2 Chronicles 23:5–6 with 2 Kings 11:4: brought them into the house of the Lord.)

But he may also have had before him an account in which the part taken by the sacerdotal caste in the revolution was made much more of than in the account of Kings.

Moreover, the priests and Levites would be likely to play a considerable part in a movement tending to the overthrow of a cultus antagonistic to their own, especially when that movement originated with their own spiritual head and was transacted in the sanctuary to which they were attached.

The chronicler, therefore, cannot with fairness be accused of “arbitrary alterations,” unless it is presupposed that his sole authority in writing this account was the Second Book of Kings.

The priests and Levites used to do duty in the Temple from Sabbath to Sabbath, so that one course relieved another at the end of each week (see 1 Chronicles 24:0; Luke 1:5). That the companies of the royal guards succeeded each other on duty in the same fashion is clear from the parallel narrative.

Shall be porters of the doors. — Warders of the thresholds, that is, of the Temple (1 Chronicles 9:19; 1 Chronicles 9:22). 1 Kings 11:5 says: The third of you that come in on the Sabbath, they shall keep the guard of the king’s house; the latter part of which answers to the first sentence of the next verse: And the third part (shall be) at the king’s house.

The king’s “house” in Kings means the royal palace; the chronicler appears to mean by it his temporary dwelling within the Temple precincts.

And a third part at the gate of the foundation. — 2 Kings 11:6 reads: the gate Sûr, which appears there as a gate of the palace. (Septuagint, the middle gate; Syriac and Arabic, the Butchers’ gate)

And all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the Lord. — This appears to be written from the point of view of a strict legalist, according to which no one was permitted to enter the holy house itself except the priests. It looks like a protest against 2 Kings 11:4, where it is said that Jehoiada brought the centurions of the royal guard into the house of the Lord.