John Gill Commentary 2 Kings 11

And when Athaiah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son
was dead

Who was the daughter of Ahab, and granddaughter of Omri (2 Kings 8:18 2 Kings 8:26), she arose,

and destroyed all the seed royal ;that were left, for many had been slain already; the sons of Jehoshaphat, the brothers of Joram, were slain by him, (2 Chronicles 21:4) and all Joram's sons, excepting Ahaziah, were slain by the Arabians, (2 Chronicles 22:1), and the sons of the brethren of Ahaziah were slain by Jehu, (2 Kings 11:8). These therefore seem to be the children of Ahaziah, the grandchildren of this brutish woman, whom she massacred out of her ambition of rule and government, which perhaps she was entrusted with while her son went to visit Joram king of Israel; other reasons are by some assigned, but this seems to be the chief.

For the same reason Laodice, who had six sons by Ariarathes king of the Cappadocians, poisoned five of them; the youngest escaping her hands, was murdered by the people ^F24, as this woman also was.

FOOTNOTES:

• F24: Justin. e Trogo, l. 37. c. 1.

But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram
Not by Athaliah, but another woman; for a high priest, as her husband was, would not have married the daughter of such an idolatrous woman, nor would she have married her to him:

sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from
among the king's sons which were slain :
among whom he lay; either being cast there by the murderer, or her associates, supposed to be dead, or by his nurse, that he might be thought to be so, who acquainting his aunt with it, went and privately took him away:

and they hid him, even him and his nurse, in the bedchamber from
Athaliah, so that he was not slain ;
that is, Jehosheba and her husband hid him and his nurse in a bedchamber; or "chamber of beds" ^F25 , in which there were more beds than one; one of the chambers of the priests and Levites in the temple, that is, which were adjoining to it; for into the sanctuary itself it was not usual to bring beds ^F26 ; wherefore

the house of the Lord ,
in the next verse, must be understood largely as including all the appendages of it.

FOOTNOTES:

• F25: (twjmh rdxb) "in cubiculo lectorum", Pagninus, Montanus. So Sept. &c.
• F26: T. Bab. Tamid, c. 1. fol. 26. 2.

And he was with her hid in the house of the Lord six years ,
&c.] In the temple; not in the holy of holies, as Jarchi, but in a chamber of the priests and Levites, of which there were several in a temple, as Kimchi, and others; and the husband of Jehosheba, being high priest, had one of them for his own use; and here the child was hid six years, so that he was but a year old when he was first taken and preserved, for he was made king when seven years of age, (2 Kings 11:21) ,

and Athaliah did reign over the land ;
the only instance we hear of a woman reigning in Israel, and this was not by right, but by usurpation; and so, according to the Jewish canons, a woman might not rule; which thus runs ^F1 , they do not set a woman in the kingdom, as it is said, (Deuteronomy 17:15) , "a king over them", not a queen; and so, in all places of power and authority in Israel, they put in them none but a man.

FOOTNOTES:

• F1: Maimon. Hilchot Melachim, c. 1. sect. 5.

And the seventh year Jehoiada sent and fetched the rulers over
hundreds, with the captains and the guard
This was the husband of Jehosheba, who was high priest, (2 Chronicles 22:11) these rulers over hundreds
were not those appointed over the people for civil affairs, as by the advice of Jethro, but over the priests and Levites in their courses; five of whom are mentioned by name, and were employed in gathering together the Levites, and the chief of the fathers, throughout all the cities of Judah, (2 Chronicles 23:1 2 Chronicles 23:2) , and the "captains" here are the heads of the fathers there, who were the heads of the courses they were sent to gather; and the "guard", those of the late king, whom Athaliah had turned out of their post, and took in others in their room, unless rather the temple guard is meant:

and brought them to him into the house of the Lord ;
the temple, that part of it where was the court of the priests and Levites:

and made a covenant with them ;
to join with him, assist him, and stand by him in the restoration of the king, and the reformation of the kingdom:

and took an oath of them in the house of the Lord ;
to keep secrecy, and be faithful to him:

and showed them the king's son ;
for the truth of which he could produce his wife, the sister of the late king, and also the nurse of this child with him.

And he commanded them, saying, this is the thing that you shall
do
These were the rulers over hundreds among the priests and Levites, and which he, as high priest, could command, and whom he could convene without suspicion, being such as he had a connection with, and were unarmed men.

And for the better understanding of what follows, it should be observed, that the priests, in the times of David, were divided into twenty four courses, which were by turns to serve a week in the temple; the course that came in entered when the sabbath began, and that which went out went out when it ended, and each course consisted of a thousand men: now with respect to both these courses, both that which went in and that which went out, Jehoiada gave them the following charge:

a third part of you that enter in on the sabbath ;
on the beginning of it, to do duty in the temple the week following:

shall even be keepers of the watch of the king's house ,
which, according to some, was that part of the temple where the king was hid and brought up, supposed to be the north part of it: or rather these were set at the north gate of the temple, which led to the royal palace, lest any should rush out of that, and kill the king.