2 Chronicles 23:1-21
Joash Crowned King of Judah (2 Kings 11:4–12)
1 In the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself, and made a covenant with the captains of hundreds: Azariah the son of Jeroham, Ishmael the son of Jehohanan, Azariah the son of Obed, Maaseiah the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zichri. 2 And they went throughout Judah and gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah, and the chief fathers of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem.
3 Then all the assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God. And he said to them, “Behold, the king’s son shall reign, as the LORD has said of the sons of David. 4 This is what you shall do: One-third of you entering on the Sabbath, of the priests and the Levites, shall be keeping watch over the doors; 5 one-third shall be at the king’s house; and one-third at the Gate of the Foundation. All the people shall be in the courts of the house of the LORD. 6 But let no one come into the house of the LORD except the priests and those of the Levites who serve. They may go in, for they are holy; but all the people shall keep the watch of the LORD. 7 And the Levites shall surround the king on all sides, every man with his weapons in his hand; and whoever comes into the house, let him be put to death. You are to be with the king when he comes in and when he goes out.”
8 So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded. And each man took his men who were to be on duty on the Sabbath, with those who were going off duty on the Sabbath; for Jehoiada the priest had not dismissed the divisions. 9 And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David, that were in the temple of God. 10 Then he set all the people, every man with his weapon in his hand, from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple, along by the altar and by the temple, all around the king. 11 And they brought out the king’s son, put the crown on him, gave him the Testimony, and made him king. Then Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and said, “Long live the king!”
Death of Athaliah (2 Kings 11:13–20)
12 Now when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she came to the people in the temple of the LORD. 13 When she looked, there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance; and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king. All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets, also the singers with musical instruments, and those who led in praise. So Athaliah tore her clothes and said, “Treason! Treason!”
14 And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army, and said to them, “Take her outside under guard, and slay with the sword whoever follows her.” For the priest had said, “Do not kill her in the house of the LORD.”
15 So they seized her; and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the king’s house, and they killed her there.
16 Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself, the people, and the king, that they should be the LORD’s people. 17 And all the people went to the temple of Baal, and tore it down. They broke in pieces its altars and images, and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. 18 Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests, the Levites, whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD, to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD, as it is written in the Law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing, as it was established by David. 19 And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD, so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter.
20 Then he took the captains of hundreds, the nobles, the governors of the people, and all the people of the land, and brought the king down from the house of the LORD; and they went through the Upper Gate to the king’s house, and set the king on the throne of the kingdom. 21 So all the people of the land rejoiced; and the city was quiet, for they had slain Athaliah with the sword.
Jehoiada was a godly man who stood against the evil rule of Athaliah who usurped the throne of her equally evil son Ahaziah by murdering any other heirs except the one that had been hidden from her power play massacre. Joash the son of Ahaziah was that one hidden by the king’s daughter Jehoshabeath. Jehoiada gathered loyal and faithful men in the LORD to secretly crone this hidden son to his rightful place and put down the evil usurper. He spoke of the word of God who promised that only the sons descended from king David would be promised to sit on that throne of Judah, and he faithfully worked to bring that to pass. He assigned the faithful to guard temple for the rightful king to enter in and be crowned, keeping the usurper Athaliah from disrupting the ceremony and keeping Joash safe through it all with armed guards lined up in the temple. As it is recorded here, they brought out the king’s son, put the crown on him, gave him the Testimony, and made him king, anointing him in the name of the LORD while crying out, “Long live the king!” When Athaliah heard and witnessed her defeat, she tore her clothes in grief and shock at her defeat and loudly cried out, “Treason! Treason!” as if to undo what had been already done to usurp the usurper. Her penalty for her murderous coup to take the place of God’s chosen ruler was death. They executed her outside the king’s house and not in the holy place of the temple where only nearly perfect animals were sacrificed to atone for sins. She was far from holy and had to be slain elsewhere in judgment and not atonement. When these things were done and the proper man chosen to rule took his place over the woman who stole that place, the people rejoiced in the peace of the people before the holy God once more as it should be. How this lesson should remind us of the men the Lord chooses to rule His house need to not be usurped by those not chosen by Him such as women who take the role upon themselves instead of their own roles; the role of spiritual leaders of the people of the Lord are spelled out for us in His word (1 Timothy 3:2, Titus 1:5, 6) as He has told us to be appointed as if the spiritual descendants of the Seed of king David (and not according to false physical descendants as the Roman church does today), those chosen in Christ and not ones who take the position for themselves as usurpers of holy and godly order in contradiction to the pattern and order of the scriptures. When these patterns are followed, then God’s people truly have rest and peace with God in Christ and rejoice to cry, “Long live the King of kings!”
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