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2 Chronicles 23

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The Whosoever Study Bible
Whosoever will, may come.
the second book of the chronicles
Ezra (likely) · c. 440 BC
Chapter the Twenty-third
And in the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself, and took the captains of hundreds, Azariah the son of Jeroham, and Ishmael the son of Jehohanan, and Azariah the son of Obed, and Maaseiah the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zichri, into covenant with him.
And they went about in Judah, and gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the chief of the fathers of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem.
And all the congregation made a covenant with the king in the house of God. And he said unto them, Behold, the king’s son shall reign, as the LORD hath said of the sons of David.
This is the thing that ye shall do; A third part of you entering on the sabbath, of the priests and of the Levites, shall be porters of the doors;
And a third part shall be at the king’s house; and a third part at the gate of the foundation: and all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the LORD.
But let none come into the house of the LORD, save the priests, and they that minister of the Levites; they shall go in, for they are holy: but all the people shall keep the watch of the LORD.
And the Levites shall compass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand; and whosoever else cometh into the house, he shall be put to death: but be ye with the king when he cometh in, and when he goeth out.
So the Levites and all Judah did according to all things that Jehoiada the priest had commanded, and took every man his men that were to come in on the sabbath, with them that were to go out on the sabbath: for Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the courses.
Moreover Jehoiada the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds spears, and bucklers, and shields, that had been king David’s, which were in the house of God.
And he set all the people, every man having his weapon in his hand, from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple, along by the altar and the temple, by the king round about.
Then they brought out the king’s son, and put upon him the crown, and gave him the testimony, and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and said, God save the king.
Now when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she came to the people into the house of the LORD:
And she looked, and, behold, the king stood at his pillar at the entering in, and the princes and the trumpets by the king: and all the people of the land rejoiced, and sounded with trumpets, also the singers with instruments of musick, and such as taught to sing praise. Then Athaliah rent her clothes, and said, Treason, Treason.
Then Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds that were set over the host, and said unto them, Have her forth of the ranges: and whoso followeth her, let him be slain with the sword. For the priest said, Slay her not in the house of the LORD.
So they laid hands on her; and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the king’s house, they slew her there.
And Jehoiada made a covenant between him, and between all the people, and between the king, that they should be the LORD’S people.
Then all the people went to the house of Baal, and brake it down, and brake his altars and his images in pieces, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars.
Also Jehoiada appointed the offices of the house of the LORD by the hand of the priests the Levites, whom David had distributed 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 ordained by David.
And he set the porters at the gates of the house of the LORD, that none which was unclean in any thing should enter in.
And he took the captains of hundreds, and the nobles, and the governors of the people, and all the people of the land, and brought down the king from the house of the LORD: and they came through the high gate into the king’s house, and set the king upon the throne of the kingdom.
And all the people of the land rejoiced: and the city was quiet, after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword.
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Chuck Smith on 2 Chronicles 23

Verse by verse, the C2000 series. Permission granted by The Word For Today.
Verses 1-21 Chapter 23 And so chapter 23, Joash, this one son that escaped the sword of Athaliah, escaped the assassination attempts. When he was seven years old the priest Jehoiada called together the captains of the people of Judah and the chief men. And he said, "Look, I have Joash who is a descendant of David, because God promised that there would not cease to be a descendant of David upon the throne. Athaliah is not a descendant of David. She's a usurper and all. And so we want to establish him and set him up as the king. So I want you to divide into three companies. Three of you go out into the cities. Three of you stand at the gates, don't let anybody in. And the other third will stay in here. And we'll surround him and we will protect him." And so they had him stand by the pillar. They put the crown upon his head, this little seven-year-old boy, and they began to cry, "God save the king, God save the king." And they began to rejoice and shout for the fact that God had again placed upon the throne a descendant of David. And Athaliah, when she heard the tumult of the people and heard them talking about a king, she came down into the temple and she saw this little fellow with the crown on his head and she began to cry, "Treason, treason!" And Jehoiada ordered the priest to grab her, not to kill her in the temple, but to take her outside and off the temple precincts and stone her. And so Athaliah was destroyed and now Joash began to reign as the king. He was only seven years old. So in reality, he was just a little puppet type of a king, as long as Jehoiada the priest was alive. Jehoiada exercised tremendous influence over little Joash. He had raised him from a child and now did exercise tremendous influence over him. And with the influence of Jehoiada, actually, there was again a spiritual revival as they executed, actually, not only Athaliah but all of the other priests of Baal and all that had been established. Jehoiada, [that is the priest who raised this little boy,] made a covenant between him and between all of the people, and between the king, that they should be the LORD's people ( 2 Chronicles 23:16 ). In other words, let's return to the Lord. Let's get back to being God's people. So the people went to the temple of Baal and they broke it down. They broke down the altars and the images and they killed the priests of Baal there before the altars. And they re-established the priesthood there in Jerusalem and they began the worship within the temple once again, because the wicked sons of Amaziah had just gone in and ripped up the temple. It had become a disgrace, just almost a ruins. And so they sought then to repair. Now this little Joash ordered them to collect funds throughout all the land to repair the temple. But the priests did not bring the money in. And so he called Jehoiada and he said, "Hey, I've ordered the temple repaired. How come the people haven't... how come the priests haven't brought the money in?" So he had a chest made and he set the chest there in the temple. And then he ordered all of the people of Judah according to the law of Moses, they were to give a tenth unto the Lord. And so the people came and they began to put it in, and the money was designated for the refurbishing and the rebuilding of the temple. And so they gave the money then unto skilled men and the temple was rebuilt. "