The Moonlight Blade Tessa Barbosa

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 thy brethren of thy father’s house, which were
better than thyself:
¹ Hebrew made to go a whoring.

12. a writing] This is the only place in which any writing of Elijah
is mentioned. Even in Jehoshaphat’s reign Elijah seems to have
been no longer among the living; compare 2 Kings iii. 11 (where
Elisha seems already to have taken Elijah’s place). That the writing
was a prophecy of Elijah denouncing Jehoram in anticipation of his
reign is not only utterly improbable, but the plain words of the
Chronicler do not seem even to suggest it. It is possible to suppose
that some adaptation of words of Elijah to suit Jehoram’s case was
placarded by an unknown hand outside Jehoram’s palace; but again
the explanation seems more elaborate than the simple statement
warrants. It is more probable therefore that the Chronicler means
plainly a letter from Elijah, and ignores the anachronism involved in
supposing the prophet to have been alive in Jehoram’s reign. So
great wickedness seemed to him to require a rebuke from a well-
known prophet, and it is put into the mouth of Elijah, who, as the
great opponent of the idolatry of Ahab and Jezebel, seemed to be
the most proper person to pronounce the denunciation. The style of
the letter requires a late date, and the author is perhaps the
Chronicler himself. See further the Introduction § 7, p. xlviii.

¹⁴behold, the Lord will smite with a great

plague ¹ thy people, and thy children, and thy
wives, and all thy substance:
¹ Hebrew stroke.

14. a great plague] For “plague” compare xvi. 28, 29. Jehoram’s
“plague” is described in verses 16, 17.
 thy substance] Genesis xii. 5; the Hebrew word includes both
“goods” and “chattels” (i.e. live stock).

¹⁵and thou shalt have great sickness by

disease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out
by reason of the sickness, day by day ¹.
¹ Or, year after year.

15. day by day] margin, year after year; a prolonged sickness.

16, 17 (no parallel in Kings).

The Invasion of the Philistines and Arabians.

The Chronicler’s theory of life demanded that disasters should

mark the close of this wicked reign, and in view of the licence which
marks the Chronicler’s reconstruction of the history, it must be
allowed that a raid by the very peoples who had paid tribute to
Jehoshaphat (xvii. 11) may be only a conjecture to suit the
requirements of his religious conviction. But neither the absence of
the story from Kings, nor yet the religious appropriateness of the
attack entails its rejection as unhistorical. The comparative fulness
and vigour of the Chronicler’s account of these reigns yields many
suggestive indications (some of which have already been noted)
favouring the view that he had before him valuable independent
traditions of Edomite and Philistine hostilities against Judah which
were referred to this period. That being so, the possible historicity of
this tradition in verses 16, 17 must be admitted; and it should be
noted that such a raid would be a most natural sequel to Jehoram’s
loss of control over Edom recorded in verse 8.

¹⁶And the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the

spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians
which are beside the Ethiopians:
 16. stirred up ... the spirit] Perhaps not without the instigation of a
prophetical party, of which Eliezer of Mareshah may have been a
leading representative (see xx. 37). For the phrase “stirred up,”
compare xxxvi. 22 and 1 Chronicles v. 26.

which are beside the Ethiopians] Hebrew Cushites—probably

certain Arabian tribes, though it seems likely that the Chronicler
understood the name to mean the Ethiopians of Africa (see the note
on Zerah the Ethiopian, xiv. 9). Ancient geographical ideas were very
inexact. Herodotus regarded all the land east of the Nile as part of
Arabia. Distant lands are apt to be conceived of as all more or less
“beside” one another. Thus the present writer has heard a Tyrolese
peasant woman remark that she supposed “Russia and Japan were
both beside England.” We may assume that in the Chronicler’s
source Arabian Cushites were meant.

¹⁷and they came up against Judah, and brake

into it, and carried away all the substance that
was found in ¹ the king’s house, and his sons
also, and his wives; so that there was never a
son left him, save Jehoahaz ², the youngest of
his sons.
¹ Or, belonging to. ² In chapter xxii. 1, Ahaziah.

17. and brake into it] The proper meaning of the Hebrew verb is
“to make a breach in a city-wall [and so take the city]”; compare xxxii,
1. Here and in Isaiah vii. 6 the word is applied to a whole country.

in the king’s house] It is most unlikely that the invaders (if the raid
be historical) actually entered Jerusalem, and almost certain that the
Chronicler did not mean to imply that they did. Probably therefore we
should translate, as the margin, belonging to the king’s house.
Part of the royal possessions and the royal household might well
have been in the camp; see below, the note on xxii. 1.
 Jehoahaz] In xxii. 1 he is called Ahaziah, which is only another
form of the name, the prefix Jeho- of the one, and the ending -iah of
the other being each the representative of the Divine name Jehovah.
The name in either form means “Jehovah hath taken” (or “grasped”).
Parallel instances are the names Jehoshaphat and Shephatiah
(verse 2) and Jehonathan and Nethaniah in xvii. 8.

18‒20 (compare 2 Kings viii. 24).

Death and Burial of Jehoram.

¹⁸And after all this the Lord smote him in his

bowels with an incurable disease. ¹⁹And it
came to pass, in process of time, at the end of
two years, that his bowels fell out by reason of
his sickness, and he died of sore diseases.
And his people made no burning for him, like
the burning of his fathers.
19. by reason of his sickness] LXX. μετὰ τῆς νόσου, i.e. in the
course of his sickness.

no burning] compare xvi. 14 (note).

²⁰Thirty and two years old was he when he

began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem
eight years: and he departed without being
desired; and they buried him in the city of
David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings.
20. he departed without being desired] literally without desire: i.e.
he lived so that none desired him, or he lived as no one desired.
Compare LXX., ἐπορεύθη οὐκ ἐν ἐπαίνῳ, literally “he walked without
praise.”
 but not in the sepulchres of the kings] According to Kings he “was
buried with his fathers.” Compare xxiv. 25, xxviii. 27.

Chapter XXII.
1‒4 (= 2 Kings viii. 25‒27).
The Reign of Ahaziah.

¹And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made

Ahaziah ¹ his youngest son king in his stead:
for the band of men that came with the
Arabians to the camp had slain all the eldest.
So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah
reigned.
¹ In chapter xxi. 17, Jehoahaz.

1. the inhabitants of Jerusalem, etc.] In consequence of the great

disaster to the royal house, the people play a more prominent part
than usual in deciding the succession to the throne; compare 2 Kings
xxiii. 30.

to the camp] or to the host. The sense seems to be that the

princes of the royal house were with the army in the field and were
slain by a surprise attack of a party from the Philistine and Arabian
forces (xxi. 16). The LXX. reads, Ἄραβες οἱ Ἀλειμαζονεϊς, i.e.
apparently “the Arabians of Mazin”; but in all probability this reading
is a mere error derived from a transliteration of the Hebrew word
rendered “to the camp” (see Torrey, Ezra Studies, p. 74).
 ²Forty and two ¹ years old was Ahaziah when
he began to reign; and he reigned one year in
Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was
Athaliah the daughter ² of Omri. ³He also
walked in the ways of the house of Ahab: for
his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly.
¹ In 2 Kings viii. 26, Two and twenty.

² Or, granddaughter.

2. Forty and two years old] The LXX. “twenty years old” is
preferable, agreeing nearly with 2 Kings viii. 26, “two and twenty
years old” (Hebrew and LXX.).

daughter of Omri] So 2 Kings viii. 26, but more correctly

“daughter of Ahab” (2 Kings viii. verse 18).

⁴And he did that which was evil in the sight of

the Lord, as did the house of Ahab: for they
were his counsellors after the death of his
father, to his destruction.
4. after the death of his father] This phrase suggests that he
acted as regent in his father’s lifetime during his father’s two years’
illness.

5, 6 (= 2 Kings viii. 28, 29).

The Alliance with Jehoram of Israel.

⁵He walked also after their counsel, and went

with Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel to
 war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth-
gilead: and the Syrians wounded Joram.
5. Joram] or Jehoram. The variation is unimportant.

⁶And he returned to be healed in Jezreel of the

wounds ¹ which they had given him at Ramah,
when he fought against Hazael king of Syria.
And Azariah ² the son of Jehoram king of
Judah went down to see Jehoram the son of
Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.
¹ 2 Kings viii. 29, and in the Septuagint and Syriac versions.
The text has, because the wounds which &c.

² In verse 1, Ahaziah.

6. Jezreel] A city some distance to the north of Samaria, giving its

name to the plain of Jezreel (Esdraelon). Ahab had a house there (1
Kings xxi. 1), probably a country house judging from the incident of
Naboth’s vineyard. It is the modern Zer‘in, a town situated on a hill
commanding a wide view towards the west and the east, Bädeker,
Palestine⁵, p. 244.

Ramah] i.e. Ramoth-gilead (see xviii. 2, note).

Azariah] Read, as margin, Ahaziah.

7‒9 (compare 2 Kings ix. 16‒26, 27, 28, x. 11‒14).

The Death of Ahaziah.

7‒9. These verses give a hasty summary of the passages in

Kings The Chronicler’s version differs in some particulars from Kings
The divergences may largely be due to the extreme brevity of
Chronicles, and they do not absolutely require a variant form of the
tradition for their explanation (so Torrey, Ezra Studies, p. 74),
particularly if Samaria here in Chronicles denotes not the city but
simply the province. Verse 7 is a brief but sufficient abridgment of 2
Kings ix. 16‒26 from the point of view of Ahaziah’s concern in the
affair. On the other hand there is great probability in the view that the
Chronicler’s account goes back to a version of the tradition
independent of that in Kings; see the notes on verses 8, 9; and
compare Cook in the Jewish Quarterly Review for 1908, p. 612.

⁷Now the destruction ¹ of Ahaziah was of God,

in that he went unto Joram: for when he was
come, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu
the son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had
anointed to cut off the house of Ahab.
¹ Hebrew treading down.

7. destruction] Rather, ruin, or downfall, LXX., καταστροφή).

Ahaziah’s brethren fell with him (verse 8).

had anointed] compare 2 Kings ix. 1‒10.

⁸And it came to pass, when Jehu was

executing judgement upon the house of Ahab,
that he found the princes of Judah, and the
sons of the brethren of Ahaziah, ministering to
Ahaziah, and slew them.
8. the sons of the brethren of Ahaziah] LXX. “the brethren (i.e. the
kinsmen) of Ahaziah”: so also 2 Kings x. 13. The brethren (in the
strict sense of the word) of Ahaziah had already been killed (verse
1).
 ministering] According to 2 Kings they were going to “salute the
children of the king and the children of the queen” (probably a courtly
expression for “salute the king and the queen”). Their murder in
Kings is clearly regarded as subsequent to Ahaziah’s death,
whereas in Chronicles the attack on Ahaziah (verse 9) apparently is
placed after the murder of the brethren as recorded in the present
verse. It is possible, however, to suppose that verses 8 and 9 are not
meant to be related to each other in a time sequence, and that
verses 7, 8, 9 are all relatively independent statements.

⁹And he sought Ahaziah, and they caught him,

(now he was hiding in Samaria,) and they
brought him to Jehu, and slew him; and they
buried him, for they said, He is the son of
Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all
his heart. And the house of Ahaziah had no
power ¹ to hold the kingdom.
¹ Or, And there was none of the house of Ahaziah that had
power &c.

9. now he was hiding in Samaria] If Samaria means the city, then

according to Chronicles Ahaziah fled southward from Jezreel; while
according to 2 Kings his flight was westward to Megiddo (to be
identified with Khan el-Lejjun, Bädeker, Palestine⁵, p. 228). Perhaps
however Samaria means the province (as in xxv. 13; Ezekiel iv. 10).
Even so this account of Ahaziah’s wounding and death differs
markedly from that in Kings, where nothing is said of his hiding, but
simply that he went out with Joram when Jehu encountered Joram
(so here verse 7), was wounded, fled to Megiddo, and died there, but
was carried back by his servants to Jerusalem and there buried.
Here it is stated that he was captured, brought to Jehu, and slain (?
before him). The place of his burial is unnamed, but it would readily
be supposed that he was buried by Jehu’s servants and not at
Jerusalem. These divergences in verses 8, 9 are curious and are
most naturally explained as originating in a variant form of the
tradition.

10‒12 (= 2 Kings xi. 1‒3).

The Reign of Athaliah.

¹⁰Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah

saw that her son was dead, she arose and
destroyed all the seed royal of the house of
Judah.
10. destroyed] This is the reading of Kings and of the LXX. of
Chronicles The Hebrew reads spake with, which is perhaps a
euphemism; compare the English “deal with.”

¹¹But Jehoshabeath ¹, the daughter of the king,

took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him
away from among the king’s sons that were
slain, and put him and his nurse in the
bedchamber ². So Jehoshabeath, the daughter
of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the
priest, (for she was the sister of Ahaziah,) hid
him from Athaliah, so that she slew him not.
¹ In 2 Kings xi. 2, Jehosheba.

² Or, chamber for the beds.

11. Jehoshabeath] In Kings “Jehosheba.” The two are forms of

the same name; compare “Elisabeth” (Luke i. 7) and “Elisheba”
(Exodus vi. 23), a similar pair.
 in the bedchamber] margin, in the chamber for the beds, i.e.
perhaps in a store room in which bed furniture was kept: a
convenient but an uncertain interpretation.

the wife of Jehoiada the priest] Compare xxiii. 1. This relationship

is not given in Kings.

¹²And he was with them hid in the house of

God six years: and Athaliah reigned over the
land.
12. with them] i.e. with Jehoiada and Jehoshabeath. In Kings
“with her.”

in the house of God] “The chamber for beds” (which was perhaps
in the palace) was only a temporary hiding-place.
 Chapter XXIII.
1‒11 (compare 2 Kings xi. 4‒12).
The Conspiracy against Athaliah.

The account in Kings of the famous conspiracy which resulted in

the downfall and death of Athaliah the queen mother and the
coronation of the child Joash has the marks of a graphic and
accurate narrative. The Chronicler evidently desired to reproduce it
word for word, but in one point he was obliged to alter it in
accordance with his ideas. In Kings the plot is engineered by the
high-priest Jehoiada with the help of the officers (“captains of
hundreds”) and men of the Carites and the guard, (i.e. the royal
body-guard), who were foreign mercenaries. But the statement in 2
Kings xi. 4, 11, that these men who were both laymen and foreigners
were permitted by the high-priest to be within the court of the
Temple, though no doubt correct in point of fact (see Ezekiel xliv. 6
f.), was inconceivable to the Chronicler. In his account therefore the
soldiers of the guard vanish, and the “captains of hundreds” are
prominent Levites, who organise the conspiracy by gathering the
Levites and chief men throughout Judah (verse 2); and, further,
careful directions are given (verse 6) that none shall enter the
Temple save priests and Levites “for they are holy.” The passage is
an interesting example of the Chronicler’s procedure in the interests
of the ecclesiastical order to which he belonged and in which he
believed so firmly.

¹And 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.
1. strengthened himself] Compare i. 1 (note); the phrase does not
occur in the parallel passage of Kings.

Azariah, etc.] The names of course are not in Kings (see previous
note). The individual names add to the naturalness of the
Chronicler’s account. It is unlikely that the Levitical contemporaries
of the Chronicler had any reliable traditions enabling them to say
who probably were the leading Priests or Levites of Jerusalem in the
time of Athaliah and Joash. Perhaps the Chronicler has simply
chosen names which were suitable for Levites to bear.

captains of hundreds] In 2 Kings “captains over hundreds of the

Carites (i.e. Cherethites) and of the guard.” The Chronicler takes the
captains to be captains of Levites.

²And they went about in Judah, and gathered

the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and
the heads of fathers’ houses of Israel, and
they came to Jerusalem.
2. gathered the Levites] This statement is not found in Kings—
see the head-note.

Israel] See xi. 3 (note).

³And 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 spoken concerning the sons
of David.
 3. all the congregation] Contrast 2 Kings xi. 4, where the
“covenant” is a secret agreement between Jehoiada and the officers
of the guard.

hath spoken concerning] Compare 2 Samuel vii. 16; 1 Chronicles

xvii. 17.

⁴This is the thing that ye shall do: a third part

of you, that come in on the sabbath, of the
priests and of the Levites, shall be porters of
the doors ¹;
¹ Hebrew thresholds.

4. This is the thing that ye shall do] The arrangements as given

here and in 2 Kings are not entirely clear owing to our ignorance
regarding some of the places referred to. The Chronicler did not
clearly understand the scheme in Kings, but he was not troubled
thereby. He was concerned only to see that in his account the
Levites replaced the soldiers of the guard and that no unlawful
person entered the precincts of the Temple. According to Kings, it
would appear that it was the custom on the Sabbath for two-thirds of
the royal guards to be free and for one-third to be on duty at the
palace. In order to avoid arousing suspicion this last third was,
according to Jehoiada’s directions, to be at the palace as usual, but
it was to be subdivided into thirds and so distributed as to close the
various means of communication between the palace and the rest of
the city. Thus Athaliah was to be held as in a trap by her own guards
(2 Kings xi. 5, 6). The two-thirds who were free from duty on the
Sabbath were to be stationed in the Temple about the young king to
guard him at his coronation.

The arrangements are differently and no doubt less correctly

stated in Chronicles In the first place Levitical Temple guards take
the place of the royal guards; secondly, the only division of the
guards recognised is a simple division into thirds; finally, the stations
of the different divisions are differently given, viz., one-third in the
Temple, one-third in the palace, and one-third at “the gate of the
foundation.”

Using the modern terms “battalion” and “company” for the

divisions and subdivisions given in Kings, the arrangements may be
stated in a form which allows easy comparison between Kings and
Chronicles, as follows:—

(i) 2 Kings xi. 5‒7.

(Royal guards in three battalions.)

1st battalion on duty at the king’s house (palace).

A company within the palace (verse 5),

B company at the gate of Sur,

C company at another gate (“behind the guard,” verse 6).

2nd and 3rd battalions off duty, but brought into the house of the
Lord (the Temple) by Jehoiada (verse 7).

(ii) 2 Chronicles xxiii. 4, 5.

(Levites in three bands.)

Band I (= 1st battalion C company of 2 Kings) in the house of

God, the Chronicler supposing that “the house” (2 Kings xi. 6) means
the house of the Lord. More probably it means “the house of the
king” (2 Kings xi. verse 5).

Band II (= 1st battalion A company of 2 Kings) at the king’s house

(so 2 Kings).

Band III (= 1st battalion B company of 2 Kings) at the gate of “the

foundation.”
 (The Chronicler passes over the 2nd and 3rd battalions, because
he has already assigned their duty to 1st battalion C company.).

of the priests and of the Levites] Not in Kings. The words are a
mistaken but intentional gloss of the Chronicler, for it is clear that in
Kings lay guards are meant.

porters of the doors] margin, of the thresholds, i.e. of the

Temple according to the Chronicler, for the word for “doors” (or
“thresholds,” sippim in Hebrew) is always used for the thresholds of
some sanctuary, e.g. of the Tabernacle (1 Chronicles ix. 19, 22), of
the Temple of Solomon (2 Chronicles iii. 7), of (apparently) some
Israelite shrine (Amos ix. 1). In the parallel passage (2 Kings xi. 6)
however “the watch of the house” clearly means “the watch of the
king’s house” (2 Kings xi. verse 5).

⁵and 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.
5. a third part shall be at the king’s house; and a third part at the
gate of the foundation] These two-thirds according to the scheme
given above were both stationed about the palace, but they are not
to be reckoned as two-thirds of the whole guard.

the gate of the foundation] “Gate of JSVD” (Hebrew). This is

certainly the “Gate of Sur” (SVR in Hebrew) of 2 Kings xi. 6. Possibly
however we should read “Gate of SVS (or SVSIM)” i.e. “Horse Gate”
(verse 15; compare 2 Kings xi. 16) both here and in Kings.

⁶But let none come into the house of the

Lord, save the priests, and they that minister
of the Levites; they shall come in, for they are
 holy: but all the people shall keep the watch of
the Lord.
6. let none come into the house of the Lord] It is clear on the
contrary from Kings (verse 11) that the royal guards (who were
laymen) were brought into the Temple itself under Jehoiada’s
directions. The Chronicler is evidently at pains to guard against the
notion that such a breach of ritual took place.

all the people] Not mentioned in Kings; but compare 1 Kings xi.
14.

⁷And the Levites shall compass the king round

about, every man with his weapons in his
hand; and whosoever cometh into the house,
let him be slain: and be ye with the king when
he cometh in, and when he goeth out.
7. into the house] 2 Kings “within the ranks.” Any one who should
attempt to break through the ranks of the guard to get near to the
king was to be killed. According to the Chronicler Jehoiada’s
precaution would protect the sanctity of the Temple as well as the
person of the young king.

⁸So the Levites and all Judah did according to

all that Jehoiada the priest commanded: and
they took every man his men, those that were
to come in on the sabbath, with those that
were to go out on the sabbath; for Jehoiada
the priest dismissed not the courses.
8. the Levites and all Judah] In 2 Kings “the captains over
hundreds.” See notes on verse 4.
 for Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the courses] Not in Kings.
The Levites (1 Chronicles xxiii. 6), the priests (1 Chronicles xxiv. 1),
and the king’s army (1 Chronicles xxvii. 1 ff.) were each divided into
“courses,” but it is clear from the context that courses of Levites are
meant here.

⁹And Jehoiada the priest delivered to the

captains of hundreds the spears, and
bucklers, and shields, that had been king
David’s, which were in the house of God.
9. shields] Hebrew shĕlāṭīm; see note on 1 Chronicles xviii. 7.

¹⁰And he set all the people, every man with his

weapon in his hand, from the right side ¹ of the
house to the left side of the house, along by
the altar and the house, by the king round
about.
¹ Hebrew shoulder.

10. with his weapon] The Hebrew word (shelaḥ) means a “missile
weapon.”

¹¹Then they brought out the king’s son, and

put the crown upon him ¹, and gave him the
testimony, and made him king: and Jehoiada
and his sons anointed him; and they said, God
save the king ².
 ¹ Or, put upon him the crown and the testimony.

² Hebrew Let the king live.

11. put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony] So LXX.
and Hebrew both here and in 2 Kings xi. 12. Note that the words
“gave him” are not in the Hebrew What then is the meaning of “put
the crown ... the testimony”? It is supposed that by “the testimony”
some document inscribed with laws, a charter binding king and
people to live according to its precepts, is meant, and that this
document was placed in the hands or on the head of Joash along
with the crown. The wearing of an inscription or of a document on a
solemn occasion, though strange to Western thought, is not alien
from Eastern methods; compare Exodus xxviii. 36 ff.; Deuteronomy
vi. 6‒8; Job xxxi. 35, 36; but evidence of such a ceremony at the
coronation of a monarch is lacking. Hence it is tempting to think that
we should read as the true text of Kings “put upon him the crown
and the bracelets”—a brilliant conjecture made by Wellhausen,
which involves in Hebrew only the addition of one consonant to the
present text, but again there is no satisfactory evidence that
bracelets were put on the king at his coronation: Wellhausen relied
on 2 Samuel i. 10. Further, it is very probable that the error (if it is
one) was present in the text of Kings which lay before the Chronicler,
and therefore in Chronicles “the testimony” may be the original
reading.

Jehoiada and his sons] In Kings, “they anointed him” (without

specifying the actors).

God save the king] Literally, Let the king live!

12‒15 (= 2 Kings xi. 13‒16).

Death of Athaliah.

¹²And when Athaliah heard the noise of the

people running and praising the king ¹, she
 came to the people into the house of the
Lord:
¹ Or, of the people, of the guard, and of those who praised the
king.

12. running] The word might mean “the guard” (literally runners)
—see the margin It has that meaning in Kings, but the Chronicler
interprets it literally as the participle of the verb.

praising the king] Perhaps verses were extemporised in praise of

a king at his coronation, just as over a maiden at her marriage;
compare Psalms lxxviii. 63.

she came] Athaliah was allowed to pass the palace guard, but
now it was too late for her to save her crown.

¹³and she looked, and, behold, the king stood

by his pillar at the entrance, and the captains
and the trumpets by the king; and all the
people of the land rejoiced, and blew with
trumpets; the singers also played on
instruments of music, and led the singing of
praise. Then Athaliah rent her clothes, and
said, Treason, treason.
13. by his pillar] compare 2 Kings xxiii. 3 (= 2 Chronicles xxxiv.
31, “in his place”). Although “pillar” is attested by 2 Kings xxiii. 3, the
phrase is curious. Perhaps we should here read “in his place,” as in
xxxiv. 31: the difference in Hebrew is very slight.

at the entrance] In 2 Kings as the manner was.