when a most unwelcome spectacle met her gaze-a boy standing on a raised platform in front of the inner court, probably the brazen B<mlfold of Solomon (eh. vi. 13), his head encircled with a diadem, his hand grasping a roll of parchment as if it were a sceptre; beside him Jehoiada the priest, the princes of the people, and the Levitical trumpeters; around him all the people of the land, rejoicing and singing. 3. .An unrestrained cry. Whether or not Athaliah recognized in Joash one of Ahaziah's sons, whom she fancied she had murdered six years before, she had no difficulty in compre- hending the situation. A usurper herself, she perfectly unders~ the scene she beheld to mean revolution. Rending her garments in horror at the spectacle (2 Kings vi. 30; Ezra ix. 3), and perhaps in involuntary acknowledgment th&t the hour of her o~erthrow had struck (1 Sam. xv. 27, 28; 1 Kings xi. 30), she likewise rent the air . with a shriek of" Treason! treason!" ( cf. 2 Kings ix. 23). II. AN AVENGING PRIEST. (Vers. 14, 15.) 1. .A charge to the captains. (1) Con- cerning the queen. To arrest her, to lead her beyont.l the precincts of the temple, to put her to death. Sudden and peremptory, this order was absolutely necessary. Divine justice and public safety alike demanded Athaliah's blood. A murderess herself (eh. :xxii. 10), her life was forfeit to the law (Gen. ix. 6). An idolatress of the rankest type, she had incurred the sentence, "I will cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my sonl shall abhor you" (Lev. xxvi. 30). A conspire.tress, so long as she was spared the life of J oash was not secure. (2) Concerning her adherents. That they also should be put to the sword. To follow Athaliah, defend her person or champion her cause, was to be guilty of leze majesty against Joash, and indeed against Jehovah, whose vicegerent Joash was. 2. Its execution by the captains. (1) They hurried the unhappy queen beyond the precincts of the temple, that the holy place might not be polluted with human blood. (2) They conducted her forth to the vicinity of the king's stables, the people opening their ranks and making way for her to pass. (3) 'l'hey slew her there, within sight of the palace she had usurped and of the temple she had desecrated. As by violence she had climbed into the throne, by violence she was hurled from it. As she had lived so doubtless she died, in unbelief and sin-a victim at once of popular fury and Divine retribution (Prov. xi. 31). Learn: 1. That the way of transgressors is hard. 2. That the wages of sin is death. 3. Th1.t they who take the sword shall perish with the sword. 4. That verily there is a God who judgeth in the earth. 5. That with what measure one metes it shall be measured to him again.-W.
Vers. 16-21.-The dose of a revolution. I. CovENANT·MAKING. (Ver. 16.) Read in connection with 2 Kings xL 17, this verse points to two covenant transactions. 1. Between Jeh01Jah and the 7'ing and people. (1) In this the priest Jehoiada acted as Jehovah's representative-symbolizing the greater High Priest over the house of God, who in the new and better covenant of grace is to sinfol men the Image of the invisible God (Heh. L 3; iii. 1; iv. 14; v. 5). (2) Of this the object was that they, Joa.ah and •l,is subjects, should be Jehovah's people, observing his worship and keeping his com- mandments, and that he should be their God, defending them against their adversaries, and bestowing on them temporal and spiritual, individual and national prosperity. This was the substance of the covenant Jehovah had ma.de with the nation at Sinai (Exod. xix. 3--6; Deut. v. 2; :uvi. 17, 18), and is the tenor of God's covenant with his people in the gospel (Heb. viii. 8-13). 2. Between the king and the people. (1) On his side that he would govern in accordance with the testimony put into his hand that day; and (2) on their side that they would be loyal to the throne on which he eat. This covenant is implicitly involved in all relationships of king and subjects. An unjust and tyrannical ruler ipso facto violates the contract between himself and his people, and to that extent absolves them from allegiance to his authority. Piety in the sovereign and loyalty in the people are the two best supports of an earthly throne. II. lDoL-PUBGING. In a fit of reforming zeal the excited people entered without delay on a crusade against the false worship which had been introduced and patronized by Athaliah. 1. The temple of Baal wrecked. This idolatrous shrine had probably l.een erected by Jehoram to please Athaliah (eh. xxi. 11; Josephus,' Ant.,' ix. 7. 4), as a similar edifice bad been constructed in Samaria by Ahab, under the influence of J1;zeLel (1 Kings xvi. 32). Most likely it stood on Mount Moriah, alongside of the llll. xxm. 1-21.] 'Nm SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 28L