2 Kings 11:3 - Exposition

And he was with her —he, i.e. Joash, was with her, i.e. Jehosheba, his aunt—hid in the house of the Lord; i.e. the temple. We learn from Chronicles ( 2 Chronicles 22:11 ) that Jehosheba was married to Jehoiada, the high priest, and would thus have ready access to the temple. We must suppose that, after a few days' concealment in the "chamber of mattresses," Jehosheba found an opportunity of transferring him, with his nurse, to a chamber in the temple, where he was thenceforward nourished and brought up. There were various chambers in the temple used for secular purposes, as we learn from 1 Kings 6:5-8 and Nehemiah 13:5-9 . Six years (comp. Nehemiah 13:21 and 2 Chronicles 24:1 ). And Athaliah did reign over the land. It is difficult to realize all that this implies. It cannot mean less than that for six years Baalism was triumphant in Judah—the temple was allowed to fall into decay ( 2 Kings 12:5 )—a temple to Baal was erected in Jerusalem itself, to supersede the temple of Jehovah ( 2 Kings 11:18 ), and a high priest appointed to be a rival to the successor of Aaron. Whether persecution was indulged in, as under Jehoram ( 2 Chronicles 21:11 ), is uncertain; but the servants of Jehovah were at any rate under a cloud, slighted, contemned, held as of small account. Perhaps we may conclude, from the position occupied by Jehoiada, and from the powers which he was able to exercise when he determined on revolt ( Nehemiah 13:4 ; 2 Chronicles 23:1 , 2 Chronicles 23:2 ), that Athaliah, during her six years' reign, was to some extent held in check by a Jehovistic party, which she knew to exist, and which she did not dare openly to defy. Thus she left Jehoiada (apparently) in possession of the temple, of its treasures and its armory ( Nehemiah 13:10 ); she allowed the temple service to continue ( 2 Chronicles 23:4-7 ); she permitted the priests and the Levites to serve in their regular "courses" ( 2 Chronicles 23:8 ); she let the fortress of the eastern city—for the temple was always a fortress—remain in her enemies' hands. Still, the time was evidently one "of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy" the oppressed worshippers of Jehovah were greatly discontented; and the nation generally was ripe for a counter-revolution, so soon as the signal was given by an authority whom they could trust.