23:1 In the seventh year Jehoiada made a bold move. He made a pact with the officers of the units of hundreds: Azariah son of Jehoram, Ishmael son of Jehochanan, Azariah son of Obed, Maaseiah son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat son of Zikri.
Jehoiada was the High Priest of Judah. He had been hiding the last male descendant of David in the temple for the last six years. He and the Levite leaders were tired of the satanic rule of Queen Athaliah, so they conspired a coup to replace her. They wanted to place a Davidic king back on the throne.
23:2 They traveled throughout Judah and assembled the Levites from all the cities of Judah, as well as the Israelite family leaders. They came to Jerusalem,
All of the Levites had one common interest. They wanted to replace the satanic rule of Athaliah with the Davidic rule of the messianic seed line.
23:3 and the whole assembly made a covenant with the king in the temple of God. Jehoiada said to them, “The king’s son will rule, just as the Lord promised David’s descendants.
The Levites assembled and planned the coup.
23:4 This is what you must do. One third of you priests and Levites who are on duty during the Sabbath will guard the doors.
The plans for the coup were revealed by the author. One third of the Levites would guard the temple door, making sure than no unauthorized people would come in to defend Athaliah.
23:5 Another third of you will be stationed at the royal palace and still another third at the Foundation Gate. All the others will stand in the courtyards of the Lord’s temple.
The Levites were placed at the royal palace, the Foundation Gate, and the courtyards of the temple. They all had different assignments. Their goal was to get the queen in the temple alone without her royal guard.
23:6 No one must enter the Lord’s temple except the priests and Levites who are on duty. They may enter because they are ceremonially pure. All the others should carry out their assigned service to the Lord.
Only the Levites could enter the Temple because of the purification rituals of the Mosaic Law, so this kept the royal guard out of this area.
23:7 The Levites must surround the king. Each of you must hold his weapon in his hand. Whoever tries to enter the temple must be killed. You must accompany the king wherever he goes.”
The seven-year-old Davidic King was to be surrounded by swords. Notice that the Levites also possessed military skills.
23:8 The Levites and all the men of Judah did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered. Each of them took his men, those who were on duty during the Sabbath as well as those who were off duty on the Sabbath. Jehoiada the priest did not release his divisions from their duties.
The coup operation began.
23:9 Jehoiada the priest gave to the officers of the units of hundreds King David’s spears and shields that were kept in God’s temple.
Jehoiada supplied the Levites with weapons from the Temple. These weapons were some of the plunder which David had gathered during his conquests. David had no idea that he was gathering these weapons to protect his own future Davidic seed line.
23:10 He placed the men at their posts, each holding his weapon in his hand. They lined up from the south side of the temple to the north side and stood near the altar and the temple, surrounding the king.
All of the priests went to their battle stations.
23:11 Jehoiada and his sons led out the king’s son and placed on him the crown and the royal insignia. They proclaimed him king and poured olive oil on his head. They declared, “Long live the king!”
King Josiah was proclaimed the King of Judah at seven years old. The coronation was announced.
23:12 When Athaliah heard the royal guard shouting and praising the king, she joined the crowd at the Lord’s temple.
Athaliah was completely surprised. She thought that she had killed off all of the entire Davidic messianic seed line. Why did she do such a brutal and evil act?
There are many men and women in this world who will do anything for power. They are found in every nation and in every institution on earth. Politicians. dictators, business leaders, educational leaders, religious leaders, preachers, elders, and deacons will crave the power of the satanic world system. These type of men and women will stoop to almost anything in order to have power. Queen Athaliah craved this power. She was willing to kill the messianic seed line in order to acquire it.
Satan sold his soul for power. One third of the angels sold their soul for power and became demons. Many men and women will sell their soul for power. The only way to stop totally depraved and evil men and women from craving power is to convert them to Christ and feed their soul with bible doctrine from the entire counsel of the Word of God. The feeding of bible doctrine will transfer the desires of the baby Christian away from the powers to be gained from the satanic world system. The acquisition of bible doctrine will motivate the mature Christian to work for the Kingdom of God. It is foolish for a believer to seek any other course. True power comes from studying and applying the entire coulee of the Word of God at the deepest level. Once a mature believer reaches this stage of advanced divine viewpoint, then he will acquire a powerful and deadly spiritual enemy who wishes to devour him.
23:13 Then she saw the king standing by his pillar at the entrance. The officers and trumpeters stood beside the king and all the people of the land were celebrating and blowing trumpets, and the musicians with various instruments were leading the celebration. Athaliah tore her clothes and yelled, “Treason! Treason!”
To Athaliah, this was treason. However, it was not treason in her mind to kill off the family of the Davidic seed line. Athaliah had violated the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants, so she received a kind-for-kind curse.
23:14 Jehoiada the priest sent out the officers of the units of hundreds, who were in charge of the army, and ordered them, “Bring her outside the temple to the guards. Put the sword to anyone who follows her.” The priest gave this order because he had decided she should not be executed in the Lord’s temple.
Athaliah was to be executed outside of the Lord’s temple.
23:15 They seized her and took her into the precincts of the royal palace through the horses’ entrance. There they executed her.
Athaliah was escorted out of the temple and executed at the horse’s entrance of the royal palace. Kings and queens of secular nations usually do not live very long. There is always someone who desires power so much, that they commit murder to acquire it. This was a godly coup which placed the anointed line of David back on the throne.
23:16 Jehoiada then drew up a covenant stipulating that he, all the people, and the king should be loyal to the Lord.
Jehoida the High Priest would rule until the seven year old Joash would come about age. Therefore, Joash would receive on-the-job training from the High Priest who was an expert in the Mosaic Law.
23:17 All the people went and demolished the temple of Baal. They smashed its altars and idols. They killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars.
The people smashed the Baal altars and executed the Baal High Priest. According to the Mosaic Law, those who worshiped false gods were to be executed. There was no multiculturalism in the Mosaic Law. Only the true God was allowed to be worshiped. Offerings could only me made in one appointed place. All other demonic worshipers were a threat to true worship, so they were executed. This type of capital punishment kept demonism out of Israel.
23:18 Jehoiada then assigned the duties of the Lord’s temple to the priests, the Levites whom David had assigned to the Lord’s temple. They were responsible for offering burnt sacrifices to the Lord with joy and music, according to the law of Moses and the edict of David.
Offerings which pointed to the Messiah and messianic music from the Levites was restored back to Israel.
23:19 He posted guards at the gates of the Lord’s temple, so no one who was ceremonially unclean in any way could enter.
Guards were posted at the gates of the temple to keep the rituals ceremonially pure as to the guidelines of the Mosaic Law.
23:20 He summoned the officers of the units of hundreds, the nobles, the rulers of the people, and all the people of land, and he then led the king down from the Lord’s temple. They entered the royal palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne.
The High Priest prepared a proper national coronation for the new Davidic King.
23:21 All the people of the land celebrated, for the city had rest now that they had killed Athaliah.
Everyone celebrated. For the last six years, everyone in Judah believed that the messianic seed line was lost to Israel. Instead, satanism had ended and the Davidic seed line was back on the throne.