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coverlets of the palace were stored, and which would offer a very convenient hiding-
place. Thence his aunt removed him to a still more safe retreat in the Temple, either one
of the numerous chambers attached to the sanctuary, or, as seems most likely,* to the
apartments occupied by her husband and his family within the sacred enclosure, or
closely joined to it.**
- Comp. the "her" of 2 Kings 11:3, with the "them" of 2 Chronicles 22:12.
** The twofold objection raised that, in accordance with 2 Chronicles 8:11, the wife of
the high-priest could not have lived in the Temple, while, according to Nehemiah 3:20,
21, the high-priest had a house outside the Temple, is inapplicable. The former passage
applies only to the Egyptian {foreign) wife of Solomon, while the latter only informs us
of what was the rule in the time of Nehemiah. In any case it seems difficult to understand
how an infant with his nurse, or with that nurse and his aunt, could have been concealed
for six years in the Temple, unless that aunt resided with her husband within the precincts
of the sanctuary. If, as some critic would have us believe, Jehosheba was not married at
all to the priest, but only concealed with the child in the Temple, Athaliah would surely
have searched out her hiding-place.
So matters continued for six years, Joash probably passing for one of the children of the
high-priest. During that time the plunder of the house of Jehovah and the transference of
its dedicated things to the service of Baalim, which had been begun by the sons of
Athaliah (2 Chronicles 24:7), must have been carried to its utmost extent. Naturally it
would arouse a strong reaction on the part not only of those who held the foreign rites in
abhorrence, but also of those who were opposed to the rule of the foreign queen who had
murdered all that had remained of the family of David. In the seventh year of this
misrule, Jehoiada "took courage,"* and organized a counter-revolution, in which all
ranks in the State were equally represented.
- This is the real meaning of what is rendered in the A.V., "strengthened himself," in 2
Chronicles 23:1.
If ever a movement of this kind was constitutional, it was that against the murderous
usurper of the throne of David. The Book of Chronicles, while always relating events pre-
eminently from the priestly and Levitical viewpoint, here furnishes some welcome
details, apparently derived from the same original sources as the account in the Book of
Kings, although omitted in the latter.
From the two accounts we infer that Jehoiada in the first place addressed himself to the
five "captains of hundreds," or centurions, whose names are mentioned in 2 Chronicles
23:1. Apparently they commanded the five divisions of the royal bodyguard, which
combined the designation Kari (equivalent to Kerethi) given in Davidic time to the corps,
(^)