2 Kings 11 is the eleventh chapter of the second part of the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible or the Second Book of Kings in the Old Testament of the ChristianBible.[1][2] The book is a compilation of various annals recording the acts of the kings of Israel and Judah by a Deuteronomic compiler in the seventh century BCE, with a supplement added in the sixth century BCE.[3] This chapter records the reign of Athaliah and Joash as the rulers of Judah.[4][5]
This chapter was originally written in the Hebrew language. It is divided into 21 verses in Christian Bibles, but into 20 verses in the Hebrew Bible as in the verse numbering comparison table below.[6]
There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; B; 4th century) and Codex Alexandrinus (A; A; 5th century).[8][a]
The record of Athaliah's reign in Judah was treated structurally as an appendix of the regnal account of Ahaziah ben Jehoram, the king of Judah (2 Kings 8:25–11:20), or as a revolt of a usurper (cf. northern tribes against Rehoboah in 1 Kings 12; Jehu's revolt against Jehoram in 2 Kings 9–10), so it lacks the usual formal structure of regnal accounts.[12] Athaliah was Omri's 'granddaughter' (2 Kings 8:26), who married to Joram of the Davidic royal family and became the queen mother of Ahaziah ben Joram (2 Kings 8:18).[13] When Jehu's coup left her with no male relatives in either Samaria or Jerusalem, she reacted brutally as a mass murderer of David's house (of what remained after Jehu's slaughter in 2 Kings 10:12–14) and—despite being a woman and an Omride—became the ruler of Judah, effectively personifying the Omridic politics that was violently cut away from (northern) Israel, for a further six years in Judah.[13]
"Arose": from the Hebrew verb קוּם , qum ("arise"); here is used in an auxiliary sense to indicate that Athaliah embarked on a campaign to destroy the royal offspring.[15] Athaliah inherited much of her mother Jezebel's character, influencing her husband, king Jehoram, to introduce the Baal-worship into Judah (2 Kings 8:18; 2 Chronicles 2:5, 11), and her son, king Ahaziah, to maintain it (2 Kings 8:27; 2 Chronicles 22:3, "in the ways of the house of Ahab: for his mother was his counselor to do wickedly"). With the death of Ahaziah, her position as "queen mother" (Hebrew: gebirah) would be seriously imperiled, when the crown would have passed naturally to one of her grandchildren, one of the sons of Ahaziah, and the position of queen mother would have passed to the widow of Ahaziah, the mother of the new king. Therefore, she took the bold resolution to eliminate all male members of the house of David: Ahaziah's sons and 'brethren'.[16] When Joash ben Ahaziah later became king of Judah, his mother Zibiah of Beersheba (2 Kings 12:2) would become the queen mother, if she was still alive (her fate was not recorded in the Bible).[17]
But Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons which were slain; and they hid him, even him and his nurse, in the bedchamber from Athaliah, so that he was not slain.[18]
The priest Jehoiada played a significant role in deposing Athaliah and putting the 7-year-old Joash on the throne after keeping the future king hidden for six years (2 Kings 12:1).[13] Jehoiada built up a 'subversive organization in the temple with a good infrastructure, sufficient weaponry', and a close relationship with the 'people of the land' (verses 14, 18, 20).[13] The final sentence of verse 20 (contrasting the land/Judah and the city/Jerusalem) gives indication on the political constellation: Athaliah, like all Omrides, enjoyed the support of the urban and aristocratic circles of the capital city, whereas the opposition (such as also Jehu) received the support from the provincial farming population.[13] The religious factors also played a role in the overthrow in Judah, as Jehoiada was a priest of the temple of Jerusalem, where since the time of Solomon, there had been syncretistic and strictly YHWH-worshipping tendencies there (cf. e.g. 1 Kings 15:13; 2 Kings 18:4, 22), so the revolt might include anti-Baal sentiment (verse 18a).[13] This chapter is a Judean counterpart to Jehu's revolt (2 Kings 9–10), which also eliminated a queen (Jezebel) and the Baal worship in (northern) Israel six years earlier.[21]
And he brought out the king’s son, put the crown on him, and gave him the Testimony; they made him king and anointed him, and they clapped their hands and said, "Long live the king!"[22]
"The Testimony": that is, "the Law" (Exodus 25:16, 21; Deuteronomy 31:9).[23]
And when she looked, behold, the king stood by a pillar, as the manner was, and the princes and the trumpeters by the king, and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew with trumpets: and Athaliah rent her clothes, and cried, Treason, Treason.[24]
"Stood by a pillar, as the manner was" (KJV) or "according to the custom" (NRSV): emphasizing that 'even the king could not enter the temple'.[25] The pillar could be Jachin or Boaz (2 Chronicles 3:15–17).[26]
And all the people of the land went to the temple of Baal, and tore it down. They thoroughly broke in pieces its altars and images, and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest appointed officers over the house of the Lord.[27]
"Mattan the priest of Baal": compared to arrays of Baal priests of Jezebel in Samaria, there was no other priest of Baal in Judah, indicating that the Baal worship was not accepted in the land of Judah beyond the royal court in Jerusalem.[29]
^Cogan M.; Tadmor, H. II Kings (AB), 125. apud Note on 2 Kings 11:1 in NET Bible
^Exell, Joseph S.; Spence-Jones, Henry Donald Maurice (Editors). On "2 Kings 11". In: The Pulpit Commentary. 23 volumes. First publication: 1890. Accessed 24 April 2019.
Thiele, Edwin R. (1951). The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings: A Reconstruction of the Chronology of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Codex Sinaiticus". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
