2 Kings 11:8

And ye shall compass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand,.... Afterwards given them, 2 Kings 11:10 , and he that cometh within the ranges, let him be slain; any strange man that was not of them, that came into the ranks in which they were formed, was to be put to death as a spy, who might go and inform the queen what was doing; according to Jarchi, the word for "ranges" signifies the place through which the king went from his own house to the house of God (d); and here it seems the guards were placed: and be ye with the king as he goeth out and as he cometh in when brought forth to be crowned and anointed, and returned again. (d) Vid. David. de Pomis Lexic. fol. 205. 3.

11:1-12 Athaliah destroyed all she knew to be akin to the crown. Jehoash, one of the king's sons, was hid. Now was the promise made to David bound up in one life only, and yet it did not fail. Thus to the Son of David, the Lord, according to his promise, will secure a spiritual seed, hidden sometimes, and unseen, but hidden in God's pavilion, and unhurt. Six years Athaliah tyrannized. Then the king was brought forward. A child indeed, but he had a good guardian, and, what was better, a good God to go to With such joy and satisfaction must the kingdom of Christ be welcomed into our hearts, when his throne is set up there, and Satan the usurper is cast out. Say, Let the King, even Jesus, live, for ever live and reign in my soul, and in all the world.

When you have set your watches and guards, all the rest of you shall draw near to the king to preserve his royal person from all assaults and dangers. The ranges, or fences , i.e. the walls wherewith the courts of the temple were environed: see 2 Kings 11:15 . Or, your ranks , or order . If any of Athaliah’s guards shall attempt to break in upon you, or within your bounds. Be ye with the king as he goeth out and as he cometh in; whether the king shall go out of the temple, to offend or subdue his enemies, or retire hither to defend himself, do you always accompany him.

2Ki 11:4-12. He Is Made King. 4. the seventh year—namely, of the reign of Athaliah, and the rescue of Jehoash. Jehoiada sent and fetched the rulers, &c.—He could scarcely have obtained such a general convocation except at the time, or on pretext, of a public and solemn festival. Having revealed to them the secret of the young king's preservation and entered into a covenant with them for the overthrow of the tyrant, he then arranged with them the plan and time of carrying their plot into execution (see on [336]2Ch 22:10-23:21). The conduct of Jehoiada, who acted the leading and chief part in this conspiracy, admits of an easy and full justification; for, while Athaliah was a usurper, and belonged to a race destined by divine denunciation to destruction, even his own wife had a better and stronger claim to the throne; the sovereignty of Judah had been divinely appropriated to the family of David, and therefore the young prince on whom it was proposed to confer the crown, possessed an inherent right to it, of which a usurper could not deprive him. Moreover, Jehoiada was most probably the high priest, whose official duty it was to watch over the due execution of God's laws, and who in his present movement, was encouraged and aided by the countenance and support of the chief authorities, both civil and ecclesiastical, in the country.

8 . And ye shall compass the king round about ] Though the pronoun is changed, the same persons are intended, who were to be a bodyguard for the young king in every movement at this critical time. he that cometh within the ranges ] R.V. ranks . This is the point where the distinction is most marked between the duties to be discharged by the soldiers and by the Levites. In 2 Chronicles 23:7 it is said: ‘And the Levites shall compass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand; and whosoever cometh into the house , he shall be put to death’. From this we find that the Levites were to form a guard for the king’s person within the temple, while the soldiers discharged the same office in the court, and when he was conducted from the temple to the palace. So the one body is bidden to take summary vengeance on any intruder within the sacred building, the other on any who should break through their ranks to get within the enclosure and so draw near to the king after he had come forth. as [R.V. when ] he goeth out and as [R.V. when ] he cometh in ] This change assimilates the rendering to 2 Chronicles.

Verse 8. - And ye shall compass the king round about; every man with his weapons in his hand. The guard was to take up a position, partly in front of the king, and partly behind him; interposing themselves between his person and any danger, and at the same time extending themselves across the entire court of the temple (ver. 11) from one wall to the other. They were, of course, to have their weapons in their hands, ready for use. And he that cometh within the ranges, let him be slain ; rather, within the ranks . The order was that if any one entered the temple, and attempted to break through the ranks of the guard, either in front of the king or behind him, he should instantly be put to death. No attempt of the kind was made; and so the order re-rosined a dead letter. And be ye with the king as he goeth out and as he cometh in ; accompany him, i.e. in all his movements - let him never for a moment stray outside your ranks - continue to surround him whithersoever he goes. Boys are restless, and curiosity would lead the young prince to move from place to place in order to see what was going on. 2 Kings 11:8

Jehoiada then communicated to those initiated into the plan the necessary instructions for carrying it out, assigning them the places which they were to occupy. "The third part of you that come on the Sabbath (i.e., mount guard) shall keep the guard of the king's house (ושׁמרי is a corruption of ושׁמרוּ), and the third part shall be at the gate Sur, and the third part at the gate behind the runners, and (ye) shall keep guard over the house for defence; and the two parts of you, (namely) all who depart on the Sabbath, shall keep the guard of the house of Jehovah for the king; and ye shall surround the king round about, every one with his weapons in his hand; and whoever presses into the ranks shall be slain, and shall be with the king when he goes out and in," i.e., in all his steps. The words השּׁבּת בּאי השּׁבּ and השּׁבּת יצאי, "those coming and those going out on the Sabbath," denote the divisions of the watch, those who performed duty on the Sabbath and those who were relieved on the Sabbath; not the military guard at the palace however, but the temple-guard, which consisted of Levites. For David had divided the priests and Levites into classes, every one of which had to perform service for a week and was relieved on the Sabbath: compare 1 Chronicles 23-26 with Josephus (Ant. vii. 14, 7), who expressly says that every one of the twenty-four classes of priests had to attend to the worship of God "for eight days, from Sabbath to Sabbath," also with Luke 1:5 .

On the other hand, we do not know that there was any similar division and obligation to serve in connection with the royal body-guard or with the army. The current opinion, that by those who come on the Sabbath and those who go out on the Sabbath we are to understand the king's halberdiers or the guard of the palace, is therefore proved to be unfounded and untenable. And if there could be any doubt on the matter, it would be removed by 2 Kings 11:7 and 2 Kings 11:10 . According to 2 Kings 11:7 , two parts of those who went away (were relieved) on the Sabbath were to undertake the guarding of the house of Jehovah about the king, i.e., to keep guard over that room in the temple where the king then was. Could Jehoiada have used the royal body-guard, that was being relieved from guarding the palace, for such a purpose as this? Who can imagine that this is a credible thing? According to 2 Kings 11:10 , Jehoiada gave to the captains over a hundred the weapons of king David, which were in the house of Jehovah. Did the palace-guard then return without weapons? In 2 Chronicles 23:4 , "those coming on the Sabbath" are correctly described as the priests and Levites coming on the Sabbath, i.e., the priests and Levites who entered upon their week's duty at the temple on the Sabbath.