that this division of Levites was to form an outer circle not only around the king, but also around

his military guard. This also explains the difference in the directions given in 2 Kings 11:8 to the

military guards to kill those who penetrated their "ranks," and in 2 Chronicles 23:7 to the Levites,

to kill those who penetrated into the Temple. In other words, the Levites were to stand beyond the

guards, and to prevent a hostile entrance into the Temple buildings; and if any gained their way

through them to the ranks of the military, they were to be cut down by the guards. Thus the king

was really surrounded by a double cordon - the military occupying the inner court around his

person, while the Levites held the outer court and the gates.

The explanations just offered will, it is hoped, show that there is not any discrepancy between the

accounts of this event in the Books of Kings and Chronicles. We can understand how in the latter

the functions and localities are assigned to the Levites, which in the Book of Kings seem assigned

to the military. Both had similar or kindred functions, and in close proximity to each other. Thus

the two accounts are entirely compatible. In point of fact, they supplement each other, the writer of

Chronicles, as usually, telling the part which the priesthood sustained in the national rising, while

the writer of the Book of Kings simply relates the part taken by the secular power. Thus the one

narrates what was specially done by the Levites, the other what by the military; yet each, as we

have seen, also giving indications of the cooperation of the other actors. The whole question,

however, is not of any real importance, although it may be well to state that the explanations

which have been offered are substantially confirmed by the account given of the event by

Josephus (Ant. ix. 7, 2).*

* Minor difficulties call o nly for briefest explanation. The gate Sur, at which, according to 2 Kings

11:6, one post was placed, is evidently the same as "the gate Yesod" ("foundation-gate ")of 2

Chronicles 23:5. The more common explanation, that Sur is only a clerical error for Yes od (the y

dropped out, and r for d ), is not satisfactory, and the error may lie in Chronicles rather than Kings.

The LXX. does not here help us. The Rabbis hold that it was an eastern gate, and bore seven

different names, two of them being Sur and Yesod. The latter may be true, although no serious

value attaches to their archaeological notices. From the circumstance that one object of the guard

was to watch the approaches from the palace to the Temple, we infer that the gate Sur, possibly

also called Yesod (perhaps it marked the site of the foundation-stone), was, as the word implies,

"the gate of declining," a side-entrance into the palace; while "the gate of," or "behind," "the

runners," formed the ordinary and principal entrance from the palace into the Temple.

The plan of Jehoiada and the leaders of the rising - or, as we may say, of the national party - was

carried out in every particular. It is indicative of the general opposition to the new regime, as well

as of the unpopularity of the queen, that th e secret of the confederacy, although shared by so

many, remained unknown to Athaliah. At the same time we must remember that they had bound

themselves by an oath, on the keeping of which success depended that the priesthood was entirely

under the control of its official chief; and that probably only a short time intervened between the

league in the Temple (2 Kings 11:4; 2 Chronicles 23:3) and the execution of the plan agreed upon.

On the day appointed, both the military and the Levites were at their posts. The youthful king,

who had been presented to the leaders at their first meeting in the Temple (2 Kings 11:4), was now

formally introduced. Then the crown and the "testimony" were put upon him - the latter ceremony

probably consisting in placing in his h ands, rather than (as some have suggested) on his head, a

copy of the Law, whether that referring to the duties of the king (Deuteronomy 17:18-20), or,

more probably, the Law in a wider sense. Lastly, since the regular succession had been broken by

the intrusion of Athaliah,* the new monarch was anointed by Jehoiada and his sons, when, as was

the custom, the people broke into demonstrations of joy, clapping their hands, and shouting, "Long

live the king!"

* The Talmud (Horay. 11b.) assigns this as the re ason, since ordinarily the kings in regular descent

from David were not anointed. On similar grounds the Talmud accounts for the anointing of

Solomon and of Jehoahaz.