Глава 23

1–11. Accession of Joash, 8th king of Judah. 12–15. Death of Athaliah. 13–21. The first steps of the young king and his religiosity and devotion to the theocracy. 2 Chronicles 23:1. But in the seventh year Jehoiada took courage and accepted into alliance with him the leaders of the hundreds: Azariah the son of Jeroham, and Ishmael the son of Jehohanan, and Azariah the son of Obed, and Maaseiah the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zichri. Despite the general and often literal similarity of the story in the chapter (2 Chronicles 23) about the political revolution carried out by the high priest Jehoiada in the kingdom of Judah with the story in the chapter (2 Kings 11) about the same event (see "The Explanatory Bible", vol. II, pp. 513-515), the story of 2 Chronicles also has some features in content and especially in presentation in comparison with 2 Kings These features relate partly to the predominant documentary character that distinguishes the book of Chronicles, and partly to the point of view of the Levitical priesthood, which is also characteristic of these books. In the first respect, the fact that in Art. 1 all participants in the Jehoiada conspiracy are named. As for the chronological date of the event, in the accepted text of LXX it is designated as the 8th year of the reign of Athaliah (ἐν τ῀ ἔτει τῶ ὀγδόω), but in codices XI, 19, 52, 55, 60, 64, 71, 74, 93, 106, 108, 119, 120, 121, 134, 158, 236, 243 in Golmes, in the Alexandrian, Aldino, Complutensian codes, in the Vulgate, Slavic and Russian texts, according to the Hebrew text, the 7th year is named. 2 Chronicles 23:2. And they went through Judah and gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah and the heads of the families of Israel, and came to Jerusalem. Here are two new, not noted in 2 Kings, particular circumstances of the coup undertaken on the initiative of the high priest Jehoiada. First: preparatory agitation in favor of this coup on the part of those named in Art. 1 The movement was accepted by the Levites and priests, together with the heads of the people's generations, 7 who arrived in Jerusalem for the purpose indicated to them. Such participation of priests and Levites in a political movement organized on the initiative of the high priest is quite natural and is only accidentally not mentioned in 2 Kings. The invitation of all mentioned persons to Jerusalem could be timed to coincide with some holiday, so that the state secret of the enterprise could remain undisturbed. In Codex 240, Kennicott added to the words (v. 2) “they came to Jerusalem”: “the whole community” (kol qahal). 2 Chronicles 23:3. And the whole assembly made a covenant in the house of God with the king. And Jehoiada said to them: Behold, the king’s son must be king, as the Lord spoke about the sons of David. 2 Chronicles 23:4. This is what you will do: a third of you who come on the Sabbath, from among the priests and Levites, will be gatekeepers at the thresholds, 2 Chronicles 23:5. and a third by the king's house, and a third by the gate of Jesod, and all the people in the courts of the house of the Lord. 2 Chronicles 23:6. And no one shall enter into the house of the Lord except the priests and the servants of the Levites. They can enter because they are sanctified; Let all the people stand guard over the Lord. 2 Chronicles 23:7. And let the Levites surround the king on all sides, every one with his weapon in his hand, and whoever enters the church must be killed. And be with the king when he comes in and goes out. 2 Chronicles 23:8. And the Levites and all Judah did as Jehoiada the priest commanded; And they each took their men who came on the Sabbath with those who went out on the Sabbath, because the priest Jehoiada did not let go of the changing orders. 2 Chronicles 23:9. And Jehoiada the priest distributed to the captains of the hundreds the spears and small and great shields of King David, which were in the house of God; 2 Chronicles 23:10. And he set all the people, every one with his weapon in his hand, from the right side of the church to the left side of the church, at the altar and at the house, around the king. 2 Chronicles 23:11. And they brought out the king's son, and put a crown and ornaments on him, and made him king; and Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said, Long live the king! 2 Chronicles 23:12. And Athaliah heard the voice of the people running and proclaiming the king, and she went out to the people into the house of the Lord, 2 Chronicles 23:13. and she saw: and behold, the king stood on his height at the entrance, and the princes and trumpets were near the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing, and they were blowing trumpets, and there were singers with musical instruments and skillful in singing praises. And Athaliah tore her clothes and shouted: conspiracy! CONSPIRACY! 2 Chronicles 23:14. And Jehoiada the priest called the captains of the hundreds who were in charge of the army, and said to them, “Bring her out [from the church], and whoever follows her shall be killed with the sword.” Because the priest said: Do not kill her in the house of the Lord. 2 Chronicles 23:15. And they gave her a place, and when she came to the entrance of the horse gate of the king's house, they killed her there. 2 Chronicles 23:16. And Jehoiada made a covenant among himself and between all the people and the king, that they might become the people of the Lord. 2 Chronicles 23:17. And all the people went to the church of Baal, and they destroyed it, and they broke in pieces its altars and its images; and Matthan the priest of Baal was put to death before the altars. 2 Chronicles 23:18. And Jehoiada entrusted the work of the house of the Lord to the priests and Levites, [and restored the daily orders of priests and Levites,] as David had distributed in the house of the Lord, to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, as it is written in the law of Moses, with joy and singing, according to the statute of David. 2 Chronicles 23:19. And he placed doorkeepers at the gates of the house of the Lord, so that for some reason the unclean could not enter. 2 Chronicles 23:20. And he took the captains of the hundreds, and the nobles, and the rulers of the people, and all the people of the land, and brought the king out of the house of the Lord, and they passed through the upper gate into the king's house, and they set the king on the royal throne. 2 Chronicles 23:21. And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was calm. And Athaliah was killed with the sword. Wed. ( 2 Kings 11:4-20 ) and The Expository Bible, vol. II, p. 514. Verse 5 mentions the “gate of Yesod,” that is, the foundations (Vulgata: ad portam, quae appellatur Fundamenti); in (2 Kings 11:6) they are called “the gates of Sur” (Schaar-Sur), and in Art. 19 of the same chapter - “the gate of the bodyguards” (schaar harazim). They are called “Foundation Gates” because of their low level in comparison with other gates (Prof. Olesnitsky, “The Old Testament Church,” p. 354). Of course, both names “can be correct, consisting of one another” (Prof. Gulyaev, pp. 549–550). LXX convey Yesod: ἐν τῆ πύλη τῆ μέση; slav.: “at the gates of the middle”. They were located on the western side of the church. Verses 6–7 emphasize the difference between priests and laity in approaching the holy thing (cf. (Num. 8:6,16:5; 1 Ezra 8:28–29)). In addition, in contrast to 2 Kings, there is a more active participation of the entire clergy - priests, Levites (verses 7-8), singers (verse 13) in the matter of enthroning Joash. “It seems there is no reason to doubt that the high priest, who ardently wanted to restore the purity of the cult of the Lord God of the covenant, attracted the entire tribe of Levi to participate in the conspiracy; Moreover, both legends are easily consistent, since it is obvious from both that the first conspirators were the chiefs of the security guards” (Vlastov, “The Sacred Chronicle”, vol. IV, part II, p. 188). Verse 16 says, “Jehoiada made a covenant among himself and between all the people and the king.” Instead of the words we marked in italics, in the parallel verse (2 Kings 11:17) there are the words “among the Lord” (bein Jehovah). But the essence of the matter remains the same in both cases: the high priest according to 2 Chronicles acts as a representative of Jehovah by virtue of his primacy position in a theocratic society. By its nature, the covenant of the king and the people with Jehovah, like other covenants of this kind, for example, the one under Asa (2 Chronicles 15:10-14), consisted of a solemn oath promise of the people and the king to sacredly observe the duties determined by the essence of theocracy (cf. (1 Samuel 10:25; 2 Kings 5:3). See Mr. A. Mirolyubov, “Genesis Jewish kings", Kazan, 1898, pp. 10–11). Jehoiada accompanies the young (7 years old) king with his guards and people from the church to the palace and arranges his house. Undoubtedly, Jehoiada was the regent of the kingdom during the minority of the king (Vlastov, “The Sacred Chronicle,” vol. IV, part II, p. 189). “The heads of the families of Israel” (v. 2): “Israel” here has the general meaning that the term had before the division of the Jewish kingdom into two, and also received again after the fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. You might be interested in: