2 Kings 11:17

And Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD and the king and the people, that they should be the LORD'S people; between the king also and the people.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(17) A covenant.—Rather, the covenant. The high priest solemnly renewed the original compact between Jehovah and the king and people—a compact which had been violated by the Baal-worship of recent reigns.

That they should be the Lord’s people.—Comp. Deuteronomy 4:20; Exodus 19:5-6.

Between the king also and the people.—For the protection of their mutual rights and prerogatives. (Comp. 1Samuel 10:25.) The king was bound to govern according to the law of Jehovah—“the testimony” which had been put upon him (2Kings 11:12). (Comp. Note on 2Chronicles 23:16.) The people were to be loyal to the house of David.

Benson Commentary

2 Kings 11:17. Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord, &c. — A sacred covenant, whereby he solemnly engaged both the king and people, that they should be the Lord’s people — That they should renounce and root out all idolatry, and set up and maintain God’s true worship. Between the king also and the people — This was a civil covenant, whereby the king engaged himself to rule them justly, and in the fear of God; and the people obliged themselves to defend and obey him. Compare 2 Samuel 5:3.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

11:17-21 King and people would cleave most firmly to each other, when both had joined themselves to the Lord. It is well with a people, when all the changes that pass over them help to revive, strengthen, and advance the interests of religion among them. Covenants are of use, both to remind us of, and bind us to, the duties already binding on us. They immediately abolished idolatry; and, pursuant to the covenant with one another, they expressed mutual readiness to help each other. The people rejoiced, and Jerusalem was quiet. The way for people to be joyful and at peace, is to engage fully in the service of God; for the voice of joy and thanksgiving is in the dwellings of the righteous, but there is no peace for the wicked.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A covenant - Rather, "the covenant," which either was already an established part of a coronation (marginal reference "k"), or at least became such afterward.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2Ki 11:17-20. Jehoiada Restores God's Worship.

17, 18. a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people—The covenant with the Lord was a renewal of the national covenant with Israel (Ex 19:1-24:18; "to be unto him a people of inheritance," De 4:6; 27:9). The covenant between the king and the people was the consequence of this, and by it the king bound himself to rule according to the divine law, while the people engaged to submit, to give him allegiance as the Lord's anointed. The immediate fruit of this renewal of the covenant was the destruction of the temple and the slaughter of the priests of Baal (see 2Ki 10:27); the restoration of the pure worship of God in all its ancient integrity; and the establishment of the young king on the hereditary throne of Judah [2Ki 11:19].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Between the Lord and the king and the people; a sacred covenant, whereby he solemnly engaged both the king and people, as it here follows,

that they should be the Lord’s people, i.e. that they should renounce and root out all idolatry, and set up and maintain God’s true worship. Compare 2 Kings 23:10.

Between the king also and the people: this was a civil covenant, whereby the king engaged himself to rule them justly, and in the fear of God; and the people obliged themselves to defend and obey him. Compare 2 Samuel 5:3.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people, that they should be the Lord's people,.... Renewed the covenant between the Lord on the one part, and the king and the people on the other; assuring them, that as God had declared that he would be their God, he would yet be their God to bless and protect them, they continuing in obedience to him; and obliging them to promise that they would serve the Lord their God, and him only, and root out all idolatry from the land, and restore, and continue in, the pure worship of God:

between the king also and the people; he promising, on his part, that he would govern them according to the law of God, and protect them in their rights and properties, privileges and liberties; and they, on their part, that they would honour and obey him, and be his faithful subjects. In 2 Chronicles 23:16 Jehoiada is said to make this covenant between him, &c. which may be understood of the Lord; or if of himself, the meaning is, that it was made between him, the king and people, and the Lord.

Geneva Study Bible

And Jehoiada made a {p} covenant between the LORD and the king and the people, that they should be the LORD'S people; between the {q} king also and the people.

(p) That both the king and the people should maintain the true worship of God and destroy all idolatry.

(q) That he should govern and they obey in the fear of God.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

17–21. Jehoiada restores the worship of God. The house of Baal is destroyed. Joash is brought to the palace and enthroned (2 Chronicles 23:16 to 2 Chronicles 24:1)

17. And Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord] In 2 Chron. ‘Jehoiada’ stands in the place of Jehovah, and it is said he made a covenant between himself and all the people and the king. Of course in the whole transaction he would appear as the representative of Jehovah, and receive in the name of the Lord the promise of both king and people, by which they dedicated themselves to the Lord.

between the king also and the people] i.e. that they should be loyal subjects and he a just ruler over them.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 17-21. - Further doings of Jehoiada. The king being at present a mere puppet in his hands, Jehoiada had to determine the next steps which were necessary to be taken. These, in his judgment, were three.

1. A solemn covenant must be made between the king and the people; and another between the king, the people, and God - the latter pledging the king and people to maintain the worship of Jehovah, and never again to apostatize; the former pledging the king to govern according to law, and the people to remain faithful to him.

2. The temple of Baal, erected in Jerusalem at the instance of Athaliah, must be destroyed.

3. The king must be removed from the temple and installed in the palace of his ancestors. A brief account of these proceedings concludes the present chapter. Verse 17. - And Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people. In the original it is "made the covenant;" and the meaning is that the high priest renewed the old covenant understood to exist between king and people on the one hand and God on the other, that they would be faithful to God and God to them - that they would maintain his worship, and that he would continue his protection (see Exodus 19:5-8; Exodus 24:3-8; Exodus 34:10-28). The apostasy of Jehoram, Ahaziah, and Athaliah was regarded as having put an end to the old covenant, and therefore it was solemnly remade or renewed. That they should be the Lord's people (comp. Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 4:20; Deuteronomy 9:29; Deuteronomy 32:9, etc.); between the king also and the people. The terms of this covenant are nowhere distinctly stated, but we can only suppose them to have expressed in words the intention of that novel act, the imposition of "the testimony" upon the head of the king at the time of his coronation (see the comment upon ver. 12). 2 Kings 11:17

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Renewal of the covenant, extermination of the worship of Baal, and entrance of the king into the palace. - 2 Kings 11:17. After Jehoash was crowned and Athaliah put to death, Jehoiada concluded the covenant (1) between Jehovah on the one hand and the king and people on the other, and (2) between the king and the people. The former was simply a renewal of the covenant which the Lord had made with Israel through Moses (Exodus 24), whereby the king and the people bound themselves ליהוה לעם להיות, i.e., to live as the people of the Lord, or to keep His law (cf. Deuteronomy 4:20; Deuteronomy 27:9-10), and was based upon the "testimony" handed to the king. This covenant naturally led to the covenant between the king and the people, whereby the king bound himself to rule his people according to the law of the Lord, and the people vowed that they would be obedient and subject to the king as the ruler appointed by the Lord (cf. 2 Samuel 5:3). The renewal of the covenant with the Lord was necessary, because under the former kings the people had fallen away from the Lord and served Baal. The immediate consequence of the renewal of the covenant, therefore, was the extermination of the worship of Baal, which is mentioned at once in 2 Kings 11:18, although its proper place in order of time is after 2 Kings 11:18. All the people (הארץ כּל־עם, as in 2 Kings 11:14) went to the temple of Baal, threw down his altars, broke his images (the columns of Baal and Astarte) rightly, i.e., completely (היטב as in Deuteronomy 9:21), and slew the priest Mattan, probably the chief priest of Baal, before his altars. That the temple of Baal stood within the limits of the sanctuary, i.e., of the temple of Jehovah (Thenius), cannot be shown to be probable either from 2 Chronicles 24:7 or from the last clause of this verse. (For 2 Chronicles 24:7 see the fuller remarks on 2 Kings 12:5.) The words "and the priest set overseers over the house of Jehovah" do not affirm that Jehoiada created the office of overseer over the temple for the purpose of guarding against a fresh desecration of the temple by idolatry (Thenius), but simply that he appointed overseers over the temple, namely, priests and Levites entrusted with the duty of watching over the performance of worship according to the precepts of the law, as is more minutely described in 2 Kings 11:18, 2 Kings 11:19.