2 Chronicles 23:4

Thisis the thing that ye shall do The main features of the arrangement as given here and in 2 Kin. are clear, although some details are obscure. From Kings it appears that it was the custom on the Sabbath for two-thirds of the royal guards to be free and for one-third to be on duty at the palace. In order to avoid arousing suspicion this last third was, according to Jehoiada's directions, to be at the palace as usual, but it was to be subdivided into thirds and so distributed as to close the various means of communication between the palace and the rest of the city. Thus Athaliah was to be held as in a trap by her own guards (2 Kings 11:5-6). The two-thirds who were free from duty on the Sabbath were to be stationed in the Temple about the young king to guard him at his coronation.

The arrangements are differently (and no doubt less accurately) stated in Chron. In the first place Levitical Temple guards take the place of the royal guards, secondly, the only division of the guards recognised is a simple division into thirds, finally, the stations of the different divisions are differently given, viz., one-third in the Temple, one-third in the palace, and one-third at "the gate of the foundation."

Using the modern terms "battalion" and "company" for the divisions and subdivisions given in Kings, the arrangements may be stated in a form which allows easy comparison between Kings and Chron., as fallows:

(A) 2 Kings 11:5-7.

(Royal guards in three battalions.)

1st battalion on duty at the king's house (palace).

A company within the palace (2 Chronicles 23:5),

B company at the gate of Sur (SVRHeb.),

C company at another gate ("behind the guard," 2 Chronicles 23:6).

2nd and 3rd battalions off duty, but brought into the house of the Lord (the Temple) by Jehoiada (2 Chronicles 23:7).

(B) 2 Chronicles 23:4-5.

(Levites in three bands.)

Band I. (1st battalion C company of 2 Kin.) in the house of God, the Chronicler supposing that "the house" (2 Kings 11:6) means the house of the Lord. More probably it means "the house of the king" (2 Kings 11:5).

Band II. (1st battalion A company of 2 Kin.) at the king's house (so 2 Kin.).

Band III. (1st battalion B company of 2 Kin.) at the gate of "the foundation" (JSVDHeb.).

(The Chronicler passes over the 2nd and 3rd battalions, because he has already assigned their duty to 1st battalion C company.)

of the priests and of the Levites Not in Kings. The words are a mistaken gloss of the Chronicler, for it is clear that in Kings layguards are meant.

porters of the doors R.V. mg., of the thresholds, i.e. of the Temple acc. to the Chronicler, for the word for "doors" (or "thresholds," sippimin Heb.) is always used for the thresholds of some sanctuary, e.g. of the Tabernacle (1 Chronicles 9:19; 1 Chronicles 9:22), of the Temple of Solomon (2 Chronicles 3:7), of (apparently) some Israelite shrine (Amos 9:1). In the parallel passage (2 Kings 11:6) however "the watch of the house" clearly means "the watch of the king's house" (ibid.2 Kings 11:5).

5. a thirdpart shall be at the king's house; and a thirdpart at the gate of the foundation These two-thirds according to the scheme given above were both stationed about the palace, but they are notto be reckoned as two-thirds of the whole guard.

the gate of the foundation "Gate of JSVD" (Heb.). This is certainly the "Gate of Sur" (SVRin Heb.) of 2 Kings 11:6. Probably however we should read "Gate of SVS(or SVSIM)," i.e. "Horse Gate" (2 Chronicles 23:15; cp. 2 Kings 11:16) both here and in Kings.