2 Chronicles 23:6

2Ch 23:6 But let none come into the house of the LORD, save the priests, and they that minister of the Levites; they shall go in, for they [are] holy: but all the people shall keep the watch of the LORD.

Ver. 6. Shall keep the watch of the Lord.] They shall observe to do in this service of the Lord what is given them in charge. Every man must move in his own orb to promote the work of reformation.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ch 23:6. Let none come into the house of the Lord — Strictly so called, and distinguished from the courts just mentioned, namely, into the sanctuary, or holy place. Save the priests, and they that minister of the Levites — Who are to minister in course, or according to my present appointment. They shall go in, for they are holy — They have been consecrated to the service of God, and are bound to attend there. But all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord — That is, of the house of the Lord, as is expressed 2Ki 11:6. The meaning is, Let them stand in their court to prevent and oppose any person that shall endeavour violently to break into the house, to seize upon the king, or to oppose the present work, which he expected Athaliah and her accomplices would do.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

23:6-7 Because only the priests and Levites on duty may enter the Temple, the Levites were required to prevent anyone else from doing so.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(6) But let none come into the house of the Lord.—This verse is not read in Kings. Apparently it is merely an emphatic repetition of the direction of the last verse that all the people were to remain in the courts, and not to break the law by presuming to enter the holy chambers. In 2Ki_11:7 we read instead: “And the two parts among you, all that go out on the Sabbath, they shall keep the watch of the house of the Lord, with regard to the king.” The last words of the present verse, “And all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord” repeat a portion of this, but in a different sense: “Let all the people carefully observe the legal rule against entering the sanctuary.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. let none come into the house of the Lord] It is clear on the contrary from Kings (2Ch_23:11) that the royal guards (who were laymen) were brought into the Temple itself under Jehoiada’s directions. Ritual custom was broken through for such a crisis.

all the people] Not mentioned in Kings; but cp. 2Ki_11:14.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Keep the watch of the Lord - i. e. guard against any attempt that might be made by the Baal-worshippers to force their way through the courts into the temple.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Into the house of the Lord; strictly so called, as it is distinguished from the courts, into which others were permitted to come, 2Ch 23:5, to wit, into the holy place.

The priests, and they that minister of the Levites; they who are to minister in course, or by my present appointment.

The watch of the Lord, i.e. of the house of the Lord; as the phrase may be filled up out of this place and 2Ki 11:6. The sense is, Let them stand in their court to prevent and oppose any person who shall endeavour violently to break into the house to seize upon the king, or to disturb their present work; which he expected Athaliah and her accomplices would do.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

But let none come save the priests. Through this little chink we get some light confirmatory of the concurrent jurisdiction of the account in the parallel The express caution of this clause shows that there were others about, and others officiating, beside the Levites, who only have been mentioned hitherto in our text, except under the most generic designation (as before, so again in last clause of this verse) of "all the people." The last clause of this verse may cover the contents of ver. 7 in the parallel. The distinction between "the courts of the house of the Lord" (ver. 5), and "the house of the Lord" (ver. 6) is, of course, quite apparent.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Allow no one to come into the house of Yahweh

"Do not allow anyone to come into the house of Yahweh"

But all the other people must obey the commands of Yahweh

It may be helpful to state that command. AT: "All the others must remain in the courtyard, obeying what Yahweh has commanded" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

The Levites must surround the king on all sides

"The Levites must surround the king on all sides in order to protect him"

all sides, every man with his weapons in his hand

"all sides, and every temple guard should have his weapons and be ready to fight"

Whoever comes into the house, let him be killed

This did not include the temple guards and the priests. This can be stated explicitly and in active form. AT: "You must kill anyone except the temple guards and the priests who come into the temple" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information and Active or Passive)

when he comes in and when he goes out

Possible meanings are 1) "at all times" or 2) "wherever he goes." (See: Idiom)

translationWords

command

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

and all the people shall keep lest they enter the House of the Lord.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.