2 Kings 11:20

2Ki 11:20 And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was in quiet: and they slew Athaliah with the sword [beside] the king’s house.

Ver. 20. And they slew Athaliah with the sword] This being done by the consent of the whole people, or of the greater part, Deo fiebat auspice, saith Zuinglius, had God’s approbation; seeing she was both a usurper and a tyrant.

Beside the king’s house.] Congrue ibi caeditur ubl peccarat; she suffereth where she had most sinned.

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.

Which by her cruelty and persecution had vexed the whole land before.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 20. The people - rejoiced] They were glad to get rid of the tyranny of Athaliah.

And the city was in quiet] She had no partisans to rise up and disturb the king's reign.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(20) All the people of the land . . . the city.—Thenius calls this an “evident contrast between the soldiery and the. citizens; the former exulting in their work, the latter not lifting a finger while the idolatrous tyrant was being put to death “ (connecting the first half of the verse with the second; after Ewald). But his assumption that “all the people of the land,” here and in 2Ki_11:14, means “the soldiery” (“die ganze in Jerusalem anwesende Kriegerische Landesmannschaft—Die Kriegsmannschaft”) is certainly wrong. “The people of the land” are plainly opposed to the royal guards—“the Praetorians”—who effected the revolution, as civilians to soldiers.

The city was in quiet.—The citizens of Jerusalem accepted the revolution without attempting any counter movement. No doubt there was a strong element of Baal-worshippers and partisans of Athaliah in the capital. “The people of the land” (i.e., probably, the people whom the centurions had called together from the country, at the instance of Jehoiada, according to 2Ch_23:2) are contrasted with the burghers of Jerusalem. The phrase, “the city was in quiet” (or “had rest,” Jdg_5:31), may, however, possibly refer to the deliverance from the tyranny of Athaliah.

And they slew Athaliah.—Rather, and Athaliah they had slain; an emphatic recurrence to the real climax of the story (2Ki_11:16), by way of conclusion.

Beside.—Rather, in, i.e., within the palace enclosure.

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

20. And [R.V. So] all the people of the land rejoiced] The attachment of Judah to the family of David had always been very great, and to see a son of that family on the throne, even though some of his blood was of Ahab’s house, was far more to the mind of the people than to be ruled over by a daughter of Ahab.

and the city was in quiet] R.V. omits in, as is done in the parallel verse in 2 Chron. Cf. for the expression, the phrase so frequently recurring in Judges, ‘the land had rest’ (Jdg_3:30; Jdg_5:31; &c.).

beside [R.V. at] the king’s house] There is no preposition in the original as the italics of A.V. indicate; the noun is an accusative of place. Hence the ‘at’ of R.V. is warranted.

On the death of Athaliah Josephus (Ant. IX. 7. 3) says, ‘Jehoiada having called the captains ordered them to take Athaliah into the valley of Kidron and there to kill her’. In 2Ki_25:4 (see note there) we find that ‘the king’s garden’ was very near to the Kidron valley. It may be therefore that the place indicated here ‘beside (at) the king’s house’ was not far from the ‘king’s garden’ spoken of there.

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.

Seven years old was Jehoash when he began to reign. Being a year old when his father was killed and having been hid six years in the temple.

Next: 2 Kings Chapter 12

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

They slew Athaliah with the sword - This is one of the many little repetitions which mark the manner of the writer, and which generally contain some little point which has not been mentioned before (compare 2Ki 11:16).

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

And all the people of the land rejoiced. "All the people of the land" has here, perhaps, a wider signification than in vers. 18 and 19. The whole land was content with the revolution that had taken place. No opposition showed itself. Ewald has no ground for his statement that the heathenizing party was strong in Jerusalem, and that the worshippers of Jehovah "had for a long time to keep watch in the temple, to prevent surprise by the heathenizing party" ("History of Israel," vol. 4. p. 136, note 3). He has mistaken the intention of the last clause of ver. 18. If anything is clear from the entire narrative of the early reign of Joash (2Ki_11:3-21 2Ki_12:1-16; 2Ch_23:1-21 2Ch_24:1-14) it is that there was no heathenizing party in Jerusalem, or none that dared to show itself, until after the death of the high priest Jehoiada, which was later than the twenty-third year of Joash. And the cityi.e. Jerusalemwas in quiet: and they slew it might he translated, when they had slainAthaliah with the sword beside the king"s house. The intention of the writer is to connect the period of tranquility with the removal of Athaliah, and therefore to point her out as the cause of disturbance previously.

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