CHAPTER 23 Oct. 26 
Jehoiada the Priest Supports Joash
In the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself, and took the captains of hundreds, Azariah the son of Jeroham, Ishmael the son of Jehohanan, Azariah the son of Obed, Maaseiah the son of Adaiah and Elishaphat the son of Zichri, into covenant with him. 2They went about in Judah, and gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the heads of fathers’ households of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem. 3All the assembly made a covenant with the king in God’s house. He said to them, Behold, the king’s son shall reign, as Yahweh has spoken concerning the sons of David. 4This is the thing that you shall do. A third part of you, who come in on the Sabbath, of the priests and of the Levites, shall be porters at the thresholds. 5A third part shall be at the king’s house; and a third part at the gate of the foundation. All the people shall be in the courts of Yahweh’s house. 6But let no one come into the house of Yahweh, except the priests, and those who minister of the Levites. They shall come in, for they are holy, but all the people shall follow Yahweh’s instructions. 7The Levites shall surround the king, every man with his weapons in his hand. Whoever comes into the house, let him be slain. Be with the king when he comes in, and when he goes out. 8So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded. They took every man his men, those who were to come in on the Sabbath, with those who were to go out on the Sabbath; for Jehoiada the priest didn’t dismiss the shift. 9Jehoiada the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spears, large shields and shields that had been king David’s, which were in God’s house. 10He set all the people, each man with his weapon in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, along by the altar and the house, surrounding the king. 11Then they brought out the king’s son and put the crown on him, and gave him the testimony, and made him king. Jehoiada and his sons anointed him; and they said, Long live the king! 12When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she came to the people into the house of Yahweh. 13She looked, and, behold, the king stood by his pillar at the entrance, and the captains and the trumpets by the king; and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew trumpets. The singers also played musical instruments, and led the singing of praise. Then Athaliah tore her clothes, and said, Treason! Treason! 14Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them, Bring her out between the ranks; and whoever follows her, let him be slain with the sword. For the priest said, Don’t kill her in Yahweh’s house. 15So they made way for her. She went to the entrance of the horse gate to the king’s house; and they killed her there. 
Jehoiada Reforms Judah
16Jehoiada made a covenant between himself and all the people, and the king, that they should be Yahweh’s people. 17All the people went to the house of Baal and broke it down, and broke his altars and his images in pieces, and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. 18Jehoiada appointed the officers of the house of Yahweh under the hand of the priests the Levites, whom David had distributed in the house of Yahweh, to offer the burnt offerings of Yahweh, as it is written in the law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing, according to the order of David. 19He set the porters at the gates of the house of Yahweh, that no one who was unclean in any matter should enter in. 20He took the captains of hundreds, and the nobles, and the governors of the people, and all the people of the land, and brought down the king from the house of Yahweh. They came through the upper gate to the king’s house, and set the king on the throne of the kingdom. 21So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet. Athaliah they had slain with the sword.

Commentary

23:1 Took... into covenant with him- Note how at this same time they made a covenant with God (:3). Our covenant with God is often connected with our covenant with each other; covenant relationship isn’t just a deal between God and us, rather does our relationship with Him involve us in relationship with the rest of His true people. We can’t be in relationship with God and isolate ourselves from His people.
23:11 Jehoiada and his sons anointed him- One of these sons was Zechariah, whom Joash was later to ungratefully murder for daring to criticize him (24:20-22). Indeed, 24:25 says that Joash killed all these sons. Ingratitude is a sin because the kindness we were shown is a reflection of God’s grace to us through a human channel, and to be ungrateful for it is thereby a rejection of God’s grace.
23:16 The parallel record in 2 Kings 11:17 says this covenant was between Yahweh and the people, but here we read that it was between Jehoiada and the people. Jehoiada as the priest was God’s representative, and therefore what he did was on God’s behalf. God’s representatives can be spoken of as if they are God, even though they aren’t God Himself in person. This principle, which is found throughout the Old Testament, should prepare us to accept that God’s Son, Jesus, as His Father’s total representative, isn’t God Himself but can be spoken of as God, as Jehoiada was, because He functions so completely on God’s behalf.
23:21 The people of the land rejoiced- In the same way as “all the people” destroyed the temple of Baal (:17) and “all the people” rejoiced at the idea of Joash being made king (:13). Although the people were spiritually weak at this time, there was deep within them a desire to do the right thing- they just lacked the strength to do it, and needed someone like Jehoiada to present it clearly to them. We may consider those around us to be totally disinterested in spiritual things, but if we present them with the right way, we will be surprised how this is passively and unconsciously what a lot of apparently ‘worldly’ people are in fact looking for. See on 24:10.