Matthew Poole and continuators on 2 Kings 11:4

4 And in the seventh year Jehoiada sent , and set the rulers over hundreds , with the captains and the guard , and brought them to him into the house of the LORD , and made a covenant with them , and took an oath of them in the house of the LORD, and shewed them the kings son.

If this action of Iehoiadah's seem strange and irregular, this was no ordinary case, but there were divers peculiar things in it; as that Athaliah was a meer Usurper, having no pretence of Right to the Crown, and one of that wicked House which God had particularly, and by Name, Devoted to Destrnction; that Iehoiadah's Wife was neare[illegible: 1+ letters] Allied, and had more Right to the Crown, than Athaliah; that the Crown of Iudah was by Divine appointment appropriated to the Sons of David; and therefore the Right of the Crown was inherently in him whom Iehoiadah set up, which right her Usurpation could not Exclude: That Iehoiadah was not a meer private person, but the Husband of the Kings Aunt; and probably the High-Priest, to whom it belonged in great part to see the Laws of God Executed: That Iehoiadah did not act alone in the business, but had the consent and concurrence of the Chief Rulers both Civil and Ecclesiastical; and besides all this, that it is conceived, That he had a special Motion of God's Spirit, or the direction and encouragement of the Prophets of that time. So that this action cannot be drawn into a President for succeeding times, and for other Kingdoms.

Of whom see Exod. 18. 25. Of these there were five, which are named, 2 Chron. 23. 1. And these were either, 1. Civil, or Military Officers. But then such small Officers could not have stood him in much stead. And why did he not rather engage Captains of thousands, or greater Persons, whom doubtless he might easily have brought into this Confederacy? Or rather, Priests or Levites of eminency, as their work sheweth, ver. 5, 6, 7. and 2 Chron. 23. 1, 2. and their distinction from the Captains and Guard.

Or, Princes, or Nobles, or Commanders; such as he knew were weary of her Idolatrous and Tyrannical Government, and Faithful to their King.

Possibly those who had been the former King's Guard, who had been displaced by Athaliah, as persons whose fidelity she suspected.

i. e. Into the Courts of that House, which oft come under the name of the house, or Temple of the Lord: for into the House none but the Priests or Levites might enter.

To restore the King to his Kingdom, and Religion to its Purity.

For their Secrecy and Fidelity in the present Design.

Marginal references: 2 Chron. 23. 1.