God’s Word for You

2 Chronicles 23:16-21 The city was at peace

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Thursday, April 24, 2025

16 Jehoiada then made a covenant between himself and the people and the king, that they would be the people of the LORD. 17 Then all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed the altars and idols. They had also killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of those altars. 18 Then Jehoiada posted watchmen for the house of the LORD, directed by the priests, who were Levites. They were the ones David had given assignments to in the temple, to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as written in the Law of Moses, with rejoicing and singing, as David had ordered. 19 He also stationed the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one should enter who was unclean in any way. 20 He took with him the commanders of hundreds, the nobles, the rulers of the people and all the people of the land, and he brought the king down from the house of the LORD. They went through the Upper Gate into the king’s house, and they set the king on the royal throne. 21 All the people of the land rejoiced. Then the city was at peace after Athaliah was put to death with the sword.

As soon as Athaliah was put to death, the high priest Jehoiada took charge of the temple, of the city, and of the situation. There could have been panic at the accession of a child king, but Jehoiada the priest acted in the best interests of the new king and of the nation. The first thing he did was to make a covenant “between himself, the people, and the king.” The covenant was “that they would be the people of the Lord.” Therefore this covenant was similar to the covenant made between God and Abraham. At that time, circumcision had been introduced (Genesis 17), to make Abraham’s entire household and family into the people of God. Jehoiada takes the people back to that state of being, at its very simplest, the devoted people of God. An animal or several animals would have been killed, their pieces separated, and the high priest, the king, and the people who were there would have walked between the pieces: “May what happened to these animals happen to me if I fail to keep the terms of this covenant; if I fail to remain among the people of God.” The covenant also re-established the worship of the LORD God alone as the only God of Israel, according to the command of King David and the organization he had made for temple worship.

The first act following the covenant ceremony was to go to the temple of Baal. Just where this was in the city or outside the walls is unknown, but Solomon had built shrines for various pagan gods on the ridge of the Hill of Corruption (the name for the southern peak of the Mount of Olives) east of the city (2 Kings 23:13). The procession went there, probably to the surprise of Mattan the priest of Baal who was there. It’s no stretch of the imagination to think of him sitting there eating his lunch when all the nobles and elders of the city came up the winding path to the door of his shrine. But they seized him and killed him there “in front of those altars.” Then the statues of the gods and goddesses were destroyed and the altars were smashed. They were not just disassembled into a pile of big stones; they were smashed into gravel and powder (the piel verb stem intensifies the meaning of “broke” into “smashed, pulverized,” 23:17).

After this, the Lord’s house, the temple, was once again set in order. The correct division of priests was posted. The Levites and priests were commanded to take up their duties as established by Moses in the days of the Exodus and updated by David when he increased the size of the temple and regulated which priests should be working at what times throughout each year.

A special mention is made of the gatekeepers. They were to make sure than no one who was ceremonially unclean could or would enter into the Lord’s temple. Up to this point, it was assumed that no one would dare to approach the Lord’s altar in a state of uncleanness. There were many regulations about uncleanness in the Law of Moses, but all of them are about what the unclean person needs to do before approaching other people or the Lord’s house. Only now was there a command that specifically told the gatekeepers not to admit anyone who was unclean. Perhaps it was that until the chaotic, irrational, and thoroughly wicked behavior of Athaliah was such a regulation thought to be necessary.

After all of this was done, the new king was brought into his palace, the house of the king, in a public ceremony. The response of the people was spontaneous and cheerful. The people had a lawful, Davidic king once again.

Finally, we come to a verse that is not always easy to understand. The verse says, “The city [ was quiet / was undisturbed / had peace ] ; Athaliah was put to death by the sword.” The older NIV said, “The city was quiet.” This was also the King James translation, and some others, said. That gave the verse a strange contrast, since after the people’s rejoicing there was also a “quiet” on account of Athaliah’s death. But new translations such as the NIV-2011 have “the city had peace,” which is also my translation here. This fits better with the preceding verses, and the explanatory statement that this woman had been executed. There would be no more of the chaotic unrest now that she had been executed following her coup, the murders she had committed, and other outrages. The city finally had peace.

This chapter has prefiguring echoes of Christ’s victory and his defeat of sin, death, and the power of the devil.

• A wicked usurper has seized power and killed the Lord’s lawful representatives and servants.
• The line of David has been all but wiped out.
• A single child is saved by a faithful couple.
• The one who should be king is brought into the city by cheering crowds.
• The sin that the usurper brought is crushed; the covenant is renewed, and the city is rid of its uncleanness.
• The usurper is triumphed over, and the kingdom is restored.
• The victory brings peace.

There was a judge named Gideon who saw clearly that it is always the grace of God alone that brings good into the lives of people. In his time, a prophet of God had condemned Israel for their sins of idolatry (Judges 6:1-10), and then the Angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, who admitted that he was from the smallest family from the weakest clan of his tribe. But the Lord promised to be with him and give him victory, and the altar he built that day he named, “The LORD is Peace” (Judges 6:24). And although Gideon lived more than three hundred years before the overthrow of wicked Athaliah, the Lord is the same, yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). The mighty things he has done in the past were done in part to give us confidence that the Lord Almighty is also with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress (Psalm 46:7,11). When the Psalm writers give the Lord a name like that, “The God of Jacob,” it reminds us that what he did once, he will do again. The God of my mother is my God, too. He saved her and preserved her faith, he will be with me always, and he will be with you as well.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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