2 Kings 11:10

And to the captains over hundreds did the priest give king David's spears and shields, that were in the temple of the LORD.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) King David’s spears and shields.—The Hebrew has spear, but Chronicles has the plural, which appears correct. “Shields” should perhaps be arms. (Comp. 2Samuel 8:7; 2Chronicles 23:9.) The arms which David had laid up in the Temple as spoils of war were now to be used, appropriately enough, for the restoration of David’s heir to the throne. Possibly, as Bähr suggests, the guards who came off duty at the palace had left their weapons there.

Benson Commentary

2 Kings 11:10. To the captains did the priest give King David’s spears and shields — Offensive and defensive weapons, both for themselves and for all their soldiers; for they had all come into the temple unarmed, to prevent suspicion. These are called David’s, either because they were such as he had taken from his enemies, and had dedicated to God, and laid up in the temple as monuments of God’s goodness to him; or because he had made a sacred armory in the temple, whence arms might be taken upon extraordinary occasions, for the defence of the temple or city of God.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

11:1-12 Athaliah destroyed all she knew to be akin to the crown. Jehoash, one of the king's sons, was hid. Now was the promise made to David bound up in one life only, and yet it did not fail. Thus to the Son of David, the Lord, according to his promise, will secure a spiritual seed, hidden sometimes, and unseen, but hidden in God's pavilion, and unhurt. Six years Athaliah tyrannized. Then the king was brought forward. A child indeed, but he had a good guardian, and, what was better, a good God to go to With such joy and satisfaction must the kingdom of Christ be welcomed into our hearts, when his throne is set up there, and Satan the usurper is cast out. Say, Let the King, even Jesus, live, for ever live and reign in my soul, and in all the world.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Within the ranges - Rather, "within the ranks." If anyone tried to break through the soldiers' ranks to the king, or even to disturb their order, he was to be immediately slain.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2Ki 11:4-12. He Is Made King.

4. the seventh year—namely, of the reign of Athaliah, and the rescue of Jehoash.

Jehoiada sent and fetched the rulers, &c.—He could scarcely have obtained such a general convocation except at the time, or on pretext, of a public and solemn festival. Having revealed to them the secret of the young king's preservation and entered into a covenant with them for the overthrow of the tyrant, he then arranged with them the plan and time of carrying their plot into execution (see on [336]2Ch 22:10-23:21). The conduct of Jehoiada, who acted the leading and chief part in this conspiracy, admits of an easy and full justification; for, while Athaliah was a usurper, and belonged to a race destined by divine denunciation to destruction, even his own wife had a better and stronger claim to the throne; the sovereignty of Judah had been divinely appropriated to the family of David, and therefore the young prince on whom it was proposed to confer the crown, possessed an inherent right to it, of which a usurper could not deprive him. Moreover, Jehoiada was most probably the high priest, whose official duty it was to watch over the due execution of God's laws, and who in his present movement, was encouraged and aided by the countenance and support of the chief authorities, both civil and ecclesiastical, in the country. In addition to all these considerations, he seems to have been directed by an impulse of the Divine Spirit, through the counsels and exhortations of the prophets of the time.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Spears and shields; offensive and defensive weapons, which he gave to the captains, both for themselves, and for all their soldiers; for they all came into the temple unarmed, to prevent suspicion. These are called

David’s, either because they were such as he had taken from his enemies which he had dedicated to God, and laid up in the temple as monuments of God’s goodness to him; see 1 Samuel 21:9 2 Samuel 8:7,11 1 Kings 7:51; or because David had made a sacred armory in the temple, whence arms might be taken upon extraordinary occasions, for the defence of the temple or city of God.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And to the captains over hundreds did the priest give King David's spears and shields, that were in the temple of the Lord. Such as he had taken in war from his enemies, and had dedicated for the service of the temple, to defend it on occasion, and laid up there; those the priests gave to the captains, to arm their men with, who came unarmed, and so unsuspected, and in this way might be armed without being seen and known.

Geneva Study Bible

And to the captains over hundreds did the {k} priest give king David's spears and shields, that were in the temple of the LORD.

(k) That is, Jehoiada.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

10. And to the captains over hundreds did the priest give] R.V. And the priest delivered to the captains over hundreds. Thus the English is made to correspond to the Hebrew order more closely, and to the translation in 2 Chron. It is to be observed that both accounts agree about the weapons being delivered to the soldiery by Jehoiada, thus making clear that to both compilers it was known that the whole undertaking was controlled by the guard and not by the priests and Levites, though, as his manner is, the writer of Chronicles puts them in the forefront as much as he can.

king David’s stears and shields] R.V. the spears and shields that had been king David’s. This is the form in 2 Chronicles, except that there ‘bucklers’ are mentioned between ‘spears’ and ‘shields’. These weapons were those which David in his wars had taken from his enemies, and stored probably in the chambers round the temple. For the practice of so devoting the weapons of the conquered cf. the sword of Goliath laid up in store with Ahimelech at Nob (1 Samuel 21:9), and the shields which David took from the servants of Hadadezer (2 Samuel 13:7) and carried to Jerusalem.

that were in the temple [R.V. house] of the Lord] It is the same word which is rendered ‘house’ frequently in this chapter. Of course it means ‘temple’, but the English reader might suppose that the original had here a different word. The same change has to be made in the next verse, three times over; and in the parallel verse in 2 Chron.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - And to the captains over hundreds did the priest give King David's spears and shields, that were in the temple of the Lord. We hear of David carrying with him to Jerusalem the "shields of gold," i.e. shields ornamented with gold, which he took from the servants of Hadadezer (2 Samuel 8:7); but otherwise we are not told of his establishing an armory. Solomon made six hundred shields of solid gold, and laid them up in the house of the forest of Lebanon (1 Kings 10:17); but these were carried off by Sheshonk, when he invaded Judaea in the reign of Rehoboam (1 Kings 14:26). Rehoboam, in their place, made three hundred brazen shields (1 Kings 14:27), which, however, were deposited in the guard-chamber of the royal palace. Of spears collected by David, and laid up in the temple, we know nothing beyond the present passage. There can be little doubt that the weapons were brought forth from their receptacle with the view (as Ewald says) of "consecrating the work of the restoration of the Davidic house with the sacred arms of the great founder himself" (see 'History of Israel,' vol. 4. p. 136) - not, however, with arms that he had worn, but with some which he had collected and laid up. 2 Kings 11:10

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The execution of these plans. The high priest gave the captains "the spears and shields (שׁלטים: see at 2 Samuel 8:7) which (belonged) to king David, that were in the house of Jehovah," i.e., the weapons which David had presented to the sanctuary as dedicatory offerings. Instead of החנית we ought probably to read החניתת (cf. Micah 4:3; Isaiah 2:4), after the החניתים of the Chronicles, since the collective force of הנית is very improbable in prose, and a ת might easily drop out through a copyist's error. Jehoiada gave the captains weapons from the temple, because, as has been already observed, they had come unarmed, and not, as Thenius imagines, to provide them with old and sacred weapons instead of their ordinary ones. In 2 Kings 11:11 the position of all the divisions is given in a comprehensive manner, for the purpose of appending the further course of the affair, namely, the coronation of the king. "Thus the halberdiers stood, every one with his weapons in his hand, from the right wing of the house to the left wing, towards the altar (of burnt-offering) and the (temple-) house, round about the king," i.e., to cover the king on all sides. For it is evident that we are not to understand סביב על־המּלך as signifying the encircling of the king, from the statement in 2 Kings 11:12, according to which Jehoiada did not bring out the king's son till after the men had taken up their positions. The use of הרצים, to signify the captains with the armed priests and Levites put under their command for this purpose, is an uncommon one, but it may be explained from the fact that רצים had retained the general meaning of royal halberdiers; and the priests and Levites under the command of the captains of the royal body-guard by this very act discharged the duty of the royal body-guard itself. The chronicler has used the indefinite expression כּל-haa`aam, the whole of the people assembled in the temple-court.