11:4 In the seventh year Jehoiada summoned 1 the officers of the units of hundreds of the Carians 2 and the royal bodyguard. 3 He met with them 4 in the Lord’s temple. He made an agreement 5 with them and made them swear an oath of allegiance in the Lord’s temple. Then he showed them the king’s son.
11:1 When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she was determined to destroy the entire royal line. 6
1:1 After Ahab died, Moab rebelled against Israel. 7 1:2 Ahaziah fell through a window lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria 8 and was injured. He sent messengers with these orders, 9 “Go, ask 10 Baal Zebub, 11 the god of Ekron, if I will survive this injury.”
23:8 He brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and ruined 12 the high places where the priests had offered sacrifices, from Geba to Beer Sheba. 13 He tore down the high place of the goat idols 14 situated at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the city official, on the left side of the city gate.
1 tn Heb “Jehoiada sent and took.”
2 sn The Carians were apparently a bodyguard, probably comprised of foreigners. See HALOT 497 s.v. כָּרִי and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 126.
3 tn Heb “the runners.”
4 tn Heb “he brought them to himself.”
5 tn Or “covenant.”
6 tn Heb “she arose and she destroyed all the royal offspring.” The verb קוּם (qum) “arise,” is here used in an auxiliary sense to indicate that she embarked on a campaign to destroy the royal offspring. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 125.
7 sn This statement may fit better with the final paragraph of 1 Kgs 22.
8 map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1.
9 tn Heb “and he sent messengers and said to them.”
10 tn That is, “seek an oracle from.”
11 sn Apparently Baal Zebub refers to a local manifestation of the god Baal at the Philistine city of Ekron. The name appears to mean “Lord of the Flies,” but it may be a deliberate scribal corruption of Baal Zebul, “Baal, the Prince,” a title known from the Ugaritic texts. For further discussion and bibliography, see HALOT 261 s.v. זְבוּב בַּעַל and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 25.
12 tn Heb “defiled; desecrated,” that is, “made ritually unclean and unusable.”
13 sn These towns marked Judah’s northern and southern borders, respectively, at the time of Josiah.
14 tc The Hebrew text reads “the high places of the gates,” which is problematic in that the rest of the verse speaks of a specific gate. The translation assumes an emendation to בָּמוֹת הַשְּׁעָרִים (bamot hashÿ’arim), “the high place of the goats” (that is, goat idols). Worship of such images is referred to in Lev 17:7 and 2 Chr 11:15. For a discussion of the textual issue, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 286-87.