“400. A CORONATION—2 KINGS 11:4-16; 2 CHRONICLES 23:1-15”

A Coronation—2Ki_11:4-16; 2Ch_23:1-15

For all that appears in the narrative, the six years of Athaliah’s reign were quiet and undisturbed; and she doubtless flattered herself, that her throne was established, and that the people were contented with her government. But they were only silent—only waited because they knew not what to do. They had no leader; and, what was more, they had no ostensible object to fix their attention; for there appeared not, nor was there supposed to exist, any claimant of the throne of David to rouse them to action.

At length, when the power of Athaliah seemed most secure, it began to be secretly whispered, that a young scion of the royal house had escaped the massacre. And it was so. The youngest of the doomed, Joash by name, then a mere infant of a year old, was saved by his aunt, Jehoshabeath, daughter of king Jehoram, and wife to the high-priest Jehoiada, who privately introduced him and his nurse into the temple, where he was preserved and brought up in the chambers of the high-priest. When the child was seven years old, Jehoiada considered the time was come to put an end to this unseemly usurpation, and to restore the true heir to the throne of his fathers. The present state of things, besides being a great public wrong, was a scandal to religion, not to be endured one moment longer than necessity compelled. The high-priest took his measures with great prudence and skill. He communicated the fact, with his plans, to those on whom he could rely; and rejoiced to find a great readiness on all hands to enter into his views, and carry out his designs.

The Sabbath day was chosen for the demonstration, because then there would be a great number of the people present, and still more, because he could then obtain a double force of priests and Levites; for at the change of the weekly turn of service, he would be enabled to detain those who were to go out, and add them to those who had come in for the service of the ensuing week. For these to enter the temple in arms would have prematurely awakened suspicion; they were therefore furnished with the swords and spears which, as we now first learn, were deposited within the temple. Even the officers of Athaliah’s guard, or at least some of them, had been gained over, and lent the important sanction of their presence to the proceedings. Indeed, we may presume that Jehoiada would hardly have taken this bold step, had he not previously ascertained that the troops were not hearty in the service of Athaliah, and were prepared to hail the restoration of the royal line with gladness. All being ready, and the Levites properly stationed to guard the person of the young king and the approach to the temple, when the people assembled at the morning sacrifice, they were astonished at this strange display of military armament within the temple, wondering what this might mean. But, while astonishment held them mute, the high-priest appeared, conducting a fair boy to a stage under the pillar which formed the usual station of the kings when they came to the temple. He then, with a loud voice, proclaimed who he was, and proceeded to anoint him, and to place the crown-royal on his head, while the trumpets sounded, and the people hailed the act with loud acclamations of “Long live the king!”

The noise of this rapturous uproar in the temple reached the palace, and Athaliah hurried off to learn its cause. What she there beheld, revealed the truth to her at once. She rent her clothes, and shouted, “Treason! treason!” But no voice responded to her cry; no friends gathered around her; no arm was lifted in her cause; and on a word from Jehoiada, she was hurried forth from the temple and put to death. Hers was the only blood shed in this well-managed revolution, except that of Mattan, the high-priest of Baal, who was slain at the altar, when the people hastened to destroy the idol temple. We do not recollect any revolution of such great importance that took place so peacefully, and at so little cost of blood.

The kings of Judah usually succeeded each other with little if any ceremony, without even the anointing; the solemn inauguration of the founder of the dynasty being usually considered sufficient for his descendants. The only kings whose accession was attended with ceremonial observances were Saul, the first king; David, the first of his line, Solomon, who had an elder brother aspiring to the crown; and now Joash, in whose person the broken line was restored. By this it is seen, that the coronation was rather an exceptional than a customary ceremony, resorted to only when peculiar circumstances seemed to require the solemn public recognition which it involved.

The ceremonies are more particularly described in this case than in any other, though still with great conciseness. “He brought forth the king’s son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony: and made him king, and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, God save the king!” Note: Rather, “Long live the king;” or more literally “Live the king;”—answering to the French “Vive le Roi.” Again, it is stated that “the king stood by a pillar, as the manner was, and the princes and the trumpeters by the king; and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew with trumpets.”

Egyptian Mode of Anointing a King

There is nothing in the law respecting the anointing of kings, only of high-priests; but as Samuel anointed the two first kings, and as it was an ancient custom to anoint them, this came to be regarded as a most essential part of the ceremony. Its antiquity is evinced by the monuments of Egypt, which exhibit this anointing of kings by priests. The kings were usually, but not indispensably, anointed with the same “holy anointing oil,” stored up in the temple, as was used in the anointing of the priests; but the Jewish Rabbinical writers tell us, there was this curious difference in the form of anointing, that the king was anointed in the form of a diadem encircling his head, to show that he was the head of the people; but that the high-priest was anointed in the form of a cross, one line drawn in the oil, running down his forehead, crossed by another line drawn between his eyebrows. The Scriptural expression, as well as the Egyptian monuments, would, however, rather suggest that the oil was poured out somewhat copiously upon the head. One who had been himself royally anointed, describes the oil with which Aaron was anointed, as running down his beard to his garments. Psa_133:2.

Eastern Crowns

After the king had been anointed, the officiating priest, or prophet, gave the king what the Jews call the kiss of majesty or greatness, but what we should call the kiss of homage. This was upon the forehead, or between the eyes. It is recorded that Samuel so kissed Saul; and, although the act is not afterwards historically mentioned, it was probably retained, as there is a distinct allusion to it in Psa_2:12. “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry.” The crown was then placed upon the king’s head. This was probably a stiff cap or turban, enriched with gold and jewels, such as are still used in the East, and which was doubtless worn, as at present, only on occasions of high state.

The “testimony” was then, as in the case before us, put into the royal hands. This was the book of the law, and while the prince held it, he entered into a covenant with God, to observe and keep his commandments as set forth therein. Then he entered into an engagement upon oath with the people, to govern them with justice, and to violate none of their rights and privileges; while the people, on their part, took a kind of oath of allegiance, and promised faithful obedience to him. The trumpets then sounded, and the people hailed their king. But the ceremonies of the day were not complete until the new sovereign had been conducted in high state from the temple to the palace, and was put in actual possession of the kingdom by being placed upon the throne, where none but the king dared, it is said, to be seated on pain of death. But if a king were proclaimed when another was in possession of the throne, the guards of the new monarch, to supply this defect in the ceremonies, would place him upon some kind of eminence, so as to raise him above the rest of the people. Thus Jehu was acknowledged as king by his captains, when they extemporized a throne for him, by setting him at the head of the stairs, and spreading their clothes under his feet.

On such an occasion many sacrifices were offered, and a splendid feast was held, at which the nobles and high officers were entertained with great state and magnificence—in fact, a coronation feast. The poor also were liberally cared for, and there were few who were left unprovided with “a loaf of bread, a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine.”

Autor: JOHN KITTO