Since the pioneer analysis of de Wette, all commentators have noted that the Chronicler’s understanding of Jehoiada’s coup is different from that of II Kings 11. A limited conspiracy between the high priest and the king’s guard is here presented as a popular uprising, with the people themselves as essential partners. It is they, not Jehoiada, who restore the scion of David to his kingdom, not in secrecy but with open publicity, and the various units of the king’s guard are replaced here by the Levites. The Chronicler emphasizes more than Kings that Athaliah was a foreign ruler, who had never
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