2 Kings 11:3

3 eratque cum ea in domo Domini clam sex annis porro Athalia regnavit super terram

2 Kings 11:3 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 11:3

And he was with her hid in the house of the Lord six years,
&c.] In the temple; not in the holy of holies, as Jarchi, but in a chamber of the priests and Levites, of which there were several in a temple, as Kimchi, and others; and the husband of Jehosheba, being high priest, had one of them for his own use; and here the child was hid six years, so that he was but a year old when he was first taken and preserved, for he was made king when seven years of age, ( 2 Kings 11:21 ) ,

and Athaliah did reign over the land;
the only instance we hear of a woman reigning in Israel, and this was not by right, but by usurpation; and so, according to the Jewish canons, a woman might not rule; which thus runs ^F1, they do not set a woman in the kingdom, as it is said, ( Deuteronomy 17:15 ) , "a king over them", not a queen; and so, in all places of power and authority in Israel, they put in them none but a man.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 Maimon. Hilchot Melachim, c. 1. sect. 5.

2 Kings 11:3 In-Context

1 Athalia vero mater Ahaziae videns mortuum filium suum surrexit et interfecit omne semen regium

2 tollens autem Iosaba filia regis Ioram soror Ahaziae Ioas filium Ahaziae furata est eum de medio filiorum regis qui interficiebantur et nutricem eius de triclinio et abscondit eum a facie Athaliae ut non interficeretur

3 eratque cum ea in domo Domini clam sex annis porro Athalia regnavit super terram

4 anno autem septimo misit Ioiada et adsumens centuriones et milites introduxit ad se in templum Domini pepigitque cum eis foedus et adiurans eos in domo Domini ostendit eis filium regis

5 et praecepit illis dicens iste sermo quem facere debetis