During this time, Jehoiada made two covenants, the first was a covenant with those who would carry out the plan to take the throne for Joash.
This covenant involved them committing to be loyal to the new king. The second covenant included all those of the first covenant, and so, the covenant promise was by all, to be loyal to Joash as the king.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following, concerning the names mentioned.
‘The five names do not occur in Kings, only, and incidentally, the five divisions of the royal guard, 2 Kings 11:5.’
The parallel passages written in 2 Kings 11:4-12, tell us that the Carites who were also known as the Kerethites, 1 Kings 1:38, were basically soldiers who were employed by kings as their protectors. They were Philistine soldiers who were very loyal to David and David’s dynasty, 2 Samuel 15:18 / 1 Samuel 30:14 / Ezekiel 25:16 / Zephaniah 2:5.
Jehoiada comes up with a great plan on how he can overthrow Athaliah. He hid Joash until he was older and he goes on to secure the loyalty of the commanders and the palace guard by making a covenant with them.
He plans to overthrow the Baal worship in which Athaliah was involved, because of this he was easily able to secure the loyalty of the priests of Jerusalem.
The priests wouldn’t normally have had weapons, but the text tells us that the weapons had been stored in the tabernacle by David, and later placed in the temple by Solomon. The soldiers and the Levites in the temple were probably intermixed in about equal proportions, 2 Kings 11:8 / 2 Kings 11:11.
When the day came for the anointing of Joash as king, he was anointed by the High Priest and an official announcement was made with the approval of the people and so, Joash was now made king at the age of seven years old. The king’s son received praise once he was recognized as their king, ‘long live the king’ they shouted, 1 Samuel 10:24 / 2 Samuel 16:16.
When queen Athaliah heard the noise, she knew what was happening but wasn’t very happy, she tore her robes and cries out ‘treason, treason’, 2 Kings 11:13-16. It’s clear that she was caught totally off guard and as a result, everything she did to try and stop Jehoiada from establishing the kingship of Joash was useless.
In order to keep the temple from becoming desecrated, she is taken outside the temple and killed. Athaliah was very much like her parents, Ahab and Jezebel, she was a murderer and promoted idolatry, Ezekiel 18:4.
The covenant that Jehoiada made with the Lord, the king and the people, 2 Kings 11:17-21, was simply a renewal of that covenant which the Lord had made with Israel through Moses, Exodus 34:1-27.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘It was the duty of the priests alone to offer the burnt offerings, Numbers 18:1-7, and of the Levites alone to praise God with singing and music, 1 Chronicles 23:5 / 1 Chronicles 25:1-7.’
Even though Solomon had built a temple to God, it appears that Baal became so popular that the people demanded that temples be built in order to worship Baal.
In 2 Kings 10 Jehu oversaw the destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria, but here the temple of Baal in Jerusalem was destroyed by the people. Notice also they destroyed the sacred objects dedicated to Baal and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal, Deuteronomy 13:5-10.
Selman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The people’s rejoicing augmented the joy of temple worship, and sounded a note unheard since the days of Jehoshaphat, 2 Chronicles 20:27. That the city was quiet was a sign of God’s blessing, which often followed special acts of faith and obedience, 1 Chronicles 4:40 / 1 Chronicles 22:9 / 2 Chronicles 13:23 / 2 Chronicles 14:4-5 / 2 Chronicles 20:30.’
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness."