2 Kings 11:16 - Exposition

And they laid hands on her. So the LXX . ( ἐπέθηκαν αὐτῇ χεῖρας ), the Vulgate, Luther, and others; but most moderns understand that they formed in two lines, one on either side of her, and so let her pass out of the temple and proceed towards the palace untouched—the divinity that hedged a queen preventing them from molesting her until the time came for her execution (see the Revised Version). And she went by the way by the which the horses came into the king's house. Josephus makes Athaliah pass out of the temple by the east gate, and descend into the Kedron valley. He says she was put to death "at the gate of the king's mules," but does not mark the locality. The gate intended can scarcely be the "horse gate" of Nehemiah 3:28 , which was in the eastern wall, and north of the temple. It was probably a gate on the western side of the Tyropoeon valley, giving entrance to the stables of the palace. And there was she slain ; "with the sword" ( Nehemiah 3:20 ). A single blow from one of the guardsmen probably sufficed.