RENEWAL OF THE THEOCRATIC COVENANT AND ABOLITION OF BAAL-WORSHIP
(2 Chronicles 23:16-21).
(16) A covenant between... the king. — A slight but characteristic variation from 2 Kings 11:17 : “the covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people, that they should become a people for Jehovah.”
Between him. — Or rather, himself. The high priest is thus regarded as representing Jehovah in the transaction; and the apparent irreverence of making the Deity a direct co-partner with men in a compact is avoided.
Be the Lord’s people. — Literally, become a people for Jehovah. Kings adds: “and between the king and the people,” a not unimportant clause, for it relates to certain limitations of the royal prerogative, which were usually agreed upon at the beginning of a reign (2 Samuel 3:21; 2 Samuel 5:3; 1 Samuel 10:25).