And he brought forth the king’s son. — When the two lines were formed, cutting off the interior of the Temple from the court, Jehoiada led forth the young prince into the protected space between them; perhaps from a side chamber, or perhaps from the sanctuary itself.
And gave him the testimony. — The Hebrew has simply and the testimony. Kimchi explains this to mean a royal robe; other rabbis think of a phylactery on the coronet. (See Deuteronomy 6:8.) Thenius says, the Law — i.e., a book in which were written Mosaic ordinances, and which was held in a symbolic manner over the king’s head after he had been crowned. (See Note on 2 Chronicles 23:11.)
Anointed him. — The chronicler says it was “Jehoiada and his sons” who did it. It is difficult to see what objection can fairly be taken to this explanatory addition, unless we are to suppose that, although the high priest was present, the soldiers of the guard poured the sacred oil on the king’s head. Yet Thenius adduces it as an instance of the “petty spirit of the chronist,” accusing him of inserting the words “for fear anybody should think of an anointing by unconsecrated hands.” Surely such criticism as this is itself both “petty” and “wilful.” The words probably stood in the chronicler’s principal source.
God save the king. — Literally, Vivat rex. (1 Kings 1:25.)