And in the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself, and took the captains of hundreds, Azariah the son of Jeroham, and Ishmael the son of Jehohanan, and Azariah the son of Obed, and Maaseiah the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zichri, into covenant with him.
Ver. 1. Strengthened himself, and took.] It was a weighty work he went about, and therefore he taketh the wisest course, the fittest time; on the Sabbath, when the congregation met; and in the temple, whither Athaliah and her courtiers seldom came; and not till the people had, for seven years before, borne Athaliah's tyrannical government, and groaned after deliverance.