And they laid hands on her; and she went by the way by the which the horses came into the king's house: and there was she slain.
She went the way by the which the horses came into the king's house. 'This is by no means the king's palace, as is generally supposed, but is evidently the royal stables, quite distant from the palace. The wicked usurper, Athaliah, was put to death at the Horse gate, near this edifice, by order of Jehoiada, the high priest. It would have been strange, indeed, after all the pains taken by Jehoiada to exclude her army from the temple, at the coronation of the young king, had they incurred the hazard of her rescue by sending her beck over the bridge to her army, instead of taking her for execution in the opposite direction-to the desecrated valley of Kidron. But that this view is correct, we have the testimony of Josephus ("Antiquities," b. 9:, ch. 7:, sec. 2), who informs us that "Jehoiada called for the captains of hundreds, and commanded and to bring Atbaliah to the valley of Kidron, and slay her there ... Wherefore those that the charge of her slaughter took hold of her, led her to the gate of the king's mules, and slew her there." The gate of the king's mules is, no doubt, the Horse gate of the Scripture; and the Hippodrome is probably the king's (horse's) house, though this term in its largest sense, would include the race-ground attached, as well as the, royal stable' (Barclay's 'City of the Great King,' pp. 173, 174).