What Does 2 Kings 11:5 Mean?

(5, 6) Three companies of the guards to be stationed at the three approaches to the palace. (5) **A third part of you . . . king’s house.**—Rather, *the third of you who come in on the Sabbath shall keep the ward of the king’s house.* (Reading *w‘shām‘rû*, as in 2Kings 11:7.) The troops of the royal guard regularly succeeded each other on duty just as they do in modern European capitals. That the Sabbath was the day on which they relieved each other is known only from this passage; but the priestly and Levitical guilds did the same, and their organisation in many ways resembled that of an army. **The watch of the king’s house.**—There were two places to be occupied for the success of the present movement—viz., the royal palace and the Temple, “the king’s house” and “the house of the Lord.” In the former was Athaliah, the usurping queen, whose movements must be closely watched, and whose adherents must be prevented from occupying and defending the palace; in the latter, the young heir to the throne, who must be protected from attack. That “the king’s house” here means the palace proper is evident from 2Kings 11:16; 2Kings 11:19, and, indeed, from the whole narrative. The LXX. adds, “at the entry” (ἐν τῷ πυλῶνι)—*i.e.*, the grand entrance to the palace itself. This is at least a correct gloss, and may be part of the original text.