11:4 In the seventh year Jehoiada summoned 1 the officers of the units of hundreds of the Carians 2 and the royal bodyguard. 3 He met with them 4 in the Lord’s temple. He made an agreement 5 with them and made them swear an oath of allegiance in the Lord’s temple. Then he showed them the king’s son.
1 tn Heb “Jehoiada sent and took.”
2 sn The Carians were apparently a bodyguard, probably comprised of foreigners. See HALOT 497 s.v. כָּרִי and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 126.
3 tn Heb “the runners.”
4 tn Heb “he brought them to himself.”
5 tn Or “covenant.”
6 sn It is not altogether clear whether this is in the same year that Jerusalem fell or not. The wall was breached in the fourth month (= early July; Jer 39:2) and Nebuzaradan came and burned the palace, the temple, and many of the houses and tore down the wall in the fifth month (= early August; Jer 52:12). That would have left time between the fifth month and the seventh month (October) to gather in the harvest of grapes, dates and figs, and olives (Jer 40:12). However, many commentators feel that too much activity takes place in too short a time for this to have been in the same year and posit that it happened the following year or even five years later when a further deportation took place, possibly in retaliation for the murder of Gedaliah and the Babylonian garrison at Mizpah (Jer 52:30). The assassination of Gedaliah had momentous consequences and was commemorated in one of the post exilic fast days lamenting the fall of Jerusalem (Zech 8:19).
7 tn Heb “[was] from the seed of the kingdom.”
8 tn Heb “and they struck down Gedaliah and he died.”