2 Kings 11:12. He brought forth the king’s son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony; and they made him king, and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, God save the king.
We have here noted the most important ceremonies connected with the coronation of a Hebrew king. See also 2 Chronicles 23:1.
1. The crown was put upon him. We have no definite knowledge of the shape of the crowns which were worn by the Hebrew kings. The original word used here is the same that is used to denote the diadem of the high priest, which was a plate of gold tied around the head with a ribbon (Ex. 39:30-31). Doubtless there were other forms of crowns, as other words are used in various passages.
2. They gave him the “testimony.” That is, they made to him a formal presentation of a manuscript roll of the Divine law, as an indication that this was to be his guide in administering the government.
3. They anointed him. This was not done in every case of coronation, and from the expression “they made him king,” which precedes the statement of his anointing, it has been inferred that the essential parts of the coronation ceremony were those connected with the crown and the “testimony”; the anointing of the founder of a dynasty being considered all that was necessary so long as the succession was unbroken in his family. Saul was thus anointed (1 Sam. 10:1) and so also was David (2 Sam 2:4). Solomon was likewise anointed (1 Kings 1:39), because there was a probability that his right to the throne would be disputed; and Joash, in the text, was anointed for the same reason. Anointing was a ceremony connected with coronation before the Jews ever had a king, as is evident from Judges 9:8,15. It was by Divine command that the people of God adopted it. See 1 Samuel 9:16; 10:1; 1 Kings 1:34,39. From this circumstance the king was called “the Lord’s anointed.” See 1 Samuel 12:3,5; 2 Samuel 1:14,16; Psalm 2:2; Habakkuk 3:13.
4. The people then clapped their hands and shouted, “Live the king.” This was their part of the ceremony, and denoted their approbation of the newly crowned sovereign. Mr. Harmer (Observations, vol. 2, p. 433) calls attention to the fact that the Hebrew text in this place, and in Psalm 47:1 and Isaiah 40:12, has hand instead of hands, as our translators have it. He suggests that a different sort of clapping may have been meant by this than what is ordinarily understood by clapping hands, where one hand is forcibly struck upon another, though that is practiced in the East. He refers to an Oriental custom of striking the fingers of one hand gently and rapidly upon the lips as a token of joy, and supposes that the expression clap the hand, in distinction from clap the hands, refers to some similar custom observed by the Hebrews.