2 Kings — Chapter 11

Josaba, the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ochozias, took Joas the son of Ochozias, and stole him from among the king's sons that were being slain, and hid him from Athalia, so that he was not slain. Lapide, with Josephus: Josaba (wife of the Pontiff Joiada) saved the royal heir by hiding him six years in the temple. This is a figure of the Church, who preserves the legitimate heir of the kingdom of God — Christ's faithful — hidden from the tyrant (the devil) in the house of God, until the moment of their public manifestation and crowning.

He brought out the king's son, and put the crown upon him, and the testimony; and they made him king, and anointed him. Lapide: The restoration of Joash to the throne by the Pontiff Joiada, with the people's acclamation and the renewal of the covenant, is a type of the restoration of the kingdom of Christ by the Church. The crown, the testimony (the Book of the Law), and the unction given to the young king correspond to the three gifts of baptism: royalty, the Word, and the anointing of the Holy Ghost.

Joiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people, that they should be the people of the Lord; and between the king and the people. Lapide: The triple covenant made by Joiada the Pontiff — between God and king, between God and people, and between king and people — is the model of the Christian constitution of a state. Lapide argues that all legitimate political authority is ordered under divine authority; the covenant is not complete without God as its first party. The priest who makes the covenant has priority over the king: authority flows from God through the sacred to the temporal.