When Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she went into the house of the LORD to the people.
We may suppose it was designed when they had finished the solemnity of the king's inauguration, to pay a visit to Athaliah, and call her to an account for her murders, usurpation, and tyranny; but, like her mother Jezebel, she saved them the labour, went out to meet them, and hastened her own destruction. 1.
Commenting on 2 Kings 11:13-16
And when she looked, behold, the king stood by a pillar, as the manner was,.... Of kings, when they came into the temple on any occasion, civil or religious, therefore it is called his pillar, Ch2 23:13, some think this was the brazen scaffold erected by Solomon, Ch2 6:13, though Vitringa (e) and Bishop Patrick suppose it to be the post of the east gate...
ATHALIAH SLAIN. (Kg2 11:13-16) Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people--The profound secrecy with which the conspiracy had been conducted rendered the unusual acclamations of the vast assembled crowd the more startling and roused the suspicions of the tyrant. she came . . .