2 Kings 16:18

“And the covert for the sabbath that they had built in the house, etc.] Used on the sabbath day, either for the people to sit under to hear the law explained by the priests; or for the course of the priests to be in, that went out that day, to give way to the course that entered, which yet did not depart from the temple till evening; or rather for the king himself to sit under, while attending the temple service of that day, and might be the cover of the scaffold, (<140613>2 Chronicles 6:13) and be very rich cloth of gold; and therefore he took it away for the king of Assyria, or to signify that he should not frequent the place any more: and hence it follows, and the king’s entry without,…”

“the covert for the Sabbath--the portico through which the priests entered the temple on the Sabbath. the king's entry without--a private external entrance for the king into the temple. The change made by Ahaz consisted in removing both of these into the temple from fear of the king of Assyria, that, in case of a siege, he might secure the entrance of the temple from him. Next: 2 Kings Chapter 17”

“The covert ... in the house - A canopied seat in the temple for the king and his family when they attended public worship on the sabbath. It stood no doubt in the inner court of the temple. The king’s entry without - This would seem to have been a private passage by which the king crossed the outer court to the east gate of the inner court when he visited the temple Ezekiel 46:1-2. Turned he from the house of the Lord for the king of Assyria - This passage is very obscure. Some translate - “altered he in the house of the Lord, because of the kine of Assyria,” supposing the “covert” and the “passage” to have been of rich materials, and Ahaz to have taken them to eke out his “presents to the…”

“The covert - The form and use whereof is now unknown. It is generally understood of some building, either that where the priests after their weekly course was ended, abode until the next course came; which was done upon the sabbath - day: or that in which the guard of the temple kept their station; or that under which the king used to sit to hear God's word, and see the sacrifices; which is called, the covert of the sabbath, because the chief times in which the king used it for those ends, was the weekly sabbath, and other solemn days of feasting, or fasting (which all come under the name of sabbaths in the Old Testament) upon which the king used more solemnly, to present himself before the…”

“the covert: There are a great number of conjectures concerning this covert; but it is probable that it was either, as Locke supposes, a sort of shelter or canopy erected for the people on the sabbath when the crowd was too great for the porch to contain them; or, as Dr. Geddes supposes, a seat, covered with a canopy, placed on an elevation, for the king and his court, when they attended public worship. Kg2 11:5; Kg1 10:5; Eze 46:2 4 Kings (2 Kings) 16:19”