seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
2 Chronicles 22:1 The people of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, Jehoram’s youngest son, king in his place, since the raiders, who came with the Arabs into the camp, had killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah began to reign.
2 Ahaziah was twenty-two[a] years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. His mother’s name was Athaliah, a granddaughter of Omri.
3 He too followed the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother encouraged him to act wickedly. 4 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as the house of Ahab had done, for after his father’s death they became his advisers, to his undoing. 5 He also followed their counsel when he went with Joram[b] son of Ahab king of Israel to wage war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth Gilead. The Arameans wounded Joram; 6 so he returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds they had inflicted on him at Ramoth[c] in his battle with Hazael king of Aram.
Then Ahaziah[d] son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to Jezreel to see Joram son of Ahab because he had been wounded.
7 Through Ahaziah’s visit to Joram, God brought about Ahaziah’s downfall. When Ahaziah arrived, he went out with Joram to meet Jehu son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab. 8 While Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab, he found the officials of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah’s relatives, who had been attending Ahaziah, and he killed them. 9 He then went in search of Ahaziah, and his men captured him while he was hiding in Samaria. He was brought to Jehu and put to death. They buried him, for they said, “He was a son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart.” So there was no one in the house of Ahaziah powerful enough to retain the kingdom.
10 When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family of the house of Judah. 11 But Jehosheba,[e] the daughter of King Jehoram, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes who were about to be murdered and put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Because Jehosheba,[f] the daughter of King Jehoram and wife of the priest Jehoiada, was Ahaziah’s sister, she hid the child from Athaliah so she could not kill him. 12 He remained hidden with them at the temple of God for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.
a. 2 Chronicles 22:2 Some Septuagint manuscripts and Syriac (see also 2 Kings 8:26); Hebrew forty-two
b. 2 Chronicles 22:5 Hebrew Jehoram, a variant of Joram; also in verses 6 and 7
c. 2 Chronicles 22:6 Hebrew Ramah, a variant of Ramoth
d. 2 Chronicles 22:6 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac (see also 2 Kings 8:29); most Hebrew manuscripts Azariah
e. 2 Chronicles 22:11 Hebrew Jehoshabeath, a variant of Jehosheba
f. 2 Chronicles 22:11 Hebrew Jehoshabeath, a variant of Jehosheba
Her son was now dead.... She had to keep things under control.... so she killed everyone who might take the throne from her. Jehosheba.... the wife of a priest.... hid Joash.... and kept him hid for six years.
The easy English commentary fits.
Ahaziah was the youngest son of Jehoram and Athaliah. The Philistines and the Arabs had killed all of his brothers. So, the people made Ahaziah king in Jerusalem. He was 22 years old and he ruled for just one year (842 BC). His mother was a daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. Ahab’s father was Omri. Omri built Samaria. And he ruled there before Ahab did.
Jehoram was 18 or 19 years old when Ahaziah was born. He had no more sons before his death at the age of 40. But he did have sons before Ahaziah. At an early age, the royal princes had several wives. It was normal for them to have children as soon as they were able.
Joram was the king of Israel. Ahaziah became king of Judah in the 12th year of Joram’s rule (2 Kings 8:25). They both died at the same time (2 Kings 9:24, 27).
His parents brought Ahaziah up in the ways of Ahab’s family. His mother and his grandmother were powerful women. They led the family away from the LORD to worship the god Baal. When Ahaziah became king, he followed the advice of his mother Athaliah. Also, he followed the bad advice of his mother’s relatives.
Ahaziah and King Joram went to Ramoth in Gilead. There they fought against Hazael, king of Aram. In the fight, Joram received a bad injury. He went to the town called Jezreel to recover from his injury. Then Ahaziah went to Jezreel to visit Joram.
Jehu, whose father was Nimshi, came to kill Joram. Jehu killed all of Ahab’s family. Ahaziah and the leaders of Judah were there when Jehu came to Jezreel. Ahaziah went out with Joram to meet Jehu. Then Joram and Azariah tried to run away from Jehu but Jehu killed Joram. Ahaziah hid in Samaria but Jehu’s men found him. There Ahaziah received an injury that he would not recover from. But he escaped to the town called Megiddo (2 Kings 9:27). And he died there. Ahaziah’s servants took him to Jerusalem and they buried him there. Because they respected Jehoshaphat, they gave Ahaziah a good funeral.
Jehu then met some of Ahaziah’s family and he killed them (2 Kings 10:14). So, there was nobody of the family of Ahaziah who could become king at that time. His children were too young and Jehu had killed all the other princes.
There was nobody in the royal family to replace Ahaziah. His sons were too young. Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah tried to murder all of his young sons. But a daughter of Jehoram, Jehoshabeath took and she hid one of these sons. His name was Joash. She was the wife of Jehoiada the priest. So, they hid the boy with his nurse in the LORD’s temple for 6 years. In this way, the LORD preserved the family of David.
Athaliah did not know about Joash. She made herself the queen and she ruled Judah for 6 years (842 to 837 BC). She was the only ruler in Judah who was not in the family of David.
So there was a witch on the throne of David.... interesting. Athaliah didn't spend any time at the Temple of the Lord.... she was more interested in Baal. If she had gone to the Temple.... she might have met her undoing. But then again... if she had gone to the Temple... her son would probably still be king.
