2 Chronicles 22
Killer Granny, queen of Judah
Judah’s one-year king, Ahaziah
2 Kings 8:25-29; 9:21-28 1Citizens of Jerusalem declared Jehoram’s youngest son Ahaziah the next king of Judah. Jehoram’s other sons were dead. Arab raiders had found their camp [1] and killed them. That’s how Ahaziah became king of Judah. 2Ahaziah was 22 [2] years old when the people crowned him king. He survived for one year, reigning in Jerusalem. His mother was Athaliah, a granddaughter of Israel’s late King Omri. [3] War with Syria
3Ahaziah ruled like one of the evil kings in Ahab’s family dynasty. His mother taught him how. She was one wicked woman. 4When Ahaziah’s dad died, the king turned to Ahab’s royal family for advice on how to rule a nation. They taught him how the wicked rule. And he learned that lesson well, as far as the LORD was concerned.
5He even allied himself with Ahab’s son, King Joram, and went to war with him against Syrian King Hazael, to reclaim Ramoth in Gilead for Israel. Syrians wounded Jehoram in that battle. 6To recover, Jehoram went to a palace he had in Jezreel. Later, Ahaziah traveled there to visit him.
7God planned for Ahaziah’s reign to end with that visit. For while he was there, a man came to kill Judah’s King Joram, and end Ahab’s family dynasty. The man God appointed to lead this coup was Jehu, son of Nimshi.
8When Jehu killed Joram, he also killed members of Ahaziah’s entourage, including some of his nephews and some of Judah’s officials.
9Ahaziah escaped and hid in the territory of Samaria, but he was arrested, taken to Jehu, and executed. People there buried him out of respect for his grandfather. They said “He was the grandson of Jehoshaphat, a man devoted to the LORD.” With Ahaziah dead, Judah had no prince to take his place as the new king. Queen Mother kills royal family to become Queen
10When Athaliah heard her son Ahaziah was dead, she started killing off the royal family.
11The late king’s sister, Jehosheba, [4] managed to sneak her baby brother and his nurse away from the rest of the children about to be executed. [5] She hid them in a bedroom. Like King Ahaziah, Jehosheba was a child of the former king, Jehoram. She was married to the priest Jehoiada.
12For six years, during Athaliah’s reign as queen of Judah, the boy lived in hiding among the Temple priests. [6] 
Footnotes
122:1Some scholars speculate that when the late king Jehoram found out about the Arab raiders, he did what many other threatened kings did. He sent his family and his wealth to a safe place. But the speculation is that raiders found them, robbed them, and likely killed all of them except for Ahaziah.
222:2The Hebrew text says he was 42, but 2 Kings 8:26 says he was 22. Somebody goofed, many scholars admit. And it may have been a scribe transferring the text from a worn out scroll to a new scroll. It wouldn’t take much of a wobbly hand to turn the Hebrew number 20 (kaf, כ) into 40 (mem, ם).
322:2Omri founded the family dynasty of kings that included King Ahab.
422:11“Jehoshabeath” is an alternate spelling of the woman’s name.
522:11It’s easy to imagine how she could have escorted the baby out of what may have been a loud and chaotic room of royal family members being herded for execution. Jehosheba, as a priest’s wife, may not have been on Queen Granny Athaliah’s hit list. And a nursing baby may have gone unnoticed while taking milk from a wetnurse who wasn’t on the hit list, either.
622:12It’s unclear how the boy survived six years in hiding. It’s hard for anyone to keep a secret for that long. But it seems the priests managed to weave the child in among the families of Temple priests.
Discussion Questions
- Sorry, there are currently no questions for this chapter.
Maps/Guides
Jezreel InsurrectionVideos
War with Syria
3Ahaziah ruled like one of the evil kings in Ahab’s family dynasty. His mother taught him how. She was one wicked woman. 4When Ahaziah’s dad died, the king turned to Ahab’s royal family for advice on how to rule a nation. They taught him how the wicked rule. And he learned that lesson well, as far as the LORD was concerned.5He even allied himself with Ahab’s son, King Joram, and went to war with him against Syrian King Hazael, to reclaim Ramoth in Gilead for Israel. Syrians wounded Jehoram in that battle. 6To recover, Jehoram went to a palace he had in Jezreel. Later, Ahaziah traveled there to visit him.
7God planned for Ahaziah’s reign to end with that visit. For while he was there, a man came to kill Judah’s King Joram, and end Ahab’s family dynasty. The man God appointed to lead this coup was Jehu, son of Nimshi.
8When Jehu killed Joram, he also killed members of Ahaziah’s entourage, including some of his nephews and some of Judah’s officials.
9Ahaziah escaped and hid in the territory of Samaria, but he was arrested, taken to Jehu, and executed. People there buried him out of respect for his grandfather. They said “He was the grandson of Jehoshaphat, a man devoted to the LORD.” With Ahaziah dead, Judah had no prince to take his place as the new king.
Queen Mother kills royal family to become Queen
10When Athaliah heard her son Ahaziah was dead, she started killing off the royal family.11The late king’s sister, Jehosheba, [4] managed to sneak her baby brother and his nurse away from the rest of the children about to be executed. [5] She hid them in a bedroom. Like King Ahaziah, Jehosheba was a child of the former king, Jehoram. She was married to the priest Jehoiada.
12For six years, during Athaliah’s reign as queen of Judah, the boy lived in hiding among the Temple priests. [6]
Footnotes
Some scholars speculate that when the late king Jehoram found out about the Arab raiders, he did what many other threatened kings did. He sent his family and his wealth to a safe place. But the speculation is that raiders found them, robbed them, and likely killed all of them except for Ahaziah.
The Hebrew text says he was 42, but 2 Kings 8:26 says he was 22. Somebody goofed, many scholars admit. And it may have been a scribe transferring the text from a worn out scroll to a new scroll. It wouldn’t take much of a wobbly hand to turn the Hebrew number 20 (kaf, כ) into 40 (mem, ם).
Omri founded the family dynasty of kings that included King Ahab.
“Jehoshabeath” is an alternate spelling of the woman’s name.
It’s easy to imagine how she could have escorted the baby out of what may have been a loud and chaotic room of royal family members being herded for execution. Jehosheba, as a priest’s wife, may not have been on Queen Granny Athaliah’s hit list. And a nursing baby may have gone unnoticed while taking milk from a wetnurse who wasn’t on the hit list, either.
It’s unclear how the boy survived six years in hiding. It’s hard for anyone to keep a secret for that long. But it seems the priests managed to weave the child in among the families of Temple priests.
Discussion Questions
- Sorry, there are currently no questions for this chapter.
Maps/Guides
