2 Chronicles 22 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
~841 BC, the single year of King Ahaziah of Judah and the seizure of power by his mother Athaliah
Location
Jerusalem, with events also in Jezreel in the northern kingdom and at Ramoth Gilead in the disputed territory east of the Jordan River
Audience
Post-exile Jews, shown the moment David's line came within one infant of extinction
Situation
Ahaziah, guided by his mother Athaliah and her relatives in the north, visits the wounded king of Israel and is caught up in Jehu's purge and killed. Athaliah then murders the entire royal family of Judah, but the king's sister hides the baby Joash in the temple for six years.
Key Background
Jehu's coup was a wholesale slaughter of Ahab's dynasty and its officials, and Ahaziah died simply because his family ties put him in the wrong place. Athaliah is the only woman to rule Judah in her own right, and a queen who eliminates rival claimants to hold power was a recognised pattern in ancient courts. The temple precinct offered practical concealment because it had residential quarters for priests and their families, and Jehosheba was married to the high priest Jehoiada, which gave her access no ordinary person had. The promise that David would never lack a descendant on the throne hangs entirely on this one hidden child.
The people of Jerusalem made Jehoram's youngest son, king in his place, because the raiding party that came with the Arabs had killed all the older sons. So son of Jehoram became king of Judah.
Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for one year. His mother's name was a granddaughter of Omri.
He also followed the ways of the house of Ahab, because his mother was his in doing wrong.
He did what was wrong in Yahweh's eyes, just like the house of Ahab. After his father's death, they became his advisors — and it led to his downfall.
Following their advice, he went with Joram son of Ahab, king of Israel, to fight against Hazael king of Aram at The Arameans wounded Joram.
Joram returned to to recover from the wounds he had received at Ramah while fighting Hazael king of Aram. Then Ahaziah son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to to visit Joram son of Ahab because he was wounded.
It was that Ahaziah's visit to Joram would bring about his downfall. When he arrived, he went out with Joram to meet Jehu son of Nimshi, whom Yahweh had to wipe out the house of Ahab.
While Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab, he found the officials of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah's relatives who were serving Ahaziah, and he killed them.
Then he searched for Ahaziah, and they captured him while he was hiding in Samaria. They brought him to Jehu and put him to death. They did bury him, though, because they said, "He was the grandson of Jehoshaphat, who with all But there was no one left in Ahaziah's family strong enough to rule the kingdom.
When Athaliah, Ahaziah's mother, saw that her son was dead, she rose up and the of the house of Judah.
But the king's daughter, grabbed son of Ahaziah and smuggled him away from among the other royal sons who were about to be murdered. She hid him and his nurse in a bedroom. — daughter of King Jehoram and wife of Jehoiada the priest — hid him from Athaliah so she could not kill him, because he was Ahaziah's son.
He remained hidden with them in for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.