What the Bible says about Athaliah
(From Forerunner Commentary)
King Jehoash (or Joash) of Judah, though he overcame much and did many good things, did not quite have the fortitude to rid the kingdom of its high places. To understand him, one must begin with his grandmother, Athaliah, the daughter of King Ahab of Israel and his queen, Jezebel, perhaps the most wicked royal couple ever to rule over God's people. Athaliah was thus actually of the house of Israel, though she married into the house of Judah when she became the wife of Jehoram (or Joram).
This union bore evil fruit, for, like his ancestor Solomon, Jehoram could not resist the negative influence of his wife and her family. Jehoram "walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother advised him to do wickedly. Therefore he did evil in the sight of the LORD, like the house of Ahab; for they were his counselors after the death of his father, to his destruction" (II Chronicles 22:3-4).
After Jehoram's death, his son, Ahaziah, reigned in his place, but only for one year (II Kings 8:26). His short reign was a continuation of his father's, as "he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did evil in the sight of the LORD, like the house of Ahab, for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab" (II Kings 8:27).
After Ahaziah's death, his mother, Athaliah, had the male heirs killed and unlawfully made herself queen. However, before she could kill Ahaziah's son, Jehoash, Ahaziah's sister hid him in the Temple, where he remained for six years while Athaliah ruled over Judah. When Jehoash was seven, though, Jehoiada the priest—his uncle—crowned him as king and had Athaliah put to death (II Kings 11:4-16; II Chronicles 23:1-15). Also at that time, the people of Judah—likely under Jehoiada's direction—tore down the temple of Baal, broke its altars and images, and killed the priest of Baal (II Kings 11:17-18; II Chronicles 23:16-17).
David C. Grabbe
The High Places (Part Two)Related Topics: Ahab and Jezebel | Ahaziah | Athaliah | Baal Worship | Burning of Sacred Pillars of Baal | Destruction of Baal Worship in Israel | Jehoash | Jehoida's Counsel | Jehoram | The High Places
Jehoram kills off his own brothers to make sure that they do not usurp the throne. If we give him the benefit of the doubt, from a carnal standpoint, he may have had good reason to do what he did, because his brothers may have been indicating that they were already plotting to overthrow him out of jealousy. Perhaps they thought that they were every bit as good as Jehoram, and that they should sit on the throne instead. Jehoram, though, had more power and beat them to the punch, putting them to death before they assassinated him.
The background for this event begins in II Chronicles 18:1, where it innocently says, "Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance, and by marriage he allied himself with Ahab." Ahab was possibly the most wicked king that Israel ever had, and his wife was the infamous Jezebel. How were relations cemented between Jehoshaphat and Ahab? They arranged a marriage! Jehoshaphat's son, Jehoram, married Ahab and Jezebel's daughter, Athaliah. This was a common way of making an alliance in those days. They became blood relatives.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Why Three Kings Are Missing From Matthew 1Related Topics: Ahab | Ahab and Jezebel | Alliances | Alliances without God | Athaliah | Jehoram | Jehoram's Pernicious Evil | Jehoram's Sin | Jehoshaphat | Jezebel
What a horrible way to begin his reign! He slays his brothers to ensure that they do not usurp his throne. If we give him the benefit of the doubt, it is entirely possible that, from a carnal standpoint, he had good reason to rid himself of them. Perhaps his brothers showed signs of plotting a coup d'état out of envy (though God says in verse 13 that they were better men than Jehoram). Maybe they thought Jehoshaphat should have given them the throne since they were better men. In any case, Jehoram held power, and he beat them to the punch, putting them to death before they assassinated him.
The background for this event reaches back to II Chronicles 18:1, where it innocently reads, “Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance, and by marriage he allied himself with Ahab.” Ahab, whose wife was the infamous Jezebel, was possibly the most wicked king who ever ruled over Israel. Jehoshaphat and Ahab cemented their relationship by arranging a marriage between Jehoshaphat's son, Jehoram, and Ahab and Jezebel's daughter, Athaliah. Such arranged dynastic marriages were quite common in those days. So, the two houses becamee allies through marriage.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Three Missing Kings (Part One)Related Topics: Ahab | Ahab and Jezebel | Athaliah | Jehoram | Jehoram's Pernicious Evil | Jehoshaphat | Marriages, Dynastic | Three Missing Kings in Matthew 1
Athaliah, daughter of King Ahab and Jezebel, granddaughter of King Omri of Israel, usurped the throne of Judah. But Jehoshabeath, daughter of the king, took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, an infant at the time, and stole him away from among the king's sons. Jehoshabeath was Joash's aunt, a sister of Ahaziah. Perhaps she, too, was a daughter of Athaliah. Yet, when she saw the carnage taking place, she ran into the nursery, picked up Joash, and hid him so that Athaliah's thugs were unable to kill him (verse 12). He was hidden with them in the house of God for six years while Athaliah reigned over the land. Jehoshabeath had made a very good marriage, and this is probably what saved her. She had married Jehoiada, who was among the best high priests in all the history of Israel and Judah.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Why Three Kings Are Missing From Matthew 1
II Chronicles 22:10 reads, “Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal heirs of the house of Judah.” Athaliah, daughter of Israel's King Ahab and Jezebel and thus the granddaughter of Omri (II Chronicles 22:2), was the wife of Jehoram, king of Judah. Once her son had died by the hand of Jehu, she staged a coup, killing all of Ahaziah's heirs and taking the throne. She reigned for six years.
But Jehoshabeath, who was the daughter of Jehoram and (perhaps) Athaliah, took Joash, her youngest nephew and still an infant, and hid him from Athaliah's henchmen, saving his life (II Chronicles 22:12). Evidently, when she saw the carnage taking place, she ran into the nursery, picked up Joash, and put him in one of her own rooms with a nurse. In short order, he was spirited away to the Temple, where he lived in secret for the next six years (II Chronicles 22:12). Jehoshabeath could do this because she had made an excellent marriage to Jehoiada, one of the best high priests in Israelite history.
In the life of Joash, Jehoiada proved a powerful influence for good. Joash reigned for forty years, but unfortunately, Jehoiada did not live through its entirety. Despite being the front man as the heir of David, Joash did not really have it in him to be king—but Jehoiada did. We see this to be true in the next verses:
Now after the death of Jehoiada the leaders of Judah came and bowed down to the king. And the king listened to them. Therefore they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served wooden images and idols . . .. (II Chronicles 24:17-18)
The wording in the first part of the last sentence implies that these Judahite leaders abandoned the way of life represented by the Temple. We would say that they “left the church.” In other words, the nation's entire political leadership apostatized, using weak Joash to return to the paganism they had enjoyed under Joash's grandfather, father, and grandmother.
We could call Joash a “fellow traveler.” He was a leaner, a clinging vine, who did not have the resources within himself to forge his own path. Once Jehoiada died, whenever the pressure of leadership fell on him, he had no one to lean on, and he faltered and declined. Spiritually, he died.
Without Jehoiada, Joash bent whichever way the wind blew. His peers in the realm found him easy to influence, as he would follow the crowd. His character reflected the group of courtiers around him at any given moment. When Jehoiada was with him, his beneficial influence made Joash compliant and a good king. But when he was with a bad crowd, men like the idolatrous leaders of Judah, he followed them like a lost puppy, too afraid to buck his peers. Finally, he would not repent when God warned him that he was going astray. Joash's fate was assassination and the disgrace of not being buried with the kings (II Chronicles 24:25).
We can see Joash's character as merely programmed but not internalized. We might also describe it as reflective of those around him rather than genuinely his. Faith must be grounded within us and personally held. We cannot go through life on someone else's coattails. As Ezekiel 14:14 teaches, even Noah, Job, and Daniel, three of the most righteous, faithful men in all of history, could save only themselves.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Three Missing Kings (Part Two)Related Topics: Apostasy | Athaliah | Failure to Exercise Leadership | Jehoiada | Jehoiada as a Powerful Force for Good | Jehoram | Jehoshabeath | Joash | Joash's Character | Three Kings Missing from Matthew 1
Most translators believe “sons” should be singular “son,” as the Septuagint reads. But it is not without precedence that monarchs have taken vengeance on family members of their opponents. Joash's grandfather and grandmother, Jehoram and Athaliah, both purged their families of potential rivals (II Chronicles 21:4; 22:10). Perhaps their examples inspired Joash to kill some of Jehoiada's family to somehow avert Zechariah's plea for divine repayment. If such were the case, plural “sons” would be correct.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Three Missing Kings (Part Two)
I Chronicles 3 contains a counterpart to Matthew's list, at least his middle section covering the kings of Judah, that is, the family of David:
Solomon's son was Rehoboam; Abijah was his son, Asa his son, Jehoshaphat his son, Joram his son, Ahaziah his son, Joash his son, Amaziah his son, Azariah his son, Jotham his son, Ahaz his son, Hezekiah his son, Manasseh his son, Amon his son, Josiah his son. The sons of Josiah were Johanan the firstborn, the second Jehoiakim, the third Zedekiah, and the fourth Shallum. The sons of Jehoiakim were Jeconiah his son and Zedekiah his son. (I Chronicles 3:10-16)
From David to Zedekiah, twenty-one kings reigned in Judah. But in Matthew's list, only the names of fifteen kings appear. Three of the six left out, the three who followed Josiah (Shallum/Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Zedekiah), were of the same generation, brothers—blood relatives, of the same family line. However, two of them, Shallum and Zedekiah, are not direct ancestors of Jesus and so are not included, providing a logical reason for their absence. Matthew further disparages this generation by skipping over Jehoiakim and naming his son, Jehoiachin or Jeconiah, as Josiah's son (his literal grandson).
In addition, a renegade queen, Athaliah, is not on either list. She was the granddaughter of Omri, king of Israel (II Chronicles 22:2), and a truly evil woman. She usurped the throne following her son Ahaziah's death by killing all his heirs. She deserves exclusion, yet some of the most evil kings of Judah are on the list as part of Christ's ancestry.
Another three kings whose names appear in the king list in I Chronicles 3 fail to appear in Matthew's list. Which three kings they are is not entirely clear because of a confusion of names. There are two possibilities.
The kings in question appear in I Chronicles 3:11-12: “Joram his son, Ahaziah his son, Joash his son, Amaziah his son, Azariah his son, Jotham his son.” The first possibility is that Matthew excluded Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah from his list because of their connection to Athaliah.
The second possibility is that he left Joash, Amaziah, and Azariah off his list. The last of these kings is better known as Uzziah. Why did Matthew drop them from Jesus' family tree? Rather than excluding them due to their connection to Athaliah, he may have omitted them to draw attention to a disastrous flaw these three men had in common.
God does not tell us which is the correct answer. Either of the two possibilities would be a good enough reason for their absence from Matthew's list. The second, however, has greater application to Christians living and growing today. We are not descended from or have any direct connections to Athaliah, but we may well have a similar spiritual problem to what Joash, Amaziah, and Uzziah had.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Three Missing Kings (Part One)
Find more Bible verses about Athaliah:
Athaliah {Nave's}