2 Kings 11:1

And when Athaiah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead,.... Who was the daughter of Ahab, and granddaughter of Omri 2 Kings 8:18, she arose, and destroyed all the seed royal; that were

And when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal.

2 KINGS CHAPTER 11 Athaliah destroyeth all the royal family: only Joash escapeth; is hid six years in the house of God, . Jehoiada, giving order to the captains, in the seventh year anointeth him king, . Athaliah is slain, . The covenant is renewed between God, the king, and the people; and Baal’ s worship is destroyed: the king is set on his throne, . i.e. All of the royal family left after those slaughters, ,4 22:1 ,14, except one, as the next verse limits and explains it. This she did, partly, out of rage at the extirpation of her family, resolving that David’ s family should not outlive liers; partly, from ambition and desire of rule, for which many persons have destroyed their nearest relations; partly, from the zeal which she had for idolatry, and the worship of Baal, which she intended to establish, to which she knew the house of David were implacable enemies; and partly, in her own defence, that she might secure herself from Jehu’ s fury, who was commanded by God, and resolved in himself, utterly to destroy all the branches of Ahab’ s family, whereof she was one, ,26; for had she not done this, she suspected that either the king or people of Judah would have delivered her up to Jehu upon his demand. Possibly those whom she slew were Joram’ s children by another wife; of which See Poole "". And this was the fruit of Jehoshaphat’ s marrying his son to a daughter of that idolatrous and wicked house of Ahab, even the extirpation of all his posterity but one. And this dreadful judgment God permitted, and inflicted upon him and his, to show how much he abhors all such sinful and unequal affinities.

2 Kings 11:1 And when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal.Ver. 1. And when Athaliah.] Ahab’ s daughter by Jezebel: Gotholiah, the Septuagint and Sulpitius call her; a most wicked woman, another Medea, by whom the devil sought utterly to root out that race whereof Christ was to be born. Josephus saith that out of envy - which Augustine calleth vitium diabolicum, a devilish vice - she sought to destroy the house of David, as Jehu had destroyed her father Ahab’ s house. Others, that she thus strengthened herself, that she might be revenged upon Jehu. Most likely, she was carried on to this tragic fact by ambition - which ever rideth without reins - and zeal for Baalism, which - to her grief - she saw was now rooted out by Jehu in the kingdom of Israel. Such another imperious whorish woman - as the Scripture speaketh - was Semiramis, queen of Assyria; Tullia, the wife of Tarquinius Superbus; Irene, empress of Constantinople, and mother of Constantinus Copronymus - whose eyes she put out to make him incapable of the empire, that she might reign alone; Drahomira, queen of Bohemia; and Brumchildis, queen of France, who is said to have been the death of ten princes of the blood, and was herself afterwards put to a cruel death by king Cletharius. But the likest in cruelty to Athaliah was Laodice, the wife of Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia; who, her husband being dead, seized upon the government, raged cruelly against all sorts both of the nobility and commons, whom she caused to be murdered; yea, against her own family, poisoning six of her own sons, that so she might keep the kingdom more securely: only one little one escaped her fury, whom the people at last advanced to the crown, and slew her. Destroyed all.] Conatu scilicet, non effectu: she endeavoured it, but God remembered his promise to David, to leave him a lamp in Jerusalem, and to this promise Joash owed his life and kingdom. In Ps. cxxxix. Herodot. L. Flor. AEn. Sylv. Baron., A.D. 614. - Lips.

XI. USURPS THE THRONE OF JUDAH, BUT IS DEPOSED AND SLAIN, AND HER JOASH CROWNED, THROUGH THE OF THE HIGH PRIEST . (Comp. 2 Chronicles 22:10; 2 Chronicles 23:21.) (1) And when Athaliah . . . saw.—Rather, Now Athaliah . . . had seen. (The and, which the common Hebrew text inserts before the verb, is merely a mistaken repetition of the last letter of Ahaziah. Many MSS. omit it.) As to Athaliah and her evil influence on her husband Jehoram, see 2 Kings 8:18; 2 Kings 8:26-27. By her ambition and her cruelty she now shows herself a worthy daughter of Jezebel. Her son.—Ahaziah (2 Kings 9:27). The history of the Judæan monarchy is resumed from that point. Destroyed all the seed royal.—“The seed of the kingdom” (see margin) means all who might set up claims to the succession. Ahaziah’s brothers had been slain by the Arabs (2 Chronicles 21:17); and his “kinsmen” by Jehu (2 Kings 10:14). Those whom Athaliah slew would be for the most part Ahaziah’s own sons, though other relatives are not excluded by the term.

CHAPTER XI Athaliah destroys all that remain of the seed royal of Judah, 1. Jehosheba hides Joash the son of Ahaziah, and he remains hidden in the house of the Lord six years; and Athaliah reigns over the land, 2, 3. Jehoiada, the high priest, calls the nobles privately together into the temple, shows them the kings son, takes an oath of them, arms them, places guards around the temple, and around the young king's person; they anoint and proclaim him, 4-12. Athaliah is alarmed, comes into the temple, is seized, carried forth, and slain, 13-16. Jehoiada causes the people to enter into a covenant with the Lord; they destroy Baal's house, priest, and images, 17, 18. Joash is brought to the king's house, reigns, and all the land rejoices, 19-21. NOTES ON CHAP. XI Verse 1. Athaliah] This woman was the daughter of Ahab, and grand-daughter of Omri, and wife of Joram king of Judah, and mother of Ahaziah. Destroyed all the seed royal.] All that she could lay her hands on whom Jehu had left; in order that she might get undisturbed possession of the kingdom. How dreadful is the lust of reigning! it destroys all the charities of life; and turns fathers, mothers, brothers, and children, into the most ferocious savages! Who, that has it in his power, makes any conscience "To swim to sovereign rule through seas of blood?" In what a dreadful state is that land that is exposed to political revolutions, and where the succession to the throne is not most positively settled by the clearest and most decisive law! Reader, beware of revolutions; there have been some useful ones, but they are in general the heaviest curse of God.

Ch. 2 Kings 11:1-3. Athaliah, having slain all the seed royal of Judah, except Joash, usurps the throne for six years (2 Chronicles 22:10-12) 1. And [R.V. Now] when Athaliah] Athaliah was the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, and became the wife of Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat. she arose and destroyed] The verb here rendered ‘arose’ is often joined with another verb to give the notion of ‘setting earnestly about’ any business. Thus in Exodus 32:1 it is used ‘Up make us gods’, and in 1 Kings 14:2 ‘Arise and disguise thyself’, also 1 Chronicles 22:19 ‘Arise therefore and build ye the sanctuary’. See too Genesis 37:35 ‘And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him’. all the seed royal] i.e. All those that remained after the destruction wrought by Jehu on the brethren of Ahaziah (see above 2 Kings 10:4). Judah, as well as Israel, seems at this date to have had no lack of families in the royal houses. Those whom Athaliah slew were of course the male members of the royal family.

Athaliah, as wife of Joram and mother of Ahaziah, had guided both the internal and the external policy of the Jewish kingdom; she had procured the establishmeut of the worship of Baal in Judaea 2

’S , 2 Kings 11:1-3. 1. Destroyed all the seed royal — The ferocious Athaliah, a worthy daughter of the bloody Jezebel, acted at Jerusalem as queen mother, (see 1 Kings 15:10; 1 Kings 15:13, notes,)