2 Chronicles 22

2 Chronicles 22:1

F. King Ahaziah (22:1-9)22:1-9 The trouble caused by association with the house of Ahab now reached to the third generation. Ahaziah (same as Jehoahaz, 2Ch_21:17, and Azariah, v. 6) became king after Jehoram’s death. He was twenty-two (NKJV marg.) years old at the time. His mother, Athaliah, a granddaughter of Omri, continued her pernicious influence in Judah after the death of her husband. She was her son’s chief counselor to do evil"to his destruction." Ahaziah had been spared (v. 1) so as to leave a son of David on the throne, but he proved himself ungrateful by repeating his father’s sins. He joined with Jehoram (Joram) to war against . . . Syria. Jehu and his men found Ahaziah hiding in Samaria and killed him. The king’s servants gave him a decent burial (2Ki_9:28) because he was a grandson of the godly Jehoshaphat. Ahaziah left no son old enough to carry on the kingdom.

2 Chronicles 22:10

G. Usurpation of Queen Athaliah (22:1023:21)22:10-12 Having lost her husband and now her son, Athaliah seized the throne for herself by killing her own grandchildren! Satan was the unseen motivator behind this ruthless slaughter of the royal family, attempting to cut off the messianic line as he had tried to do earlier and would try to do again. But since the promise of Gen_3:15 guaranteed the Lord’s preserving the line through which the Lord Jesus would eventually come, Jehovah moved Jehoshabeath to hide her nephew Joash. He was hidden in the temple, where Jehoshabeath’s husband, Jehoiada the priest, took care of him for six years. Second Kings 811 gives more details concerning these events and also relates what was going on in Israel at the same time.