2 Chronicles 22 explained: A Bad Reign and a Hidden Prince

The youngest son crowned (vv. 1-2)

Raiders had killed Ahaziah's older brothers, so the people of Jerusalem made the youngest son king, and he reigned only one year. The standard Hebrew text here gives his age as forty two, which cannot fit since his father died at forty, so most scholars follow 2 Kings and some ancient translations in reading twenty two and see forty two as an early copying error.

Led by his mother's family (vv. 3-6)

His mother Athaliah came from the family of Omri and Ahab, the rulers of the northern kingdom of Israel who promoted worship of the god Baal, and after his father died her relatives became his advisers. They drew him into a war beside Joram, Israel's king, against Hazael of Aram (roughly modern Syria), and Joram went home to Jezreel wounded.

Caught in Jehu's purge (vv. 7-9)

The writer says God used Ahaziah's visit to Joram to bring him down, because Jehu, an army commander chosen by God to destroy Ahab's family, struck while Ahaziah was there and killed Judah's officials and Ahaziah's young relatives. Ahaziah was hunted down and killed, though he was given a proper burial out of respect for his faithful grandfather Jehoshaphat.

Athaliah seizes power (v. 10)

With her son dead, Athaliah had the rest of Judah's royal family killed and ruled in their place. The text does not give her motive, though the killings plainly cleared her way to the throne.

One child hidden (vv. 11-12)

Ahaziah's sister Jehosheba, wife of the priest Jehoiada, rescued baby Joash from the slaughter and hid him in the temple buildings for six years while Athaliah ruled. This kept King David's family line from dying out, and Christians later read it as protecting the line that would lead to Jesus.

Key verse: 2 Chronicles 22:11

Something to think about

Whose advice has shaped your choices most, and how would you know if it was quietly working against you?