2 Chronicles 22 — Hidden Seed, Ruthless Counsel
Night falls on Judah. Ahaziah, tutored by Ahab’s house, dies in Jehu’s purge; Athaliah seizes the throne and tries to erase David’s line. Yet a single child, Joash, is hidden in the temple. The promise breathes in secret.
Note the Chronicler’s stress on counsel: “the house of Ahab were his counselors to his undoing.” The Hebrew ya‘ats (to advise) here darkens what Isaiah later brightens—Messiah as “Wonderful Counselor” (Isaiah 9:6). As we observed yesterday, alliances shape the heart; counsel steers a kingdom.
History’s backdrop is firm: Jehu’s coup (c. 841 BC) is etched on the Black Obelisk; Jezreel’s Omride compounds lie in the soil. But behind kings and coups stands God, guarding the Seed (zera‘)—from Eden’s promise to Bethlehem’s Child.
Application: Beware the counsel you normalize. Honor the quiet courage of Jehoshabeath and Jehoiada—hidden fidelity that preserves the future. Hide your life “with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3).
Cross-refs: 2 Kings 9–11; 2 Chronicles 21:7; Genesis 3:15; Psalm 2; Matthew 1:1.
Song: “God Moves in a Mysterious Way” (Cowper).
Prayer: Keeper of the promise, sift our counselors and steady our steps. Shelter your church in your house; preserve a faithful seed in us until the Son of David is all in all. Amen.
Narrated version of this devotional on 2 Chronicles Chapter 22