“And Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people.”
2 Kings 11 :17 (New International Version)
In the north we have just watched Jehu’s chariots run red (see the
devotion of 10 Dec). Jehu’s purge decapitated Ahab’s line, but it also
created political shock waves. One of those waves rolled south across
the border to Judah, where Queen-mother
Athaliah—daughter of Ahab and Jezebel—saw her
chance.
• Athaliah’s grab for power echoes common Ancient Near Eastern practice:
kill rival heirs, seize the throne. Clay tablets from Ugarit and reliefs
from Assyria describe similar palace massacres.
• Yet Scripture slows down to notice the one survivor, a
toddler named Joash (Jehoash). God’s redemptive line
hangs by a thread.
Cross-references:
– 2 Kings 8 :26 -27; 2 Chronicles 22-23
– Genesis 3 :15; 2 Samuel 7 :12-16; Revelation 12 :4-5
Jehosheba, a princess history almost forgets, risks her life to
rescue Joash. She “stole him away … and put him and his nurse in a
bedroom” (New International Version).
• Hebrew uses the verb ḥābā’ (“to hide, withdraw”), the
same root used of Moses hidden in a basket (Exodus 2 :2-3). A literary
thread: God shelters promise-bearers during infanticide.
• Western readers may miss the architectural detail: the Temple complex
held storerooms and guard chambers (some excavated on Jerusalem’s
eastern slope). Joash likely lived in a priestly apartment behind the
great bronze doors.
Theological beam: even in a palace soaked with fear, God prepares salvation in the shadows.
At Joash’s seventh birthday priest Jehoiada summons
the kĕrâîm (royal mercenaries) and the priestly
mishmar (“guard rotations”). Clay seals found in strata from
8th-century BC Jerusalem bear names of such priestly families
(“Pashhur,” “Immer”). The careful strategy (one-third here, one-third
there) reads like a military manual.
• Literary device: rising tension. The narrator counts guards, doors,
and swords until the crowning moment, then bursts in crescendo: “And
they clapped their hands and shouted, ‘Long live the king!’”
Cross-references:
– Psalm 2; Psalm 132
– Ephesians 6 :10-18 — we also stand guard around a hidden
King.
Athaliah hears the trumpet, rushes to the Temple, and cries “Qesher! Qesher!” (“Treason! Treason!”). Irony drips; she herself is the traitor. The priests escort her outside the sacred precincts—blood may not be spilled in God’s house (Deuteronomy 19 :12). Archaeological parallels: Hittite law forbade executions within temple grounds.
Early church fathers read Athaliah as a figure of Satan: a usurper ruling until the true Son is revealed (cf. Hippolytus, On Christ and Antichrist §46).
Jehoiada cuts two covenants (bĕrît):
1. Between the Lord and the king and the people — a
triune bond recalling Sinai (Exodus 24) and foreshadowing Pentecost’s
three thousand new hearts (Acts 2).
2. Between the king and the people — political
re-alignment under divine law.
They tear down Baal’s temple, smash the idols, and kill the priest Mattan. Reform follows coronation; worship and governance intertwine.
Augustine (City of God XVII.7) saw in Joash a type of Christ: hidden, revealed, crowned, cleansing the temple of idols. The Reformers used this scene to argue for covenantal government under Scripture (Calvin, Institutes 4.20).
Key themes:
• Preservation of the Davidic line — God’s unbreakable promise (2 Samuel
7).
• Hiddenness and revelation — the Messiah arrives quietly before public
enthronement.
• Covenant and community — true renewal always binds worship and public
life.
• Female agency — Jehosheba becomes an unsung savior; Athaliah a warning
of power without piety.
“God of Grace and God of Glory” (Harry Emerson Fosdick, 1930). The refrain “Grant us wisdom, grant us courage for the facing of this hour” mirrors Jehoiada’s bold yet measured reform.
• 2 Chronicles 23 for a fuller lens.
• Psalm 91 — the hidden one under God’s wings.
• Matthew 2 :13-15 — another royal child spared from a murderous
ruler.
Lord of Covenants,
You hide hope where tyrants never think to look.
Guard the promises You have planted in us.
Give us Jehosheba’s courage, Jehoiada’s wisdom, and Joash’s humble
trust.
May every false throne crumble, every idol fall,
until Your Son is crowned in every heart and in every land.
In Jesus’ strong and gentle name we pray.
Amen.