World English Bible
- Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal offspring.
- But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king’s sons who were slain, even him and his nurse, and put them in the bedroom; and they hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not slain.
- He was with her hidden in the LORD’s house six years while Athaliah reigned over the land.
- In the seventh year Jehoiada sent and fetched the captains over hundreds of the Carites and of the guard, and brought them to him into the LORD’s house; and he made a covenant with them, and made a covenant with them in the LORD’s house, and showed them the king’s son.
- He commanded them, saying, “This is what you must do: a third of you, who come in on the Sabbath, shall be keepers of the watch of the king’s house;
- a third of you shall be at the gate Sur; and a third of you at the gate behind the guard. So you shall keep the watch of the house, and be a barrier.
- The two companies of you, even all who go out on the Sabbath, shall keep the watch of the LORD’s house around the king.
- You shall surround the king, every man with his weapons in his hand; and he who comes within the ranks, let him be slain. Be with the king when he goes out, and when he comes in.”
- The captains over hundreds did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded; and they each took his men, those who were to come in on the Sabbath with those who were to go out on the Sabbath, and came to Jehoiada the priest.
- The priest delivered to the captains over hundreds the spears and shields that had been King David’s, which were in the LORD’s house.
- The guard stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, along by the altar and the house, around the king.
- Then he brought out the king’s son, and put the crown on him, and gave him the covenant; and they made him king and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, “Long live the king!”
- When Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she came to the people into the LORD’s house;
- and she looked, and behold, the king stood by the pillar, as the tradition was, with the captains and the trumpets by the king; and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew trumpets. Then Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, “Treason! Treason!”
- Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of hundreds who were set over the army, and said to them, “Bring her out between the ranks. Kill anyone who follows her with the sword.” For the priest said, “Don’t let her be slain in the LORD’s house.”
- So they seized her; and she went by the way of the horses’ entry to the king’s house, and she was slain there.
- Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD and the king and the people, that they should be the LORD’s people; also between the king and the people.
- All the people of the land went to the house of Baal, and broke it down. They broke his altars and his images in pieces thoroughly, and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. The priest appointed officers over the LORD’s house.
- He took the captains over hundreds, and the Carites, and the guard, and all the people of the land; and they brought down the king from the LORD’s house, and came by the way of the gate of the guard to the king’s house. He sat on the throne of the kings.
- So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet. They had slain Athaliah with the sword at the king’s house.
- Jehoash was seven years old when he began to reign.
“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.