The elder sons of the king had been killed (2 Chron 21:17), so Ahaziah, the youngest, takes the throne. Ahaziah was only king for a year; his reign was characterized as being like that of Ahab. Ahaziah's mother was the daughter of wicked king Omri. This made her a niece of Ahab (Omri was Ahab's father). He received poor advice from his mother and those of the norther kingdom. He made alliance with Jehoram, son of Ahab and king of Israel. They went to war together against Syria.
God made occasion to judge the house of Ahab. You can see more detail of this in 2 Kings 9:1-28. While executing judgment on the descendants of Ahab, Jehu kills Ahaziah's family and then hunts him down and kills him. Ahaziah had no descendants to maintain David's royal line on the throne. Ahaliah seeks to destroy any other royal heirs that might claim the throne and she begins reign as the queen. Ahaziah had a sister who apparently recognized what was going on. She took Joash, the kings infant son, and stole him away so he wasn't murdered. God would not allow this line to be broken and he used Jehoshabeath, Jehoida the priests wife, to preserve the line. Joash was hidden for six years while Athaliah reigned.
©2017 Doug Ford
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