2 Kings 11:1-3--Athaliah Reigns in Judah

2 Kings 11:1-3
English Standard Version

Athaliah Reigns in Judah
11 Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal family. 2 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 being put to death, and she put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Thus they hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not put to death. 3 And he remained with her six years, hidden in the house of the LORD, while Athaliah reigned over the land.

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Remember that Ahaziah was the king of Judah, though he was related to Ahab through marriage by his mother, whom the text today names as Athaliah.  When she saw that her son was dead, she rose up and destroyed all the royal family--if he son couldn't be king, none of them in the family would be king in his place.

However, Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took her son Joash, the son of Ahaziah and hid him.  If that was confusing at all, the daughter of the one who was king of Israel and who was at the same time the sister of the king of Judah had a son with the king of Judah (yes, a man has a son by his own sister--that's how messed up this culture was).  It was the will of the LORD that Athaliah, the queen mother, not be allowed to kill all the male descendants from king Ahaziah, but the LORD has a special plan for Joash, but everyone must think he is dead for now because otherwise Athaliah would send assassins out to try to kill him, for she wanted to reign as queen.

Joash remained hidden, along with his nurse and caretaker for six years--hidden in the house of the LORD (that is the Temple), while Athaliah reigned as queen over the land of  Judah.  He will be one of the youngest kings to ascend to the throne when he comes out of hiding, but as you can guess, his first order of business will be to take care of his grandmother, who has usurped the throne of Judah.