2 Chronicles 22:1-9--Ahaziah Reigns in Judah

2 Chronicles 22:1-9
English Standard Version

Ahaziah Reigns in Judah
22 And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, his youngest son, king in his place, for the band of men that came with the Arabians to the camp had killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah reigned. 2 Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athaliah, the granddaughter of Omri. 3 He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counselor in doing wickedly. 4 He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as the house of Ahab had done. For after the death of his father they were his counselors, to his undoing. 5 He even followed their counsel and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel to make war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead. And the Syrians wounded Joram, 6 and he returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds that he had received at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was wounded.

7 But it was ordained by God that the downfall of Ahaziah should come about through his going to visit Joram. For when he came there, he went out with Jehoram to meet Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom the LORD had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab. 8 And when Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab, he met the princes of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah's brothers, who attended Ahaziah, and he killed them. 9 He searched for Ahaziah, and he was captured while hiding in Samaria, and he was brought to Jehu and put to death. They buried him, for they said, “He is the grandson of Jehoshaphat, who sought the LORD with all his heart.” And the house of Ahaziah had no one able to rule the kingdom.

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Ahaziah's reign was short-lived--only one year.  Notice that it says the people made Ahaziah to be king because he was the only son of Jehoram left and they assumed that the LORD would pick a son to be the successor (that doesn't have to be the case because it technically could be any descendant of David, which is why Christ can be called The Son of David even though he wasn't a descendant through this particular line of kings).  Notics that the sin of Jehoshaphat in marrying into the family of Ahab has messed up Judah for multiple generations now.  Ahaziah is getting bad advice and counsel form his mother who was either a daughter or niece to Ahab, because Ahab's father was her grandfather.  Her name was Athaliah, and she was exceedingly wicked and taught Ahaziah to do all kinds of wicked things.

The passage talks about how Ahaziah, king of Judah, went to visit Joram (also called Jehoram here in this passage), son of Ahab, king if Israel when he was wounded in battle with Hazael, king of Syria.  The LORD used Hazael, king of Syria to keep Israel in check and it appears for the most part that Hazael understood his role.  It was God's will that this trip to visit Joram would be the downfall of Ahaziah.  The LORD sent Jehu to execute the living members of Ahab's family. (Remember Jehu?  He was the one who told Jehoshaphat that he should stay away from Ahab and his family so that he didn't get caught up in the judgment that God was bringing on them.)  Because Ahaziah and his princes and attendants were there, and they are technically all part of Ahab's family by marriage and had a claim to the throne of Israel, they too died at the hand of Jehu so that Ahab had no male descendants left in Israel.  This would be the end of his family's dynasty as kings of Israel.

The only son from the family of Ahaziah that was eligible to be king was too young at the time.  so Athaliah would step into the power vacuum and rule as queen for a period of time and try to put to death any male heir who might try to claim his right to the throne.  God is going to save one boy from her though and use him to bring about great reform in this time of terrible darkness and wickedness and so the judgment that we see on the horizon is kept at bay for a little bit longer.  We'll talk more about that in our coming journal entries, but first we must talk more about Athaliah next time.