2 Chronicles 22:10-12--Athaliah Reigns in Judah

2 Chronicles 22:10-12
English Standard Version
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Athaliah Reigns in Judah
10 Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal family of the house of Judah. 11 But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the king's sons who were about to be put to death, and she put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Thus Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram and wife of Jehoiada the priest, because she was a sister of Ahaziah, hid him from Athaliah, so that she did not put him to death. 12 And he remained with them six years, hidden in the house of God, while Athaliah reigned over the land.

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Athaliah is upset that the LORD has pronounced judgment on her house, and she is ready to cut off all of Ahaziah's male sons and close relatives that could try to claim the throne, as she wanted to set herself up as queen.  It was by the acts of Jehoshabeath, daughter of King Jehoram and wife of Jehoiada, the high priest, who saved baby Joash and his nurse from execution (and of course we'll see that the hand of the LORD was in this as well).  Jehoshabeath hid Joash and his nurse away in a bedroom to hide them.  I don't know many babies that need a nurse that would keep quiet long enough to be hidden away in a bedroom and not found out, but that won't be an issue for very long either, as Jehoshabeath and Jehoiada will hide Joash in the house of God (the Temple)--a place that Athaliah would never set foot in--and raise him as their own son, knowing that he was the rightful king.  They would wait until the right day for the true king to be revealed and to overthrow Athaliah and coronate Joash as the king of Judah.  Time flies in just one verse here in the passage as it says they kept him hidden for six years--I imagine they spent that whole time teaching him to love the LORD and keep His commandments and establishing what we might call a biblical worldview for this child so that he would not only love God and His people but would also hate sin--especially idolatry.  We'll see what happens next time when the seven-year-old boy was made king.