2 Chronicles 22:1-12

2 Chronicles: God desires loyal people

The *Kingdom called Judah

2 Chronicles Chapter s 10 to 36

Ian Mackervoy

Chapter 22

Ahaziah – 2 Chronicles 22:1-9

v1 The people in Jerusalem chose Ahaziah to replace Jehoram as king. He was Jehoram’s youngest son. Those who came with the Arabs had attacked Jehoram’s camp. And they had killed all of his older sons. So, Ahaziah, son of Jehoram, king of Judah began to rule.

v2 Ahaziah was 22 years old when he became king. And he ruled for one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah. She was a granddaughter of Omri.

v3 Ahaziah lived in the manner of Ahab’s family. He followed the advice of his mother. And she encouraged him to do what was wrong. v4 He did what the *LORD considered wrong. He lived as the family of Ahab lived. After his father’s death, Ahab’s family advised him and this caused Ahaziah’s death. v5 They advised him to go with Joram, son of Ahab, the king of Israel to Ramoth in Gilead. There they fought against Hazael, king of Aram. The people from Aram struck Joram and they hurt him. v6 So, Joram returned to Jezreel town to recover from his injuries. He received those injuries at Ramoth when he fought Hazael, king of Aram. Then Ahaziah, son of Jehoram, king of Judah went to Jezreel town. He went to visit Joram, son of Ahab, who had bad injuries.

v7 God caused the death of Ahaziah because he went to Joram. He went with Joram to meet Nimshi’s son Jehu. But the *LORD had sent Jehu to kill all of Ahab’s family. v8 Jehu killed the family of Ahab. Also, he found the leaders of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah’s relatives. These people served Ahaziah. Jehu killed them all. v9 Then Jehu looked for Ahaziah. Jehu’s men caught him as he hid in Samaria. And they brought him to Jehu. Then they killed Ahaziah and they buried him. They buried him because they said, ‘He was a son of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat obeyed the *LORD with all his heart.’ There was nobody from Ahaziah’s family left to become king of Judah.

Verses 1-6 Ahaziah was the youngest son of Jehoram and Athaliah. The *Philistines and the Arabs had killed all of his brothers. So, the people made Ahaziah king in Jerusalem. He was 22 years old and he ruled for just one year (842 *BC). His mother was a daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. Ahab’s father was Omri. Omri built Samaria. And he ruled there before Ahab did.

Jehoram was 18 or 19 years old when Ahaziah was born. He had no more sons before his death at the age of 40. But he did have sons before Ahaziah. At an early age, the royal princes had several wives. It was normal for them to have children as soon as they were able.

Joram was the king of *Israel. Ahaziah became king of Judah in the 12th year of Joram’s rule (2 Kings 8:25). They both died at the same time (2 Kings 9:24, 27).

His parents brought Ahaziah up in the ways of Ahab’s family. His mother and his grandmother were powerful women. They led the family away from the *LORD to *worship the god Baal. When Ahaziah became king, he followed the advice of his mother Athaliah. Also, he followed the bad advice of his mother’s relatives.

Ahaziah and King Joram went to Ramoth in Gilead. There they fought against Hazael, king of Aram. In the fight, Joram received a bad injury. He went to the town called Jezreel to recover from his injury. Then Ahaziah went to Jezreel to visit Joram.

Verses 7-9 Jehu, whose father was Nimshi, came to kill Joram. Jehu killed all of Ahab’s family. Ahaziah and the leaders of Judah were there when Jehu came to Jezreel. Ahaziah went out with Joram to meet Jehu. Then Joram and Azariah tried to run away from Jehu but Jehu killed Joram. Ahaziah hid in Samaria but Jehu’s men found him. There Ahaziah received an injury that he would not recover from. But he escaped to the town called Megiddo (2 Kings 9:27). And he died there. Ahaziah’s servants took him to Jerusalem and they buried him there. Because they respected Jehoshaphat, they gave Ahaziah a good funeral.

Jehu then met some of Ahaziah’s family and he killed them (2 Kings 10:14). So, there was nobody of the family of Ahaziah who could become king at that time. His children were too young and Jehu had killed all the other princes.

Athaliah – 2 Chronicles 22:10-23:21

Athaliah rules – 2 Chronicles 22:10-12

v10 Ahaziah’s mother, Athaliah, heard that her son was dead. Then she tried to kill all the royal family in Judah. v11 But King Jehoram’s daughter, Jehoshabeath, took Joash, Ahaziah’s son. She took him from among the other sons of the king. That was before Athaliah murdered the rest of the king’s sons. Jehoshabeath hid Joash and his nurse in a bedroom. She was King Jehoram’s daughter and Ahaziah’s sister. Also, she was the wife of Jehoiada the priest. She hid Joash so that Athaliah could not kill him. v12 Jehoshabeath hid him with them in God’s *temple for 6 years. During that time, Athaliah ruled the country.

Verses 10-12 There was nobody in the royal family to replace Ahaziah. His sons were too young. Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah tried to murder all of his young sons. But a daughter of Jehoram, Jehoshabeath took and she hid one of these sons. His name was Joash. She was the wife of Jehoiada the priest. So, they hid the boy with his nurse in the *LORD’s *temple for 6 years. In this way, the *LORD preserved the family of David.

Athaliah did not know about Joash. She made herself the queen and she ruled Judah for 6 years (842 to 837 *BC). She was the only ruler in Judah who was not in the family of David.

kingdom ~ the place or territory where a king rules; or, the people that a king rules over.
LORD ~ ‘LORD’ is the special name that God gave to himself. It means that God has always been.
lord ~ someone with authority such as the king.
Philistines ~ people who lived to the south and west of Judah. They were a nation that fought with the *Israelites.
BC ~ years before Christ was born.
worship ~ to praise God and to give thanks to him; to show honour to God and to say that we love him very much. But some people worship false gods instead of the real God.
temple ~ a special building for the worship of God or of other gods. The Jews had one in Jerusalem for the worship of the real God.
worship ~ to praise God and to give thanks to him; to show honour to God and to say that we love him very much. But some people worship false gods instead of the real God.
Jews ~ another name for the *Israelites.