Athaliah

Ahaziah was 22 years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem.

And his mother's name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri.

He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counselor to do wickedly.

And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, like the house of Ahab, for they were his counselors after the death of his father, to his destruction.

For they said, He is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought Yahweh with all his heart.

So there was no one of the house of Ahaziah to retain the power of the kingdom.

Now Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son had died.

So she rose and destroyed all the royal seed of the house of Judah.

Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem.

His mother's name was Athaliah.

She was a granddaughter of Omri, king of Israel.

He also walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as the house of Ahab had done.

So the Rambam brings it down in two places, in the laws of the vessels of the Mikdosh, and also in the laws of Molochim, in the end of the Rambam.

In Hilchus Klei HaMikdosh, Zokter dem Loshon Hanau, in the laws of Klei HaMikdosh, he says the Loshon we brought down before, K'dei L'salik HaMachloikis, that in order to remove discord, disagreements, fights and to let everybody know that he's the only king just like Shlomo was anointed because of the disagreement because Adonai said that he's going to be king and the other case would be there was also another in Tanakh we have he was anointed because Atalia challenged And the Yoyokos, he challenged, they anointed him with Bnei Yoyokim Ochi because of his brother

Yoyokim.

So whenever there is a challenge, you have the anointment oil.

For Ahab's daughter was also an idolater, just like her dad, a Baal worshiper.

Her name was Athaliah.

And Athaliah proves that an unequal yoke is no joke.

You don't want to marry an unbeliever.

Hey, marry an unbeliever and guess what? You get the devil as your father-in-law.

It was this evil princess that brought Baal worship to Judah, to the southern kingdom.

She had political aspirations and she was an evil and deadly influence.

We're going to learn more about Athaliah next week in 2 Kings chapter 11.

Basha abandoned his fortress, and Asa used its materials to build up his own defenses.

The two kingdoms improved their diplomatic ties later in the 9th century when Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, arranged a marriage between his son Jehoram who would succeed him as king, and Athaliah, who was the daughter of Ahab.

Jehoshaphat also joined Ahab around the year 860 BCE in a battle to recover from Aram the town of Ramoth-Gilead across the Jordan River, which had once been part of the territory of Israel, but the attack was a failure and Ahab was killed.

Jehoshaphat then launched with Ahab's son a war against the kingdom of Moab.

Kings, beginning with the eleventh chapter, the first verse.

Now when Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal family.

But Jehoshabah, 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.

And he remained with her six years, hidden in the house of the LORD, while Athaliah reigned over the land.

But in the seventh year Jehoiada sent and brought the captains of the Karites and of the guards, and had them come to him in the house of the LORD.

and he made a covenant with them, and put them under oath in the house of the Lord, and he showed them the king's son.

Then he brought out the king's son and put the crown on him and gave him the testimony.