Usurping The Throne

When Jehu killed Jehoram and Ahaziah’s descendents, he left no one to take the throne, as II Chronicles 22:9b tells us.  “…So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom.”  Athaliah, Ahaziah’s mother, and Ahab’s sister quickly stepped into the vacuum, seizing the throne and murdering Ahaziah’s children, her own grandchildren. As II Chronicles 22:10 descrobes.  “But when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah.” Narcicissts and sociopaths will do almost anything to get their own way,    

Ahaziah’s sister was able to save one of the grandsons, named Joash.  Because she was married to the high priest, as II Chronicles 22:11-12 tells us.  “But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest, (for she was the sister of Ahaziah,) hid him from Athaliah, so that she slew him not.  And he was with them hid in the house of God six years: and Athaliah reigned over the land.”   

Athaliah had seized the throne based on her having been the wife of Jehoram and the mother of Ahaziah, but she had never been officially declared Queen.  She had played a major part in Ahaziah’s wickedness, pushing for changes in the religious and moral practices of the nation.  After six years of her constant attempts to force them to change their beliefs, the people rebelled, led by Jehoiada, the high priest.   

They began by the army and religious leaders to support them in officially declaring seven year old Joash as king.  They took special precautions to protect him, fearing Athaliah’s followers would try to kill him, as II Chronicles 23:1-11 describes.  “And in the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself, and took the captains of hundreds, Azariah the son of Jeroham, and Ishmael the son of Jehohanan, and Azariah the son of Obed, and Maaseiah the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zichri, into covenant with him.  And they went about in Judah, and gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the chief of the fathers of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem.

And all the congregation made a covenant with the king in the house of God. And he said unto them, Behold, the king's son shall reign, as the LORD hath said of the sons of David.  This is the thing that ye shall do; A third part of you entering on the sabbath, of the priests and of the Levites, shall be porters of the doors; And a third part shall be at the king's house; and a third part at the gate of the foundation: and all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the LORD.  But let none come into the house of the LORD, save the priests, and they that minister of the Levites; they shall go in, for they are holy: but all the people shall keep the watch of the LORD.  And the Levites shall compass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand; and whosoever else cometh into the house, he shall be put to death: but be ye with the king when he cometh in, and when he goeth out.

So the Levites and all Judah did according to all things that Jehoiada the priest had commanded, and took every man his men that were to come in on the sabbath, with them that were to go out on the sabbath: for Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the courses.  Moreover Jehoiada the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds spears, and bucklers, and shields, that had been king David's, which were in the house of God.  And he set all the people, every man having his weapon in his hand, from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple, along by the altar and the temple, by the king round about.  Then they brought out the king's son, and put upon him the crown, and gave him the testimony, and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and said, God save the king.”

Hearing the celebration, Athaliah went to the Temple to see what was going on.  Realizing what was happening, she accused them of treason, as II Chronicles 23:12-13 describes.  “Now when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she came to the people into the house of the LORD: And she looked, and, behold, the king stood at his pillar at the entering in, and the princes and the trumpets by the king: and all the people of the land rejoiced, and sounded with trumpets, also the singers with instruments of music, and such as taught to sing praise. Then Athaliah rent her clothes, and said, Treason, Treason.”

In reality, Athaliah had been the one committing treason, seizing the throne from the rightful rulers by fraud and murder.  Under the law, a murderer was to be executed, and Jehoiada gave orders for her execution, in II Chronicles 23:14-15.  “Then Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds that were set over the host, and said unto them, Have her forth of the ranges: and whoso followeth her, let him be slain with the sword. For the priest said, Slay her not in the house of the LORD.  So they laid hands on her; and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the king's house, they slew her there.”

As the King’s guardian, Jehoiada took immediate steps to get Judah back to following God’s law which was in effect their Constitution, as II Chronicles 23:16-20 describes.  “And Jehoiada made a covenant between him, and between all the people, and between the king, that they should be the LORD'S people.  Then all the people went to the house of Baal, and brake it down, and brake his altars and his images in pieces, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars.

Also Jehoiada appointed the offices of the house of the LORD by the hand of the priests the Levites, whom David had distributed in the house of the LORD, to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD, as it is written in the law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing, as it was ordained by David.  And he set the porters at the gates of the house of the LORD, that none which was unclean in any thing should enter in.  And he took the captains of hundreds, and the nobles, and the governors of the people, and all the people of the land, and brought down the king from the house of the LORD: and they came through the high gate into the king's house, and set the king upon the throne of the kingdom.”

Replacing Athaliah and going back to their old way of doing things eliminated most fo the problems that had developed.  The people were pleased by the changes, as II Chronicles 23:21 says.  “And all the people of the land rejoiced: and the city was quiet, after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword.”