JEHOSHEBA: PRINCE PROTECTOR

When we first meet Jehosheba she is sneaking around the palace of the king in Jerusalem. The Queen Mother, Athaliah, has taken over the throne, and she is in the process of destroying the royal family.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

After King Solomon, the once united kingdom of Israel splits into two separate kingdoms: The Northern Kingdom—which retained the name "Israel"—is made up of 10 tribes, and the Southern Kingdom (a.k.a. Judah) is made up of 2 tribes: Benjamin and Judah.

Both monarchies are unstable, and their kings have strayed away from the Lord by worshipping the false god Baal thanks most recently to the influence of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel in Israel.

Ahab and Jezebel’s idolatry impacts both kingdoms due to various alliances, especially the one sealed by the marriage of their daughter, Athaliah, to Jehoram, the King of Judah.

Did you catch that?

The ruler of the Southern Kingdom married the princess of the Northern Kingdom—a literal daughter of Jezebel. If you're thinking nothing good will come of this, you’re right.

DEATH AND SUCCESSION

When Athaliah’s husband dies, their son Ahaziah is crowned king. As Queen Mother, Athaliah retains tremendous influence over her son; however, his reign is cut short the next year when he is killed while visiting the king of Israel.

Technically, the crown should be passed to the next in line for the throne, but that's not what happens. Instead, when the news of King Ahaziah's death reaches his mother in Jerusalem, Queen Athaliah decides to take matters into her own hands and seize the throne for herself.

In order to secure her position and eliminate any threat to her authority, Athaliah seeks out and murders "all the royal heirs" to the throne—including her own grandchildren.

“Now when Athaliah, Ahaziah’s mother, saw that her son was dead, she set about to destroy all the royal family of the house of Judah.”

2 Chronicles 22:10

According to the Jewish historian Josephus, Athaliah's singular purpose in killing all the heirs was to ensure that no one from David's line would ever reign again.

👑 Sidenote: Athaliah is the only woman to have reigned as a monarch in Israel/Judah; she reigned for six years from 842 BC – 836 BC.

Athaliah’s evil plan might have succeeded had it not been for the quick thinking and brave actions of today’s woman of valor: Jehosheba.

AUNTIE JEHOSHEBA

Jehosheba is the sister of the late king Ahaziah (they likely had different mothers but the same father); daughter of the previous king of Judah; and wife of the high priest. She and her husband Jehoida reside at Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem.

When Jehosheba realizes that the queen is killing the royal heirs, she sneaks into the palace and stealthily saves her one-year old nephew, Joash, and the baby's nurse (unnamed). She quickly transports them to the Temple where they remain in hiding for six years.  

Meanwhile, Queen Athaliah seizes the throne and rules unchallenged (because they're all dead?!) for those same six years... all the while having no idea that the rightful heir in the line of David survived the massacre and is thriving nearby.

SIX YEARS LATER

In a meticulously orchestrated, well protected, and invitation-only private ceremony, Jehosheba’s husband, the high priest, anoints his 7-year-old nephew Joash “King of Judah” thereby returning the throne to the line of David.

Although the queen was not invited to the ceremony, she becomes curious when she hears a crowd cheering at the Temple. She crashes the party, and seeing a young boy wearing a royal crown surrounded by priests and armed officers, she realizes what is happening.

She flips out, rips her clothes, and screams, “Treason! Treason!” but her cries are irrelevant. In an ironic twist of fate, Athaliah is carried out of the Temple proper and killed as a traitor.

CONCLUSION

Young Joash was crowned King of Judah when he was seven years old, and he reigned for forty years. This important event in Judah's history could only take place because one courageous woman, Jehosheba, removed a helpless baby and his nurse from harm's way and provided a safe and secure environment where he could grow-up unnoticed by the evil queen. A place where he would learn about God, the Law of Moses, and his ancestor King David. A place called Solomon's Temple.

One last thing:

Jehosheba and his nurse perpetuated the Davidic Dynasty, and that is a really big deal!

You can learn more about Jehosheba in 2 Kings 8-11 and/or 2 Chronicles 21-23.

Additional Resources:

• “Joash” and "Jehoida" in The Dictionary of Bible and Religion. General Editor William H. Gentz (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1986), p. 539.

• "Who Was King Ahaziah in the Bible?" (Were there two different kings named Ahaziah?) - https://www.gotquestions.org/King-Ahaziah.html

• "Athaliah: Bible" in the The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women (Online). Jewish Women’s Archive.

• The Genealogy of the Kings of Ancient Israel and Judah (Chart)

• An Introduction to the Old Testament: A Feminist Perspective by Alice L. Laffey (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988), p. 138.

• “Jehosheba” on Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia.

• "Jehoram of Judah” on Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia.

• “1 and 2 Kings” Women’s Bible Commentary, 3rd Edition. Edited by Carol A. Newsom, Sharon H. Ringe, and Jacqueline E. Lapsley. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2012). p. 177

Photo Credits:

Photo by Bruno Nascimento on Unsplash.

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