Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal heirs of the house of Judah. 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 being murdered, and put him and his nurse in a bedroom. 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 did not kill him. And he was hidden with them in the house of God for six years, while Athaliah reigned over the land.
What family intrigue! After Jehoram died, Ahaziah, his only remaining son, became king in his place. Ahaziah, a wicked king like his father, reigned for just one year before Jehu (the son of Nimshi) killed him. After that, Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, became queen over Judah. She was as wicked as her husband and her son had been before her. She set out to murder all of her grandsons who were descended from Ahaziah, in order to secure the kingdom for herself.
Joash, the youngest son of Ahaziah, would have been murdered along with his brothers were it not for the providential intervention of Aunt Jehoshabeath (a daughter of Jehoram) who feared the Lord.
