22:1 The residents of Jerusalem1 made his youngest son Ahaziah king in his place, for the raiding party that invaded the city with the Arabs had killed all the older sons.2 So Ahaziah son of Jehoram became king of Judah. 22:2 Ahaziah was twenty-two3 years old when he became king and he reigned for one year in Jerusalem. His mother was Athaliah, the granddaughter4 of Omri. 22:3 He followed in the footsteps of Ahab’s dynasty,5 for his mother gave him evil advice.6 22:4 He did evil before the Lord like Ahab’s dynasty because, after his father’s death, they7 gave him advice that led to his destruction. 22:5 He followed their advice and joined Ahab’s son King Joram8 of Israel, in a battle against King Hazael of Syria9 at Ramoth Gilead in which the Syrians defeated Joram. 22:6 Joram10 returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he received from the Syrians11 in Ramah when he fought against King Hazael of Syria. Ahaziah12 son of King Jehoram of Judah went down to visit Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel, for he was ill.
22:7 God brought about Ahaziah’s downfall through his visit to Joram.13 When Ahaziah14 arrived, he went out with Joram to meet Jehu son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had commissioned15 to wipe out Ahab’s family.16 22:8 While Jehu was dishing out punishment to Ahab’s family, he discovered the officials of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah’s relatives who were serving Ahaziah and killed them. 22:9 He looked for Ahaziah, who was captured while hiding in Samaria.17 They brought him to Jehu and then executed him. They did give him a burial, for they reasoned,18 “He is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with his whole heart.” There was no one in Ahaziah’s family strong enough to rule in his place.19
Athaliah is Eliminated
22:10 When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she was determined to destroy the entire royal line20 of Judah.21 22:11 So Jehoshabeath,22 the daughter of King Jehoram,23 took Ahaziah’s son Joash and sneaked him away24 from the rest of the royal descendants who were to be executed. She hid him and his nurse in the room where the bedcovers were stored. So Jehoshabeath the daughter of King Jehoram, wife of Jehoiada the priest and sister of Ahaziah, hid him from Athaliah so she could not execute him. 22:12 He hid out in God’s temple25 for six years, while Athaliah was ruling over the land.