Queen Athaliah was the wife of King Jehoram (r. 853-841 BC), and mother of King Ahaziah (r. 841 BC).
She was the daughter of King Ahab & Queen Jezebel.
King Ahab (r. 874-853 BC) was the son and successor of King Omri (r. 885-874 BC). His father, Omri, was the founder of the short-lived House of Omri.
Queen Jezebel was the daughter of Ethbaal I of the Sidonians, the sister of Baal-Eser II. Jezebel married King Ahab of Samaria, the northern kingdom of Israel.
Canaan’s oldest son, Sidon, was the ancestor of the Sidonians.
Queen Athaliah’s husband, Jehoram, whose mother was Queen Azubah, was the fifth king of the Kingdom of Judah. His father, King Jehoshaphat, son of Asa, reigned as the fourth king of the Kingdom of Judah (c. 872-848 BC).
Queen Maacah gave birth to Asa’s father, Abijam, and uncles Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith.
Through an alliance between King Jehoshaphat of Judah with the Kingdom of Israel, one of the terms was that his son, King Jehoram (r. 853-841 BC) married Athaliah (r. 841-835 BC), the daughter of King Ahab & Queen Jezebel.
Queen Athaliah’s son, King Ahaziah (c. 841 BC), was the first King of Judah to be descended from both the House of David and the House of Omri, through his mother and successor.
Jehu, previously a commander in the Israelite army, son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi kills Joram and Athaliah’s son, Ahaziah, at Ramoth.
When Joram had been wounded in his war against King Hazael of Aram at Ramoth-gilead, King Ahaziah went to Jezreel to visit him.
King Joram of Israel and King Ahaziah of Judah rode out in their chariots to meet Jehu. They met him at the plot of land that had belonged to Naboth of Jezreel.
King Joram demanded, “Do you come in peace, Jehu?”Jehu replied, “How can there be peace as long as the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother, Jezebel, are all around us?”
Then King Joram turned the horses around and fled, shouting to King Ahaziah, “Treason, Ahaziah!” But Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders. The arrow pierced his heart, and he sank down dead in his chariot.
When King Ahaziah of Judah saw what was happening, he fled along the road to Beth-haggan. Jehu rode after him, shouting, “Shoot him, too!” So they shot Ahaziah in his chariot at the Ascent of Gur, near Ibleam. He was able to go on as far as Megiddo, but he died there. Ahaziah had become king over Judah in the eleventh year of the reign of Joram son of Ahab.
When Athaliah, the mother of King Ahaziah of Judah, learned that her son was dead, she began to destroy the rest of the royal family.
But Ahaziah’s sister Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram, took Ahaziah’s infant son, Joash, and stole him away from among the rest of the king’s children, who were about to be killed. She put Joash and his nurse in a bedroom, and they hid him from Athaliah, so the child was not murdered.
Joash remained hidden in the Temple of the Lord for six years while Athaliah ruled over the land (r. 841-835 BC).
In the seventh year of Queen Athaliah’s reign, Jehoiada the priest summoned the commanders, the Carite mercenaries, and the palace guards to come to the Temple of the Lord. He made a solemn pact with them and made them swear an oath of loyalty there in the Lord’s Temple; then he showed them the king’s son, Joash.
When Athaliah heard the noise made by the palace guards and the people, she hurried to the Lord’s Temple to see what was happening. When she arrived, she saw the newly crowned king standing in his place of authority by the pillar, as was the custom at times of coronation. The commanders and trumpeters were surrounding him, and people from all over the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets. When Athaliah saw all this, she tore her clothes in despair and shouted, “Treason! Treason!”
Then Jehoiada the priest ordered the commanders who were in charge of the troops, “Take her to the soldiers in front of the Temple, and kill anyone who tries to rescue her.” For the priest had said, “She must not be killed in the Temple of the Lord.” So they seized her and led her out to the gate where horses enter the palace grounds, and she was killed there.
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Like this post? Stop by and read “Queen Azubah: Wife of King Asa and Mother of King Jehoshaphat.” She was the wife of King Asa of Judah, and mother of King Jehoshaphat. Her great-grandson, King Ahaziah, was the first King of Judah to be descended from both the House of David and the House of Omri, through his mother and successor, Queen Athaliah.
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