2Ki 11:1-3 | JFB | STEP | . Jehoash Saved from Athaliah's Massacre. 1. Athaliah-- (See on ). She had possessed great influence over her son, who, by her counsels, had ruled in the spirit of the house of Ahab. destroyed all the seed royal-- all connected with the royal family who might have urged a claim to the throne, and who had escaped the murderous hands of Jehu ( :1; , ). This massacre she was incited to perpetrate--partly from a determination not to let David's family outlive hers; partly as a measure of self-defense to secure herself against the violence of Jehu, who was bent on destroying the whole of Ahab's posterity to which she belonged ( ); but chiefly from personal ambition to rule, and a desire to establish the worship of Baal. Such was the sad fruit of the unequal alliance between the son of the pious Jehoshaphat and a daughter of the idolatrous and wicked house of Ahab.

‏ 2 Kings 11:1-3

CHAPTER 11

2Ki 11:1-3. Jehoash Saved from Athaliah's Massacre.

1. Athaliah--(See on 2Ch 22:2). She had possessed great influence over her son, who, by her counsels, had ruled in the spirit of the house of Ahab.

destroyed all the seed royal--all connected with the royal family who might have urged a claim to the throne, and who had escaped the murderous hands of Jehu (2Ch 21:2-4; 22:1; 2Ki 10:13, 14). This massacre she was incited to perpetrate--partly from a determination not to let David's family outlive hers; partly as a measure of self-defense to secure herself against the violence of Jehu, who was bent on destroying the whole of Ahab's posterity to which she belonged (2Ki 8:18-26); but chiefly from personal ambition to rule, and a desire to establish the worship of Baal. Such was the sad fruit of the unequal alliance between the son of the pious Jehoshaphat and a daughter of the idolatrous and wicked house of Ahab.

2. Jehosheba--or Jehoshabeath (2Ch 22:11).

daughter of King Joram--not by Athaliah, but by a secondary wife.

stole him from among the king's sons which were slain--either from among the corpses, he being considered dead, or out of the palace nursery.

hid him ... in the bedchamber--for the use of the priests, which was in some part of the temple (2Ki 11:3), and of which Jehoiada and his wife had the sole charge. What is called, however, the bedchamber in the East is not the kind of apartment that we understand by the name, but a small closet, into which are flung during the day the mattresses and other bedding materials spread on the floors or divans of the sitting-rooms by day. Such a slumber-room was well suited to be a convenient place for the recovery of his wounds, and a hiding-place for the royal infant and his nurse.

2Ki 11:4-12. He Is Made King.