Athaliah was the daughter of King Ahab of Israel and her name means “the Lord is exalted”. King Ahab was a corrupt ruler who led the people of Israel into the false worship of Baal and other idolatrous practices. He married a foreign woman named Jezebel and supported her while she promoted pagan religions in the nation of Israel. Athaliah learned a lot from both of her parents, but the ruthlessness that she displayed during her life could probably be attributed to her mother, Jezebel. Queen Athaliah forced her way on the throne of Judah and ruled the land for six years. She is on the Bible Timeline starting in 897 BC.
The Queen of Judah was a Wicked Ruler
King Jehoram married Queen Athaliah and became associated with the family of Ahab. Jeroham was apparently impressed and influenced by Ahab because he became a part of his lineage through his marriage to Athaliah. He also governed his people in the same way as Ahab. Once Athaliah became his wife she encouraged Jeroham to continue in the ways of her parents. Jeroham followed her advice and tempted God to destroy the kingdom of Judah. God didn’t wipe out the people because of the promise that he made to King David about keeping one of his descendants from each generation ruling from the throne.
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The Ruthless Queen Athalia
A military commander by the name of Jehu was sent by God to kill off the royal line of Ahab. Jehu had carried out God’s orders and destroyed most of Ahab’s family including Athaliah’s husband Jeroham and her son King Ahaziah. Once her son had passed away Athaliah decided to kill off the rest of the royal line so that no one could claim any right to rule. Apparently, it didn’t matter if the people she was killing was her children, grandchildren and relatives. After she carried out this deed she became the undisputed Queen of Judah.
Jehoiada Assassinates the Queen
While Queen Athaliah was wiping out her royal line her sister Jehosheba hid one of Ahaziah’s children named Joash and hid him in Solomon’s Temple under the watch of her husband Jehoiada who made sure that he would remain safe until the right time. Jehoiada was a godly man and the head priest in the temple. While Athaliah ruled the kingdom he plotted her assassination in order to place the young king Joash back on the throne. In the sixth year of Athaliah’s rule, Jehoiada carried out his plot. He took the young king to the temple and declared him king before the people. Athaliah heard the commotion and tried to figure out what was going on. When she went down to observe what was happening, Jehoiada ordered his soldiers to assassinate her and anyone who followed her. Once Athaliah was slain young Joash was finally free to rule the kingdom.
Biblical References:
- 2 Kings 8: 16 – 29 Outlines the history of King Ahaziah’s life and the life of his parents.
- 2 Chronicles 22: 10 – 12 Queen Athalia murders and kills to claim the throne
- 2 Chronicles 23: 1 – 15 Jehoiada the righteous priest of God slays Queen Athaliah.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athaliah
http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/athaliah-bible
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Athaliah Is a very bad woman i hate her.
This was extremely helpful
Agreed. Worth a bookmark.
Treason. And parallel to present day. The one who is like her is Pelosi.
Lol, the one is like her is Pelosi that makes me laugh so hard!?
Jehu did not kill Athaliah’s husband, but her brother, Jehoram. Her husband had died earlier of intestinal disease. His name was, coincidentally, also Jehoram. You have the two Jehorams confused…
A bad woman but a woman none the less. From what I’ve come to understand, there were more evil male kings of Israel than were good.
A woman sat the throne for 6 years. Longer than some men, perhaps?
Interesting, yes.
There were no good kings in Israel at all. Judah did have some good kings, though. And yes, several of the kings, both in Israel and Judah, had shorter reigns than Athaliah.
She really inherited evil characteristic traits especially from her Mother Jezebel who did much more evil in Northern Kingdom
How God preserves us and hides us until it’s time to come on the stage
Very inspirational.God has a plan and it is well.
GENERATIONAL CURSES WERE STRONG IN THAT pagen bloodline. GOD prevails keeps his
promises.Reserves the royal bloodline. AMEN.
A nice summary.
According to King James Bible, Jehosheba (who saved Joash) was sister to King Ahaziah, not his mother (II Kings 11:2). Please fix in your text, thank you.
“After she carried out this deed she became the undisputed Queen of Israel.” Athalia became the Queen of Judah – not Israel. This is a major error you should fix.
Agreed Carolyn, thank you for pointing that out. Updated!
Yes the female equality movement has this wicked trait entrenched. The priesthood of Yahweh is being greatly opposed in this nation and we as his soldiers are required to stand up and defend our spiritual inheritance of the blood covenant Jesus made between us and Him. Man is the priest, prophet and provider of his family. God invented government; man is to reign in high places especially in church affairs and political spheres and the woman helps the man not the other way around…this is Yahweh’s kingship hierarchy both in the Old and New testaments.
The “high places” are the sacred places to Asherah, not Yahweh. Asherah ruled as the Mother on the right hand of the Father in our 1st temple in Jerusalem for centuries. This is the truth and as such calls out the lie that is His sole domination. That is a lie crafted for money and power after the Exile. History, full of war, death and disease, teaches us that there is nothing sacred or righteous in that domination. Jesus sacrificed in order to give us this truth. Most do not understand as they have simply been taught to obey the money changers, to give them their money, their works and their body. All for a lie. It is all so very very sad. MPBWY
Lord God says I will not share my glory with anyone
The deeds that Athaliah committed or ordered committed were not feminine in and of themselves…they were just evil. The fact that she was a woman is immaterial. She was just plain evil like her mother Jezebel.
Pls can u explain or correct this for us according to 2 Kings 8:26 it say Ahaziah was 22 years old when he began to reign and 2 Chronicles 22:2 says Ahaziah was 42 years old when he began to reign
Than you.
Athaliah was used by Satan to kill off the blood line to Jesus Christ in direct response to Genesis 3:15, “I will put enmity between these and the woman. Between they seed and her seed. He (messiah) shall crush Thy head and thou shalt bruise His heel.” If it were not for a few godly men and women, Satan’s plan would have been completed. Satan failed again, and our God victorious again!
this queen had a very evil spirt worse than her mother jazebel, we findthis domonic spirt in our churches today we nmust cast out and donot allow this spirt in our churches ,pleading the blood TheBlood of Jesus,.
What are the characteristics of this spirit if it’s worse than her mother
And how is she worse to the church than Jezebel and how to we fight against this spirit
The marriage is that work or the ones that comply with God’s original plan for men and women. This may seem off topic but please here me out: The woman is to support the man and make him the best he can be. The man is to cherish that woman and elevate her to a queenly state of honor. The onus is on the man to make it work. Subjecting yourself to a life of service is contrary to the human nature but it can be greatly rewarding if you were serving a servant of God who knows to cherish honorAnd speak well of check out Malachi. when a woman is not honored the temptation is to usurp authority especially the authority it has been holding her down oppressing her making life difficult and miserable with no hope. That is where the feminist movement came from. It was a genuine need Met with an ungodly approach.You have male status Will not scratch the itch of an oppressed woman. To be honored for who she is before the Lord will satisfy her. The wicked witch’s are not happy even when they rule that is what makes them so wicked
This is perfectly on target! Athaliah, both a feminine and masculine name, (a transgender thing) no heart for the children, hating and wanting to usurp the men. BLM founders want to eliminate men from the family.
Jehoida functioned as king and priest to restore
rightful leadership. Intercessors must lift the needs of the people Up as well as Pull the Purposes of God down.
Great time to be Alive to God!
I watched an unarmed man doing nothing but enjoying a day at the park killed by a police officer. I watched the exact moment when the kneeling, pleading man understood the police officer was about to kill him. All because he dared to enjoy a sunny day at the park. I am a middle aged, rich, white woman who just wanted to enjoy a day at the park myself. I/o my life was forever changed and the Lord opened my eyes. I joined BLM as an ally. BLM wants human beings of color to be able to walk down a street freely. Hear my Witness to you. See.
The comments about Queen Athaliah were very interesting. It is amazing how different people viewed her. I found no one who found any good in her. I want to think that there has to be some good in everyone. One good thing that I saw good about Athaliah was that she did not kill her sister Jehosheba.
I love your comments. They are so soulful and full of Grace. Many scholars do not think she killed anyone. It was probably Jehu who killed her family for the temple priests and for power. This is what makes sense. Why would Athaliah kill her male descendants? They were her only claim for power. It is Jehu and the priests who would want them dead.
Why did she want to kill all of her grandchildren?