Chronicles of the Past Dynasties_Chapter 22

The residents of Jerusalem appointed Ahaziah, the youngest son of Joram, as king in his place. Because the army that followed the Arabs to attack the camp had killed all the brothers of Ahaziah. So Ahaziah, the son of Joram, king of Judah, became king.

Ahaziah was forty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem for one year. His mother’s name is Athaliah, the granddaughter of Omri.

Ahaziah also walked in the way of the Ahab family. Because his mother was his mastermind, causing him to do evil.

He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just like the house of Ahab. Because after his father’s death, the people of the Ahab family were his advisors, leading to his downfall.

He followed the advice of the Ahab family and went to Ramoth Gilead with Joram son of Ahab king of Israel to fight against Hazael king of Aram. The Arameans wounded Joram.

Joram returned to Jezreel to heal the wounds he had suffered during the war with King Hazael of Aram in Ramoth. Azariah, the son of King Joram of Judah, came down to Jezreel to see Joram, the son of Ahab, because he was sick.

Ahaziah went to see Joram and was killed, which was out of God. Because he arrived, he went out with Joram to attack Jehu, the grandson of Ningshi. This Jehu was anointed by the Lord to cut off the house of Ahab.

When Jehu was punishing the Ahab family, he found all the leaders of Judah and Ahaziah’s nephews serving Ahaziah, and he killed them all.

Ahaziah was hidden in Samaria, and Jehu searched for him. They captured him and brought him to Jehu, where he was killed and buried. For they said, He is the son of Jehoshaphat, who seeks the Lord with all his heart. In this way, Ahaziah’s family was unable to preserve national power.

When Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son had died, she rose up and destroyed the royal family of Judah.

But the king’s daughter Josheba stole Joash the son of Ahaziah from among the princes who were killed, and hid him and his wet nurse in a bedroom. Joshbah was the daughter of King Joram, the sister of Ahaziah, and the wife of Jehoiada the priest. She collected Joash and avoided Athaliah to avoid being killed.

Joash and them hid together in the temple for six years. Athaliah usurped the throne.