Immerse: Chronicles Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 90
78
IMMERSE
•
CHRONICLES
2C
| 22:1–23:2
Then the people of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, Jehoram’s youngest son, their
next king, since the marauding bands who came with the Arabs had killed
all the older sons. So Ahaziah son of Jehoram reigned as king of Judah.
Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned
in Jerusalem one year. His mother was Athaliah, a granddaughter of King
Omri. Ahaziah also followed the evil example of King Ahab’s family, for
his mother encouraged him in doing wrong. He did what was evil in the
Lord’s sight, just as Ahab’s family had done. They even became his advisers after the death of his father, and they led him to ruin.
Following their evil advice, Ahaziah joined Joram, the son of King Ahab
of Israel, in his war against King Hazael of Aram at R amoth-gilead. When
the Arameans wounded Joram in the battle, he returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he had received at Ramoth. Because Joram was
wounded, King Ahaziah of Judah went to Jezreel to visit him.
But God had decided that this visit would be Ahaziah’s downfall. While
he was there, Ahaziah went out with Joram to meet Jehu grandson of Nim
shi, whom the Lord had appointed to destroy the dynasty of Ahab.
While Jehu was executing judgment against the family of Ahab, he
happened to meet some of Judah’s officials and Ahaziah’s relatives who
were traveling with Ahaziah. So Jehu killed them all. Then Jehu’s men
searched for Ahaziah, and they found him hiding in the city of Samaria.
They brought him to Jehu, who killed him. Ahaziah was given a decent
burial because the people said, “He was the grandson of Jehoshaphat—a
man who sought the Lord with all his heart.” But none of the surviving
members of Ahaziah’s family was capable of ruling the kingdom.
When Athaliah, the mother of King Ahaziah of Judah, learned that her son
was dead, she began to destroy the rest of Judah’s royal family. But Ahazi
ah’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. In
this way, Jehosheba, wife of Jehoiada the priest and sister of Ahaziah, hid
the child so that Athaliah could not murder him. Joash remained hidden in
the Temple of God for six years while Athaliah ruled over the land.
In the seventh year of Athaliah’s reign, Jehoiada the priest decided to act.
He summoned his courage and made a pact with five army commanders:
Azariah son of Jeroham, Ishmael son of Jehohanan, Azariah son of Obed,
Maaseiah son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat son of Zicri. These men traveled
secretly throughout Judah and summoned the Levites and clan leaders
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