The Reign In Judah Of Athaliah The Usurper c. 841-835 BC, Or The Remarkable Preservation And Restoration Of The Davidic Heir And The Refutation Of The Worship Of The Foreign Baal (2 Kings 11:1-21).
On hearing of the death of Ahaziah, king of Judah, at the hands of Jehu, and the overthrowing of the dynasty of Omri in Israel, Ahaziah's mother Athaliah, a daughter of Ahab and the influential ‘queen mother', seized the throne of Judah and sought to destroy all the seed royal, seeking to salvage something for the house of Ahab. The result appeared to be that the house of David was about to be exterminated, and it was all due to their association with the house of Ahab. The fact that according to the Chronicler her son had previously slain all his brothers, along with a number of prominent aristocrats, once his reign was established (2 Chronicles 21:4), presumably because of opposition to his support for Baal, brings out how evil that house really was. They would brook no opposition in their determination to establish the worship of Baal.
But YHWH had not forgotten His promises to David (2 Samuel 7) and Ahaziah's half-sister Jehosheba (presumably by another wife of Jehoram) hid one of Ahaziah's infant sons, Joash, so that he survived the massacre, after which he was kept in hiding for many years in the Temple, until the time came for his revealing to Judah. Then when the appropriate time came Jehoiada, the faithful Priest who, with Jehosheba his wife had watched over him, presented him before the commanders of the Temple guards whom he knew that he could rely on, taking from them suitable oaths of secrecy and loyalty.
The result was that, after carefully putting in place certain safeguards, Joash was crowned, anointed and acclaimed in the Temple by both the guards and a gathering of the people. The noise of the acclamation was such that it brought the unsuspecting Athaliah hurrying to the scene, presumably accompanied by a number of attendants, and when she realised what was happening she cried out ‘treason'. But she had little popular support, and with her own main bodyguard and supporters (as worshippers of Baal) presumably largely elsewhere she was at the mercy of the Temple guards. She was therefore led out of the Temple and slain. Her rebellion was at an end. This was then followed by the renewal of the covenants of YHWH and the destruction of the sanctuary of Baal.
We should note that we do not strictly have a record of the reign of Athaliah. She is seen rather as a brief and unpleasant interlude leading up to the restoration of the Davidic monarchy and of the covenants of YHWH, and the account of her reign simply deals with her failure to extirpate the house of David, and her death.
The passage divides into two subsections:
1) The Usurping Of The Throne By Athaliah And The Preservation And Eventual Crowning Of The Davidic Heir Resulting In Her Execution (2 Kings 11:1-16).
2) The Renewing Of The Covenants of YHWH, The Destruction Of The Sanctuary Of Baal, And The Final Official Enthronement Of The Davidic Heir (2 Kings 11:17-21).