2 Kings 11:1 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

When Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, &c.— The consideration of the fate which attended these royal families, is sufficient to make one thankful to God for having been born of meaner parentage. The whole offspring of Jeroboam, Baasha, and Ahab, kings of Israel, were cut off for their idolatry; and the kings of Judah having contracted an affinity with the house of Ahab, and being by them seduced into the same crime, were so destroyed by three successive massacres, that there was but one left: for, first Jehoram slew all his brethren, then Jehu slew all his brother's children, and now Athaliah destroys all the rest whom her executioners can meet with. Enraged to see Ahab's family cut off, she resolved to revenge it on the house of David. As she was one of Ahab's family, she had reason to apprehend that Jehu, who had a commission to extirpate all, would not be long before he called upon her; her only way therefore to secure herself against him was, to usurp the throne; but this she knew she could not do without destroying all the royal progeny, who were no well-wishers to the worship of Baal, which she had abetted, and was resolved to maintain.