Like Father, Like Son
- The people of Jerusalem decide to still keep taking a chance on David's descendants, so they name Jehoram's youngest son Ahaziah as king. The odds were in his favor since he was the only son left alive.
- Ahaziah isn't much better than his father.
- The Chronicler thinks this is because his mother, Athaliah, is influencing him to be evil and turn away from God. Remember, she was the daughter of King Ahab of Israel, who started worshipping other gods up in the Northern Kingdom.
- Ahaziah only rules in Judah for one year, but it's an eventful year.
- He helps his uncle Joram in the Northern Kingdom wage war against the Kingdom of Aram. Joram is wounded and Ahaziah visits with him in the Northern Kingdom. It's then that God decides he's had enough of Ahaziah.
- God has appointed a guy named Jehu, the grandson of Jehoshaphat, to clean up things in the north.
- God's plan is to bring the Northern Kingdom of Israel back into the fold by killing anyone who's related to the wicked and godless Ahab.
- Jehu ends up putting Ahaziah to death (as part of the whole Ahab purge) and the late king is buried in the Northern Kingdom.
- But now that's Ahaziah is dead, there's no one left to rule in Judah.
- Ahaziah's mother Athaliah decides that she'll take over as queen. To avoid any challenges to her rule, she has her grandsons executed. Problem solved.
- Not quite. Her sister-in-law, Jehoshabeath, sneaks into the palace and is able to whisk her baby nephew Joash away to safety. The boy is raised in the Temple by the high priest Jehoiada, who happens to be Jehoshabeath's husband.
- They hide Joash for six years while Queen Athaliah's in charge.
- Are these family trees confusing you yet? Shmoop to the rescue as always with this useful chart.