Verses: 2 Kings 11:1-21, 2 Chronicles 22:10-12
Background –
parents, husband, children, siblings
Jehosheba (called Jehoshabeath in 2 Chronicles) was the daughter of King Joram but not the daughter of Athaliah. She was the granddaughter of Jehoshaphat, but not of Ahab. She was married to Jehoiada the high priest. Her half brother was king Ahaziah. We don't read of her having any children of her own.
"Not by Athaliah, but another woman; for an high priest, as her husband was, would not have married the daughter of such an idolatrous woman, nor would she have married her to him." (John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible)
I couldn't find the meaning of Athaliah's name, but The Pulpit Commentary said Jehosheba's name meant "Jehovah is the oath."
What is she most known for? Victories? Defeats? How can I be like her? How can I avoid being like her?
Jehosheba (called Jehoshabeath in 2 Chronicles) was the daughter of King Joram but not the daughter of Athaliah. She was the granddaughter of Jehoshaphat, but not of Ahab. She was married to Jehoiada the high priest. Her half brother was king Ahaziah. We don't read of her having any children of her own.
"Not by Athaliah, but another woman; for an high priest, as her husband was, would not have married the daughter of such an idolatrous woman, nor would she have married her to him." (John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible)
I couldn't find the meaning of Athaliah's name, but The Pulpit Commentary said Jehosheba's name meant "Jehovah is the oath."
What is she most known for? Victories? Defeats? How can I be like her? How can I avoid being like her?
I'll cover what she is known for in the next section, but there is one important aspect that made the difference in Jehosheba's life - who she married. I wonder if Athaliah had a hand in this. If she could marry her step-daughter to a priest, she would have one less person with whom to compete. Jehosheba's marriage to the high priest took her from the king's house to God's house. "The husband neutralized the evil influences of his wife’s upbringing." (A Devotional Commentary by F. B. Meyer, B.A.)
"It was a special providence that Joram, though a king, a wicked king, married his daughter to Jehoiada a priest, a godly priest. Some perhaps thought it a disparagement to the royal family to marry a daughter to a clergyman, but it proved a happy marriage, and the saving of the royal family from ruin; for Jehoiada's interest in the temple gave her an opportunity to preserve the child, and her interest in the royal family gave him an opportunity to set him on the throne." (Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible)
"It was a special providence that Joram, though a king, a wicked king, married his daughter to Jehoiada a priest, a godly priest. Some perhaps thought it a disparagement to the royal family to marry a daughter to a clergyman, but it proved a happy marriage, and the saving of the royal family from ruin; for Jehoiada's interest in the temple gave her an opportunity to preserve the child, and her interest in the royal family gave him an opportunity to set him on the throne." (Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible)
Did she
reach a place when she needed to reset?
If so, did she? For good or evil?
Everything we know about Jehosheba can be found in that place of reset. She didn't have time to plan. She couldn't call her friends to help her fast and pray. She had to act and she had to act immediately. "When Jehosheba rushes into the nursery of the king and picks up Joash, what shall she do with him? Shall she take him to some room in the palace? No; for the official desperadoes will hunt through every nook and corner of that building. Would God that we were all as wise as Jehosheba, and knew that the Church of God is the best hiding-place." (The Biblical Illustrator)
"As aunt of the royal children, Jehosheba would have free entrance into the palace, and liberty to visit all the apartments. She did not dare openly to oppose Athaliah’s will, but contrived secretly to save one of the intended victims, the smallest of them, an infant of a year old." (The Pulpit Commentary)
"The person that delivered him was his own aunt, the daughter of wicked Joram; for God will raise up protectors for those whom he will have protected. The place of his safety was the house of the Lord, one of the chambers belonging to the temple, a place Athaliah seldom troubled. His aunt, by bringing him hither, put him under God's special protection, and so hid him by faith, as Moses was hidden." (Matthew Henry)
A beautiful summary of Jehosheba and Athaliah is, "a woman’s ruthlessness was outwitted by a woman’s cunning." (Expositor's Bible Commentary)
Everything we know about Jehosheba can be found in that place of reset. She didn't have time to plan. She couldn't call her friends to help her fast and pray. She had to act and she had to act immediately. "When Jehosheba rushes into the nursery of the king and picks up Joash, what shall she do with him? Shall she take him to some room in the palace? No; for the official desperadoes will hunt through every nook and corner of that building. Would God that we were all as wise as Jehosheba, and knew that the Church of God is the best hiding-place." (The Biblical Illustrator)
"As aunt of the royal children, Jehosheba would have free entrance into the palace, and liberty to visit all the apartments. She did not dare openly to oppose Athaliah’s will, but contrived secretly to save one of the intended victims, the smallest of them, an infant of a year old." (The Pulpit Commentary)
"The person that delivered him was his own aunt, the daughter of wicked Joram; for God will raise up protectors for those whom he will have protected. The place of his safety was the house of the Lord, one of the chambers belonging to the temple, a place Athaliah seldom troubled. His aunt, by bringing him hither, put him under God's special protection, and so hid him by faith, as Moses was hidden." (Matthew Henry)
A beautiful summary of Jehosheba and Athaliah is, "a woman’s ruthlessness was outwitted by a woman’s cunning." (Expositor's Bible Commentary)
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