Jehoiada Crowns the Boy Joash

When Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab, heard of the death of her brother Joram, and of her son Ahaziah, and of the royal family, she set out to see that no one of the house of David was left alive, but that the whole family was wiped out, so that no king could ever arise from it afterward; and, as she thought, she had actually done it. But one of Ahaziah’s sons was saved, and he escaped death in the following way. Ahaziah had a sister by the same father, named Jehosheba, who was married to the high priest Jehoiada. She went into the king’s palace and found Joash (that was the little child’s name, and he was not more than a year old) among those who had been killed, but hidden away with his nurse. She took him with her into a secret bedroom and shut him up there, and she and her husband Jehoiada brought him up secretly in the temple for six years, during which time Athaliah reigned over Jerusalem and the two tribes. [a]

In the seventh year Jehoiada shared the matter with certain of the commanders of hundreds, five in number, and persuaded them to help in what he was attempting against Athaliah and to join him in claiming the kingdom for the child. He also took from them the kind of oaths that free those who help one another from the fear of being betrayed, and he now had good hope that they would depose Athaliah. The men whom Jehoiada the priest had taken as his partners went through the whole country, gathered the priests and the Levites and the heads of the tribes out of it, and brought them to the high priest at Jerusalem. He required of them the security of an oath to keep secret whatever he revealed to them, an oath that bound them both to silence and to help. When they had taken the oath, and so made it safe for him to speak, he brought out the child of David’s family whom he had brought up, and said to them, “This is our king, of that house which you know God has foretold will reign over us for all time to come. So I urge that one third of you guard him in the temple, that another third keep watch at all the gates of the temple precinct, and that the next part of you guard the gate that opens and leads to the king’s palace. Let the rest of the people be unarmed in the temple, and let no armed person go into the temple except the priests alone.” He also gave them this further order: a part of the priests and the Levites were to stand around the king himself as his guard, with their swords drawn, and kill at once any man, whoever he was, who dared to enter the temple armed; and they were to be afraid of nobody, but keep on guarding the king. [c]

These men did what the high priest advised, and showed by their actions that their resolve was real. Jehoiada also opened the armory that David had made in the temple, and handed out to the commanders of hundreds, and also to the priests and Levites, all the spears and quivers and whatever other kinds of weapons it held. He set them, armed, in a circle around the temple, close enough to touch one another’s hands, and in this way kept out those who had no right to enter. Then they brought the child into the middle of them and put the royal crown on him, and Jehoiada anointed him with the oil and made him king. The people rejoiced and clapped their hands, and cried, “God save the king!”

When Athaliah unexpectedly heard the uproar and the cheering, she was greatly alarmed, and she rushed out of the royal palace at once with her own troops. When she reached the temple, the priests let her in; but those who stood around the temple, as the high priest had ordered them to, kept the armed men who followed her from going in. When Athaliah saw the child standing on the platform with the royal crown on his head, she tore her clothes and cried out violently, and ordered that the man who had laid a trap for her and was trying to take the government from her be killed. But Jehoiada called the commanders of hundreds and ordered them to take Athaliah to the Kidron Valley and kill her there, for he would not have the temple defiled by the punishment of this wicked woman. He also gave orders that if anyone came near to help her, he was to be killed too. So those who were charged with putting her to death took hold of her, led her to the gate of the king’s mules, and killed her there. [d]

When the business of Athaliah had been dispatched by this stratagem, Jehoiada called the people and the armed men together into the temple and made them swear that they would be loyal to the king and look after his safety and the safety of his government. After that he made the king himself give his pledge that he would worship God and not break the laws of Moses. Then they ran to the house of Baal, which Athaliah and her husband Joram had built to dishonor the God of their fathers and to honor Ahab, demolished it, and killed Mattan, who held its priesthood. Jehoiada entrusted the care and custody of the temple to the priests and Levites, according to the arrangement of King David, and ordered them to bring their regular burnt offerings twice a day and to offer incense according to the law. He also appointed some of the Levites, with the gatekeepers, to guard the temple, so that no one who was unclean might come in. [g]

When Jehoiada had put these things in order, he, with the commanders of hundreds and the rulers and all the people, brought Joash out of the temple into the king’s palace. When he had seated him on the royal throne, the people shouted for joy, gave themselves to feasting, and kept a festival for many days; and the city was quiet after the death of Athaliah. Joash was seven years old when he took the kingdom. His mother’s name was Zibiah, from the city of Beersheba. As long as Jehoiada lived, Joash took care that the laws were kept and was very zealous in the worship of God. When he came of age he married two wives, whom the high priest gave him, and by them he had both sons and daughters. This is enough to have told about King Joash: how he escaped the treachery of Athaliah, and how he received the kingdom. [h]