2 Chronicles 22

22:2-4 The queen mother, Athaliah, exercised significant influence over the king (see study note on 15:16). Athaliah was very much like her mother, Jezebel (see 22:10–23:15; cp. 1 Kgs 16:31–21:28), and she followed in the footsteps of her grandfather Omri (see 1 Kgs 16:21-26).22:2 one year: Ahaziah, also known as Jehoahaz, reigned briefly over Judah in 841 BC.

22:5-6 Ramoth-gilead, a Levitical city in the territory of Gad (Josh 21:38), was located on a major trade route and was strategic for Aram and Israel. • Jezreel, at the foot of Mount Gilboa in the plain of Jezreel, became the summer home of the Israelite kings.

22:7-9 The death of Ahaziah was a punishment for his alliance with the king of Israel. The Judahite king who lived by the counsel of the Israelite house of Omri shared their fate and found no refuge there at the time of his death. Ahaziah’s infidelity brought David’s line almost to the same point as Saul’s line, with no one left to assume the throne.

22:10-12 Athaliah was never regarded as a legitimate monarch; she was given no royal formula of age or length of reign as were other rulers. Her destruction of the rest of Judah’s royal family concentrated on potential male successors; those who were ineligible to reign, such as Ahaziah’s sister, survived the slaughter. Jehosheba was Ahaziah’s half sister, the daughter of King Jehoram by a wife other than Athaliah. The six years of Athaliah’s reign were from 841 to 835 BC.