Jehosheba
Daily Reading: (2 Kings 11:1-3):
“When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family. But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram and sister of Ahaziah, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes, who were about to be murdered. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom to hide him from Athaliah; so he was not killed. He remained hidden with his nurse at the temple of the Lord for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.”
Who is Athaliah? She is the offspring of two of the evilest people to ever live on this planet. Imagine if Adolph Hitler and Queen Mary I had a baby, it would have been Athaliah. On learning the death of Ahaziah (2 Kings 9:27), Athaliah who is the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, the queen-mother, murders all her grandchildren (except the youngest, who is secreted by his aunt, Jehosheba) and seizes the kingdom. No resistance is made to her, and she retains the sole authority for six years. She maintains the worship of Baal (2 Kings 11:18), introduced by Jehoram into Judah, and supported by Ahaziah (2 Kings 8:27).
She issued her orders and had all the members of the house of David put to death. The royal house had already been greatly depleted by Jehoram’s murder of his brothers (2 Chronicles 21:4), by Arab marauders (2 Chronicles 21:17), and by Jehu’s murder of the “brethren of Ahaziah” (2 Kings 10:14). We have Satan at work trying to wipe out the Messianic lineage that would bring about Jesus. But in enters a hero. The text says “But Jehosheba”. Do you know what her name means? Jehosheba is Hebrew for “Yahweh is an oath”. The enemy (Athaliah) has a plan to steal, kill, and destroy, but God is a promise keeper (Jehosheba) and will preserve the Messianic lineage (Joash), so that we might be given life.
Who is Joash? Joash became the youngest king of Israel. He became king at age of 7 years old! He is the eighth king of Israel. Of the Kings of Israel and Judah almost all were evil. But what do you think about Joash? God gave distinct names to individuals to communicate a message. We have “God is an oath” (Jehosheba) preserving the Messianic lineage by saving Joash and Joash’s name means “Jehovah-given”. Does God ever give evil? Just because Joash will start off being a great king it doesn’t mean that he will finish as a good king though.
When we go to Jesus’ lineage in Matthew 1 where is Joash? God blotted out his name from remembrance in the Gospel of Matthew.
Second Kings 12:1–3 says that Joash “reigned in Jerusalem forty years. Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the years Jehoiada the priest instructed him.” The tragedy of King Joash of Judah is that, after his mentor and guardian, Jehoiada died, he began listening to wicked advisers. We should have seen this coming. Jehoiada’s name means “Jehovah knows” sought after wicked advisers this is when things went terribly wrong for him.
Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” Whereas with Jehoiada, “You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Psalm 16:11).
Why did God go through all the trouble to bring about Joash when He knew in the end things would go bad with him?
The answer is in the name of the person who saved Joash, Jehosheba, “God is my oath”. God saw all of humanity, and even in all of our failings, God is faithful. God saw our need and gave the greatest most costly gift He could give, Jesus Christ. Before the Law was ever given, this is the oath that God made to Abram. Genesis 12:3: “and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” You can trace the lineage of Abraham to Jesus where all the people of the Earth will find their blessing in Him. When the enemy has raised up in power Athaliah trust that God keeps His Word always (Jehosheba), and will provide, Jehoiada because “Jehovah knows” how to bring about salvation (Jesus Christ).
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