Athaliah's usurpation

When she sees that her son is dead she proceeds to destroy the whole royal family of the house of Judah. Her own grandchildren, the sons of Ahaziah, are killed on her instructions, and she takes the throne herself and holds it for six years.

She is the only woman ever to rule either kingdom, and the only person from outside the line of David to sit on the throne in Jerusalem in four centuries. She is also the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, which means the northern dynasty that Jehu had just exterminated in a single day survives for six more years in the southern capital through her.

The promise attached to David's house comes closer to extinction here than at any other point in its history, and it is saved by one woman acting on her own initiative in the space of a few minutes. Jehosheba, a daughter of the previous king and therefore Athaliah's stepdaughter or daughter, takes Joash, one of the king's sons, out from among the royal princes who are about to be murdered, and hides him and his nurse in a bedroom. The parallel history adds that she was the wife of Jehoiada the priest, which explains what happens next: the child is hidden in the temple for six years while a foreign queen rules the country from a few hundred metres away.

In the seventh year Jehoiada organises a coup with military precision. He sends for the commanders of units of a hundred, the Carites and the guards, brings them into the temple and makes them swear an oath, and shows them the king's son. The duty rosters are reorganised so that instead of the usual arrangement, all three shifts are on duty at once, one guarding the palace, one at a gate and one at the temple, with orders to stay with the king wherever he goes and to kill anyone who approaches the ranks.

The spears and shields that had belonged to David, stored in the temple, are handed out.

The boy is brought out, the crown is placed on him, a copy of the covenant is given to him, and he is anointed and proclaimed king, and the people clap their hands and shout, long live the king.

Athaliah hears the noise and comes to the temple, and sees the king standing by the pillar as the custom was, with the officers and the trumpeters beside him and the people rejoicing and blowing trumpets. She tears her robes and shouts treason, and is taken out between the ranks and put to death at the palace entrance, on Jehoiada's instruction that she not be killed in the temple.

The temple of Baal that she had built is torn down the same day, and its altars and idols smashed, and her priest is killed in front of them.

Six years, and she is the only woman to rule either kingdom in her own right.

When she saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family, which meant her own grandchildren. One infant, Joash, was taken by his aunt Jehosheba, who was married to the priest Jehoiada, and hidden in the temple precincts for six years while Athaliah ruled.

That the promise to David hung on one hidden child is stated by the writer without any elaboration, and it is the narrowest the line ever came to ending.

The coup that removes her is organised inside the temple by the priest, using the palace guard, with the boy crowned, given a copy of the covenant and anointed in public before she knows anything about it. She hears the noise, comes in, tears her robes and shouts treason, and is taken out through the horses' entrance and killed.