2 Kings 11:1

XI.

ATHALIAH USURPS THE THRONE OF JUDAH, BUT IS DEPOSED AND SLAIN, AND HER GRANDSON JOASH CROWNED, THROUGH THE INSTRUMENTALITY OF THE HIGH PRIEST JEHOIADA. (Comp. 2 Chronicles 22:10; 2 Chronicles 23:21.)

(1) And when Athaliah... saw. — Rather, Now Athaliah... had seen. (The and, which the common Hebrew text inserts before the verb, is merely a mistaken repetition of the last letter of Ahaziah. Many MSS. omit it.)

As to Athaliah and her evil influence on her husband Jehoram, see 2 Kings 8:18; 2 Kings 8:26. By her ambition and her cruelty she now shows herself a worthy daughter of Jezebel.

Her son. — Ahaziah (2 Kings 9:27). The history of the Judæan monarchy is resumed from that point.

Destroyed all the seed royal. — “The seed of the kingdom” (see margin) means all who might set up claims to the succession. Ahaziah’s brothers had been slain by the Arabs (2 Chronicles 21:17); and his “kinsmen” by Jehu (2 Kings 10:14). Those whom Athaliah slew would be for the most part Ahaziah’s own sons, though other relatives are not excluded by the term.