- Adam Clarke
- Keil-Delitzsch
- Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
- Matthew Henry
- Tyndale
Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
All the seed royal of the house of Judah - Nothing but the miraculous intervention of the Divine providence could have saved the line of David at this time, and preserved the prophecy relative to the Messiah. The whole truth of that prophecy, and the salvation of the world, appeared to be now suspended on the brittle thread of the life of an infant of a year old, (see Ch2 24:1), to destroy whom was the interest of the reigning power! But God can save by few as well as by many. He had purposed, and vain were the counter-exertions of earth and hell.
Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary
The six years' tyranny of Athaliah. - In regard to her, all that is stated is, that after Ahaziah's death she ascended the throne, and caused all the royal seed of the house of Judah, i.e., all the male members of the royal house, to be murdered. From this slaughter only Joash the son of Ahaziah, an infant a year old, was rescued, together with his nurse, by the princess Jehoshabeath, who was married to the high priest Jehoiada. He was hidden for six years, and during that time Athaliah reigned. The same narrative, for the most part in the same words, is found in Kg2 11:1-3, and has been already commented upon there.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
ATHALIAH, DESTROYING THE SEED ROYAL SAVE JOASH, USURPS THE KINGDOM. (Ch2 22:10-12)
Athaliah . . . arose and destroyed all the seed royal--(See on Kg2 11:1-3). Maddened by the massacre of the royal family of Ahab, she resolved that the royal house of David should have the same fate. Knowing the commission which Jehu had received to extirpate the whole of Ahab's posterity, she expected that he would extend his sword to her. Anticipating his movements, she resolved, as her only defense and security, to usurp the throne and destroy "the seed royal," both because they were hostile to the Phœnician worship of Baal, which she was determined to uphold, and because, if one of the young princes became king, his mother would supersede Athaliah in the dignity of queen mother.
Matthew Henry Bible Commentary
We have here what we had before, Kg2 11:1, etc. 1. A wicked woman endeavouring to destroy the house of David, that she might set up a throne for herself upon the ruins of it. Athaliah barbarously cut off all the seed-royal (Ch2 22:10), perhaps intending to transmit the crown of Judah after herself to some of her own relations, that though her family was cut off in Israel by Jehu it might be planted in Judah. 2. A good woman effectually preserving it from being wholly extirpated. One of the late king's sons, a child of a year old, was rescued from among the dead, and saved alive by the care of Jehoiada's wife (Ch2 22:11, Ch2 22:12), that a lamp might be ordained for God's anointed; for no word of God shall fall to the ground.
Tyndale Open Study Notes
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.
