2 Chronicles 22:10

But when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

ATHALIAH SEIZES THE GOVERNMENT (2Chronicles 22:10-12).

(Comp. 2Kings 11:1-3.)

(10) But when Athaliah.—See 2Kings 11:1, with which this verse nearly coincides.

Destroyed.—So Kings and some Hebrew MSS., and all the versions. Hebrew text, she spake, a mistake of some scribe.

All the seed royal.—Even after the massacres described in 2Chronicles 22:1; 2Chronicles 22:8, there would doubtless be left a number of persons more or less nearly connected with the royal family, besides the immediate offspring of Ahaziah, who are, in the first instance, intended by this phrase.

Benson Commentary

2 Chronicles 22:10. But when Athaliah, &c. — This and 2 Chronicles 22:11-12, are explained 2 Kings 11:1-3.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

22:1-12 The reign of Ahaziah, Athaliah destroys the royal family. - The counsel of the ungodly ruins many young persons when they are setting out in the world. Ahaziah gave himself up to be led by evil men. Those who advise us to do wickedly, counsel us to our destruction; while they pretend to be friends, they are our worst enemies. See and dread the mischief of bad company. If not the infection, yet let the destruction be feared, Re 18:4. We have here, a wicked woman endeavouring to destroy the house of David, and a good woman preserving it. No word of God shall fall to the ground. The whole truth of the prophecies that the Messiah was to come from David, and thereby the salvation of the world, appeared to be now hung upon the brittle thread of the life of a single infant, to destroy whom was the interest of the reigning power. But God had purposed, and vain were the efforts of earth and hell.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Compare the marginal reference and notes.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2Ch 22:10-12. Athaliah, Destroying the Seed Royal Save Joash, Usurps the Kingdom.

10. Athaliah … arose and destroyed all the seed royal—(See on [445]2Ki 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 Poole's Commentary

Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah: this, and 2 Chronicles 22:11,12, are explained on 2 Kings 11:1-3.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he sought Ahaziah,.... Who fled on Joram's being wounded by Jehu:

and they caught him; the soldiers of Jehu, who were sent after him, and bid to smite him:

for he was hid in Samaria; either in some part of the kingdom of Samaria, or in the city itself, whither he fled:

and brought him to Jehu: who was at Jezreel; see Gill on 2 Kings 9:27,

and when they had slain him they buried him; not at Jezreel, but delivered him to his servants to carry him to Jerusalem, and there bury him in the sepulchres of his fathers, 2 Kings 9:28,

because, said they, he is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart; a grandson of his, and therefore out of respect to the memory of his name, these being religious men, ordered his burial there:

so the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom; his brethren and their sons being slain, and his own children being young fell into the hands of Athaliah, who murdered them all, but one, hid by his aunt, and so got the government into her own hands, as may be observed in the following verses, 2 Chronicles 22:10.

Geneva Study Bible

But when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and {h} destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah.

(h) So that there would be no one to claim the crown and so she might usurp the government.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

10–12 (= 2 Kings 11:1-3). The Reign of Athaliah

10. But when] R.V. Now when.

destroyed] This is the reading of Kings and of the LXX. of Chron. The Heb. reads spake with, which is perhaps a euphemism; cp. the English “deal with.”

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - But when Athaliah. For parallel to the end of the chapter, see 2 Kings 11:1-3. The words, of the house of Judah, are here carefully supplied, wanting in parallel. 2 Chronicles 22:10

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

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 2 Kings 11:1-3, and has been already commented upon there.