2 Chronicles 22:10–11

Jehoshaphat's prosperity became a snare to him. He had riches and honour in abundance. No doubt his heart was lifted up and he felt secure. Perhaps he said, "I am rich and I need nothing." Then one day he joined himself to Ahab by marriage. Jehoshaphat's son Jehoram married Ahab's wicked daughter Athaliah (21:6). This was a fatal step for Jehoshaphat and the house of Judah.

Association with the world can bring very disastrous results for the families of the saints of God, as is seen here and elsewhere in Scripture.

Athaliah, full of resentment, now sets out on a most cruel plan — the destruction of the royal seed. She was an idolatress, and she hated the word and the purpose of God. Who but she could have done it so well? She seemed to have all power, and she had no conscience. What is more, hatred and bitterness filled her heart against the true God and the house of David, though she was herself a mother of that house. But what will hatred of God not do in reversing every natural affection?

Ahaziah was of the royal line, being the son of Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat. But his mother, Athaliah, was not. She was a usurper with no royal rights whatever.

It was an awful deed, inspired by him who is the murderer from the beginning. And Satan aimed through her at something of which his instrument was ignorant. This deed was one of Satan's many efforts to wipe out the male offspring. His aim was to make the coming One — the promised Saviour, the seed of the woman — impossible. If he had succeeded through Athaliah and destroyed the royal seed of David, the promise made to David would have become impossible.

Look at the case of Abel, in Genesis 4. What was that but the serpent watching God's vessel and seeking to put it out of the way by death? Look at the case of "the seed royal," in 2 Chronicles 22, the act of Herod in Matthew 2, the death of Christ in Matthew 27. In all these cases you find the enemy seeking, by death, to interrupt the current of divine action.

What a picture! Where is David's son? What now of the promise that David should never lack a man to sit upon his throne? Has Satan in fact almost caused that line of kings to be cut off? Has he made the word of God null? How the great enemy would have boasted if he had proved able to bring an everlasting curse where God was controlling all things for better blessing! "He who sits in the heavens laughs." The line from David to Messiah is now thinned to a mere feeble thread. Yet God's promise is as sure and His counsels as firm while the infant Joash is in hiding.

It was God's mercy to the house of David. The same had been declared in the reign of Athaliah's husband Jehoram: "Yet the Lord would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that He had made with David, and as He promised to give a light to him and to his sons for ever" (2 Chronicles 21:7).

"And he was hidden with them in the house of God for six years," just as the Lord Jesus is now taken away from among the wicked people who killed Him. With Joash it was only a murderous intent. But the Lord, as we know, was crucified by the hands of lawless men. Now He is hidden in the house of God. And He will come out from that hiding place as surely as Joash did.

Athaliah was the daughter of Ahab. She was the granddaughter of Omri, a wicked king of Israel, and of a heathen king, Ethbaal king of the Sidonians. She was the wife of Jehoram, and the idolatrous mother and wicked adviser of her son Ahaziah. When she saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal family and seized the throne — all but one infant, whom his aunt Jehoshabeath hid from the murderous policy of his grandmother. What a picture! Where is David's son? What now of the promise that David should never lack a man to sit on his throne? Has Satan really almost caused that line of kings to be cut off? Has he made the word of God worthless? How the great enemy would have boasted, if he had proved himself able to bring a lasting curse where God was controlling everything for greater blessing! "He who sits in the heavens laughs."

Jehosheba (Jehovah's oath, that is, devoted to Him), the child's aunt and wife of the high priest Jehoiada (Jehovah known), hid him, with his nurse, first in one of the palace bedrooms, and later in the temple, where she lived, among her own children, and perhaps as one of them. "And he remained with them six years, hidden in the house of God, while Athaliah reigned over the land." This was God's mercy to the house of David. God had already said in Jehoram's reign that He would not destroy David's house, because of the covenant He had made with David and His promise to give him and his sons a lamp for ever (2 Chronicles 21:7).

Death is the last act of his power; but God is the God of resurrection. Where Satan ends, God begins. He gives life to the dead. At this very moment the hopes of the house of Judah seemed lost. Yet in His faithful love He was watching over the true heir of the throne of David… He was like one raised up from among the dead. It was a resurrection from among the slain ones. All the enemy's malignant efforts, and the cruelty of his instruments, only prove one thing more fully. God's purpose never changes, and His word stands for ever.

Like Joash, He was doomed to death — yes, He died. But He was raised from the dead and is now hidden in the house of God above, since the heavens have received Him. Joash, the heir of the throne of David, was hidden until the seventh year. In the same way, the true heir to the throne of David is now hidden in the presence of God until the six years are past. (Six is the number of man's day, the present age.) When the seventh year comes — the beginning of the coming age — He will be brought out as Joash was, and be crowned king.

Was the Lord Jesus Christ not kept safe in the same way, while He was still a baby, from the ruthless sword of Herod, the usurper who sat on the throne of David? And is it not wonderful that God does not step in with His great power to protect the royal seed? Instead, in His wisdom, He works secretly to preserve him. The time for the display of His great power surely comes. But God can wait patiently, working in secret, while making His counsels known to His saints.

Six years of obscurity, and no doubt of some danger, marked the service of that devoted unnamed nurse. She is not heard of again, but the results of her service were immense… So we can take heart: acts of loyalty and devotion in our day, however obscure, may, under the Lord's hand, promote His rights beyond anything we imagine.