But Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram, the sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him from among the king's sons that were slain, [and hid] him and his nurse in the bedchamber; and they hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not slain.
Athaliah's massacre left the royal family of Judah in ruins. God's promise to David now hung on one baby, stolen out of the killing by his aunt and hidden with his nurse.
David's royal line had never been thinner. One commentator asks where faith rests when everything we see says the promise has failed.
And yet there never was a family line so thin. There never was a line that hung so often on a single thread... I admit that His promises seem to fail again and again. They do so for this very reason: so that our faith may rest not on appearances, but on the word of God. There would be no faith in it if everything looked easy and smooth. It is the exact opposite. Every appearance is against it, but God is still watching. Even if only one weak descendant of that house was left, that was enough.
One child was enough because of a promise. God had said David would always have a lamp.
Israel's royal house is destroyed, and not one man is left... But it is not so with the house of Judah. The faithful God keeps His word. He had said that He would always give David "a lamp for his sons" (2 Kings 8:19). In Joash He keeps alight for Himself a weak candle stub that He will not put out. Through him a time of blessing and of the fear of the Lord would begin for the kingdom of Judah.
Verse 2 opens with one small word: "But." One writer builds his whole reading on it. The killing in verse 1 was aimed at more than a throne.
It was an awful deed, inspired by him who is the murderer from the beginning. Satan aimed through her at something she herself knew nothing about. It was one of the many times he tried to wipe out the male children, so that the coming One — the promised saviour, the seed of the woman — could never come... Notice the first little word in the second verse: "But." Satan's plan failed. The Lord's watchful eye and His power ruined it all. A wicked woman killed her own children and a godly woman was used to keep one of the royal seed alive.
Her name and her husband's name both carry meaning. The verse names a bedroom; the move to the temple came later.
Jehosheba (meaning "Jehovah's oath," that is, devoted to Him) was the child's aunt and the wife of the high priest Jehoiada (meaning "Jehovah known"). She hid him, with his nurse, first in one of the palace bedrooms, and later in the temple, where she lived, among her own children — perhaps as one of them. "And he remained with them six years, hidden in the house of God, while Athaliah reigned over the land." It was God's mercy to the house of David.
How was the escape managed? One commentator will not guess. But he is sure who stood behind it, and he notes the strange hiding place.
I cannot say how it was all covered up, or how Jehosheba knew how to guard the child from the suspicion and searching that were bound to follow... I have no wish to say anything against her. What I do say is this: whatever the means, God used the purpose of her heart to shelter the child. He was hidden, and hidden where no one could have expected — in the temple... That temple was built for priests, not for a king in distress. Yet the grace of the Lord rises above all such matters of ritual.
Several writers see the rescued heir as a picture of Christ. Two details matter: he was taken out of a place of death, and then hidden for years.
But notice this carefully. Joash was drawn out of the place of death, and then the priest of God hid him in "the house of the Lord" — and hid him there "till the seventh year." This is a striking picture of God's far-off purposes for the true Heir of the throne of Judah. For Jesus was drawn out of the place of death by resurrection, and He is now hidden through a whole age in the house of God. Heaven has received Him as the High Priest of the present house of God.
The hiding also has an end.
"And he remained with them six years, hidden in the house of God," just as the Lord Jesus is now taken away from the wicked people who killed Him... and now He is hidden in the house of God. But He will come out of that hiding place as surely as Joash did.
- Threat. Athaliah killed her own grandchildren to take the throne. Satan aimed through her at more: to make the Saviour's coming impossible.
- Thread. God's promise of a lamp for David hung on one baby. One weak survivor was enough, because faith rests on His word, not on what we see.
- Turn. The verse pivots on one word: but. A wicked woman killed children; a godly woman saved one, and the plan collapsed.
- Shelter. Jehosheba, the priest's wife, hid the boy first in a bedroom, then in the temple. It was the last place anyone would look, and grace rose above the temple's rules.
- Showing. Six years hidden in God's house, and then out again. Commentators see Christ here: drawn out of death, hidden now in heaven, and certain to appear.
And he was with her hid in the house of Jehovah six years. And Athaliah reigned over the land.
For six years a murderous usurper sat on David's throne, while the rightful king was a toddler hidden in the temple with his nurse. Commentators ask what God was doing in that long silence.
Athaliah had no claim to the throne at all, and her grab for it was murder. One commentator sets out both the human crime and the hand that overruled it:
She killed her grandsons so that she could have free rein to take the kingdom of Judah... She was a usurper with no royal rights whatever. But God was not defeated by her wickedness. He preserved one descendant of Ahaziah through Jehoshabeath, a daughter of King Jehoram. She hid the youngest son when Athaliah murdered the rest. It was Satan who moved Athaliah as she tried to wipe out the whole royal line. History has seen many such attempts, but God is above all the hateful plans of men and of Satan. Joash was only one year old when he was hidden. Jehoshabeath was the wife of the priest Jehoiada, so they were able to hide Joash in the temple for six years.
One child was left, and the reason goes back to something God had said to David:
The faithful God keeps His word. He had said that He would give David "always a lamp for his sons." In Joash He keeps burning for Himself one feeble candle stub. He does not put it out, and through this boy He would open a time of blessing and of the fear of the Lord for the kingdom of Judah.
The hiding place itself matters. In a ruined kingdom, one place still stood as God had set it up:
Despite all the disorder, the place where the Lord had made His name to dwell still existed, and the king was there, kept safe by Him. What is more, a faithful high priest could walk before the face of His anointed. He knew God's mind, and he could order everything by it, even though there was no king anyone recognized.
Joash stayed with a nurse whose name is never given. What came of her six hidden years is easy to miss:
Again God is pleased to use an unnamed nurse. She and the wife of Jehoiada the priest took Joash and hid him from Athaliah for six years. Then he was shown to the people as the "king's son." Six years out of sight, and no doubt some danger, made up the service of that devoted, unnamed nurse. We never hear of her again, but the results of her service were immense... We may encourage ourselves in the knowledge that acts of loyalty and devotion in our day, however obscure they are, may, under the Lord's hand, advance His rights far beyond our thought or understanding.
Commentators read the hidden king as a picture of Jesus — drawn out of death, kept by the priest, out of sight for a set time:
He was drawn out of the place of death, and the priest of God hid him in "the house of the Lord," and that too "until the seventh year." This is a striking picture of the distant purposes of God concerning the true Heir of the throne of Judah. For Jesus was drawn from the place of death by resurrection, and He is hidden for a whole age in the house of God.
The hiding had an end date. Another writer follows it through to the seventh year:
"And he remained with them six years, hidden in the house of God," just as the Lord Jesus is now taken away from the wicked people who killed Him... now He is hidden in the house of God; but He will as surely come forth from that hiding place as Joash did. When the seventh year came — the complete time according to the ways of God — "in the seventh year Jehoiada took courage." He was the priest. The priest is prominent while the king is hidden. How truly it is so now in our Lord's case. In His own Person He combines both the high priest who is acting now and the King who will reign in the coming day.
One writer takes the hiding place as a picture of where believers stand now:
If Athaliah illustrates the present position of the world, Jehoshabeath illustrates the present position of the church. She was hidden in the house of God with Joash, the rejected and unknown king, whom the world thought to be dead, but whom she knew to be alive. Of all Christians it is said, "Your life is hidden with Christ in God."
- Hidden by promise. God kept a lamp for David alive in one infant; His word, not Judah's strength, is why the line survived.
- Hidden in the sanctuary. The temple still stood when the throne had fallen. The rightful king was safe there, under a faithful priest.
- Hidden by the unnamed. A nurse gave six hidden years, and the results ran far past anything she could measure — small loyalty, large result.
- Hidden, not lost. Writers see Christ here: drawn out of death, kept in God's house through this whole age.
- Hidden until manifested. Joash came out of hiding and took the throne. Christ will come forth just as surely, and those who know He lives already belong to Him.