2 Chronicles 22:11

2Ch 22:11 But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king’s sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest, (for she was the sister of Ahaziah,) hid him from Athaliah, so that she slew him not.

2Ch 22:12 And he was with them hid in the house of God six years: and Athaliah reigned over the land.

Ver. 11, 12. {See Trapp on "2Ki 11:2"} {See Trapp on "2Ki 11:3"} {See Trapp on "2Ki 11:4"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(11) Jehoshabeath.—Kings, “Jehosheba.” (Comp. “Elisheba,” Exo_6:23; and Ἐλισάβετ (LXX.), Luk_1:7.)

The daughter of the king.—Kings adds “Joram,” and “sister of Ahaziah.”

That were slain.—That were to be put to death.

In a bedchamber.—Literally, in the chamber of beds, i.e., where the bedding was kept. (See Note on 2Ki_11:2.)

The wife of Jehoiada the priest.—So Josephus. Thenius questions the fact, on the supposed grounds—(1) that the high priest did not live in the Temple; but the passage he alleges (Neh_3:20-21) does not prove this for Jehoiada; and (2) that the chronicler contradicts himself in asserting that the priest’s wife also lived within the sacred precinct; but again his reference (2Ch_8:11) is irrelevant. Ewald calls the statement in question “genuinely historical;” and there is not the smallest reason to doubt it.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. Jehoshabeath] In Kings “Jehosheba.” The two are forms of the same name; cp. “Elisabeth” (Luk_1:7) and “Elisheba” (Exo_6:23), a similar pair.

in a bedchamber] R.V. mg., in the chamber for the beds, i.e. in a store room in which bed furniture was kept.

the wife of Jehoiada the priest] Cp. 2Ch_23:1. This relationship is not given in Kings.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

High is not expressed in Heb. or Sept., but he is supposed to have been the pontiff. H.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

After of the king, the parallel conveniently certifies the name, Joram, and adds, "sister of Ahaziah" (very possibly half-sister, though), and afterwards particularizes the hiding, as from Athaliah, as in the latter part of this verse. We are here told, what is not mentioned in the parallel, that Jehosheba was "wife of Jehoiada the priest," probably the high priest. Nor is this negatived by the fact that the name is not found (1Ch 6) in the line from Aaron to Jozadak; for this is only the line of Jozadaks ancestors, all of whom were not high priests. Joash is to be heard of again (2Ki_11:21; 2Ch_24:1)

Vers. 11, 12.

The rescue of Joash.

I THE DANGER FROM WHICH HE WAS DELIVERED.

1. An early death. He was an infant at the breast, since he had a wet-nurse: "not above a year old" (Josephus). More than one-half of the human race die in infancy. Scripture examples of the deaths of children: the firstborn of Pharaoh; (Exo_12:29, Exo_12:30) the child of David, (2Sa_12:14-23) of Jeroboam, (1Ki_14:13) of the widow of Zarephath, (1Ki_17:17) of the Shunammite. (2Ki_4:19, 2Ki_4:20) Many exposed to the danger of dying in infancy who nevertheless escape, like Moses, (Exo_2:3) the child of the harlot, (1Ki_3:25) Jesus, (Mat_2:8) the centurion"s son. (Joh_4:49)

1. A violent death. He was in danger of being cut off by the sword. To die a natural death in infancy is sad enough; to be cut off by a supernatural stroke like the Egyptian children, or the Bethlehem innocents, or by an accidental stroke like the Shunammite"s boy, much more by a violent stroke like Samaria"s children, (Hos_10:14) excites the imagination as a hard fate indeed.

2. An unnatural death. He was in danger of being killed by his own grandmother. Only one fate could have been worse to have been slain by his own mother, like the son of the woman in Samaria; (2Ki_6:29) or by his own father, like the King of Moab"s eldest son. (2Ki_3:27)

II THE PERSON BY WHOM HE WAS DELIVERED.

1. A kinswoman. Jehoshabeath, or Jehosheba, "Jehovah is the oath," was the aunt of Joash, the sister of his father (see preceding homily).

2. A good woman. A plausible inference from the fact that she was marriedto Jehoiada the high priest. "Even princesses did not then scorn the bed of those that served at God"s altar "( Hall). Most likely she and her husband disapproved of the state religion and state policy of the day, inspired and controlled as these were by Athaliah.

3. A brave woman. Scarcely without peril to herself could she have carried out her humane design of rescuing her infant nephew.

4. A clever woman. Without immense tact she could never have evaded the vigilant eyes of Athaliah. Of the substitution of some other child in Joash"s room (Hall) Scripture is silent.

III THE MODE IN WHICH HE WAS DELIVERED.

1. By secret concealment in the palace. Along with his nurse he was hid in a bedchamber, or chamber for the beds; neither the dormitory of the priests and Levites in the temple-courts (Vatablus), nor the sleeping-apartments of the royal princes in the palace (Clericus), but a room in the latter, where, according to Eastern custom, the beds, i.e. mattresses and coverlets, were kept (Keil). In this recess, usually uninhabited, a temporary refuge was obtained from Athaliah"s rage.

2. By private upbringing in the temple. Not in the holy of holies (Targum), to which Athaliah had no access, but in one of the buildings on the outer wall, in which the high priest resided with his wife. Fetched at the first convenient opportunity from their dangerous proximity to Athaliah in the palace, the young child and his nurse were for six years lodged in the priest"s house. Here his training must have been both carefully and successfully attended to, as his after-career showed. (Pro_22:6) From the priest"s lips he would receive instruction in the Law of God; (Mal_2:7) from his aunt, learn to love and practise the religion of his great and good ancestors, Jehoshaphat and Asa.

Learn:

1. The ease with which God can defeat the projects of the wicked.

2. The tender care God takes of children, especially of such as belong tothe covenant.

3. The blessing of possessing pious parents and kinsmen.

4. The value of early instruction in the doctrines and duties of religion.

5. The safety of those whom God keeps.

6. The advantage of spending one"s early years in the house of God. W.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

in the bed chamber The Targum [Jonathan to II Kings 11:2] renders: in the chamber of the beds, i.e., in the forecourt, in the room where the priests sleep, but Rabbi Solomon of blessed memory (Rashi ad loc) explained it as the attic of the Holy of Holies, as it is written in Kings (verse 3): “And he hid with her in the House of the Lord, etc.,” and concerning him, David said, (Ps. 27:5): “For He will hide me in His Tabernacle, etc.” He calls it the bed chamber based on (Song 1:13): “between my breasts he will lie,” and that is what the Kallir, Rabbi Eliezer Kara composed (in Zichronoth for the first day of Rosh Hashanah in the section devoted to the letter “nun”): If He said to cause them to totter, the smashing of the bed-chamber He will remember for an atonement. The destruction of the Temple will atone for them.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.