Athaliah - Only Female Monarch of Israel

2 Kings 11; 2 Chron. 22:1-4, 10-12; 2 Chron. 23; 2 Kings 8:26

STOP!
1.Ask yourself, “Why am I studying Athaliah? She was an evil queen.” Most of us cannot recount ever hearing a sermon about this woman. We may have heard the story of baby King Joash, but the focus was on him, not necessarily on what we might learn from Queen Athaliah. Why do you think a study of Athaliah is important? (If you don’t know, write that down.)

2 Gather information. Read the Scripture related to Queen Athaliah. Slow down and look at each word.

3. Start a list of key words, repeated words or concepts you might not understand in these verses. (In the “Look” phase you will research these)

For the study of Queen Athaliah you might list these plus a few more:

a. Who is Jehoiada
b. Who Jehosheba
c. The people ‘rejoiced’ at the report of her death – why?
d. Baal worship
e. Why was the child hidden in the temple?

5. Stop and “Scan the horizon” for geography. Where does this story take place? The city. The exact place.

LOOK!!


1. Read the verses about Athaliah again. Spend time in this phase to research and study what the verses are saying.

2. Go to the list that you wrote in the “Stop” section, and research the words and concepts that you would like to know more about. You are “looking’ to see detail and gain information. Did you find out anything that surprised you?

3. Look right and look left!! See what has gone before and comes after the story of Athaliah. Read 2 Kings 10, all that is in 2 Chronicles 22, and 2 Chronicles 24. How do these chapters impact the story of Athaliah?
4. Begin to ask questions.
a. Who was The Queen Athaliah? Give a brief description.
b. Athaliah was the first, and only Queen that ruled Israel. Why?

c. Scripture says that the people rejoiced when Athaliah overthrew the throne. Why didn’t the people rebel in the beginning? What must life have been like with the leader of the country forcing Baal worship on the country?

d. How did she come to the throne, and what happened to Judah after Joash took over the throne?

e. Why would God have allowed this to happen? What was the spiritual climate in Judah during this time? Had any prophets warned of this?

f. Why did she kill her grandsons? Her own husband had his brothers killed to secure the throne for himself. Athaliah had much evil around her.

g.To think about….What happened to the mothers of those murdered? What happened to the mother of baby Joash?

h. Why was the temple a good place to hide Joash?

i. What are the only words are recorded that she spoke? Are they important? (It is interesting that she should cry out “Treason” when she was the queen of treason and bloodshed.)

j. Why didn’t the people rise up against her…they ‘rejoiced’ when she was over thrown. What does this teach us about today? God let things go along for six years…..let the people have their way until His time had come to stop the evil.

k. Think about: The priest and people seemed to rather have a six year old on the throne than Athaliah.

l. What does it mean “she tore her clothes?”

m. Athaliah the first and only female ruler of Israel? Was she appointed by God or by human choice? What is the plan or pattern that we see in both the Old and New Testament regarding women and leadership?


n. Think about: Why did things get so bad. Why did the people stray? Was there warnings? Many previous rulers had been followers of YHWY…yet things had changed…how? Why?

o. Most important of all….why bother spending all this time studying such an evil woman?

LISTEN

Lessons learned. God is in control. He promised that a seed would reign on the throne of David. Despite the plans of this evil, pagan woman the seed (Joash) did survive.


What if this detailed account of the reign of Queen Athaliah was left out of Scripture. We would have missed seeing the story of the only woman who ruled Judah. We would have missed the details of how God kept His promise to Israel to always have a descendant of David on the throne.

What can we take from the story of Athaliah to apply to our lives today?

The key to this story is how God is faithful to his promises. He promised Davidic line to sit on the throne of Israel. Mans schemes cannot usurp the plans of God. Evil reared its ugly head and almost ‘destroyed the seed.’

God let the people have their way until it was His time to make the correction. Sometimes God lets a nation have what it wants (or thinks it wants) for a period of time, before He acts.

The nation follows their leader. God controls the ‘throne’ of any country.
Families do have a major influence over the lives and beliefs of their children… good or bad. If you are a mom or a grandmom how does your life affect the next generation (s)? Do you need to make any changes? (BUT REMEMBER…each person makes their own decision and choices in life. No matter how Godly a home a child comes from they can still stray from the ways of God. This is not your fault.)

For Deeper Study

Dig deeper: Write out the genealogy of Athaliah to see who “her people” were, and how her life was shaped. (List the verses)

Grandfather
Father
Mother
Husband
Son

Athaliah is in the bloodline of Joseph, husband of Mary, but not the bloodline of Mary. The evil ‘genealogy’ of Athaliah does not reach Jesus. The bloodline of Jesus goes through Nathan son of David, not Solomon (the line of Athaliah).

What Can We Learn From the Queens?

As a leader, or as a Christian woman in your community, people are watching your example. You have influence – negative or positive. As a child of God you are the daughter of the King. You might not be a "queen," but in many ways you are a Princess. Do you act like it? You have influence, people watch you.
If you are a child of God and walking with Him, then you are exactly where you are “for such a time as this.” God has a plan and purpose for your life planted just where you are.

There is a godly way to handle situations. Esther must have been fearful, yet she was faithful to her God and her people. She took care of the major problem in a dignified, gentle manner. Both Esther and Vashti could have usurped the throne as Athaliah did, yet they stood their ground, acted on what they believed in and, not causing disruption, effectively changed the situation.

As a leader there is a way to handle situations. Evil Queen Athaliah used force and murder, Esther and Vashti did not.

Each of us is a "Queen" in some way in the eyes of God. If whe have a relationship with Him, are walking with Him in obediende, then He has placed us where we are for a reason. Are you a working women? A wife and mother? An active leader, or a behind-the-scenes type of person? If you are walking with God, you are where you should be...for such a time as this. God's role model to us is Esther (and I think even Vashti). We can learn so much by her example.