Ahaziah and Athaliah, and Joash; Reigning In House of David

Nadene Goldfoot                                             

This starts off with Ahab and Jezebel, husband/King and wife of Israel, the break-away land originally with kingship of  Jeroboam (933-912 BCE) who was the superintendent of forced labor. Jews come from Judah, the southern state of the original Israel that was left in the lurch with a couple of other states. 

Information (AI) comes to us as listing: King Ahaziah refers to two different biblical rulers: Ahaziah of Judah (the 6th king of Judah) and Ahaziah of Israel (the 8th king of the northern kingdom of Israel).

6.  Ahaziah, 6th King of Judah (844-843 BCE) since Rehoboam the 1st son since Solomon died,   and successor of Ahab (876-853) of Israel, as king of Israel, was chosen.  This makes it quite confusing.  

Now, Ahab was the king of Israel as we know, not Judah.  He was the son of Omri ad ruled from 876-853BCE of Israel.  His wife was Jezebel, daughter of the king of Sidon, and it was she who introduced Baal worship into Israel, and a fierce struggle ensued between the royal house of David (Judah) and the prophets headed by Elijah.  

Ahab defeated Ben-Hadad of Damascus in battle and regained several districts previously captured by him.  Later, the 2 formed an alliance and fought the Assyrians near Karkar (853BCE). 

Ahab was killed in 853 BCE while fighting Damascus in alliance with Jehoshaphat of Judah.

Ahaziah, son of Ahab then became king of Israel in 853 BCE when his father died.  Yet he is listed as the king of Judah in (844 to 843 BCE) as well. He was denounced as an idolator by Elijah (I Kings 22).  The he was succeeded by his brother, Jehoram.  He is also listed as the son and successor of Jehoram as king of Judah from (844-843 BCE).  

Reign in Judah & Age: Ruled for one year in Jerusalem around 841–842 BCE. Biblical texts differ on his age at accession, with 2 Kings 8:26 stating he was 22 and 2 Chronicles 22:2 stating 42 (opinions on this difference range from a copyist error to alternative chronological frameworks).
Family: Son of King Jehoram of Judah and Athaliah (the granddaughter or daughter of Omri and daughter of King Ahab and Jezebel of Israel).
Death: Allied with his uncle, King Joram of Israel, against Aram. While visiting wounded Joram in Jezreel, he was caught and mortally wounded during the coup led by Jehu, eventually fleeing to Megiddo where he died. His death led to his mother Athaliah seizing the throne. 

Ahaziah of Israel

Reign: Ruled for about two years (c. 853–850 BCE) from the capital city of Samaria.
Family: Son of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. 
Death: Suffered a severe injury after falling through a lattice in his upper palace roof. He died after the prophet Elijah foretold his death because he sought guidance from the pagan god Baal-Zebub of Ekron instead of God. He had no sons and was succeeded by his brother Jehoram. 

 Jehoram of Israel in battle against Hazael of Syria (II Kings 8-9). After Jehoram was wounded, Ahaziah visited him at his place of convalescence in Jezreel where both were killed by Jehu.   

7. Athaliah, Queen of Judah and 7th ruler of the House of David since Solomon,  from (842-836 BCE) was the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel.  When her son, Ahaziah,  the 8th ruler, died who reigned only one year, she exterminated the entire royal family except for her grandson, Joash, who was saved by his aunt, Jehosheba.  

Athalia now seized power and introduced the Baal Cult into Judah.  After she had ruled for 6 years, a successful revolt broke out in favor of Joash, and Athalia was put to death.  Athalia and Jezebel are not listed in either state of Israel or Judah as the Kings of Israel, nor as queens in the encyclopedia. They turned out to be the evil influence over the state, really breaking it apart now.

8. Joash/Jehoash: King of Judah (836-798 BCE). When he was a year old, the throne was seized by his grandmother, Athalia, who had all members of the house of David murdered.  

Joash was rescued by his aunt Jehosheba, wife of the high priest Johoiada, and was kept hidden in the Temple for 6 years.  Jehoiada then crowned Joash king,   and had Athaliah put to death, and obliterated the Baal Cult. She acted as regent until Joash's majority.  

Joash continued in the priestly tradition and restored the Temple.

 During the early part of his 40-year reign, King Joash (also called Jehoash) of Judah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord under the guidance of the high priest Jehoiada. 

Restored National Worship: He revived the public worship of Yahweh and removed or suppressed pagan influence following the destructive reign of Queen Athaliah. 
Repaired the Temple: He commissioned a major restoration of Solomon's Temple, which had fallen into disrepair and been stripped by Athaliah's family. 
Improved Financial Accountability: To ensure money actually went to the building project after priests delayed repairs, Joash placed a locked chest by the altar. The contributions (census tax, vows, and freewill offerings) were counted by the royal secretary and high priest and paid directly to carpenters, masons, and stonecutters.
 However, after Jehoiada died, Joash's behavior completely deteriorated. 
The primary bad deeds committed by Joash include:
Turning to Idolatry: After the death of his godly mentor, Joash listened to corrupt officials and abandoned the temple. He and his people began worshiping wooden Asherah poles and false idols, completely turning their backs on God.  According to Chronicles, he deviated from his former uprightness.  During his reign, the country was invaded by Hazael of Aram again who was bought off with a large indemnity.  Joash was killed by conspirators.  WAS THIS THE END OF JUDAH?

Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

AI

  

Natan-Melech of Judah's Seal Found in Jerusalem Parking Lot

Nadene Goldfoot
                                                                         

Sacrificing the first born in Baal worship
to bring in a great harvest-and good luck-a Babylonian and Canaanite
belief that spread to the Israelite 12 tribes. 
Baal Peor was a local Canaanite deity worshipped with sexual orgies.
This may be why it was such a popular belief!  People really change very little.  The Baal belief has a lot to do with what was recently found.  

The horse-drawn chariots used to greet the sun

Found in II Kings 23:11 is a section that tells how even the Kohenim were breaking rules in worshipping foreign religions such as Baal right in the Temple.  It happened during king Josiah's reign from 637 BCE to 608 BCE just before the Babylonian attack led by Nebuchadnezzar when the Jews of Judah were kidnapped and taken to Babylonia in 597 BCE and again in 586 BCE.  
                                                          

King Josiah learning about Judaism
Prophets Nahum, Zephaniah and Jeremiah no doubt
were educating him as well during his formative years.  

Josiah's father,  King Amon, who ruled only from 638 to 637 BCE , had been murdered when Josiah was but 8 years old so he was crowned king at that early age.  When he reached the age of manhood, probably at 21, he began a program of religious reform and removed the foreign cults which had taken hold in Judah and re-established the pure monotheistic religion of Judaism.  

Do we ever read about this period?  We get so caught up in the many holidays we have with their history and all that somehow we forget how fragile our religion is and that possibly the culture around it with its strange accompaniments to help us remember, have had reasons for their being.  Look how quickly our ancestors forgot and accepted these weird thoughts.

In the course of repairing the First Temple, the high priest Hilkiah announced the discovery of a BOOK OF THE LAW, a scroll,  which so influenced Josiah that he convened  an assembly of the entire people during Passover in 621 BCE at which a solemn covenant was made with G-d.  Many scholars have identified this book with Deuteronomy.  Josiah removed the high places and centralized worship at the Jerusalem Temple.  

Josiah was busy cleaning everything foreign out of the Temple.  First, he read out loud to the crowd of Judeans he had called for from this newly discovered  Book of the Covenant that had been found in the Temple.  To think that it had been in some corner somewhere not used is shocking, but that's what happened with a king who had been murdered which affected the whole community.  Such information stopped with him and his son had not been old enough to know the procedure.  

Manasseh had been king before Amon from 697 to 638 BCE, a long stretch of time.  

The priests during King Josiah's childhood, the Kohens-descendants of Aaron, had been burning offerings to Baal. They were the ones who should have been reading to the king from the Book of Law.    It is indeed shocking to us.  King Josiah (he) also abolished the horses that the kings of Judah had designated for worship of the sun which would race from the entrance to the Temple of Hashem to the office of Netan-melech, the officer in the outlying area of the city.  He burned the chariots of the sun in fire.  (The worship of the sun consisted in racing out towards the east at daybreak in horse-drawn chariots, to "greet" the rising sun).  
                                                       

picture from Wnd, small clay object 

We'll skip ahead in time 2,600 years and see that the Israel Antiquities Authority and Tel Aviv University discovered an ancient bulla seal impression bearing the inscription BELONGING TO NATHAN-MELECH, SERVANT OF THE KING, in the City of David (Jerusalem) just outside the Old City of Jerusalem, according to an announcement on Sunday, April 2019 as read about in the newspaper, The Jerusalem Press of April 5th.  This shows verification of history being true as originally written in Kings II.  Dr. Anat Mendael-Geberovich of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Center for the Study of Ancient Jerusalem was the one who deciphered the seal, and said in a statement that "Although it is not possible to determine with complete certainty that the Nathan-Melech, who is mentioned in the Bible, was in fact the owner of the stamp, it is impossible to ignore some of the details that link them together.  

There he is;  Natan-Melech named as an officer in the court of King Josiah.  The bulla was discovered in a 1st Temple period public building that is part of the excavations in the City of David National Park's Givati Parking Lot.  It was  "uncovered by Israeli archaeologist Yuval Gadot’s team during the ongoing Givati Parking Lot Excavation". This does verify, corroborate, substantiate, and confirm that what was written in our OLD TESTAMENT/TANAKH/II KINGS was about real people.  

Melech means king in Hebrew.  He had taken the surname of Melech.  Perhaps it would be read, Natan, of the King, meaning that he served the king.  In that period, people were like, David, son of Moshe which read as David ben Moshe.  So Natan here was not the son of the king.  ( My favorite song learned in Israel was (David, melech Yisrael, chai, chai, .vik ah yeh nu.  )...
                                                                           

Now, back in time to King  Manasseh, who ruled from 692 to 638 BCE.  He had succeeded his father, Hezekiah, at the age of 12 and was one of the worst Jewish monarchs.  Here's where our Judeans slid away from Judaism.  He was the problem.  He canceled his father's reforms, reintroduced PAGAN PRACTICES and so shocked the faithful that the destruction of the Temple was attributed to his wickedness as read in II KINGS 21: 11-17.  He had been forcefully opposed by the loyal monotheists, many of whom he put to death!  Manasseh paid tribute to Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal of Assyria and according to one report, spent some time as a captive in Babylon according to II Chron. 33:11-19.  It has been suggested that his pagan innovations were the result of Assyrian pressure.  

The Assyrians had raided the 10 Northern Tribes of Judah/Israel in 722-721 BCE and took as their slaves the best of the population.  That was only about 30 years previously, so they may have left their impression and beliefs somehow.  
                                                                     

Baal idol 

I can't blame Jezebel, because she was married to the king of Israel, Ahab, who ruled from 876 BCE to 853 BCE.  She's the one who introduced Baal to his Israelites.  She was the introduction of problems before the Assyrians had even attacked.  Maybe that's what made them weak, putting trust into clay statues instead of an unseen G-d that had showed the people strength many times over in the past.   
                                                                              

Worshipping Baal on Mt. Carmel

I think we have seen what happens to a people whose king no longer respects his people's G-dly worship.  Judaism was replaced with Baal and reintroduced whenever there was a weakness in the kingly leadership.  Baal was ugly.  They believed in human sacrifice.   Josiah came along just in time to clean house.  

Resource; Tanakh, The Stone Edition
The Jewish Press, April 5, 2019
https://www.thetrumpet.com/18864-nathan-melech-found
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

   

Kings of Israel after Solomon till Big Assyrian Attack of 721 BCE

Nadene Goldfoot                                     

                                             Kings of ISRAEL  

After Solomon's Death in 920 BCE, with the city of Samaria now their capital in c 890 BCE, after Jeroboam tried to use Shechem, then removed to Penuel in Transjordan, finally to Tirzah.  60 towns were ravaged by an Egyptian invasion.    .   The tribe of Ephriam led the way in seceding from their union.  Most of the following kings were from Ephraim.  The other tribes were: Manasseh, Issachar, Zebulun, Naphtali, Asher, Dan and living in Transjordan were Reuben, Gad, and part of Manasseh.  The kingdom of Israel was much larger than the kingdom of Judah.  They had more wealth and political importance than Judah. 

Israel at this point was created in violence and was in constant revolution.  Within its 210 years it had 19 kings, belonging to 9 family dynasties, of whom 10 kings died by violence and 7 ruled for less than 2 years. 
                                                        

Baal cult, now in museum in Jerusalem

1. Jeroboam (933-912 BCE) 21 years; King Solomon's son, Rehoboam, stayed with Judah in the revolt between the northern Tribes of Israel and the Southern one of Judah. Jeroboam set up new shrines at Bethel and Dan centering around the golden calves.  He had led the revolt.  He was from the tribe of Ephraim, was the superintendant of forced labor for King Solomon. He had caused his people to leave their teachings by Moses with worshipping golden calves-a move to keep them away from Jerusalem.    

2. Nadab (912-911 BCE) 1 year, son of Jeroboam, also an Ephramite: 
 While fighting against the Philistines, he was assassinated together with the rest of the house of Jeroboam by his rival, Baasha.  
                                                      

Idol of Hadad of Syria

3. Baasha (911-888 BCE) 23 years, an Ephramite,  son of Ahijah( who was a son of a priest in the reign of Saul who went with the Ark into battle against the Philistines, a Shilonite of Shilo, a prophet during and after the reign of Solomon who foretold that Jeroboam would become king of Israel and later forecast his downfall.   Baasha declared war on king Asa of Judah and had an alliance with Ben-Hadad of Aram (Syria) against Judah.  Ben-Hadad changed sides so that Baasha was defeated and had to cede some of his territory to them. 
                                                 

        
 Shilo was the 1st cult center of the Israelite religion after the conquest of Canaan under Joshua.  It was 25 miles north of Jerusalem in the mountains of Ephraim.  
                                                      

The red land along the sea -Philistines -Gaza today

4. Elah (888-887 BCE) 1 year , son of Baasha, actually ruled for 2 years (886-885BCE)  and was murdered by the captain of his chariots, Zimri, while the Israelite army was besieging the Philistine city of Gibbethon.  
                                                      

Philistine

5. Zimri (887 BCE), 7 days:  was a general in the service of Elah who murdered his master, Elah, and took power.  When news of the conspiracy reached the Israelite army who were busy fighting the Philistines, they declared Omri king, instead.    and after a 7 day reign, Zimri set his palace on fire and himself with it.  

                                                         

Assyrians

6. Omri (887-876 BCE) 11 years Israel had settled condition under this king only, which maintained itself under 4 kings from 887 to 843BCE.  Omri was declared king by the soldiers, so he besieged Tirzah, the capital city,  He founded a dynasty.  He was also Elah's general and was the head of operations against the Philistine city of Gibbethon.  His hold on the country was fully established only after a 6 year struggle with Tibni.  Omri seems to have made the Sidonian alliance which caused much influence on the Israelite religion.  He subdued Moab.  The Assyrians called the kingdom of Israel by his name for the rest of its existence; OMRI.  
                                                   

Jezebel, princess of Sidon worshipped Baal

7. Ahab (876-853 BCE) 23 years, Son of Omri, married Jezebel, daughter of the king of Sidon who introduced Baal worship into Israel.  A fierce struggle took place between the royal house and the prophets headed by Elijah.  Ahab defeated Ben-Hadad of Damascus in battle and got back several pieces of land they had captured.  Later, the 2 (Ahab and Ben-Hadad formed an alliance and fought the Assyrians near Karkar in 853 BCE.  Ahab was killed while fighting Damascus in alliance with Jehoshaphat of Judah.  He is the 1st king of Israel to be mentioned on Assyrian monuments.  Parts of his beautiful palace have been found in Samaria digs.                
                                                    

Baal Worship 

8. Ahaziah (Uzziah) (853 BCE), son of Ahab, denounced as an idolator by the prophet Elijah, succeeded by his brother, Jehoram. He was a Baal  worshipper like his mother, Athaliah.  He joined his uncle Jehoram of Israel in battle against Hazael of Syria.  After Jehoram was wounded, Ahaziah visited him at his place where he was resting in Jerzreel where both were killed by Jehu.  

9. Jehoram (853-842 BCE) 9 years,  son of Ahab, succeeded his elder brother Ahaziah, joined Jehoshaphat of Judah in the war against Mesha of Moab where Moab regained its independence.  Jehoram waged wars with Aram (Syria) to recover towns in Gilead but was wounded in battle at Ramoth-Gilead; when he returned to Jezreel, he was killed by Jehu.  He was the uncle of Ahaziah.  
                                                         

10. Jehu (843-816 BCE) 27 years, the 5 kings of the House of Jehu remained stable when the kingdom reached its greatest power, conducting successful campaigns against neighboring states, enjoying much luxury, and at one time extending its sway as far as the Gulf of Akaba.  Its strength was sapped because of constant warfare with the kingdom of Damascus (Syria), and both finally fell before the advancing power of Assyria. He had been the commander in chief of Jehoram and then conspired with the army and with the support of Elisha, killed all the royal family including Jehoram, Ahaziah of Judah, and the queen-mother, Jezebel as well as the priests of Baal.  He had to pay tribute to Shalmanaeser III of Assyria to get his protection.  On stopping the Assyrian threat, Hazael of Aram kept Jehu of much of his territory.  The dynasty of Jehu continued to reign for a century.    

11. Jehoahaz (816-800 BCE) 16 years, son of Jehu, In his time, Aram reduced Israel to a tributary restricting her army and controlling large tracts of her territory.  
                                                      

12. Jehoash (800-785 BCE) 15 years, son of Jehoahaz, he exploited the weakness of Aram (Syria) after her defeat by the Assyrians and recaptured several towns ceded by his father, Jehoahaz. When Amaziah of Judah tried to throw off the Israelite suzerainty, Jehoash captured Jerusalem, plundered the Temple and royal treasures, and again reduced the country to vassaldom.  His is mentioned in an Assyrian inscription discovered in 1968 a paying tribute to the king of Assyria.   

13. Jeroboam II (785-745 BCE) 40 years, under his rule, the northern kingdom was at the climax of its economic, military , and political prosperity.  He exploited Aram's weakness after the defeat by Assyria by recapturing all the places detached from Israel and annexed Aramean towns.  Internally, his rule was marked by corruption and the pursuit of pleasure and profit, which were denounced by the prophets Hosea and Amos.  

14. Zechariah (744 BCE) 6 months, son of Jeroboam II.  The last king of the house of Jehu, after a 6 month reign, he was assassinated by Shallum who succeeded him.  

15. Shallum (743 BCE) 5 months,  he conspired against and killed Zechariah, son of Jeroboam II, and seized the throne.  After 5 months, he was killed and succeeded by Menahem.  

16. Menahem (743-736 BCE) 7 years , he gained the throne by killing Shallum.  His brutal treatment of the citizens of Tiphsah, who refused to open the gates of the city, is recorded in II Kings.  When Tiglath-Pileser III invaded Syria and Israel, Menahem was forced to pay him a heavy tribute.  

17. Pekahiah (736-735 BCE 1 year, After a brief reign, he was the victim of a conspiracy led by his captain Pekah.  The plot may have been caused by Pekahiah's apparant opposition to the popular desire to resist Assyria.  
                                                 

Tiglath-Pileser III , king of Assyria 745-726 BCE,army
men impaled on spiked poles, started the policy of
exiling hostile inhabitants of conquered countries.
Invaded Syria, Israel, Philistia, Damascus, Babylon. 

18. Pekah (735-730 BCE) 5 years, possibly from Gilead, he was the captain of his predecessor Pekahiah who he killed after a conspiracy, seizing his throne.  He allied himself with Rezin of Aram-Dammesek, and attacked Judah but their initial success led Ahaz of Judah to appeal for help to Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria.  Tiglath-Pileser invaded the allied kingdom, abolished Aram-Dammesek as a state, and stripped Israel of the Galilee and Gilead.  Pekah was then murdered by Hoshea.  According to the Bible, he reigned for 20 years, but that doesn't correspond with Assyrian records.  
                                                    

Sargon, King of Assyria 721-712 BCE, took throne on the death
of Shalmaneser III during the siege of Samaria which he ended, and exiled
many of the people.  In 720 BCE, he defeated a military alliance which included the remaining fighters of the Israelites of Samaria.  He was assassinated and succeeded by Sennacherib.  

19. Hoshea (730 -721 BCE) 9 years , last ruler of Israel, conspired against Pekah, assassinated him and took the throne.  He took the throne with Assyrian help and his kingdom was confined to the surroundings of Mt. Ephraim.  Then he rebelled against Assyria and was imprisoned by  Shalmaneser who then besieged and captured Samaria.  The capture of Samaria by Sargon in 721 BCE ended the history of the kingdom of Israel, though some of its traditions were kept afterwards by the SAMARITANS.  The religion of the kingdom of Israel was on a low level-because the first kings had set up local sanctuaries in order to divert their people away from Jerusalem.  Only a few of the biblical prophets like Hosea and Amos worked in the Northern kingdom.  In the Book of Kings, we read a long account of Elijah and Elisha's work to stop idolatry and social injustice.          
                                                            

721 BCE of Assyrians leading away the best of the Israelites

Both the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah suffered from their  revolt causing their dividing.  Together they would have been much stronger and may have ended the Assyrian takeover and the Babylonian takeover.  Together they would have stood;  divided they fell. 

Resource:  The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Tanakh, The Stone Edition