Bible Commentaries

Verses 1-12

Jezebel’s Baalism in Judah (21:1-23:21)

The Baalism of Ahab and Jezebel remained strong in the northern kingdom during the successive reigns of their sons Ahaziah and Joram (2 Kings 1:1-15). It spread to Judah in the reign of Jehoshaphat’s son Jehoram, who was married to Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel (21:1-20; see notes on 2 Kings 8:16-24).

Judah’s next king, Ahaziah, at the direction of his mother Athaliah and her northern relatives, cooperated with the idolatrous northern kingdom, and as a result met an early death (22:1-9; see notes on 2 Kings 8:25-29; 2 Kings 9:21-29; 2 Kings 10:12-14). The kings of both Judah and Israel were killed by Jehu, whose anti-Baal revolution in the northern kingdom is recorded in 2 Kings 9:1-36.

Upon the king of Judah’s death, Athaliah seized the throne for herself. She ruled for six years, during which she did all within her power to establish the northern Baalism of her parents in Judah. But the priests and Levites remained faithful to God. The Levites were the temple guards, and the writer emphasizes the part they played (in cooperation with the palace guards) in getting rid of Athaliah and restoring the throne to the Davidic dynasty. The Chronicler also points out that although the coup took place in the temple grounds, no one except the priests and Levites entered the temple buildings. People still had to respect the temple’s holiness (22:10-23:21; see notes on 2 Kings 11:1-20). The death of Athaliah marked the end of Jezebel’s Baalism in Judah.