Many women in the Bible save children or infants, and their efforts later have major payoffs. I often think of two of Pharaoh’s employees, mentioned at the start of Exodus, who spared many of the infants Pharaoh had deemed ready to slaughter. I also think of Moses’ mother and sister, who saved Moses from assured destruction and found him a comfortable home in the Pharaoh’s palace until it was his time to rescue the Israelites from slavery. And although we may have a familiarity with these stories, we may not have heard about one other infant-saver. Jehosheba.
Jehosheba witnessed the ruthless actions of Queen Athaliah, who sought to destroy the entire royal family. In a bold act of courage, Jehosheba rescued the one surviving child Athaliah hadn’t killed and hid him in a secret place to protect his life. In today’s article, we’ll delve into her remarkable story and explore the powerful lessons we can learn from her bravery and faith.
Jehosheba's Story and Bravery
We first meet Jehosheba in 2 Kings 11. For those unfamiliar with the timeline of the kings, the kingdom of Israel split into two factions. The northern faction had all rotten rulers. Not a single one followed God. The lower faction, Judah, had a good rulers. But like their northern counterpart, most of their kings and queens turned out to be very evil.
It's here that we meet Athaliah. Athaliah was the daughter of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of Israel, known for their idolatry and evil reign. She became the queen of Judah through her marriage to King Jehoram and later seized the throne after her son, King Ahaziah, was killed. To secure her rule, Athaliah ruthlessly ordered the massacre of the entire royal family. She is infamous as Judah's only queen regnant, ruling for six years and promoting the worship of Baal, further leading the nation into spiritual corruption.
In 2 Kings 11:1-3 we read: "When Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family. But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram and sister of Ahaziah, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes who were about to be murdered. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom to hide him from Athaliah; so he was not killed. He remained hidden with his nurse at the temple of the Lord for six years while Athaliah ruled the land."
We also read a parallel account in the book of Second Chronicle. 2 Chronicles 22:10-12 tells us: "When Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family of the house of Judah. But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes who were about to be murdered, and put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Because Jehosheba, the wife of the priest Jehoiada, was Ahaziah’s sister, she hid the child from Athaliah so she could not kill him. He remained hidden with them at the temple of God for six years while Athaliah ruled the land."
Jehosheba was married to Jehoiada, the high priest of Judah. Her relationship to Athaliah was that of a stepdaughter or daughter-in-law (depending on interpretation). Jehosheba was the daughter of King Jehoram of Judah and a sister of King Ahaziah, making Athaliah her stepmother through Jehoram’s marriage to Athaliah.
Jehosheba saves the only son of Ahaziah to survive the slaughter of the queen…Joash. As he’s an infant at the time, he can’t defend himself from any attack.
She grabs his wet-nurse and hides them in a palace bedroom. After the carnage, Jehosheba takes the child and wet-nurse to the temple to hide out for six years. Because of her marriage to Judah's high priest, it would make sense why she’d have access within the temple walls to hide the future king and gave her the means to hide Joash safely within its sacred confines
This familial connection makes Jehosheba’s bravery in opposing Athaliah’s murderous purge even more striking, as she defied a close relative to protect the royal lineage and fulfill God’s plan. Scripture also tells us that the Queen didn’t know about his existence. We can assume that the former king had so many children that she didn’t feel the need to keep track. We can imagine there was some distance between the royals and the children of the palace. Perhaps governesses handled the young children until they were old enough to be at social gatherings with their parents.
Because Jehosheba saves Joash, she saves the future king of the land.
Later, the queen is deposed—rather violently—and the young king can take his place on the throne. We imagine he didn’t get to weigh in on political matters at first since he was only seven years old. Perhaps they trusted in a female advisor—as they often did until a male ruler was ready to make informed decisions. Who knows? Perhaps they had even trusted Jehosheba to help with diplomatic matters.
In the end, Jehosheba preserves one of the few good kings of Judah.
Jehosheba's Connect to Christ
Jehosheba would’ve hailed from the tribe of Judah. If that sounds familiar…that’s because Jesus came from this very same tribe. Jesus comes from the line of David—i.e., From the tribe of Judah.
Want to know an equally important role Jehosheba played in the line of Judah? Not only did she preserve a good king who would lead Judah back to God for some time, but she also preserved the line of Jesus. Had she allowed the young future king to die, Jesus’ birth line would’ve been cut short.
Although Jehosheba may not have known at the time that she played a much bigger role in the biblical narrative, she certainly followed her calling. She bravely put her life on the line to protect the child God had truly called to the throne. And not some ruler who bloodied her way onto it.
Lessons from Jehosheba and Her Life
As you can imagine, we can learn a lot from Jehosheba’s bravery. Although we don’t get much more than a verse of background info from Scripture, it’s full of information. Jehosheba is a fantastic model of what it looks like to obey God without asking questions or showing hesitation.
We don’t know how much time she had to hide the child in a bedroom. Given the location (inside the palace, in a bedroom), we can imagine she didn't have much time. Maybe minutes to preserve him from his doom.
She springs into action, and because of her, the line of Jesus continues. Here are three lessons we can take away from her life.
First, God values children.
Time and time again, we see God call people to rescue children from assured destruction. Infanticide is frequent in the biblical narrative, and we can see God’s anger burn, for he cares about the vulnerable, for those who cannot defend themselves. Jehosheba takes this seriously and hides the future king. In the same way, do we feel the call to help the vulnerable? Or do we see this topic with indifference?
Second, Jehosheba saw the value of sanctuary.
Not only had Jehosheba married the high priest, but she saw the temple as a haven away from evil. David, during his reign, also hid in a religious place. May we, in the same way, create churches that are safe places. Places that feed the hungry, care for the lost and are hiding places for the hurting.
Finally, Jehosheba’s actions played a much bigger role.
Jehosheba certainly didn’t know the name Jesus. Perhaps she was privy to some early Messianic prophecies about him, but Jesus was still hundreds of years away from appearing on earth. Even so, she didn’t question her calling. She knew she had to save the infant from destruction. Not only did the infant grow up to bring about religious reforms and steer God’s people back to God…
But that child would be part of a line of people who gave birth to the world's Savior. Through Jesus, men can be saved to spend an eternity with God in heaven.
In the same way, when God asks us to do something small, we have no idea what impact it will have. Perhaps we can bring others to him; perhaps we can rescue yet another soul from destruction. Just like what Jehosheba had done.
Photo Credit:©GettyImages/kieferpix
Hope Bolinger is an acquisitions editor at End Game Press, book editor for hire, and the author of almost 30 books. More than 1500 of her works have been featured in various publications. Check out her books at hopebolinger.com for clean books in most genres, great for adults and kids. Check out her editing profile at Reedsy.com to find out about hiring her for your next book project.
This article is part of our People of Christianity catalog that features the stories, meaning, and significance of well-known people from the Bible and history. Here are some of the most popular articles for knowing important figures in Christianity:
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