Queen Athaliah of Judah can be found within 2 Kings 11:1-16; 2 Chronicles 22-23. She is an exciting character to research, because of her complexity as a female ruler, her personality, and character traits that allow her to succeed are quite interesting. For many people, hearing the name Athaliah should not have any association with positivity. Although she did many evil and negative things, scholars argue her character in racial and ethnic backgrounds and patriarchal association by her gender. In reading the biblical text, Athaliah is not portrayed as a positive character in any light. She marries Jehoram, the eldest son of King Jehoshophat, who ruled as King of Judah and had his son, Ahaziah. From what the biblical text implies, Athaliah and Ahaziah seemed to have a very strong relationship with one another. At some point, Ahazaih goes to visit his Jehoram. In the process of doing so, Jehu’s coup surrounds Ahaziah and kills him along with “Jehoram, Jezebel, the Omride males, and the young king of Judah and a large band of Judean princes who were making a courtesy call on the royal house and were crushed in its fall” (Berlyn, 30). After this vicious slaying from Jehu and his military coup, Athaliah receives word that her most …show more content…
She makes a slight error when trying to eradicate her grandchildren. An anonymous concubine had bore Jehosheba, The child’s aunt and the wife of Johoiada, who was the high priest at this time, took the infant and hid him for six years. During these six years Althaliah reigned as Queen over the land. Until the later revealing of Joash, Athaliah uses her authority as Queen to further institute Baal worship in Judah. She inducts priests and builds altars for Baal in the temple of the Lord. In this instance, many people have argued that this is a sin that has been passed down from Jezebel’s use of