Chapter 6: Stolen in the Night

But one child survived.

In the chaos of the massacre, a woman named Jehosheba moved through the palace. She was the daughter of King Jehoram, but not of Athaliah. Ahaziah's half-sister, raised in the same palace but from a different mother. And she had married Jehoiada, the high priest of the Lord.

She found Joash, the infant son of Ahaziah, among the king's children who were being killed.

JEHOSHEBA (to the nurse, urgently)“Take the child. Follow me and say nothing. We must reach the Temple before they find him.”— 2 Chronicles 22:11

She took the boy and his nurse and hid them in a bedroom within the Temple complex. The one place in Jerusalem that Athaliah would never search. A woman who worshiped Baal had no interest in the house of a God she despised.

JEHOIADA (receiving them)“He stays here. The house of David will not end. Not while the Lord keeps His covenant.”— 2 Chronicles 22:12

Joash grew from an infant to a boy, hidden in the Temple for six years. Raised by a priest and a princess who carried a secret that could kill them both.

JEHOSHEBA (quietly, to young Joash)“You are the son of a king. One day you will understand why we have kept you here.”

Six years of Athaliah on a throne that did not belong to her, believing she had won. And in the shadow of God's house, unseen by anyone, a boy was growing.