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2 Kings 11 · a question people ask

If Athaliah destroyed "all the royal offspring", how was Joash still alive?

In the text

The chapter says both, one verse after the other. Athaliah "destroyed all the royal offspring" (11:1). Then Jehosheba "took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king’s sons who were slain" (11:2), "and they hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not slain" (11:2). 11:1 tells what Athaliah did; 11:2 tells of the one son who was taken away and hidden. The chapter doesn't say whether Athaliah knew that one son was missing, and these notes don't guess.

The verses

“Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal offspring. But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king’s sons who were slain, even him and his nurse, and put them in the bedroom; and they hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not slain. He was with her hidden in the LORD’s house six years while Athaliah reigned over the land.”
2 Kings 11:1-3 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 2 Kings 11

2 Kings 11: Long live the king

When Athaliah destroyed "all the royal offspring" (11:1), the Hebrew is the two words of the LORD's promise to David, "your offspring" and "his kingdom" (2 Samuel 7:12), and one son was hidden six years in the LORD's house (11:3). And the "covenant" given to the young king with the crown (11:12) is in Hebrew edut, testimony, a different word from the covenant of 11:17.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions