Abstract

This article presents a critical look at the story of the reign of Athaliah, the only ruling queen of Israel or Judah in the biblical text. Double reference in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles shows her story’s importance and significance to the biblical writers. The largely parallel accounts read like a contemporary soap opera, for they contain murder, intrigue, harem politics, religious upheaval, and coup and counter-coup. Her story provides insights on the turbulent political climate of the ninth century BC. However, the purpose of the biblical writers is not to show Athaliah as the epitome of evil or that all women in power are evil.

Highlights

  • The biblical story of Athaliah, the only reigning queen of either Israel or Judah, while not flattering or happy, is filled with insights on the turbulent political climate of the ninth century BC.[1]

  • The largely parallel accounts read like a contemporary soap opera, for they contain murder, intrigue, harem politics, religious upheaval, and coup and counter-coup

  • Athaliah married Jehoram, son of righteous Judean king Jehoshaphat, around 865 BC.[5]. Their marriage reflects the influence of Omride Israel over a weaker Davidic Judah (Dillard, 1987:174)

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Summary

Introduction

The biblical story of Athaliah, the only reigning queen of either Israel or Judah, while not flattering or happy, is filled with insights on the turbulent political climate of the ninth century BC.[1]. The emphasis on 2 Kings is on recounting the historical content while that of 2 Chronicles is on presenting the theological validity of those in the Davidic line as the rightful heirs of Judah. In both accounts, daily life in the royal Judean court comes across like that of a contemporary soap opera, for it contains elements of murder, intrigue, harem politics, religious upheaval, coup, and counter coup. The narrators’ purpose, is not to show that Athaliah is the epitome of evil or that all women in power are evil In discussing these things, this article employs a literary methodology; it looks at elements like characterisation, setting, plot, conflict, narrators’ viewpoints and central idea. The central idea of the passage is to delegitimise Athaliah and to legitimise her successor, the young boy Joash, the only survivor of David’s line (Lostracco & Wilkerson 1998:1)

Background history and textual highlights
Use of language
Narrative tools
Characterisation
Comparison with Jezebel
Scholarly views refuted
Conclusion

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