When king Ahaziah died, his mother, whose name was Athaliah, killed all the kings sons, so that she could be Queen and rule over Judah in Jerusalem.

 

 

When Athaliah was doing the killing, the dead king’s sister sneaked away the smallest of the children and hid him in a bedroom so that the bad queen didn’t know he was still alive. He was just a baby and his name was Jehoash.

 

 

The king’s sister kept the baby hidden away in the house of the Lord for six years.

 

 

 

The good priest called Jehoiada was in charge over the house of God.

Athaliah was a bad queen. She bowed down to many bad ones and brought much hurt and sadness and trouble and fighting to the people.

When the boy, Jehoash, was seven years old, the good priest gathered the good priests and leaders of the people to take the bad queen off the king’s chair so they could put the boy king in charge of God’s people.

 

 

 

 

The guards at the house of the Lord surrounded the boy king with swords and spears so Athaliah and her soldiers couldn’t get to the boy king to hurt him.

 

 

 

 

 

When the people saw the boy king standing by a pillar in God’s temple they were so happy. 

 

 

 

 

When the bad queen saw the boy there, she was so mad she wanted to kill him, but the guards didn’t let her come near the boy king.

 

 

 

 

 

They took her away forever.

Then the good priest Jehoiada and the boy king and the people promised God that they would do His good ways and not the bad ways of the bad ones.

 

 

 

 

 

Then the city was quiet and had peace and rest from bad things happening.

 

 

 

 

 

Jehoash, the boy king, was ruling over God’s people for 40 years.

 

 

He did good all the days that Jehoiada the priest helped him and told him God’s ways.

King Jehoash had the priests and helpers at the house of the Lord use the offerings and gifts the people gave to God to fix the broken places in the God’s house.

And they remembered and thanked the Lord God for saving us from the bad ones and for all the good things He does for us everyday.

When the bad king of Syria came riding with his soldiers through the land hurting people and taking their stuff, king Jehoash took the treasures from the house of the Lord and gave them to the bad king so he would go away and not hurt the people at Jerusalem.

After the 40 years of Jehoash being king, some men who were workers for the king made a plan against the king and killed him. Then his son, Amaziah, was king in his place.