The queen mother is a position created by the pagan nations surrounding Israel and Judah. It was not established by God. This particular queen mother was particularly evil. Her name is Athaliah and she’s from Ahab’s family.

Jehoshaphat, though seeking the Lord, didn’t seek the Lord in everything. He brought the enemy into the camp by making a marriage alliance with Israel.

Jehoshaphat had been warned that God was not pleased with how he was aligning himself with Israel, but he does it repeatedly. He doesn’t heed the warning and change his ways.

Because he doesn’t learn and change his ways, Jehoshaphat creates this troubled time for Judah. It begins with that decision, though it’s his sons who walk in the aftermath of that decision that are harmed by it and all Judah with them.

When her son dies, the queen mother, Athaliah destroys the rest of the royal family and claims the throne herself. She’s a curse on Judah.

There’s a promise of a future change with the hiding of the young heir, but it’s a deliverance that will take years in the making.

But even Athaliah, herself, hasn’t learned anything. She follows after her husband and kills off the family to secure her position. It hadn’t ended well for her husband.

All her advice to her son didn’t end well either. His reign is only one year. But, she doesn’t see the Lord’s hand in any of it. She’s missing the reality. She sees the opportunity. She feels the power. She takes it.

She doesn’t see her husband’s painful end or lack of honor from his people as from the Lord or things she could avoid by humbly seeking God. She didn’t recognize the Lord in it, His control over his end and her future. She thought it was in her power to control what happened.

It seemed to her at first that she was right. She got the power. But she couldn’t see the future. Her fate was sealed by her own choices.