“David” Survives “Jezebel”: The destruction of the house of Ahab has impinged to an unsettling extent upon the house of David (2 Kgs. 9:27; 10:12–14). We recall the ominous lack of any restatement of the Davidic promise in 8:25–27. Have the two houses become so identified in intermarriage (8:18, 27) that a distinction is no longer to be maintained between them? Second Kings 11 begins by bringing us almost to the point of believing that this is so. There is a Jezebel in Judah, intent on doing there what Jehu has done in Israel. By the chapter’s end, however, it is indisputable that Judah is very different from Israel and the house of David is in a very different position from that of the royal houses of the north. Ahab has died, but “David” survives “Jezebel” and lives on.

11:1–3 Athaliah co…