Hid in the house of God - "In the house of the sanctuary of God." - Targum. Or, as he says on 2 Chronicles 22:11, בקודש קודשיא bekudash kudeshaiya "in the holy of holies." To this place Athaliah had no access, therefore Joash lay concealed, he and his affectionate aunt-nurse. - See on 2 Kings 11:1 (note).

And he was with them hid in the {i} house of God six years: and Athaliah reigned over the {k} land.

(i) Meaning, in the chamber where the priests and Levites slept, who kept their courses weekly in the temple.

(k) That is, of Judah.

12. he was with them hid in the house of God-Certain persons connected with the priesthood had a right to occupy the buildings in the outer wall, and all within the outer wall was often called the temple. Jehoiada and his family resided in one of these apartments.

22:1-12 The reign of Ahaziah, Athaliah destroys the royal family. - The counsel of the ungodly ruins many young persons when they are setting out in the world. Ahaziah gave himself up to be led by evil men. Those who advise us to do wickedly, counsel us to our destruction; while they pretend to be friends, they are our worst enemies. See and dread the mischief of bad company. If not the infection, yet let the destruction be feared, Re 18:4. We have here, a wicked woman endeavouring to destroy the house of David, and a good woman preserving it. No word of God shall fall to the ground. The whole truth of the prophecies that the Messiah was to come from David, and thereby the salvation of the world, appeared to be now hung upon the brittle thread of the life of a single infant, to destroy whom was the interest of the reigning power. But God had purposed, and vain were the efforts of earth and hell.