A hidden heroine in a bloodthirsty history

Study passage: 2 Kings 11, 2 Chronicles 22

We all know the story of baby Moses hidden in a basket among the bullrushes in the river Nile by his mother and sister, and how their determined action rescued him from the genocide of Hebrew male babies by the ruthless Egyptian Pharoah. We love the courage and defiance of these amazing women and millions of mothers have shared the story with their children. Yet I suspect very few of us know the story of another Hebrew baby, Joash, who was also hidden by a brave woman to escape a brutal and terrible danger. This time it was his aunt who quietly secreted her infant nephew in a bedroom, so that he wouldn’t be murdered along with all his brothers and cousins. Their story is found in 2 Kings 11 and 2 Chronicles 22 and it punctuates a very dark period in the history of Israel and Judah.