She was a princess in Judah during the time of the Divided Kingdom, a devoted aunt to her brother’s children, and the wife of the high priest in Jerusalem. Can you name her? Don’t worry, most people can’t! And even if you knew her name, you’d probably have trouble pronouncing it. Jehosheba [ji-HOSH-uh-buh] grew up in a wicked household, yet somehow managed to marry the man who would become high priest, Johoiada. This story is so full of evil and gore that I’m pretty sure you’ve never heard about her in Sunday School or in a sermon, yet she has much to teach us. If there were a genre of soap-opera horror, this story would be the model!

The Bible doesn’t indicate that Jehosheba had any children of her own. Yet, she apparently loved the children of her half-brother, King Ahaziah. To get an idea of how amazing Jehosheba’s actions were, let me give you a bit of context.

Back in the day when royal marriages were strategies for keeping the peace, some women were married into the royal families of neighboring countries. That had to be awkward and challenging for the women treated like pawns. Yet, that was the practice. And, God had certainly warned the Israelites about marrying people from countries which did not worship God. So, you may remember the wicked queen Jezebel who taunted the prophet Elijah (see 1 Kings 19). She was from the Baal-worshipping royal family of Sidon and had been married off to King Ahab of the northern kingdom of Israel. Ahab was from several generations of evil kings in Israel, and Jezebel’s wicked reputation lives to this day. The Bible indicates that each king’s wickedness was greater than the one who came before him. First Kings 16:33 states, “Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel before him” (AMP).

Ahab and Jezebel had a daughter named Athaliah whom they married off to King Jehoram of the southern kingdom of Judah for political reasons. King Jehoram apparently had children by more than one woman because the Bible says that Jehosheba was his daughter, yet does not indicate that she was the daughter of the wicked queen Athaliah. With Athaliah, King Jehoram had a son named Ahaziah. Ahaziah had numerous children before he became king upon the death of this father Jehoram.

Ahaziah only reigned one year due to a poor choice on his part to go visit another king and ended up in a useless and fatal battle. When Athaliah, King Ahaziah’s mother, heard that he was dead, she had all his children killed so she could take the throne. At least she thought all the children were killed. As a matter of fact, our story’s shero, Jehosheba, was able to rescue her nephew Joash, the youngest of the king’s children, and his nurse. They were hidden away in the temple for six years while the wicked Athaliah ruled Judah.

Remember, Jehosheba’s husband was Jehoiada, the high priest, and he probably had a great positive influence on young Joash those six years in hiding. When Joash turned seven, Jehoiada was able to stage a coup against Queen Athaliah and have her executed and the young Joash was crowned the rightful king. See 2 Kings 11 and 2 Chronicles 22.

Here’s the important, unstated part of this story: by rescuing Joash, Jehosheba saved Christmas because Joash was the sole survivor of the royal Davidic line through which our Savior would be born centuries later. I’m truly surprised we don’t have a holiday named in her honor.

I hope you will remember Jehosheba, this amazing woman, whose brave actions on behalf of one young child preserved the Messianic family line.

Have you done enough ancestry research on your own family to discover any sheroes like that? I encourage you (and myself) to do so. In the meantime, is there some way we can be advocates, supporters, encouragers, or maybe even rescuers, of a child in our sphere of influence? We have no idea who or what that child may become!

Side note: Speaking of Jezebel, there’s a great historical book entitled American Jezebel by Eve LaPlante which tells the story of Anne Hutchinson, a 17th-century American settler, who is a foremother to any of us women who choose to think for ourselves about spiritual things and are not afraid to question the status quo of beliefs. Anne was perceived by the religious leaders of her day as a wicked Jezebel because she questioned the biblical interpretation of the male preachers. When in fact, she was simply teaching people how to read and understand the Bible for themselves. I recommend the book!

Illustration of Jehosheba is from Sweet Publishing/FreeBibleImages.org. The illustration of the crowning of Joash is from Commons.Wikimedia.org and is public domain.