Athaliah

Many claim that Athaliah was a daughter of Ahab by Jezebel, but that is simply not true. While there is no explicit mention of Athaliah's mother, a close inspection of Scripture reveals that Athaliah was certainly the daughter of Ahab by a wife other than Jezebel. For Jezebel became Ahab's wife rather late in his life, and Ahab had 70 sons, and many daughters, by many different wives. Two of Ahab's sons by Jezebel did become kings in Israel, but they did not rule long – only a couple of years between them. However Athaliah was wicked nonetheless, and she tried to destroy all of the sons of the royal household of Judah upon Ahaziah's death – but Joash was preserved. Athaliah tried to reign herself as a queen, but she was slain and Joash took the throne by the age of seven.