April 21 - 2 Kings 11-13

A woman ruler?  I don't think I ever knew that.  Athaliah, who was the mother of Ahaziah, ruled for about 6 years after she learned of the death of her son.  She destroyed the entire royal family (except for Joash, son of Ahaziah, because he was hidden for the entire six years so he would not be killed).  During the 7th year, Johoiada the priest formulated a plan.  He gathered an army and showed them that Joash was still alive.  At the age of 7, Joash was crowned as the king, and during all the commotion Athaliah came out and saw this.  She was then put to death by the army. 
Joash reigned as king for 40 years.  He did right in the eyes of the Lord.  His main contribution to the land was fixing up the temple of the Lord.  They collected money from the guilt offerings and money from the census and hired people to fix up the temple.  Also during his reign, the Arameans came to attack Jerusalem.  Joash sent them many gifts and treasures, which was enough to make the Arameans retreat.  Eventually, Joash's officials conspired against him and killed him.  His son, Amaziah, followed as king.
We also learn about Jehoahaz.  He was the son of Jehu and became the king of Israel in Samaria.  He wasn't such a good ruler and was very sinful.  After a while, Jehoahaz sought the Lord's favor and began listening to Him.  He ruled for 17 years until his death, which is when his son, Jehoash, took over.
Jehoash ruled for 16 years, and was also a very sinful leader.  Interesting story, though - Jehoash went to visit Elisha, a man of God, who was very ill.  Elisha told him to get a bow and arrow, open the east window and shoot the arrow.  With this he declared that Jehoash would defeat the Arameans.  He then told him to take the arrows and strike the ground.  He did this three times.  Elisha was angry, saying he should have struck the ground 5 or 6 times, and since he only did it 3 times, he would only be able to conquer Aram 3 times.  Wierd.  Anyway, Elisha died and was buried, which leads to the next interesting story.  The Israelites were burying a man and saw some Moabite raiders coming.  They quickly threw the dead man's body into Elisha's tomb.  When the body touched Elisha's bones, he came back to life.  End of story.  That's it.  You would think they would elaborate more, but apparently it's not something that God thought we needed to know.  Maybe we'll re-visit this at some point.  It's just like watching some show for the entire season and watching something crazy happen in the season finale.  You just have to wait until the next season.  So frustrating, but usually worth it.