Jehosheba
Jehosh'eba (Heb. Yehoshe'ba, יהוֹשֶׁבִע, Jehovah swearing; Septuag. Ι᾿ωσαβεέ, Josephus Ι᾿ωσαβέδη), the daughter of Jehoram, sister of Ahaziah, and aunt of Joash. kings of Judah. The last of these owed his life to her, and his crown to her husband, the high priest Jehoiada (2Ki 11:2). In the parallel passage (2Ch 22:11) the name is written JEHOSHABEATH (יהוֹשִׁבעִת, Yehoshabath'; Sept. Ι᾿ωσαβέδ). B.C. 882. SEE JEHOASH, 1. Her name thus exactly corresponds in meaning to that of the only two other wives of Jewish priests who are known to us, viz. ELISHEBA the wife of Aaron (Ex 6:23), and ELISABETH, the wife of Zechariah (Lu 1:7). As she is called (2Ki 11:2) the daughter of Joram, sister of Ahaziah, it has been conjectured that she was the daughter, not of Athaliah, but of Joram by another wife (comp. Josephus, Ant. 9:7, 1, Ο᾿χοζίᾷ ὁμοπάτριος ἀδελφή). She is the only recorded instance of the marriage of a princess of the royal house with a high priest. On this occasion it was a providential circumstance — "for she was the sister of Ahaziah" (2Ch 22:11) — as inducing and probably enabling her to rescue the infant Jehoash from the massacre of his brothers. By her he and his nurse were concealed in the palace, and afterwards in the Temple (2Ki 11:2-3; 2Ch 22:11), where he was brought up probably with her sons (2Ch 23:11), who assisted at his coronation. One of these was Zechariah, who succeeded her husband in his office, and was afterwards murdered (2Ch 24:20). — Smith. Needless doubt has been thrown upon her marriage with Jehoiada (Newman, Heb. Monarch. p. 195), which is not expressly mentioned in Kings, as "a fiction of the chronicler to glorify his greatness." This, however, is certainly assumed in 2Ki 11:3, and is accepted by Ewald (Geschichte, 3, 575) as perfectly authentic. SEE JEHOIADA.
