Jehosheba

Jehosheba is a daughter of the Davidic line whose single recorded act preserves the royal succession after Athaliah's purge. The Kings narrative names her with that spelling; the Chronicler gives her name as Jehoshabeath and adds details about her marriage and family.

Daughter of Joram

She is identified as a daughter of King Joram and sister of Ahaziah. When Athaliah moves to destroy the royal seed after Ahaziah's death, Jehosheba intervenes: "But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king's sons who were slain, even him and his nurse [and put them] in the bedchamber; and they hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not slain" (2Ki 11:2). Joash, the rescued infant, is the surviving Davidic heir.

Also called Jehoshabeath

The parallel account uses a longer form of the name and supplies further family detail. "But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king's sons who were slain, and put him and his nurse in the bedchamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest (for she was the sister of Ahaziah), hid him from Athaliah, so that she did not slay him" (2Ch 22:11). Two facts emerge here that the Kings notice does not state: she is married to Jehoiada the priest, and she is the agent of the hiding in her own right, not merely a participant. The marriage to Jehoiada becomes the bridge between the threatened royal line and the temple establishment that will later anoint Joash king.