Ahaziah was the king of Judah. To be fair, the deck seemed to be stacked against Ahaziah from the beginning, because he was born to Athaliah, who appears to have been the daughter of wicked King Ahab of Israel (2 Kings 8:26).
By arranging for his daughter to marry King Jehoram of Judah, Ahab sealed a political alliance that gave him the upper hand between the two powers. As a result, the next few kings of Judah, including Jehoram’s son Ahaziah, were forced to team up with the kings of Israel on various ventures.
As Ahaziah was visiting a wounded King Joram of Israel during one of those ventures (a battle at Ramoth-gilead), Jehu, an official in the army of Israel, killed both kings and then killed forty-two of Ahaziah’s relatives who were coming to visit Joram (2 Kings 9–10). Ahaziah’s reign was brought to an abrupt end after one year.
Unfortunately, tragedy continued to plague Ahaziah’s family even after Ahaziah died. Soon after his death, his power-hungry mother, Athaliah, tried to kill off the entire royal family, and she ruled Judah for six years. Only one of Ahaziah’s sons, Joash, survived— thanks to the quick thinking of Ahaziah’s sister Jehosheba.
Eventually Ahaziah’s son was crowned king, and Ahaziah’s tragedies ceased (2 Kings 11).