Athaliah was Ahab's sister, Jezebel's sister-in-law,
Ahaziah's mother, Ahaziah's wife's aunt, Omri's daughter, Joash's grandmother
and God's enemy (II Kings 8:26). My point in naming all those connections is to
emphasize just how deep Omri and Ahab's influence had spread throughout
Judaism. And, Athaliah was every bit as wicked as Jezebel had been. When she
knew that Ahaziah (her son) was dead (killed by Jehu, the new king of Israel),
she murdered every potential heir she could find. They were ALL her family
members... most of them, her grandsons. The only survivors were her daughter
Jehosheba and one of her grandsons, Joash... the infant son of the deceased
king (II Kings 11:2).
When Joash was 7 years old, Jehoiada the priest carefully
crowned him king over Judah. I say "carefully" because he did it in
Solomon's Temple and under heavily armed security. When Athaliah heard the
commotion, she came to see what was up. Upon discovering what was going on, she
cried, "Treason," and fled for her life. The captains and officers
knew what needed to be done to her and were willing to do it. They executed the
murderous queen and thereby ended her influence in Judah. Not only that, the
influence of Baalism in Jerusalem was also put down at that same time.
No comments:
Post a Comment