If we thought Queen Jezebel was bad, wait until we read about Queen Athalia (2 Kings 11:1-20). She was a daughter of King Ahab, but Jezebel probably was not her mother. Her influence on King Jehoram, her late husband, however, paralleled that of Jezebel on King Ahab.
When her son, King Ahaziah died at the young age of 22, she immediately moved to have all his children, that is, her grandchildren, killed so as to secure the throne of Judah (the southern kingdom) for herself. The royal family had already been reduced to a mere remnant. Jehoram, her late husband and the father of Ahaziah, had already killed all his brothers when he succeeded his father Jehoshaphat on the throne. King Jehu had slain another 42 members of the royal house of Judah, perhaps including many of the sons of Jehoram’s brothers. To top off the royal slaughters, the brothers of Ahaziah had been killed by raiding Arabs.
In the eyes of the author of today’s Old Testament Reading, this attempt to completely destroy the house of David was an attack on God’s redemptive plan – a plan that centered on the Messiah, which the Davidic covenant had promised, and which depended on the continuation of the Davidic line to become a reality.
However, as we are told today, a sister of King Ahaziah managed to save one of the princes, Joash, and hid him in the servants’ sleeping quarters together with his nurse. This would indicate that the child was not more than a year old and not yet weaned. There he remained in hiding while Athalia took over as ruler of the kingdom. The woman who saved Joash, Jehosheba, was the wife of Jehoiada the high priest, who will soon appear in the story, and it explains how she was able to keep Joash hidden in the Temple for six years.
Not surprisingly, Athalia in time became the object of a palace coup organized by the high priest Jehoiada. It happened in the seventh year of her rule. He made a pact with the captains of the mercenary soldiers who served as the palace guard. The Carians were mercenary soldiers from Caria in southwest Asia Minor who served as royal bodyguards. After both those on and off duty had sworn their commitment, they are secretly shown the young prince. They are then given detailed instructions on how to protect him.
They gathered their men and were given weapons that David himself had captured in a former battle. David probably had taken the spears and gold shields as plunder in his battle with Hadadezer and then dedicated them to the Lord (see 2 Samuel 8:7-11). They then surrounded the altar and the Temple. Joash was brought out, anointed as king by Jehoiada and given some of the royal insignia. He was then acclaimed by the people gathered in the Temple for the Sabbath. “Long live the king!” they cried. This was clearly an act of rebellion and effected a coup d’état.
Athalia discovered the rebellion too late. She saw the new king “standing by the pillar”. This was apparently one of the two bronze pillars of the portico of the Temple. With him were “all the people of the land”. It is likely that Jehoiada had chosen to stage his coup on a Sabbath during one of the major religious festivals, when many people from the outlying kingdom, who were loyal to the Lord, would be in Jerusalem. Athalia tore her garments and cried out, “Treason! Treason!”
Jehoiada then gave orders for her arrest. Any of her supporters were to be killed and she was not to be executed within the sacred confines of the Temple. As was the custom, she was put to death outside the city confines, near the ‘horse gate’ of the royal palace.
Jehoiada then had a double covenant made between the Lord and his people and between the new king and the people. It was a renewal of the Mosaic covenant declaring that Israel was God’s people and the king his vice-gerent. The years of apostasy, involving both the royal house and the people of Judah, necessitated a renewal of allegiance to the Lord at the time of an important new beginning for the southern kingdom.
Finally, the temple to Baal, its altars and images finally were smashed and Mattan, the priest of Baal, was put to death.
All the “people of the land”, that is, the country people, supported the return to the traditions of David and God. The city was forced to accept the situation. Finally, right order had been restored between God and his people.
The Bible. Pretty exciting stuff!
May God Bless You and Grant You His Peace!