Ahaziah
Ahaziah
reigns when Jehoram dies. All of his
older siblings had been taken captive and they were killed. The only person left to rule was Ahaziah.
Of
course, Ahaziah’s mother was Athalia, daught of King Ahab of Israel. It should be no surprise that with the evil
influence of Jehoram and Athalia that Ahaziah’s reign is marked by a general
sense of evil. It should also be noted
that his reign was incredibly short.
Ahaziah only had kingship over the land for a single year.
In fact,
as we read through the deeds of Ahaziah we can see that he is actually more
closely tied to Israel than he is tied to Judah. He aligns himself with Israel and goes to war
once more against the Syrians. Like
Ahab, Jehoram king over Israel is wounded in battle. Unlike Ahab, Jehoram does not die from this
wound.
This
story reads similarly to the story of Jehosophat and his alliance with Ahab
against Syria. Here is the difference,
however. After that battle Jehosophat is
convicted of his lack of trust in God and he changes. He returns to God and there is the great
moment of prayer when the trio of foreign powers conspires against Judah.
Unlike
Jehosophat, Ahaziah is not convicted of his faithlessness. Instead of turning to the Lord, Ahaziah continues
to go to Israel and to Jehoram’s side.
Ahaziah continues to get his security from his political connections
rather than from God. Ahaziah does not
learn the lesson that his grandfather learned.
Ahaziah’s Death
Because
the Lord knew the heart of Ahaziah, the Lord determines that his time has
come. He had anointed Jehu to destroy
the house of Ahab, the evil king of Israel.
Remember, of course, that Ahaziah is Ahab’s grandson. As Ahaziah goes to find Jehoram while he is
recuperating from his battle wounds, Jehu finds Ahaziah and puts him to an
end. His evil reign ends without as much
as a whimper.
This left
Ahab’s legacy destroyed. There were no
more of his children or grandchildren left to rule in Israel. Jehu, God’s executioner, will take over the
leadership of the land.
This also
leaves Judah without leadership. Ahaziah
was dead. Foreign invaders had come into
Judah and killed all of his older siblings when Jehoram was king of Judah. All that was left was Joash, a young child of
Ahaziah. Ahaziah would die before he
could have influence his youngest child and bring him up in the evil ways of
Ahab’s descendants.
God takes
care of evil on His own timeframe. God
isn’t afraid to eliminate a dynasty that rebels against Him. God can plan things out so that evil is
eliminated and His own plans can get back on track.
Athalia
The only
surviving relative of Ahab – besides the baby Joash – who remains to be dealt
with was Ahab’s daughter, Ahaziah’s mother, Athalia. When she saw the destruction of her own
family, she lashed out to bring down anyone who remained in the Davidic line of
kings. As I said a few blog posts back,
can you imagine the evil and self-centeredness that must course through a
person’s veins to destroy one’s own family out of spite? Again, this is actually fairly common among
royalty. Athalia looks upon the world
and decides that if her family is to be eliminated in Israel, then so shall the
ruling family of Judah. Athalia is all
about herself, not God’s plan for the world.
As she
sets out to destroy the ruling line of Judah, her own grandson has to be hidden
from her wrath. Joash is picked up and
stowed away. This should remind us of
Moses being hidden away as a baby or even Jesus’ flight to Egypt to escape the
wrath of Herod. God will protect the
innocent people that He has raised up to save the people.
Where
does Joash end up? He ends up being held
under the protection of a priest. For
six years he was hid from the wrath of Athalia.
What do you think Joash learned while he was under the protection of the
priest? No doubt Joash learned the ways
of the Lord. No doubt Joash learned
about the betrayal of his own family. It
is here in this priestly protection that Joash learns to rely upon God and to
not rely upon his bloodline. It is here
that the ways of Ahab truly find their death and God forges once more a king in
the ways of David.
God uses
the wrath of Athalia for his own advantage.
God uses what seems to be a horrible moment in the time of Judah as a
time for His own preparation. It is out
of this horrible reign of wrath under Athalia that God raises up Joash – a great
reformer in Judah. Just when you think
God has lost, He demonstrates just how much He was in control all along. Now that’s a theme that you can hear again
and again in the testimony of the Bible.
<><
No comments:
Post a Comment