Theological Commentary: Click Here
Ahaziah
reigns for one year. He was evil. It is really easy to connect those two
facts. It is tempting to say that he was
so evil that God got rid of him after a year.
Resist that
urge. First of all, there are several of
the Judean kings who were plenty evil and who reigned for decades, not just
years. Second, remember that God’s perspective
is not based on our timeline. God can
outlast the unrighteous until they die if needed.
None of this
changes that Ahaziah was evil. In his
one year of rule, he makes it clear that he is going to follow in the ways of
the kings of Israel. This takes us back
to a general principle in life. When we
surround ourselves with evil people, we get involved in evil. When we surround ourselves with
righteousness, we tend away from evil.
While Ahaziah’s biggest problem was certainly his own heart, it wasn’t
aided at all be the company of advisors that he kept.
Speaking of
advisors, Ahaziah’s mother Athaliah is one of the worst. There can be little doubt that she is one of
the primary reasons for Ahaziah’s evil during his reign. Once she hears that Ahaziah has been killed,
she sets out to destroy the rest of the royal family. Her thought is simple. If she cannot have an heir rule, then nobody
will.
If that isn’t
the wisdom of the world, I don’t know what is.
Athaliah could have followed the ways of the Lord and been protected by
Him. Instead, she follows the ways of
the world to the bitter end. She finds
herself in a position committing genocide because of her choice. Her legacy for all of history will be a woman
who led her son astray and who led a regime built on genocide and fear. This is the fruit of her pursuit of the
world.
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