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Indeed, this is one of the lessons which throughout make the history of Israel typical of
that of the Church, and in a sense of all history, and which constitute its claim to the
designation of "prophetic." In it events move, so to speak, in step with the utterances of
the God of Israel. No direct or sudden interference seems necessary; but in the regular
succession of events, each deviation from Divine order and rule, each attempt to compass
results by departure from God's law and word, brings with it, not success, but failure and
ruin. From her entrance into her new home in Judah, to her seizure of its throne, Athaliah
brought it only evil. Her very name, "Athaljah" ("Jehovah oppresseth"), seems
significant. She possessed all the evil qualities of her mother Jezebel, without her queenly
bearing and courage; all the cunning of her father, without any of his impulses towards
good. Holy Writ marks that she was her son's "counselor to do wickedly" (2 Chronicles
22:3), and her influence for evil must have commenced in the previous reign of her
husband, Jehoram. To the influence of "the house of Ahab" are expressly traced, both in
the reign of Jehoram and in that of Ahaziah, the revival of idolatry (2 Kings 8:18, 27;
11:15; 2 Chronicles 22:3, 4); the desecration of the Temple of Jehovah (2 Chronicles
24:7), and those evil counselings (2 Chronicles 22:4)which brought such Divine
judgments (2 Chronicles 21:13, 14, 16, 17; 22:7). To her, we cannot doubt, was due not
only the slaughter of his "brethren," with which Jehoram stained the beginning of his
reign (2 Chronicles 21:4), but the destruction by Jehu of so large a number of the
remaining royal princes of Judah (2 Kings 10:13, 14; 2 Chronicles 22:7, 8). And if her
murderous purpose on seizing the government had been wholly successful, the political
union between the house of Ahab and that of Jehoshaphat would have ended in the
extermination of the whole house of David.
There is not a scene in Jewish history more vividly depicted than that of Athaliah's
seizure of the Jewish crown, and of her miserable end. It seems more than likely that on
his ill-fated expedition to the court of Israel, Jehoram had entrusted the government of the
kingdom to his mother, who had all along exercised such determining influence upon
him.*
- She acted probably as Gebhirah, like Maachah, the mother of King Asa (1 Kings
15:13).
We need not wonder, although we take notice of it, that the position of woman in Israel
should have been so different from that generally assigned to her in the East. A nation
which counted among its historical personages a Miriam, a Deborah, and an Abigail - not
to speak of other well-known figures - must have recognized the dignity of woman. Nor
can we here forget the influence respectively exercised by the mother of King Asa (1
Kings 15:13), by Jezebel, and by other queen-consorts or mothers.*
- Even among non-Jewish nations we recall the name of Dido, of the same lineage and in
the same century as Jezebel and Athaliah.
(^)