But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram and sister of Ahaziah, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes, who were about to be murdered. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom to hide him from Athaliah; so he was not killed. – 2 Kings 11:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (June 12, 2013): 2 Kings 11

In the 1976 Neil Simon comedy “Murder by Death,” Lionel Twain, played by author Truman Capote, explains the reason for the evening activities (and also for a seeming lack of an actual murder – other than the ‘killing’ of an evening.) Speaking to the gathered fictional detective characters he complains about the way that that their books have been structured. “You've tricked and fooled your readers for years. You've tortured us all with surprise endings that made no sense. You've introduced characters in the last five pages that were never in the book before. You've withheld clues and information that made it impossible for us to guess who did it. But now, the tables are turned. Millions of angry mystery readers are now getting their revenge.” But the problem with Twain’s comment is that real life often seems to have those surprises that occur in the final chapter. No matter how hard we try to cover all of the possible outcomes, it still seems to be the one that we missed that turns the story.

Athaliah’s purpose was to remove every person that stood between her and the throne. And the process started with a killing all of the royal princes. In the process she would have to remove every eligible descendant of David. And she almost succeeded. Except that God reserved the right to protect a son for the final chapter. It is quite probable that the infant Joash was injured and left for dead among the other princes. When he was found he was taken to a bed-chamber connected to the temple. The room itself would not have been a suite, but rather a closet where the bed and bedclothes were placed out of the way during the day. As such it made a perfect place to hide the young king while his wounds were nursed and the boy matured.

And because it was a place reserved for the Levites, it was also a place where the young king could be taught about God – and removed from the evil to which Athalia had committed herself. Athalia would establish the exclusive worship of Baal throughout Judah; she would be responsible for shutting down all services in the temple, and she would give over the sacred vessels of the sanctuary to the priests of Baal. The condition of Judah was so low at the time that no one was able to resist Athaliah's vicious theft of the authority of the king over the land. But God would reserve a character of his own to emerge at just the right moment – in the final chapter.

As much as I believe in our own free will, I also believe that God also has everything under control. And if things are not quite looking right, it is probably because the final scene still has to be played. When God is involved, the unexpected is often the norm – and something that we should learn to expect.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 12