Today’s Scripture Reading (October 27,
2013): 2 Chronicles 23
Judah was in trouble. For the first time in her history a
Queen sat alone on her throne. Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab, the former King
of Israel had gained control of the throne of David. And like all of the other Kings
of Israel, this Queen was evil. She was bent on changing the religious beliefs
of the Kingdom of Judah away from the worship of the God who told Moses that he
was “I am,” so that they would be free to commit themselves to the worship of
Baal. And in the process, the nation was failing, the people were oppressed,
and the future seemed bleak at best.
But Athaliah believed that she was in control. She believed
that she had removed all of the possible contenders to the throne. But one
contender still remained that Athaliah knew nothing about. He had been a small
child on the day that Athaliah had murdered the rest of the family. And the
small child had been hidden in the temple apartments. The idea was to that he
would be trained by the priests and who would raise him to be king. And so the
priests of Yahweh bided their time and suffered under the reign of the Queen
from Israel – waiting for the day when the one who had descended from David
could be restored to the throne in fulfillment of the prophecy that there would
always be a son of David on the throne of Judah.
But the priests could not wait forever. It is possible that
the oppression of Athaliah on the nation had reached a pitch where Jehoida, the
priest who had been looking after the king’s son, could simply wait no longer.
Joash was still a child, it would still be a few years before he would be old
enough to reign over the nation on his own, but too much damage would be done
if Athaliah was allowed to reign a moment longer.
And so Jehoida calls an assembly. If his plan was going to
work, he would need every person that he could find on his side. If the boy was
to be protected, the priests and the people would be needed to stand against
the Queen. In truth, it was a terrifying plan. The Queen had long convinced the
nation that she was the person that was supposed to be on the throne. So
Jehoida swore a covenant with the people in front of God reminding them that it
was Joash that had the blood of David running through his veins. If the will of
God was to be followed, then Joash and the descendants of David would need to
be restored to the throne of Judah. And it needed to happen … now.
But the people really didn’t need to be convinced. Athaliah’s
mismanagement of the nation had made them ready for the rebellion that would now
place a child on the throne of David. The time had come for action, and armed
with their covenant made in the Jerusalem Temple, they were sure that God was
on their side.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2
Chronicles 24
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