She looked and there was the king, standing by the pillar, as the custom was. The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets. Then Athaliah tore her robes and called out, “Treason! Treason!” – 2 Kings 11:14

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 11, 2016): 2 Kings 11

As we begin to find our way in a new political world, let me remind you of something John F. Kennedy said more than fifty years ago. “Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.” There are a lot of hurts to be shared following the current election in the United States, but the future still exists awaiting for us to deal with it. It never ceases to amaze me the way that we can refuse to take responsibility for the future – or almost anything else bad that happens in our lives. The blame is never mine. It is always someone else’s. In the Calvin Harris song “Blame,” it isn’t even a person that is to blame for the singer’s bad behavior. It is just the inanimate “night” that is at fault. The chorus repeats the lines, “Blame it on the night, don’t blame it on me, don’t blame it on me.” Our innate ability to shift blame is amazing.

Athaliah was a power hungry woman. I can’t imagine someone being evil enough to be able to commit the crimes of Athaliah. After the death of her son, Ahaziah, Athaliah killed the rest of her family, including her own grandchildren, so that she could reign as Queen of Judah. Athaliah was the only Queen to have solo reign in either Judah or Israel and the Queen’s reign lasted six years. But, unknown to her, she did not kill all of her grandchildren. One grandson remained; a little boy named Joash. Joash was hidden away while Athaliah frittered away her time on the throne. But when the time was right, he was brought out in front of the nation and crowned the King of Judah.

Athaliah was angry. The boy was surrounded by guards, protected like the crown jewel that he was. And Athaliah couldn’t do anything about it. And so she levels the charge of treason against all of those who had conspired against her by saving the life of this grandson. In her mind, somehow she was not responsible for this turn of events. She had deceived herself into believing that somehow the throne was hers – and I am not sure that anyone has been able to understand that logic. It was not treason that she had killed her family, including all of the princes of Judah so that she could reign as Queen. It was treason that someone had dared to hide this grandson, and rightful heir to the throne, away from her in a place where she could not get at him and kill him.

Ultimately, what happens next was nothing more than a result of all that Athaliah had built. This was the future that her scheming had prepared for her. A future for which she refused to take responsibility. 

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 22