And when Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead.
The history of Athaliah
The blackest names in the long roll of the world’s infamy are those of kings and queens, and amongst them Athaliah is not the least abhorrent. In this woman’s life, as here sketched, we have--
I. Hereditary depravity. We find in this woman, Athaliah, the infernal tendencies of her father and her mother, Ahab and Jezebel. Though they had been swept as monsters from the earth, their hellish spirit lived and worked in this their daughter. We have an immortality in others, as well as in ourselves. In this fact we are reminded--
1. That the moral qualities of parents may become physical tendencies in the children. The man who voluntarily contracts habits of falsehood, dishonesty, profanity, incontinence, drunkenness, and general intemperance, transmits these to his children as physical tendencies.
2. That the evil moral qualities of parents, reappearing in their children in the form of physical tendencies, is no complete justification for the children’s wickedness. This is clear
(1) From the fact that God has endowed all with sufficient force to control all physical tendencies.
(2) From the personal consciousness of every sinner.
(3) From the Divine Word as found in the Scriptures. “Whatsoever good thing any man doeth the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.” “He that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons. The fact of hereditary depravity reminds us--
3. That the way to raise the human race is to improve their moral qualities. In this woman’s life we see--
II. Outwitted wickedness. No doubt this woman, who thought she had destroyed all the “seed royal,” considered she had made her way to the throne clear and secure. For six long years she had no conception that one had escaped her bloody purpose. Now it was revealed to her, and her disappointment maddens her with vengeance, and excites the desperate cry, “Treason, treason!” It is ever so. “He disappointeth the devices of the crafty. History abounds with the examples of the bafflement of wrong. The conduct of Joseph’s brethren, Ahithophel, Sanballat, Haman, and the Jewish Sanhedrim in relation to Christ, are instances. Craftiness uses lies as concealment and defence, but the eternal law of Providence makes them snares. In this woman’s life we see--
III. Just retribution. Those who plot the destruction of others often fall themselves. Here is
(1) A terrible retribution.
(2) A prompt retribution. It came on her there before she passed into the other world. Retribution is going on now and here. There is
(3) A retribution administered by wicked men. God punishes the wicked by the wicked. The whole history of the world is an illustration of this. Truly “the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment. Though his excellency mount up to the heavens and his head reach unto the clouds, yet he shall perish for ever Yea he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.” (David Thomas, D. D.)
Malign succession
A wicked mother left behind her a wicked daughter. What else could be expected but that the demoniac Jezebel should be reflected and repeated, so far as character and conduct were concerned, in her daughter Athaliah? How very often such a malign succession is seen! Henry VIII. was terribly given to executing any of his subjects who opposed him. His elder daughter, Queen Mary, led the awful persecution against Protestants in which so many martyrs were burned, including Bishops Ridley, Hooper, Latimer, and Archbishop Cranmer. Had she had a gentler father her disposition might have been more merciful. (Christian Commonwealth.)
Athaliah
Observe a very strong peculiarity in human nature, as shown in the conduct of Athaliah. She went into the temple and saw the young Joash with a crown upon his head, and she shrieked out, “Treason, treason!” Poor innocent Athaliah! Who would not pity so gentle a dove, with a breast of feathers and a cruel dart rankling in it. Sweet woman, gentle loving creature, injured queen--her hands were perfectly clean; she was the victim of a cruel stratagem; she was outwitted by heads longer than hers; she, poor unsuspecting soul, had been brought into this condition, and all she could do was to cry in injured helplessness, “Treason, treason!” How moral we become under some circumstances! How very righteous we stand up to be under certain provocations! Who could but pity poor Athaliah, who had nursed her grandchildren with a wolf’s care? We do this very self-same thing very often in our own lives. Where is the man who does not suppose that he has a right to do wrong? But let other people do wrong, and then hear him. Given a religious sect of any name whatsoever, that has the domination of any neighbourhood, and the probability is that that religious sect will use its supremacy somewhat mischievously in certain circumstances. It will not let anybody who opposes its tenets have an acre of ground in that neighbourhood, nor will it allow any sect that opposes its principles to build a church there. No, it takes a righteous view of the circumstances; it will not trifle with its responsibilities; it can allow no encroachment; it is charged with the spirit of stewardship, and must be faithful to its sacred obligations. So it cants and whines, whatever its name be: if it be the name we bear religiously so much the worse. We speak of no particular sect, or of any sect that may be placed in such peculiar circumstances as to claim the domination and supremacy in any neighbourhood. Now let any member of that sect leave that particular locality and go to live under a different set of circumstances, and apply for a furlong of ground, or for a house that he may occupy as tenant; then let it be found that his religious convictions are a bar to his entrance upon the enjoyment of local properties and liberties, he will call “Persecution, persecution!” How well it befits his lips. The very man who in one district persecuted to the death those who opposed him removes to another locality where a screw is applied to his own joints, and he cries out, “Persecution--persecution!” It is Athaliah’s old trick, and will have Athaliah’s poor reward. See how the cry of the wicked is unheeded. She was a woman, and by so much had a claim upon the sympathy of the strong. No man’s heart went out towards her in loyal reverence. With what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged. With what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again. “As I have done,” said a sufferer of old, “to others, so the Lord hath requited me.” Though hand join in hand, yet the wicked shall not go unpunished. If you are treating any of your family, your wife or husband or child, with base cruelty, it will surely come home to you some other day. (J. Parker, D. D.)