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Chosen no: R-5787 a, from: 1915 Year. |
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MURDERS HER GRANDCHILDREN
-- OCTOBER
31.--2
KINGS 11:1-20. --
JEZEBEL'S
DAUGHTER BECAME QUEEN OF JUDAH--HER BANEFUL INFLUENCE AS QUEEN
DOWAGER--SERIOUS RESULTS OF DEVIATION FROM THE DIVINE LAW--POWER OF
PRIDE – SELFISHNESS LEADING TO MURDER--THE BOY JOASH CROWNED KING
AT THE AGE OF SEVEN YEARS – THE WICKED ATHALIAH SLAIN.
"The
house of the wicked shall be overthrown; but the tent of the upright
shall flourish."--Proverbs
14:11.
JEZEBEL'S
DAUGHTER, Queen Athaliah, on the death of her husband became queen
dowager of the kingdom of Judah, her son Ahaziah becoming king. In
oriental lands the king's mother is still the highest authority in
the kingdom; as, for instance, in China. This was the custom with the
Jews. As queen dowager, Athaliah exercised a powerful and baneful
influence against the true God and His worship and in favor of Baal
worship. This is not the only instance in which the intermarriage of
the kings of Israel with the daughters of foreign royal houses
brought great injury. Athaliah's mother Jezebel was another notable
illustration. We remember also that it was King Solomon's foreign
wives who ensnared him.
In
line with all this we remember that the Divine command to all
Israelites was that they should not intermarry with other
nationalities. Every deviation from the Divine Law seems to have
brought with it serious penalties. This is strictly in harmony with
God's arrangement with that one nation alone, that they should be His
people in a peculiar sense; that other nations were not His people;
and that obedience to His Law would bring them blessings; but that
disobedience would bring them adversities. (Deuteronomy
7:6-11.)
That Law is still binding upon the Jews, but it is not upon others.
A proper recognition of
the antitype, or spiritual significance of that item of Jewish Law,
should be observed by all. It is applicable to Christians, who
constitute, from the Divine standpoint, "a holy nation, a
peculiar people." (1
Peter 2:9.)
Christians are not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. (2
Corinthians 6:14.)
Christians are to come out from the world and be separate. This,
however, does not apply to nominal Christians, but only to the
spirit-begotten class, who have made a full consecration of
themselves to the Lord. These are counselled to marry "only in
the Lord"--only the consecrated. Those who disregard this Divine
injunction endanger their own spiritual development, as well as their
own happiness and that of the worldly person with whom they become
yoked.
MURDERING
FOR POWER
When
King Ahaziah was slain by Jehu (2
Kings 9:27,28),
his mother, the queen dowager, realized instantly that this meant her
loss of rank and power--the power, the honor and the riches which her
selfish, proud heart so loved. She realized that the moment her
grandson ascended the throne she must vacate her position in favor of
her daughter-in-law. Her selfish, proud heart resolved that on no
account should this be. Rather, she would be a murderess. Forthwith
she caused her grandchildren to be slain, except one, an infant, who
was hidden by his aunt in a room used for the storage of sleeping
mats, and styled in our lesson a bed-chamber. Subsequently he was
nursed until his seventh year, in one of the rooms connected with the
old Temple, which was in disuse during Queen Athaliah's reign, as she
favored and upheld the worship of Baal.
One
lesson for us here is the power of pride. We may well hope that not
many could be influenced to become murderers, even with such
inducements. But not many of us will ever have such a temptation
either to grasp a throne or retain hold upon one already possessed.
Other illustrations of the power of pride leading to murder in the
interest of a throne are mentioned in history. For instance, King
Herod's murder of all the infants of Bethlehem of two years old and
under was to preserve to himself and his heirs the throne of Israel.
History tells us that Laodice poisoned her six sons, one by one, that
she might be Empress of Constantinople. Another mother named Irene,
which name signifies peace, gouged out the eyes of her own son
that he might be incapable of ruling the empire over which she sought
to reign.
No wonder the Bible
declares that the heart of man in his fallen condition is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked! (Jeremiah
17:9.)
No wonder the Bible tells us that the blessing of the New Covenant
which God will establish with the world through Israel, during
Messiah's Reign, will operate to the taking away of the stoniness of
the human heart and to the return to mankind of a heart of flesh--a
proper human sympathy, such as the perfect man had when he was
created in the image and likeness of God! (Ezekiel
11:19; 36:26; Jeremiah
31:31-34.)
How glad we are that Messiah's Kingdom will not merely restrain sin
and sinners, but by restitution processes will take away the
stoniness of heart and bring as many as are willing of mankind back
to tender-heartedness and to harmony with the Divine Law of love for
God and for the neighbor!
Since
we are not kings and queens and do not have their temptations, let us
note that the same principle of hard-heartedness operates in the
business world, in the social world and in the family. In the
business world it operates to the destruction of a rival concern. In
the social world it cuts rivals, prompts to misrepresentations,
slander, etc. In the home, as between parents and children, brothers
and sisters, it frequently means injustice. The correction for all
this is a love of righteousness which will lead each to love and to
obey the Golden Rule, [R5787 : page 315] and to comply as
nearly as possible with the Divine will --"Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy mind and with all
thy being and with all thy strength; and thy neighbor as thyself."
CROWNING
THE BOY KING
The
young king's name was Joash. He was kept in hiding for six years, and
in his seventh year was crowned. Jehoiada, the high priest, whose
daughter had rescued Joash, superintended the coronation ceremonies.
With great wisdom he called together the chiefs of the nation at a
time of festival, when their assembling would not be thought strange.
Likewise the guards were so disposed as to give every protection to
the young king and to leave the palace without protection.
The
ceremony passed off successfully. The queen dowager heard the shouts,
"Long live the king!" and came forth from the palace to the
Temple to investigate. Realizing the situation, she cried, "Treason!
treason!" So it is that sometimes injustice becomes so
intrenched and fortified in human minds that an attempt to establish
righteousness is considered treason, rebellion, outrage. To all the
Lord's consecrated children the lesson is, "Keep thy heart with
all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life."--Proverbs
4:23.
When
the crown was placed upon the young king's head, on top of it was
laid the parchment scroll of the Ten Commandments. Thus was indicated
the fact that the Divine Law was superior to the crown. Such should
be the estimation of the matter in every well-balanced mind. Divine
Law comes first; human laws second. And human laws are usually up to
as high standards as the people who make them are worthy.
Judah
must have been considerably sunken in the qualities of patriotism and
manhood to allow the queen dowager to usurp the throne by murder for
six years. Similarly, states and cities that permit and recognize the
domination of frauds and combines against the public interests are
usually getting as good treatment as they deserve. It is the heart,
the intellect, the mind, that is to be educated up to the higher
standards. Then those higher standards will be attained by the body
politic.
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