Athaliah, A Wicked Mother and Grandmother – By Camille Stahl

Today’s Passage – 2 Kings 10 – 12 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)

(Second Milers also read – Luke 13 – 14; Proverbs 29; Psalms 141 – 145

Scripture Memorization for April – Soulwinning Verses

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – 1 Timothy 1:17

Read the “0429 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Read previous posts from this passage – “Housecleaning“ and “The Lord’s People“

“And when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal. But Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king’s sons which were slain; and they hid him, even him and his nurse, in the bedchamber from Athaliah, so that he was not slain. And he was with her hid in the house of the LORD six years. And Athaliah did reign over the land. And the seventh year Jehoiada sent and fetched the rulers over hundreds, with the captains and the guard, and brought them to him into the house of the LORD, and made a covenant with them, and took an oath of them in the house of the LORD, and shewed them the king’s son.”  (2Kings 11:1-4)

When God raised up Jehu to rid the land of the house of Ahab, he killed King Joram of Israel, Ahab’s son and King Ahaziah, King of Judah, before going on to kill Jezebel that same day.

When Athaliah heard that her son, King Ahaziah of Judah was killed, she declared herself Queen of Israel took over the Kingdom. In order to claim her fame to the throne, she immediately put all of her grandchildren to death along with anyone who carried the bloodline of David. This was a wicked and evil woman.

After Ahaziah’s death, now Queen Athaliah took the throne for herself and began her reign of terror for 7 years.

Athaliah’s actions are shocking, or are they?  Few women would sacrifice their child or grandchild to gain power.  But with our fast paced lives it causes us to sacrifice our time and attention with family.   If our jobs always come first with long hours or travel, or when we need to place our child in daycare, we’ve begun to make the same mistake as this wicked queen.  Sometimes we’re busy, on our cell phones or ‘hanging with the girls’, to spend time with our children. We don’t have to serve a pagan god or want to rule a kingdom to get our priorities mixed up.

If we fail, we are not a wicked Athaliah, but we should get it right by confessing our wrong and find a way to make a change.  It might be reorganizing our time, refusing a promotion, or working part-time.  I know in today’s world, with needing two pay checks or being a single mom, many women must work. But let’s do whatever it takes, not to sacrifice our families to get ahead.  In the end we won’t be ahead at all, we’ll lose it.

Thank You

I John 5:13