Day 27: Ding Dong, The Witch Is Dead

Jezebel, the Queen Mother (Public Domain)

2 Kings 9:30-33

New Living Translation (NLT)

The Death of Jezebel

³⁰ When Jezebel, the queen mother, heard that Jehu had come to Jezreel, she painted her eyelids and fixed her hair and sat at a window. ³¹ When Jehu entered the gate of the palace, she shouted at him, “Have you come in peace, you murderer? You’re just like Zimri, who murdered his master!”^[a]

³² Jehu looked up and saw her at the window and shouted, “Who is on my side?” And two or three eunuchs looked out at him. ³³ “Throw her down!” Jehu yelled. So they threw her out the window, and her blood spattered against the wall and on the horses. And Jehu trampled her body under his horses’ hooves.

Well, I tried doing the timeline thing of the kings over Judah and Israel, didn't I? Today as I was reading, I realized it hadn't much helped me to remember who was who over what and where. Darn. It was a good idea. And I may go back and do it again, but probably not. I'm discovering that some of the kings had pretty common names, and it gets so confusing because some of the kings over Israel shared the same name as some kings over Judah.  But my fascination with the women of the Bible is winning at the moment. I think I'll talk about two evil women who were not witches, although it made for a good title, didn't it?

I'm going to start with Jezebel. She'd captured my attention the other day, but I chose not to write about her, thinking the timeline would be more educational. Jezebel was a princess, the daughter of some Sidonian king, when she married King Ahab of Israel. She was one bad woman, let me tell ya. So bad, in fact, that in 1 Kings 16:31, the Bible says "And as though it were not enough to follow the example of Jeraboam, he married Jezebel, the daughter of King Ethbaal of the Sidonians...' Now when scripture has to say "as if it weren't bad enough, he married her!', that's really bad!

She was notorious. She had her husband, Ahab, bowing down and worshiping Baal. When he pouted over Naboth's refusal to sell him his vineyard, Jezebel had the owner stoned for something he didn't do, and then urged her husband to claim it as his own. When Elijah came and prophesied that because of that, God would wipe out all Ahab's male descendants, and that Jezebel would be eaten by the dogs, she got furious. The wicked witch in the fairy tale couldn't hold a candle to Jezebel's evil. She was determined for Elijah to die, and if she couldn't find him after he fled, she'd settle for having every prophet of God she came across slaughtered. About 400 of them, if I recall correctly.

Now Jezebel probably wasn't Ahab's only wife, but she was definitely the highest ranking one, and it is pretty apparent that she ruled the kingdom jointly with Ahab. They had a son named Ahaziah, who took the throne after Ahab died in battle. But Ahaziah wasn't long for this world either, and he died after only a couple of years. His brother, Jehoram, succeeds him, but is killed by Jehu, who would usher in the next royal dynasty in Israel.

But in order for the prophecy to be fulfilled, Ahab's wife had to die too. it wasn't enough that his male heirs had died, Mommy Dearest had to go. So Jehu sets out for Jezreel, where Jezebel is, and she gets wind of it. Rather than run, though, she calmly puts on her makeup, fixes her hair, and then sits in her window to wait. When Jehu rides up in front of the palace, she taunts him, calling him a murderer. So he looks up, hollers "Who's on my side?", and a couple of eunuchs that were attending her said "we are!" Well, maybe they didn't say it with their words, but they threw the queen mother out the window so that Jehu's horse could trample her to death. I guess they were on his side.

Ding Dong, one witch is dead. But wait, she had a daughter! 

2 Kings 11:13-16

New Living Translation (NLT)

The Death of Athaliah

Queen Athaliah of Judah, Public Domain

¹³ When Athaliah heard all the noise made by the palace guards and the people, she hurried to the Lord’s Temple to see what was happening. ¹⁴ When she arrived, she saw the newly crowned king standing in his place of authority by the pillar, as was the custom at times of coronation. The commanders and trumpeters were surrounding him, and people from all over the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets. When Athaliah saw all this, she tore her clothes in despair and shouted, “Treason! Treason!”

¹⁵ Then Jehoiada the priest ordered the commanders who were in charge of the troops, “Take her to the soldiers in front of the Temple,^[a] and kill anyone who tries to rescue her.” For the priest had said, “She must not be killed in the Temple of the Lord.” ¹⁶ So they seized her and led her out to the gate where horses enter the palace grounds, and she was killed there.

Ok, truth be told, we don't know if Athaliah was Jezebel's daughter. But she was definitely Ahab's kid, and was the sister to both Ahazaiah and Jehoram, who had reined briefly. For whatever reasons though, she was married off to the king of Judah, whose name was also Jehoram, and had a son whom she named Ahazaiah. Ok, now you see why trying to do the timeline was confusing me? Try to follow me here... Athaliah's husband Jehoram was ruling Judah during about the same time frame that her brothers were ruling Judah, before Jehu came along and upset the apple cart. Now, when her husband died, her son Ahazaiah (named after her brother) took over, but only for a year. This really gets complicated, and I hope I'm not botching it. 

It appears to me (and I hope someone will comment and correct me if I'm wrong) that Athaliah's son, the king of Judah, was hanging out with his uncle, King Jehoram of israel (Athaliah's brother, not her husband), and that when he killed one, he actually killed both. That was just before he killed jezebel. (Jehu also killed the 70 remaining sons of Ahab.)

If I've got that bit of history down right, then I'll move on. Athaliah wanted to be in charge of things, much like Jezebel had been. So when she heard that her son had been killed, she began to destroy the rest of the royal family. It seems that it would be her family, too, but I guess she didn't really care about her daughters-in-law or grandchildren. As long as she was the only one left to rule, that was all that seemed to matter to her. But she didn't get everyone.

Ahaziah had a sister. Jehosheba was King Jehoram's daughter, but not Athaliah's. By today's standards that would make Athaliah the step-mother, but I don't imagine that was the dynamic of the relationship between the offspring of the kings wives and the other wives back then. 

Now, Ahaziah also had a baby boy named Joash. Aunt Jehosheba wasn't about to let the evil step-monster get her hands on her precious nephew, so she snuck him out and took him to the Temple of the Lord, where he was raised by the priest Jehoiada.

When Joash was 7 years old, the priest who had been raising him conspired with the commanders of the palace guard to do away with the wicked queen. All those who were off duty that day were provided with shields and swords, and they lined up from the north side to the south side of the Temple, and surrounding the altar. Then Jehoiada brought out the boy who would become king, placed a crown on his head, a copy of God's laws in his hands, and annointed him king. And all the palace guard cheered him on.

Queen Athaliah heard the noise, and wanted to know what she was missing. She hurried over to the Temple and saw the boy king standing next to the pillar, his place of authority, during the coronation ceremony. She freaked out at the sight, and started ripping her clothes, screaming like a loon. The commanders of the Palace Guard arrested her, took her out of the Temple,  and turned her over to the soldiers where she was killed.

Ding Dong, the other witch is dead.

As for Joash, the boy king, he was a good guy, having been raised by a priest, and he ruled over Judah for 52 years.

Day 26: God Whispers

1 Kings 19:9-13

New Living Translation (NLT)

⁹ There he came to a cave, where he spent the night.

The Lord Speaks to Elijah

But the Lord said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

¹⁰ Elijah replied, “I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”
¹¹ “Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but theLord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. ¹² And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. ¹³ When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And a voice said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Well, it's been a week since I last posted a blog entry of my own. It was a wonderful week visiting with my daughter and her family. I hope everyone has enjoyed the devotionals written by my friend, Deanna! But today I am getting back to the routine. I feel rusty. I hope I don't sound as rusty. Can one really get rusty in a week?

I really want to focus on how this passage applies to each of us in our every day life. I think everyone should sit down and read all about Elijah and his life's events, but this one instance is what I am really stuck on at the moment. Here's a little background. Elijah had spent three years living in hiding after he'd told King Ahab that there would be a famine. The king's wife, Jezebel, didn't like the news too much, and went around slaughtering every prophet of God  she could find, but she and the king never did find Elijah. Then one day, God told Elijah to go find Ahab, and he obeyed.

Long story short, he proved to King Ahab that God was really God, and that the gods they were worshiping were worthless. The Baal's couldn't even light a fire under the sacrificial bull. But God did, at Elijah's prayerful request. Then, after killing all the prophets of the foreign gods, Elijah told the king to rush back to Jezreel, because a big rain was coming.

King Ahab did as instructed, and told his wife all about what had happened, and Jezebel threatened to kill Elijah, and he took off for the hills. Mountains, actually. After 40 days, he came to a cave in Mt. Sinai where God had directed him.

So that's where we pick up. God asked Elijah what he was doing there, and Elijah answered. From the text, i gather that he was pretty distraught, maybe downright panicky. Dare I suggest even a little whiny? Anyway, God told him to go stand in front of the mountain, and he did.

A huge wind came up. I don't mean just a typical windstorm, I mean this wind was so big it caused landslides on the mountain! Elijah must have been standing there with boulders crashing down all around him, but he remained unharmed.

Then God caused an earthquake. So while all these boulders were falling all around Elijah, the earth was also splitting open. Can you imagine? What a terrifying moment, or hour, or day, this must have been! Yet Elijah remained where he stood, still unharmed.

Then God sent fire. Not only is Elijah standing there, shaking in his sandals while big rocks are hurling at him and smashing everything in their path and the ground is cracking wide open all around, now lightning strikes a tree somewhere in the area and smoke begins filling his lungs, ash stings his eyes and the roar of fire fills his ears.

And then, as the fire is dying down to an ember, the stones have come to a resting place, and the calamity seems to be easing into aftermath, a soft, gentle whisper asks the very same question: "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

Wow.

Ever been there? I think I have. Only a few thousand times or so. This is like that perfect illustration of my life, I think. So many instances where I'm overwhelmed by my circumstances, and wondering how I'm going to get through it all, and I cry out to God saying "Hey look! Remember me, God? I need your help down here!" And he reminds me that He is in control. He shows me that as long as I'm obeying Him, I'm protected! Then He brings everything to a stand-still and whispers to me, "have I got your attention now?"

God doesn't want us to listen to our own fears, or to the world's threats, or even to the falling of rocks and the roaring of fire. He's not going to let us get devoured by all that stuff. He just wants us to stand still and focus on His voice.