Tyranny and Treason

Lately I have been teaching a Bible study on Godly Government. One lesson discusses the proper duties and roles of the civil government, church, and family. This study caused me to look again at the story of Queen Athaliah as found in 2 Kings 11. The story is a bit complex. However, it is pregnant with both lessons and questions, many of which are applicable to our day. Of course, all Scripture is applicable to our day, but this passage does seem particularly interesting now.

The story is about one Queen Athaliah who seized the throne of Judah (the southern kingdom of what used to be original Israel). Her son, King Ahaziah, had been killed. Our wicked queen, the anti-hero, determined to rule the kingdom herself and had all of the previous king’s sons murdered. That is all except one, Jehoash, whose half-sister hid him and took him to the temple to be reared by the good priest Jehoiada, the hero of our true tale. So the wicked queen Athaliah has committed two major categories of sin. The first is murder and the second is to hold high office to which she is not lawfully qualified. I am uncertain which is more deleterious to a nation.

Now comes the interesting part. The hero of the story, Jehoiada (are you keeping these old-timey names straight?) the high priest in Jerusalem, the leader of ‘the church’ in modern lingo (leader of the covenant people in Biblical lingo), leads the move to remove Athaliah from her ill gotten office. Jehoiada had no office in the civil government. He was however, a leader in Israel by the status of his official position within the religious community. He was a man people looked to for moral and spiritual guidance. Using that recognized religious office he was able to adjudicate for righteousness and the return of lawful government in his time.

His daring plan worked like this. First he called together the leaders of the military (Captains of One-Hundreds as the text refers) and swore them to an oath of secrecy. Next Jehoiada revealed the existence of the now seven-year old king-to-be Jehoash, and brought him out before them in the temple. Jehoiada then set up a plan and action with the leaders of the military to both protect the youthful king and to crown him in a public ceremony. By God’s grace they were able to succeed.

The demise of the wicked queen came when she figured out what was happening and came running in shrieking ‘treason, treason’. However, those righteous men understood that the real treason was hers. Unlawful holding of the country’s highest office could, after all, be nothing but treason. Consequently, they took her out post-haste and killed her with the sword, no trial. For such a public performance of high crimes no trial is required under Biblical law. Justice is swift and permanent. The military, as the only viable tribunal in this circumstance (who else could have had the power to swiftly effect the change?) stepped into the vacuum left by other public officials, bringing justice and peace to the land. In fact the text says that because of its actions the people rejoiced and the city was quiet (verse 20). And, it normally is a happy circumstance when justice prevails and the city is quiet.

For Christian Culture,

Don Schanzenbach