The Black Widow

II Kings 10-13

At the end of yesterday's reading, Jehu saw to the assassination of Jezebel. Just as Elijah prophesied, her body was eaten by dogs. This did not go unnoticed by Jehu. It actually became his motivation to continue to purge the land of Ahab and Jezebel's evil influence. Unfortunately, we are in a very bloody section of the scriptures. (NOTE: This does not reflect negatively on God or his word, but shows the depravity of humanity, especially when following pagan practices.)

I'm not going to go into explicit detail in chapter 10. Jehu knew the prophecy of Elijah and wanted to see it fulfilled at his hand. He therefore called on the people of Israel to send proof of death of all the sons of Ahab. Each city that was ruled by a son of Ahab sent the head of the sons to Jehu. Then, family and servants of Ahaziah (the king of Judah Jehu assassinated) were coming to visit Ahab (apparently unaware of what had taken place) and Jehu killed them.

Finally, Jehu deceived the entire country. He told the people that Ahab had worshiped Baal a little but he would worship him a lot. He called for a nationwide day of sacrifice and ordered all of the priests and worshipers of Baal to come to the temple. He brought them all in and had guards surround the temple. Then, on his command, he had his guards enter and kill them all. The guards were under penalty of death. If anyone escaped, the guard who let them escape would pay with their life. When all were dead, Jehu destroyed the altar and temple of Baal. However, he continued to worship the Golden Calves of Jeroboam. Because he was zealous in fulfilling the prophecy of God, God told him that his descendants would sit on the throne for 4 generations. These would be the final kings of Israel before the Assyrian Captivity.

In chapter 11, we learn why this devotion is called "The Black Widow". Athaliah a widow. Her husband, Jehoram had died. Now, Jehu had killed her son Ahaziah and instead of mourning, she saw opportunity. When word reached her of her husband's death, she began killing all the heirs to the throne. She began killing all of her grandchildren. One of Ahaziah's daughters hid the baby Joash, and smuggled him out to the priest Jehoiada.

When Joash was seven years old, Jehoiada arranged for loyal guards to set up a protective perimeter around the temple. He then held a coronation service to crown Joash King of Judah. Upon hearing the noise in the Temple, Athaliah went and demanded to know what was going on. Can you imagine her surprise to see the boy Joash, with the royal crown on? You can imagine her saying, "You're supposed to be dead." The priest had her seized and taken outside the Temple, where she was executed. And so, Joash began to reign. Jehoiada continued to serve beside the king as a "Regent" or proxy for the king until he was old enough.

In chapter 12, Joash decides that the Temple needs repairing. 2 Chronicles 24:7 tells us, For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up the house of God; and also all the dedicated things of the house of the LORD did they bestow upon Baalim. Joash ordered the Levites to oversee the remodeling project. Joash noticed that the work was not being done and he called Jehoiada to ask why not. Then, he set up a box to collect offerings at the Temple. People paid as they offered sacrifices, and the repairs were made.

Finally, we learn that Hazael, the king of Syria, came and defeated Gath. He then turned towards Judah. To prevent war, Joash sent all of the silver and gold from the Temple to Hazael as a peace offering. This worked, and Hazael turned away from Judah.

Chapter 13 brings us back to Israel. Jehu dies and his son Jehoahaz takes the throne. He is evil but reigns for 17 years. During his reign, because he led Israel to sin, God allowed Hazael (King of Syria) and his son Ben-hadad to conquer much of the land. When Jehoahaz died, his son Jehoash became king.

Jehoash was also evil. During his reign, Elisha became sick and his time was drawing to an end. Jehoash went to see Elisha and was saddened to learn that Elisha would die. Because of the war with Syria, Jehoash asked Elisha for help. Elisha told Jehoash to shot an arrow out the window of the house, and he did. Elisha told him the arrow was the arrow of deliverance from Syria. Then he told Jehoash to beat the rest of the arrows on the ground. Jehoash hit the ground 3 times and stopped. Elisha told him that he should have struck the ground 5 or 6 times and God would have completely defeated Syria at their hands. Because Jehoash only struck the ground 3 times, God would give them 3 victories.

Elisha's final miracle came after his death. Elisha died and was buried. Later, another funeral was taking place and the body was being buried in the same tomb as Elisha. At that time, a band of Moabites attacked Israel. In their rush to hide, the men placed the body of the dead man on the bones of Elisha. (NOTE: It was customary to leave a body on a slab in the tomb where the body was anointed with oils for a period of time or until the slab was needed for the next body. At that time, the bones would be placed in an ossuary. Think of a tomb as a mini-cemetery and the ossuary is the actual grave.)When the dead man's body touched the bones of Elisha, he came back to life. Can you image that scene?!

Finally, we lean that Hazael oppressed Israel the entire time he reigned, just as Elisha prophesied. However, because of God's covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God did not allow Hazael to destroy them. Just as Elisha had prophesied through the arrows, Jehoash had three victories that kept Hazael and his army at bay and they recovered cities that had been previously captured by Syria.

Death! Death! Death! If you have been reading daily, you have noticed that there are a lot of people dying. All of this death is because Israel (and Judah at times) are serving pagan gods. Just as Romans says, "For the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). When we sow seeds of sin, we will reap a harvest of death.

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Job 4:8 Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.

Galatians 6:7-8 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8  For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

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Can you imagine the depravity of an individual that would lead to them killing their whole family for power? Athaliah lusted for power so strongly that, just as soon as she heard she was a widow, she began killing all of her husband's children. Nothing, and no one, would stand in her way of being the ruler of Judah. Her moral compass was broken because she served a pagan god. This worship had been set up to include immorality as aspects of worship.

In their rational for why Christianity is just as bad as, or worse than, other religions, people like to point out the crusades and Salem Witch Trials. They point to practices of individuals rather than to the teachings of the Bible. There is nothing Biblical about either of these events, but they were carried out in the name of "Christianity". You must judge an institution by the ideas it promotes, not the actions of those who claim to be practitioners. This is especially true when their actions are in direct opposition to the institutions teachings.

For instance, over the past several years, we have had much talk about law enforcement being bad. The actions of a few have led some to believe that all law enforcement are evil. That is a ludicrous and dangerous idea. People must look at what the departments stand for, not what individual do. Individuals should be judged for their actions and not the entire institution judged for what one (or a few) do.

Jesus taught to love your parents and neighbors (Matthew 19:19) and to love your enemy (Matthew 5:43). These are commandments given to individuals. Jesus never taught that his followers were to militarize and engage in a "convert or die" campaign. Christians are to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ so that some will be saved (I Corinthians 9:22). The die part of our commission is that we may die because people do not want to hear the Gospel.

While Athaliah was influenced by her pagan beliefs, we are to be a positive influence because of the Word of God. We should strive to live a life that reflects what God's word teaches, and not cause people to turn away from God by our actions. People need to see Christ in us, the hope of Glory (Colossians 1:27). May our words and actions align, to reflect Christ divine.