THE KING WHO WOULD NOT DIE
THE
KING WHO WOULD NOT DIE
By
Robert Allen
CHAPTER
SEVEN
Joash looked at Jehoida and then
back to Jehoshabeath wondering what important message they needed to tell him.
“What is it, Father? He asked.
Jehoaida hesitated, still unsure of
himself. He and his wife had known that
this day would eventually come. Joash
had to know that he was not their child, that he was really the son of King
Ahaziah. It would be dangerous for him
to know, for if Athaliah ever found out she would not rest until he was
dead. Yet, it had to be.
“Joash, Zechariah, I’m going to tell
you a story and I want you to listen closely.”
That was not a problem for the boys,
they loved stories. Zechariah climbed
onto his mother’s lap and Joash leaned against her leg, ready to listen.
“Many years ago there was a good
king in Israel named Jehoshaphat. He
loved Jehovah God and wanted to serve Him.
I was just a boy myself back then but I still remember how the king
would come up to the temple once every week to offer sacrifices to God. All of the people loved King Jehoshaphat and
all of the people in the nation loved God.
Those were wonderful days.
However, in Samaria, where Jehu is now the king, there lived a very
wicked king named Ahab. He was not
pleased with any of the young girls in Samaria so he traveled up to the city of
Zidon and married the daughter of King Ethbaal of Zidon. Her name was Jezebel.”
“The same Queen Jezebel who Jehu
killed?” asked Zechariah.
“The very same. King Ethbaal of Zidon didn’t know about
Jehovah.”
“I guess Ahab should have told him,”
suggested Joash.
“I guess you are right,” said
Jehoiada. “But Ahab didn’t. He didn’t even tell his new queen about
Jehovah. Instead he allowed Queen Jezebel
to bring all of her idols to Samaria with her.
It took two horses to pull the wagon that carried them all. She set them up in the capital city and
together they taught all of the people of the northern kingdom to worship
Baal.”
“Didn’t anyone tell the king he
was wrong?” said Zechariah.
“Oh yes. God sent them a prophet named Elijah. He kept preaching to Ahab and the
people. One time he even had a contest
with four hundred and fifty of Jezebel’s prophets of Baal. And he won.
Queen Jezebel really hated him then and tried to kill him. Many times God protected him from the wicked
queen.”
Jehoiada paused and the boys wiggled
just enough to get comfortable again.
They were excited to know that one man with God could defeat four
hundred and fifty men of Baal.
Finally Jehoiada continued. “Ahab and Jezebel had a little girl who they
named Athaliah. She was a sweet little
girl but as she grew up she became more and more like her wicked mother. She became a worshipper of Baal and hated
Elijah just as much as her mother did.
Here in Jerusalem, Jehoshaphat had a son who he named Jehoram. Everyone knew that Jehoram would be king when
his father died. He grew strong,
excellent with the sword, and good-looking as well. One day a messenger arrived in Jerusalem from
King Ahab. Immediately he was ushered
into the throne room. He bowed low
before King Jehoshaphat and delivered his message.”
“Greetings, O King of Judah. I bring you greetings from King Ahab, king of
Israel, sovereign of all the land from the Mediterranean to Galilee, ruler of
Samaria, Megiddo and Jezreel, lord of the Hebron and heir to the kingdom of the
Zidonians.”
Jehoshabeath took up the story
then. “Obviously King Ahab thought
highly of himself. He thought he was the
greatest thing since goat cheese.
Jehoshaphat should have sent the messenger on his way right then, but he
let him continue.”
“The great and mighty King Ahab has
chosen to engage in a battle to the death with Ben-hadad, king of Syria. Thirty-two kings have already joined the coalition
against him, supporting the heathen ruler of the Syrians against the great and
mighty King Ahab. Twice already has the
great and mighty King Ahab defeated that coalition by his own power. Now he invites the king of Judah to join with
him in battle and share in the spoils of the pitiful Ben-Hadad and his
weak-kneed coalition.”
Jehoida shook his head sadly. “Ahab loved to brag. He never learned a lesson from anyone. The Syrians had faced two defeats, but it had
not been the power of Ahab which defeated them.
Jehovah had given them the victory to demonstrate His power. Ahab refused to learn about God and this time
when Jehoshaphat joined him in battle God did not help them. King Ahab met his death in the form or a
Syrian sword.”
The boys thought the story had come
to an end so the both jumped up ready to go play, but Jehoiada had only given
them the background of the story he really wanted them to know.
“Before the battle,” he said, while
the boys sat back down quickly. “Before
the battle, while Jehoshaphat visited in Samaria, King Ahab and Queen Jezebel
had an idea.”
Jehoshabeath pretended she was Queen
Jezebel and spoke in a nasty voice which sent shivers up the boy’s spines. “Since we are such good friends now, why
don’t you marry your son Jehoram to my daughter Athaliah. They will make such a lovely couple. And I just love weddings.”
Jehoiada took up the story
again. “Jehoshaphat thought about the
wedding without saying anything. He knew
Athaliah worshipped Baal which was not good. He also knew it would be a great honor for his
son to marry a princess which was good.
So he agreed. Jezebel planned a
huge wedding in the city of Samaria and Jehoram of Judah married Athaliah of
Israel. The wedding took place in the
temple of Baal. When Jehoshaphat died
Jehoram became king of Judah and Athaliah became queen. Soon there were idols to Baal in the palace
and work began on a temple of Baal right here in Jerusalem. The new queen wanted to place an altar to
Baal right here in the temple but the priests would not allow that. She announced her intention to kill all of
the priests of Jehovah including me.”
“But God protected you just like he
did Elijah,” said Joash.
“So far He has,” replied the
priest. “For that we are thankful. But even though God protected Elijah up in
Israel some of the other prophets died at the hands of Ahab and Jezebel. I’m sure Iddo will tell you those stories at
school. But here in Judah the priests
have been protected from Athaliah. Even
when her husband Jehoram died we were protected, but not everyone remained safe
from the wicked queen. Jehoshobeath, I
think you must tell the rest of the story.”
“All right.” She pulled the boys closer and began. “When Jehoram died his son Ahaziah became the
new king. He did everything his mother
Athaliah told him to do, except for just one time. When he was away from the city on a trip he
met a young girl named Zibiah and married her without his mother’s permission. That made Athaliah very angry.”
As soon as she said the name Zibiah,
Joash sat up straight and looked deep into his mother’s eyes. Something about that name seemed so familiar.
“Zibiah and Ahaziah had a little son
who they hoped would one day grow up to be the king. She and her son were very happy until one day
when they heard that King Ahaziah had died on a visit to Samaria. He had traveled there to help the king of
Samaria put down a rebellion from a man named Jehu.”
“Our Jehu?” breathed Zechariah.
“Yes, Jehu came to Samaria on the
very day King Ahaziah arrived. Not only
King Joram and Queen Jezebel died, but also Ahaziah and all of his cousins and
men of Judah with him. When the word of
his death reached Jerusalem Zibiah grew very sad because she loved him. But Queen Athaliah laughed. She had become so wicked that she rejoiced at
the death of her own son. She had always
wanted to rule all by herself and this was her big chance. In order to keep the throne for herself she
had to get rid of anyone who might have a claim to the throne. So she decided to kill every boy child born
to anyone in the palace. Though the boys
born to princes of Judah were young, she feared that the people would make one
of them king and give him an advisor until he was old enough to make decisions
on his own. One evening as Jehoiada and
I sat down to eat a knock came at the door.
One of the palace guards rushed in with a horrible story.”
Jehoiada spoke in the same hurried
tone they had heard from the guard.
“Quickly. Come quickly. She just ordered the palace guards to kill
all of the king’s heirs. Anyone who has
any claim to the throne. Hurry, please.”
“We dropped our food onto our plates
and rushed down the hill to the palace.
Jehoiada went right to the nursery but arrived too late to help. The guards had already done their evil deed
at the command of the queen.”
Jehoshabeath stopped to wipe away a
tear and then continued in a very soft voice.
“I went right to Zibiah’s room.
To my delight the guards had not yet come. With Zibiah’s permission I took her little boy
with me and brought him here to the temple.
For the past five years we have raised him as one of our own sons.”
Joash looked up at the tears in his
mother’s eyes. “Mother,” he
whispered. “Was the little boy’s name
Joash?”
She nodded, even more tears flowing
down her cheeks. “Yes, Joash. You are the son of King Ahaziah, and some day
if God be willing you will be the new king of Judah.”
Both boys were full of questions
then and the high priest and his wife answered as many as they could before it
was time for bed. But as they put the
boys down for the night they made them promise that they would never tell their
secret to a single soul, because they never knew who might tell Queen Athaliah.
And the boys promised solemnly.
No comments:
Post a Comment