CHAPTER XVII. ATHALIAH Athaliah destroys the seed royal, and seizes the throne-Pushes the Baalworship to the front, and builds a temple to Baal in Jerusalem— Joash, preserved by Jehosheba, and brought up secretly by Jehoiada -Made king in his seventh year-Death of Athaliah. WHEN the news of Ahaziah's murder by Jehu reached Jerusalem, the city was thrown into consternation. A combination of circumstances had reduced the once flourishing house of David to a small and scanty remnant. First, the suspicions or avarice of Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, had thinned its abundant branches (2 Chron. xxi. 2-4), then the Arabs and Philistines in combination had cut off a number of the most promising boughs (ibid. xxi. 16, 17; xxii. 1); finally, Jehu's murderous acts had still further curtailed the dwindled stock (2 Kings ix. 27; x. 14), till now a few children, sons of Ahaziah, seem to have been all that was left of it. A regency would, in any case, have been inevitable; for, as Ahaziah was but twenty-two or twenty-three at his death (2 Kings viii. 26), he could not have left behind him any child of greater age than six or seven, and princes in Judah did not attain their majority until eighteen or twenty. The position would have been critical, had nothing further occurred to complicate it; its difficulties were, however, greatly aggravated by the audacious action suddenly and without warning taken by the Queen-Mother. Athaliah, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, wife of Jehoram of Judah, and mother of Ahaziah, had no sooner heard of her son's death at the hand of Jehu, than "she arose and destroyed all the seed royal" See the "Speaker's Commentary," vol. iii. p. 372 (note on 2 Chron. χχχίν. 3). (2 Kings xi. 1; 2 Chron. xxii. 10), seized the crown, and established her sway over the land (2 Kings xi. 3). The reign of a woman was contrary to all precedent; the reign of a foreigner, not of the seed of David, half-Israelite, half-Phoenician, was abhorrent to all Jewish notions; the nation must have been shocked and grieved, but it was also terrified. Athaliah's daring cowed the boldest spirits. No one ventured to say her nay. For six years she held complete dominion over the land and ruled it at her pleasure. It is needless to say that her main efforts were directed, during this space of time, to the establishment and propagation of the debasing worship introduced by her mother into the sister kingdom of Israel and by herself first brought into Judæa. During the reign of her husband, Jehoram, and, still more, during that of her son Ahaziah, she had exercised considerable influence in the Judæan state, and had used it to advance, as much as she could, the Baal and Astarte worship, and to depress, as much as she could, the worship of Jehovah. But now her powers for evil were much increased. Though she did not venture to put down the ancient religion altogether, nor even to shut up the ancient Temple or hinder its rites, and though she abstained from all persecution of the Jehovah-worshippers, whether people or priests, yet, apart from the use of such methods, she did all that was possible to push her own religion to the front, and make it the religion of the nation. In Jerusalem itself, perhaps within the Temple precincts,' a rival fane rose up, dedicated to the Phoenician god, adorned with altars and images (2 Kings xi. 18), and continually enriched with spoils from the neighbouring edifice-nay, in part built of stones, transferred by the Queen's orders from the old sanctuary to the new (2 Chron. xxiv. 7). The temple of Solomon was left to decay and ruin ; that of Baal constantly increased in size and magnificence. Its services were conducted by a high-priest of Baal,2 the counterpart of the Aaronic high-priest, who still maintained, albeit with shorn splendour, the rites of the Levitical worship in the old edifice. The Aaronic high-priest of the time was a certain Jehoiada, who held a more exalted position than belonged to most highpriests under the monarchy, in consequence of his close conSo Stanley, "Jewish Church," vol. ii. p. 339. • See 2 Kings xi. 18; 2 Chron. xxiii. 17. nection with the royal house. He was married to Jehosheba, a sister-probably a half-sister only of Ahaziah, who in virtue of her near relationship had free access to the royal palace, and was there when Athaliah made her attempt to destroy the entire seed royal. Powerless to thwart openly the will of the Queen-Mother, Jehosheba nevertheless contrived to prevent its full accomplishment by snatching from the massacre and secreting one of the children of the late king, an infant boy who had received the name of Joash (2 Kings xi. 2). At first she hid hin, with his nurse, in the storeroom of mattresses in the royal palace, whence, later on, she transferred him to a securer hiding-place in one of the chambers attached to the Temple. Her husband was, of course, privy to her actions; and it was with his approval that the child remained concealed in the sacred edifice for six entire years, without the Queen having the slightest suspicion of his existence. Athaliah reigned in fancied security during this space, while all the time she was sitting on a mine, which might at any moment explode. Jehoiada could whenever he pleased have initiated a revolution by revealing the fact that a scion of the house of David existed; but he thought it best and safest to bide his time, to wait till he could produce before the people, not a mere infant, but an interesting and intelligent boy, while he might also, during the interval, gradually prepare the most important sections of the people for the coming discovery. He seems to have acted with great prudence. "Every step was taken in accordance with the usages which had been gradually gaining head during the previous reigns, and all the means which his office placed at his disposal were freely employed."2 The soldiery were sounded, and found well disposed towards a revolution and a restoration of the Davidic monarchy. The Levites could, of course, be counted upon. It was not till the seventh year (2 Kings xi. 4), that the high-priest regarded the fitting time as come, and exploded the mine which he had been so long preparing. On a certain Sabbath-day, Jehoiada, having first made an arrangement with the captains of the royal body-guard, whom he secretly introduced into the Temple, showed the young prince, and bound by oath to espouse his cause, brought to the Temple a strong body of Levites (2 Chron. xxiii. 1–8), and at So Josephus ("Ant. Jud." ix. 7, § 2). 66 the same time concentrated on the spot four out of the five divisions of the body-guard, one only being left to guard the palace (2 Kings xi. 5). Of the four divisions, two were to take position at the northern and southern gates of the Temple-the "gate of Sur," as it was called, or "of the foundation" (2 Chron. xxiii. 5), and the "gate of the guard," or "of the runners while the other two were to enter the Temple court, and to place themselves on the right and left hand of the young king, in order to protect his person, and prevent any one from approaching near to him. A stand or platform was prepared, on which the king was to take his place, so that he might be visible to all; and the soldiers, to whom Jehoiada distributed arms that had belonged to David out of the Temple armoury, were ordered to kill any one who attempted to penetrate their ranks. Everything being prepared, the high-priest, amid general expectation, brought forth the king's son" (2 Kings xi. 12), placed him on his pedestal, and then solemnly put upon his head "the crown and the Testimony." The crown, or diadem, was probably a gold band studded with jewels; the Testimony must have been a "Book of the Law"--probably that which was kept ordinarily in the Ark of the Covenant (Deut. xxxi. 26). Finally, the holy oil was brought out, and the young prince anointed with it by Jehoiada and his sons, who at the same time raised the cry— 'Long live the king"-which was taken up by the bystanders, guards, Levites, and people, and swelled into a shout that rent the air and was heard afar. Meantime the trumpets blared, the cymbals clashed, the singers raised hymns of praise ; the entire multitude that filled the Temple courts joined in the celebration, and with loud acclaim hailed the Davidic king. Suddenly, in the midst of the deafening roar, Athaliah entered. She had heard the first loud shout, and, suspecting its nature, had hurried across from the palace to the Temple, unattended, as it would seem, "with the same high spirit that had marked the last days of her mother." 3 At a glance she saw that all was lost, and rending her robes, she cried out, "Conspiracy! conspiracy!" and turned away. Jehoiada bade the soldiers let her retire, but follow her up, and, as soon as she was outside the Temple, put her to death. His orders were executed, and Athaliah, escorted I So called because they commonly ran, to keep up with the king as he drove in his chariot. 2 See 2 Chron. xxiii. 13. 3 Stanley, "Jewish Church," vol. ii. P. 341. by the body-guard through the long array of armed Levites and exulting multitudes untouched and unharmed, passed out by the "horse gate " into the Tyropoon valley,' and there met her death. Thus perished Athaliah, the last survivor of the house of Omri, so far as we know—a bold, bad woman, but one whose unblenching courage compels our respect. the Kedron valley" ("Ant. Jud." ix. 7, § 4), but this |