January 22, 1914

The Fall of the House of Ahab

(Concluded.)

EGW

Ahaziah “died according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken.” As he had no son, he was succeeded by Jehoram, his brother, who reigned twelve years. Throughout these years his mother, Jezebel, was still living, and she continued to exercise a baleful influence over the affairs of the nation. Idolatrous customs were still practiced by many of the people. Jehoram himself “wrought evil in the sight of the Lord; but not like his father and like his mother: for he put away the image of Baal that his father had made. Nevertheless he cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom.”RH January 22, 1914, par. 1

It was during Jehoram's reign over Israel that Jehoshaphat died, and Jehoshaphat's son, also named Jehoram, ascended the throne of the kingdom of Judah. By his marriage with the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, Jehoram of Judah was closely related to the king of Israel; and in his reign he followed after Baal, “like as did the house of Ahab.” “Moreover he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, and compelled Judah thereto.”RH January 22, 1914, par. 2

The king of Judah was not permitted to continue his terrible apostasy unreproved. The prophet Elijah had not yet been translated, and he could not remain silent while the kingdom of Judah was pursuing the same course that had brought the northern kingdom to the verge of ruin. The prophet sent to Jehoram of Judah a written communication, in which the wicked king read the awful words:RH January 22, 1914, par. 3

“Thus saith the Lord God of David thy father, Because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah, but hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring, like to the whoredoms of the house of Ahab, and also hast slain thy brethren of thy father's house, which were better than thyself: behold, with a great plague will the Lord smite thy people, and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy goods; and thou shalt have great sickness.”RH January 22, 1914, par. 4

In fulfillment of this prophecy, “the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians, that were near the Ethiopians: and they came up into Judah, and brake into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king's house, and his sons also, and his wives; so that there was never a son left him, save Jehoahaz [Ahaziah, Azariah], the youngest of his sons.RH January 22, 1914, par. 5

“And after all this the Lord smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease. And it came to pass, that in process of time, after the end of two years, ... he died of sore diseases.” “And Ahaziah [Jehoahaz] his son reigned in his stead.”RH January 22, 1914, par. 6

Jehoram the son of Ahab was still reigning in the kingdom of Israel when his nephew, Ahaziah, came to the throne of Judah. Ahaziah ruled only one year, and during this time, influenced by his mother, Athaliah, “his counselor to do wickedly,” “he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did evil in the sight of the Lord.” Jezebel, his grandmother, was still living, and he allied himself boldly with Jehoram of Israel, his uncle.RH January 22, 1914, par. 7

Ahaziah of Judah soon met a tragic end. The surviving members of “the house of Ahab” were indeed “his counselors after the death of his father to his destruction.” While Ahaziah was visiting his uncle at Jezreel, the prophet Elisha was divinely directed to send one of the sons of the prophets to Ramoth Gilead to anoint Jehu king of Israel. The combined forces of Judah and Israel were at that time engaged in a military campaign against the Syrians at Ramoth Gilead. Jehoram had been wounded in battle, and had returned to Jezreel, leaving Jehu in charge of the royal armies.RH January 22, 1914, par. 8

In anointing Jehu, the messenger of Elisha declared, “I have anointed thee king over the people of the Lord, even over Israel.” And then he solemnly charged Jehu with a special commission from heaven. “Thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master,” the Lord declared through his messenger, “that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord, at the hand of Jezebel. For the whole house of Ahab shall perish.”RH January 22, 1914, par. 9

After he had been proclaimed king by the army, Jehu hastened to Jezreel, where he began his work of execution on those who had deliberately chosen to continue in sin and to lead others into sin. Jehoram of Israel, Ahaziah of Judah, and Jezebel the queen mother, with “all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his kinsfolks, and his priests,” were slain. “All the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests” dwelling at the center of Baal worship near Samaria, were put to the sword. The idolatrous images were broken down and burned, and the temple of Baal was laid in ruins. “Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.”RH January 22, 1914, par. 10

Tidings of this general execution reached Athaliah, Jezebel's daughter, who still occupied a commanding position in the kingdom of Judah. When she saw that her son, the king of Judah, was dead, “she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah.” In this massacre all the descendants of David who were eligible to the throne were destroyed, save one, a babe named Joash, whom the wife of Jehoiada the high priest hid within the precincts of the temple. For six years the child remained hidden, while “Athaliah reigned over the land.”RH January 22, 1914, par. 11

At the end of this time, “the Levites and all Judah” united with Jehoiada the high priest in crowning and anointing the child, Joash, and acclaiming him their king. “And they clapped their hands, and said, God save the king.”RH January 22, 1914, par. 12

“Now when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she came to the people into the house of the Lord.” “And when she looked, behold, the king stood by a pillar, as the manner was, and the princes and the trumpeters by the king, and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew with trumpets.”RH January 22, 1914, par. 13

“Athaliah rent her clothes, and cried, Treason, Treason.” But Jehoiada commanded the officers to lay hold of Athaliah and all her followers, and lead them out of the temple to a place of execution, where they were slain.RH January 22, 1914, par. 14

Thus perished the last member of the house of Ahab. The terrible evil that had been wrought through his alliance with Jezebel, continued till the last of his descendants. Even in the land of Judah, where the worship of the true God had never been set aside, Athaliah had succeeded in seducing many. Immediately after the execution of the impenitent queen, “all the people of the land went into the house of Baal, and brake it down; his altars and his images brake they in pieces thoroughly, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars.”RH January 22, 1914, par. 15

A reformation followed. Those who took part in acclaiming Joash king had solemnly covenanted “that they should be the Lord's people.” And now that the evil influence of the daughter of Jezebel had been removed from the kingdom of Judah, and the priests of Baal had been slain and their temple destroyed, “all the people of the land rejoiced: and the city was in quiet.”RH January 22, 1914, par. 16