Holy revolution
When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king, she went to them at the temple of the LORD. She looked, and there was the king, standing by his pillar at the entrance. The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets, and singers with musical instruments were leading the praises. Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted, "Treason! Treason!"
Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of units of a hundred, who were in charge of the troops, and said to them: "Bring her out between the ranks and put to the sword anyone who follows her." For the priest had said, "Do not put her to death at the temple of the LORD." So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds, and there they put her to death.
Jehoiada then made a covenant that he and the people and the king would be the LORD's people. All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars.
First, a little back story so your fingers don't get tired from reading all of the chapter before this: Once upon a time, there was an evil power-hungry woman named Athaliah, whose failure of a son was once king, until his advisors got sick of him and killed him. She became murderously angry, and began killing all of the other people who could have inherited the throne, while ruling the country in her dead son's place. The head priest's wife managed to save one of the little princes, and hid him away until he got old enough to be king. At that point, the priest, Jehoiada, in a turn of events that's all too familiar to people who live in third world countries, met with the generals in the military and took power in order to reinstall the rightful king. That's where these verses begin.
Evil Athaliah was furious. Not only did her plan fail, but she was no longer in charge of Judah. And people were glad! In moments, she would be dead, hacked to pieces by a death squad sent by the priest to make sure she wouldn't be trouble for the new regime. Once she was gone, the new king made a public statement of faith, and a mob went down to the temple of Baal and tore it down, smashed it to bits, and executed its head priest where he stood.
This is not the sort of stuff that happens nowadays, outside of the third world. We're far too comfortable to even protest outrageous stuff, let alone rise up like our ancestors did. The enlightened modern response to rampant immorality, widespread government corruption, and the suppression of our faith would be to celebrate its diversity, proclaim that there are multiple paths to the truth, and keep our heads down, as long as there's stuff on TV to keep us occupied and our rent keeps getting paid. In the social/political sense, we could always vote out the corrupt and immoral, so bloodshed isn't necessary, but that same lotus-eater complacency is there, even in our personal lives.
That personal complacency is what this week's lesson is on. In ancient Judah, they suddenly changed their whole society and system of government in a matter of hours, but our simple self-destructive habits take us years to even admit to, let alone change. How is that possible? Shouldn't it be the other way around? In ancient Judah, people faced down monsters who held them in bondage for years, who could have killed them, and yet they prevailed. We face only our own inconvenience and discomfort, and even then we fail to act. If you ever wanted an illustration of the power of complacency to hold men and women in bondage, that's it. If you can't even spend five minutes in prayer, or you can't even sit down to read or listen to the Bible on a regular basis, but you can spend hours in front of the tv each night, you know it too well already.
We weren't put on this earth to sleep. There's plenty of time for that between death and resurrection. We're here to grow and improve and do God's work, while enjoying and taking part in His creation. We can't do that when we're sleepwalking. One priest in ancient Judah changed their whole society for the better in a matter of hours. We're all priests. Let's see what change we can make in our own lives.
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