And when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal.
- II Kings 11:1
After a two-week hiatus, I’d like to return to our look at the account in II Kings of Queen Athaliah of Judah. This passage has a lot to say to Christians in America, perhaps especially at this politically charged time in our history.
As did Judah under Queen Athaliah, likewise we in the United States have a hostile usurper in power. And the question I’d like to ask and answer is what are Christians to do? How are we to respond? How do we conduct our lives under an unjust and illegitimate government?
There seems to be one school of thought among Christians holding to the idea that at no time are Christians to seek to resist an evil ruler or seek to remove an unjust government. After all, Paul wrote to Timothy urging that supplications be made for kings and all who are in authority. Romans 13 is another favorite of those who take this position. There, Paul writes, “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities.” The case seems clear-cut, does it not? Christians are to obey the government, whatever it says.
The case for Christians simply having to put up with tyrannical rulers could be strengthened by appeals to the Old Testament. For example, those holding to the idea that rebellion is always wrong could point to those who conspired to murder King Joash. In II Kings 12:20, 21 we read, “And his [King Joash’s] servants arose and formed a conspiracy [yes, there are many examples of conspiracies in the Bible], and killed Joash in the house of the Millo, which goes down to Silla. For Jozachar the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, struck him. So he died, and they buried him with his fathers in the City of David. Then Amaziah his son reigned in his place.” Was this a lawful act? No, it was not as can be seen in II Kings 14 where we read, “Now it happened, as soon as the kingdom was established in his [Amaziah’s, the son of Joash] hand, that he executed his servants who had murdered his father the king.” Clearly, this shows that there is no Christian basis for resisting the orders of a ruler, does it not?
Lux Lucet 
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