I’m amazed by this crazy notion among some Reformed people that Christians are a nation. Just consider, as one example, that the Book of Revelation says there will be nations in Heaven. Presumably all the people in Heaven will be Christians, yet they will still be divided. The Babel spirit of our age is leading even many of the elect astray.

Thanks for the link, Shampoo. I’ll have to read it in more depth later, but the commentary quotations are very interesting.

Read the very good reasons why some scholars believe that Athaliah was Ahab’s sister, not his daughter:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athaliah#Athaliah:_daughter_of_Ahab.2C_or_his_sister.3F

If this is true, there is no racial reason to raise the issue, because there is no connection by blood to Jezebel at all.

Also, though Athaliah is clearly called the mother of Ahaziah in 2 Chron 22:10, this could mean “stepmother” in the Hebrew. We know that God used the Philistines and Arabs to carry off Jehoram’s sons and wives, leaving only Ahaziah.

Another part of the popular misconception could be that Athaliah killed her own grandchildren, which doesn’t even make sense. This part of the story has never set well with me. And sure enough, the text doesn’t exactly say that. It says that Athaliah “proceeded to destroy the whole ROYAL family of the house of Judah.” This could indicate separate bloodlines within the same house.

This is a must-read quote from the Jamieson, Fausset & Brown Commentary on 2 Chron 22:10-12:

“Athaliah…arose and destroyed all the seed royal… Maddened by the massacre of the royal family of Ahab, she resolved that the royal house of David should have the same fate. Knowing the commission which Jehu had received to extirpate the whole of Ahab’s posterity, she expected that he would extend his sword to her. Anticipating his movements, she resolved, as her only defense and security, to usurp the throne and destroy ‘the seed royal,’ both because they were hostile to the Phoenician worship of Baal, which she was determined to uphold, and because, if one of the young princes became king, his mother would supersede Athaliah in the dignity of queen mother.”

This indicates that Ahaziah had multiple wives, just as his father Jehoram; that Joash’s mother would have sentenced Athaliah to death; and, to seal the deal, that Joash was not of Ahab’s posterity at all!

Consider Jehu’s mission, given to him by God:

“For the whole house of Ahab shall perish.” ~ 2 Kings 9:8

“When Jehu came to Samaria, he killed all who were left there of Ahab’s family; he destroyed them, according to the word of the LORD spoken to Elijah. ~ 2 Kings 10:17

Perhaps this is the strongest argument of all that Athaliah was Ahab’s sister – because it makes no sense that the Philistines would come, that Jehu would be sent on a killing spree, and that Joash would be kept in hiding if the end result was to plant a descendant of Ahab and Jezebel on the throne.

This means that Joash could have descended from two Israelites, Ahaziah could have descended from two Israelites, and Jehoram could have descended from two Israelites. The argument from silence is also quite strong, because we read of no objections to subsequent successions to the throne because of relation to Jezebel or any other foreigners.

I appreciate the link to my blog, but I would make a small correction for the sake of clarity. In my original post, I referred to “sang-digging holler dwellers in Appalachia,” not “sand-digging.” “Sang” is the local term for ginseng. Digging ginseng and bloodroot for sale to herbalists is one way that many of our impoverished mountain kinfolk earn money.

http://emahiser.christogenea.org/site/1999-wtls-9-to-20/22-wtl-20-december-1999

BTW: doctrinaire xtianity was most definitely on “the back-burner” in the Third Reich…but….there was a veritable population explosion of white babies there-to…..go figure!

*currently taking bets on whether “admin” sees fit to publish comment or no!*