An Atheist Explores the Bible Part 79: The Ongoing Struggles of Yahweh vs. Baal (2 Chronicles 21-25)

2 Chronicles 21-25
The Ongoing Struggles of Yahweh vs. Baal.

Welcome to another instalment of An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts (Bible version).

In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through the King James Bible, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as literature and mythology.
For more detail, see the introductory post http://bit.ly/2F8f9JT
For the online KJV I use, see here http://bit.ly/2m0zVUP

And now:

2 Chronicles 21

“Now Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And Jehoram his son reigned in his stead.”

Jehoshaphat is succeeded by his son Jehoram, who doesn’t have a very auspicious reign. Jehoram marries the daughter of Ahab of Israel and then proceeds to kill his brothers and his brothers-in-law, presumably to strengthen his claim to the throne. In fairness, he does seem to have re-united Israel and Judah in the process, but not in a very sustainable fashion.

The Edomites revolt, and he is also faced with invasions from Philistines, Ethiopians and Arabians. Jehoram also reinstates Baal worship (not specified by name in this chapter) and “causes” the inhabitants of Jerusalam to commit fornication. Elijah the prophet sends him a letter saying that he will face a plague, but the line will not be entirely wiped out due to God’s commitment to David’s line. There doesn’t seem to be a plague, but the invaders carry off all of Jehoram’s wives and sons, apart from Jehoahaz, the youngest son. Jehoram gets a disease in his bowels and eventually they “fall out” and he dies, and to add insult is not buried in the sepulchre of the kings.

2 Chronicles 22

“And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his stead: for the band of men that came with the Arabians to the camp had slain all the eldest. So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah reigned.”

This chapter sorely needs editing. Last chapter, Jehoahaz is the youngest son of Jehoram. Now his name is Ahaziah. Not only that, but sometimes he gets called Azariah. This chapter is only twelve verses long and even so it gets very confused.

As last chapter was the life of Jehoram, this one is the life of Ahaziah. Ahaziah follows the wickedness of Ahab of Israel, because his mother Athaliah is Ahab’s daughter. Presumably this “wickedness” is the Baal religion; we are not told specifics. He goes to war with his cousin Jehoram of Israel (Ahab’s son) against Syria, but this ends badly, with Jehoram dead and Ahaziah wounded.

In Israel, Jehu takes over and his men also seek out, and kill, Ahaziah. When she learns of her son’s death, Athaliah “destroys the seed royal of the house of Judah” in a Medea-like fit of rage, and then takes the throne for herself. Except that one of Ahaziah’s sons, Joash, is hidden from her and grows up in a temple.

2 Chronicles 23

“Then they brought out the king's son, and put upon him the crown, and gave him the testimony, and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and said, God save the king.”

Jehoida the priest organises a coup to depose Athaliah and put Joash (who is un-named in this chapter) on the throne. Since Joash is only seven years old at this time, I can’t help but feel that Jehoida’s motives are perhaps not as pure as made out and that he wishes to act as regent, but he gathers the support of the Levites and loyal worshippers. They anoint Joash, and when Atahliah comes to see what the noise is about she is killed by the crowd.

Jehoida the instigates a pogrom against Baal worship, and re-instates Levites to their proper offices.

2 Chronicles 24

“And he gathered together the priests and the Levites, and said to them, Go out unto the cities of Judah, and gather of all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that ye hasten the matter. Howbeit the Levites hastened it not.”

This chapter covers the reign of Joash – Chronicles seems to be a lot more methodical than Kings, with each chapter covering the rule of a single king, after David and Solomon. More or less, at least, but it leaps around a lot less.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, having been raised in a temple, Joash is a religious man and undertakes to repair the great temple which, we are told, has been stripped by Athaliah to enrich her temples to Baal, although quite a few earlier kings have also used its riches as tribute to foreign kings.

Joash sets up a collecting box at the temple which is emptied daily, after a bit of hesitation by the Levites to do anything, but eventually the temple is restored to glory with rich vessels and other paraphernalia. It seems, however, that it is the influence of the priest Jehoida that holds Joash in check, for once Jehoida dies Joash reverts to Baal worship once again, and the Baalites reverse the process and use the temple riches once more for their own god. Zachariah, son of Jehoida, prophesies bad things for this and is stoned for his troubles. Then they Syrians invade and nick all the riches that have been built up. Joash is assassinated by his servants (who the chapter makes pains to point out are both born of foreign mothers) and is buried in dishonour. Honestly, these people have the attention span and moral compass of four year olds.

2 Chronicles 25

“And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, The LORD is able to give thee much more than this.”

The reign of Amaziah, son of Joash. And to add to the general confusion of this period, there is a king in Israel called Joash who features in this chapter.

Amaziah kills the conspirators that killed his father, but not their sons, according to Mosaic law. He builds up his armies and even hires troops from Israel, until a nameless prophet tells him that this will anger God (the Israelite half of the kingdoms being very poor at proper Yahweh worship). Surprisingly, Amaziah listens, but the Israelite mercenaries are angry and do a bit of looting on the way back. Meanwhile, however, Amaziah goes to war against the Edomites and kills ten thousand in war, then brings back another ten thousand and throws them off a cliff. Because that’s the way he rolls.

He also brings back the idols of the Edomites and starts worshipping them, despite the prophets pointing out that these gods didn’t help the Edomites very much. That’s a strange mindset, and I wonder what Amaziah was thinking really. Possibly he was appeasing the Edomite gods as an apology for killing their worshippers, alternatively he considered the gods to be “captured” as prisoners. Possibly the idols were made of precious metal and it was simple plunder. But if we assume that the people of the time considered the gods to be a real presence that could help or hinder in daily life, Amaziah must have thought that the Edomite gods needed worship in some form or another. Looking at this constant backsliding from pure Yahweh worship that keeps happening again and again, it seems that the idea of One God is a really difficult one for the people to grasp. It feels like they pay lip service to the idea, but then also keep worshipping local gods and idols as well, just in case.

Amaziah tries to fight against Joash of Israel, who sends him the baffling reply of “The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife: and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle.” Thank you, Kanye. The two kings go to war, and Amaziah loses, badly. Joash of Israel breaks down the walls of Jerusalem and plunders what little must be left. Nonetheless, Amaziah outlives him in the end until he, like his father, is murdered by conspirators.