Welcome to the club and the book of Second Kings.

Last time in Second Kings chapters 9 and 10, Israel got some good news.

Jezebel, the wicked queen of the north, was killed.

Jahu, the new king of Israel, got the deed done,

and Jayhu proceeded to kill all of Ahab's descendants. He accomplished this through a mass murder of all

70 princes, successfully ending the Omri dynasty, one of the most powerful dynasties in Israel's history.

God used Jehu as an instrument of his judgment on Israel. However, Jehu was not a good king.

His methods and motive for what he did were not gods. His heart was not for the Lord, like

David's. But this is not the first time that we have discussed a

passage where God used evil people to bring about his plans. We discussed that the challenge for us

is to do God's will, but do it God's way. Absolutely. Okay, here's the setup for this episode.

Jezebel, the wicked queen of the north, may be dead, but her daughter,

Athelia, the wicked queen of the south, is not dead. So remember, Jezebel was in the

north and Israel, and Athelia was in the south, but they are related. Now, a couple times in past

episodes I pointed out that good king Jehoshaphat's big mistake

was aligning Judah in the South with Israel and Ahab in the North. He went to battle with him as an ally,

and he married his son, Ahab and Jezebel's daughter, Athelia. So that's how Athelia was transported to the

South. The consequences of that union produced a son, King Ahaziah. Well, Jehu killed Ahaziah, King of Judah in our last

episode. But Athalia, Ahaziah's mother, the wicked queen of the South,

and daughter of Jezebel, like I said, is still alive. And she is not going down without a wicked

fight. Athalia will channel her inner Jezebel and do what Jezebel would do. She is going to kill everyone who might

get in her way. Her goal is to control, and that means a mass murder to match Jehu's.

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