My Circumstances Made Me Do It
A quick study of the line of Kings (and a Queen) who ruled Israel and Judah shows that each ruler had a sentence that summed up their lives: Either they did right in the eyes of the Lord or they had done evil in the eyes of the Lord. King Ahaziah ruled in Judah for a single year and the summary of his life was that he did evil. Ahaziah’s circumstances strongly prepared him for failure. His father had been king before him and did evil. His mother was Athalia, the daughter of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel in Israel. (In case their names don’t ring a bell: they were evil and murdered hundreds of God’s servants and prophets. They were the epitome of evil rulers.) 2 Chronicles 22:3 says, “ He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counselor in doing wickedly .” (Emphasis added.) Verse 4 continues, “ He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as the house of Ahab had done. For after the death of his father they were