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wonderful grace in the gift of His Son. Second, by the tremendous trend of the times towards frivolity, worldliness, the movies and the dance, all of which tend to make them the servants of Satan rather than the children ^of God. Third, by exalting scholastic learn ing above the knowledge of the Word itself, and minimizing the need of that spiritual life which comes alone from the personal knowledge of Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord; the glorification e f man instead of the glorification of God. But none of these things can hinder the accomplishment of God’s purpose, as recorded in the Book. He will come forth and take the sceptre and rule in His kingdom on the earth. He will put all enemies under His feet and reign over the whole universe. He will con sign Satan, with all his power and all his children, to their habitation in dark ness, and will make an eternal covenant with His own people. He will" he the King of kings and Lord of lords throughout eternity. PRACTICAL POINTS (1) The passions and purposes of the human heart are unchanging. (2) One woman can work a deal of harm,-—Eve, Jezebel, Athaliah, Hero- dias. (■»U “ Jehosheba” means “ Jehovah makes oath.” She was used to make good the oath of God to David. (1 Ki. 8:25.) (4) Woman proposed and God dis posed. ( 5 ) , The spirit of Satan still works in the children of disobedience. (6) The Lord outwitted the wicked ness oi the queen. (7) God’s purpose can never be de feated. (8) The counsel of the Lord stand- eth forever. (9) The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord.
v.”l. When Athallah saw. No queen had ever reigned alone, either in Israel or in Judah. Judah must have sunk very low and the talents of Athallah must have been com- COMMENTS FROM manding or she MANY SOURCES could never have Keith L. Brooks established a pre cedent h i t h e r to undreamed of, by imposing on the people of David for six years the yoke of a woman and that woman a half Phoenician idolatress.— Exp. Bible. She arose. Many a king has gained his throne by murder but Athaliah murder-, ed her own grandchildren. It shows how ambition hardens the heart against all human feeling and transforms even a woman into a demon.— Torrey. God had decreed that males of David’s line should sit upon the throne. No provision was made for a woman to rule over His people. He created man for govern ment and woman for wifehood, mother hood and home. When God would in dicate the weakness of government among men, He compares their oppress ors to children and their rulers to women (Isa. 3:12). The modern effort to set woman in the place of man is a moral scandal and a sign of the times. It testifies to the approaching collapse in human government.— Haldeman. De stroyed thé seed royal. All this ruin was the result of the mistake of Jehosh- aphat,' Judah’s good king. He joined affinity with Ahab, and his son married Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab ' and Jezebel.— Sel. Ten times it is recorded in Scripture that death was caused at the hand o f a woman.— Comp. Bible. It was one of the many attempts Satan made to exterminate the male offspring, to make the coming One, the promised Saviour, the seed of the woman, impos sible. Notice the first little word in the second verse, “ But.” Satan’s attempt failed. The watchful eye of Jehovah and His power frustrated it all.—Anno. Bible. v. 2. Jehoshebab. A woman’s ruth lessness was outwitted by a woman’s cunning.— Farrar. Took Joash. The attempt to frustrate God’s revealed purpose was foolish and bound to be fruitless. Though the promise be bound up in one life, yet will it not fail. Three times the royal line was all extinct ex cept for one babe— tyloses (Heb. 11:23), Joash and Christ (Matt. 2; 12-16).— Sum. Bible. Hid in the bedchamber. God made a covenant concerning the descendants of David (8:19; Isa. 7:6,
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