2 Kings 11:1  When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family. (NIV)

2 Kings 11:14  She looked and there was the king, standing by the pillar, as the custom was. The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets. Then Athaliah tore her robes and called out, “Treason! Treason!” (NIV)

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Pot, meet Kettle. 

It takes one to know one. 

It’s “Choose Your Idiom Day.” How do we talk about Athaliah? She was bad to the bone. She’s definitely one of the Bad Girls of the Bible. And in this case, Bad Girl is not a euphemism for a good thing. She was way more Jezebel than Jael. (See Judges 4.)

When King Jehu killed Athaliah’s son, King Ahaziah, she seized the opening to kill everyone eligible to be king so that she could rule. As verse 1 above notes, “She proceeded to destroy the whole royal family.” I’m guessing she had the cuddly nature of a porcupine and the winsome fragrance of a skunk. She was both a bark and bite kind of dog. 

When the leaders of the land decided to make the one person king who was truly eligible to rule even though he was only a boy, she cried “Treason!” This is the easiest Pot Calling Kettle Black situation in history. She recognized treason because she fairly well invented, or at least enhanced, the whole idea of treason. 

She knew a few things about treason because she had committed a few things called treason. 

Life is so much simpler and better when we do the hard right thing rather than the pure evil thing. 

Evil is never pure. Murderous treason is never good. Name calling isn’t kind. 

I wonder what that says about our current state of political affairs. It is, at the very least, a good point to ponder. 

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I will avoid bad girls and bad boys like Athaliah and her awful son Ahaziah. 

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Our Father, please deliver us from treacherous and treasonous leaders. Deliver us from leaders with evil intent. Bless us with the leaders we need and not the leaders we deserve. Amen.