She debased her husband, corrupted her son, murdered her grandchildren. Death was too good for her.
Athaliah couldn’t help but hear the hubbub outside her palace window. It wasn’t regular activity, especially for a Sabbath. It sounded like the people were praising a king! Then she saw it: “there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance; and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king. All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets, also the singers with musical instruments, and those who led in praise” (2 Chron 23:13). Tearing her clothes in a frenzy, she cried, “Treason! Treason!” Treason is the crime of betraying one’s country. The land whose eternal capital was Jerusalem was unique in that its founding document, its constitution, had been authored by God Himself! Anyone who claimed to be its ruler was required to do the following: “It shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book…And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law” (Deut 17:18-19). Who, then, was guilty of high treason against the government of God? Athaliah! Jehoiada the priest gave command to the army captains, “Take her outside under guard, and slay with the sword whoever follows her” (2 Chron 23:14). And so it happened, bringing her violent and blasphemous reign to a decisive end. Before long, the crowds had demolished the temple of Baal, “broke in pieces its altars and images, and killed Mattan the priest of Baal” (v 17). The Lord’s priests and the temple were cleansed and restored. And what of Athaliah? Her death caused what her life never could: “All the people of the land rejoiced; and the city was quiet, for they had slain Athaliah with the sword” (v 21).