Moral Decay Can Happen So Fast

It's remarkable how quickly a relatively good and God-fearing society can fall into moral decay. After many decades of growing closer to God and following closely after His laws and, for the most part, enjoying His favor we see in this chapter how low Judah sinks within just one generation (really in about 9 years). Remember Asa reigned for 41 years and Jehoshaphat reigned for 25 years after him. So Judah had 66 years of godly rule with very strict attention to detail in terms of administration and following God's law. So Jehoram who God curses with an incurable disease starts Judah into it's decline with only 8 years of rule and his son, Ahaziah (equally wicked), only rules for 1 year afterwhich he is killed.

The next thing you know, his evil mother takes over and kills all of the royal seed she can find. We can only imagine how dispicable this woman was. Remember, she was the primary influence into the evil development of her son Ahaziah.

"...for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly" -- 2 Chronicles 22:3

You have to really stop and think about the day to day live in Judah during this period to grasp the swiftness of this decline. So many people who were born during the 66 years of good rule and only knew of life with a goodly king and strict adherence to God's law in the land. Now, in just 9 short years we come to the point in this chapter where this woman, Athaliah, slaughters all the royal sons and actually rules Judah for 6 years. She was the daughter of Omri (who was an evil king of Israel and father of the notorious Ahab). The spiritual state in Judah hit an all time low.

I've always been intrigued by the story of how Joash was hidden away in the temple for 6 years to escape death by the hand of Athaliah. This is a fascinating glimpse into the society of Judah during this time. But what speaks to me the most as I read this passage again is the speed with which this society fell into moral decay. It was so fast! It's a good lesson for us to always remember that spiritual death and destruction can occur in a flash. We have to be so diligent to guard against it.