“All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priests of Baal in front of the altars.”
– 2 Chronicles 23:17
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you think that there is ever a right time to have a coup d’état? A coup d’état is when a country’s President is removed or killed by the country’s army so that someone else can be the country’s President. About two years after your grandmaa and grandpaa arrived in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, to join the church planting team that was embedded in South America Mission’s field missionary team that was in Bolivia, there was a coup d’état. General García Meza led the coup d’état. General García Meza was a very unpopular, right-wing dictator during the one year that he was Bolivia’s 68th President. Bolivia had been a democratic republic for 155 years before General García Meza became Bolivia’s President. The day that General García Meza instigated a military coup d’état in Bolivia – which was on July 17, 1980, your grandmaa and grandpaa were administrating a South America Mission eight week summer team. Because your grandpaa knew that there was a fairly good chance of a coup d’état about to take place, your grandpaa instructed the college age guys and gals who were in Bolivia on South America Mission’s 1980 summer team that if they became aware of a coup d’état taking place, that they were to go directly to the house where your grandmaa and grandpaa were living. A coup d’état will invariably cause a lot of angst. Because Bolivian run radio stations would begin to immediately play marching music at the start of a coup d’état, there was never a way of knowing what was taking place in the country except through short-wave radio stations such as Armed Forces Radio, BBC, HCJB, etc. When your grandpaa got the call that a coup d’état was taking place, about half of the summer team were hanging out at the house that your grandmaa and grandpaa were renting in Santa Cruz. The rest of the college age guys and gals on South America Missions 1980 summer team had gone to another South America Mission’s missionary’s house. Because your grandpaa wanted the entire summer team to hunker down together in his house, your grandpaa contacted the South America Mission missionary where the rest of the summer team had gone to for one reason or another to have that missionary do whatever he could to get the summer team participants who were at his house back to your grandpaa’s house. Your grandpaa was not happy at all when your grandpaa found out from the guys and gals who had gone to that South America Mission’s missionary’s house that the missionary had made light of what was taking place. Because guys, gals and kids are at times killed in a coup d’état, your grandpaa was feeling a lot of stress knowing that he had the responsibility for the summer team’s safety.
A coup d’état took place 2,845 years ago. The coup d’état was instigated by Jehoiada. Jehoiada was a Levi tribal clan priest. A crazed gal about seven years earlier had thought that she had snuffed out the lives of all the kids who had been born in David’s royal family line – which would have made any of David’s extended family kids at the time being eligible to be the next king to rule over the guys and gals who lived in the land of Judah. Athaliah was the demented gal who saw to the murdering of every kid known to be still alive who was born in David’s extended household. Joash – one of David’s grandkids, was saved by Jehoiada from Athaliah’s maniacal killing spree when he hid one year old Joash in the temple that was in the city of Jerusalem. Jehoiada spent seven years prepping Joash to be king over the guys and gals who lived in the land of Judah. Jehoiada – before presenting Joash to the Israelite people group guys and gals who lived in the land of Judah and in the city of Jerusalem to be their next king, secretly made covenants with the over 100 unit commanders who were assigned to be in the city of Jerusalem so that they would support what he was going to do with Joash. Jehoiada had five of these commanders – Azariah, Ishmael, Azariah, Maaseiah and Elishaphat, go throughout the land of Judah to tell the leaders of the Levi tribal clan and the other Israelite people group tribal clans leaders to immediately go to the city of Jerusalem where Jehoiada would officially present Joash as being the son of David and Judah’s next king. Jehoiada – knowing that Athaliah would become scary mad when . . ., Jehoiada had the unit commanders, their soldiers and the Levi tribal clan guys keep a 24/7 heavily armed wall around Joash. When Jehoiada crowned Joash as king over the guys and gals who lived in the land of Judah, everyone cheered. When Athaliah heard the cheering and saw guys, gals and kids running towards the temple that was in the city of Jerusalem, she headed for the temple to find out what had happened. When she got to the temple, Athaliah found that she had been replaced by an eight year old kid as Judah’s king. Athaliah reacted by tearing her robes and screaming treason. The guys, gals and kids who had amassed in front of the temple in the city of Jerusalem reacted by shouting for joy as Joash was introduced by Jehoiada as being their new king. Trumpets were blown, singers sang songs and musical instruments were played – all to give praise to God.
Jehoiada’s coup d’état resulted in Athaliah being roughly hauled out to the Horse Gate – where she was killed. Verse 17 has guys and gals doing what Jehoiada asks, “All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priests of Baal in front of the altars.” If a coup d’état takes place to stop a maliciously wicked guy or gal – like an Athaliah, from doing evil, your grandpaa is okay with that.
2 Chronicles 23 (1048)