Metaphysical meaning of Athaliah (mbd)
Athaliah, ath-a-li'-ah (Heb.)--Jehovah suspends; Jah constrains; distress of Jehovah; affliction of Jah; Jehovah is exalted.
a Daughter of Ahab and granddaughter of Omri, kings of Israel. She became the wife of Jehoram and mother of Ahaziah, kings of Judah (II Chron. 22:2-4). b Two Israelitish men (I Chron. 8: 26; Ezra 8: 7) .
Meta. The feminine or love nature in man wholly given to selfishness. This is the distress of Jehovah. Its dominant ambition is to rule, and it destroys everything that stands in the way of its attaining this ambition (II Kings 11:1-16). The selfishness of Athaliah was engendered through love for her son, and when he was slain it centered upon self. A selfish affection for children and a human ambition for them often bring about a separation of the soul from the higher law, and a consequent elimination of the unlawful condition from consciousness, as is symbolized in the overthrow of Athaliah and her removal from the throne by death. After selfish love has ruled in the consciousness for a time, the higher thoughts bring their forces to bear and put it out.
Although selfish ambition causes discord for a season, there are forces at work in man that restore the rightful king, represented by Joash (Jehovah supports). Then the distress of Jehovah (Athaliah, love dominated wholly by personal selfishness) is erased from consciousness; Athaliah was allowed to pass out by the way that the horses came in, and was then slain. This means that affectional selfishness is to be relegated to the rear--where the vital or animal forces originate--and then eliminated. It is a fact of experience among metaphysicians that when a selfish thought is broken up in consciousness and allowed to pass away there is unusual activity in the functions of elimination--the bowels and the kidneys. This demonstrates that thoughts are things and that they can be broken up and passed out of the system (house) through this back door, in their material symbols (refuse matter).
The meaning, Jehovah is exalted, refers particularly to the two men named Athaliah. However, the working of the law in a seemingly adverse way is seen in the life of the one whose descendants returned from the captivity in Babylon, in that the thought for which he stands, spiritual might, is taken captive and utilized, or wasted, by the outer mortal phase of mind in man (Babylon). This thought, however, being of spiritual origin, is the forerunner of an idea of divine helpfulness, which takes its rightful place in the consciousness (Athaliah's son Jeshaiah, meaning Jah is help, was delivered from Babylon and returned to Jerusalem). The love and power that are symbolized by Athaliah, queen of Judah, are divine too; but in this case they are used for selfish ends entirely, to their final destruction, or rather to the destruction of the selfish ruling thought that dominates them.
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Preceding Entry: Athaiah
Following Entry: Atharim
