Hail, Holy Queen chapter 4 critique

Critique of HAIL, HOLY QUEEN by Scott Hahn

Chapter 4 – Power Behind the Throne

The Queen Mother and the Davidic King

We’ve seen, in both John’s gospel and the book of Revelation, how the redemptive work of Jesus fulfills many types, or foreshadowings, in the book of Genesis. The primal creation foreshadowed the renewal and redemption of creation by Jesus Christ (Rev 21:5). The garden of Eden was a type of the garden of Gethsemane. The tree in Eden foreshadowed the wood of the cross. Adam was a type of Jesus Christ; Eve was a type of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Note: The power behind the throne of God is the glory of God.

But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. Revelation 21:22-23

In examining Revelation 12, however, we also glimpsed other patterns of typology. One pattern – considering Mary as the ark of the covenant – inevitable leads us back to Moses, who sojourned with Israel in the desert for forty years. Following Moses, Israel “conquered …. By the blood of the Lamb” (Rev 12:11) when they ransomed their firstborn at the first Passover. In the same way, the new Israel “conquered … by the blood of the Lamb,” Jesus Christ, who is the new Moses, the new lawgiver. Following this pattern, we can also see that Moses’ sister, whose name was Miriam (Mary), was, like Eve, a failed matriarch, giving in to idolatry and rebellion against God’s appointed authority. In the new covenant, however, a new Miriam would fulfill the type and model perfect obedience.

Note: Mary was a sinner who was violating the will of God.

While He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him. Then one said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You.” But He answered and said to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?”And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.” Matthew 12:46-50

Note: Joseph and Mary had children after the birth of Jesus Christ.

Still, perhaps a more striking pattern of typology is to be found in the kingdom of David. It was David’s kingdom that gave ancient Israel its vision of the kingdom of the Messiah. The second Hebrew king, David unified the twelve tribes and established Jerusalem as the nation’s capital and spiritual center. The people revered David for his righteousness, justice, and faithfulness to the Lord. David’s successors, however, never quite lived up to their forefather’s virtue. Whereas David unified the nation, later kings instilled resentment among the tribes. Resentment eventually led to revolt and the dissolution of the unified kingdom of Israel. Weakened Israel was then more vulnerable to its foreign enemies. In time the land was overrun by Babylonian invaders, its people taken into captivity, and David’s line completely wiped out – or almost completely. Zedekiah, the last Davidic king, was made to watch while the Chaldeans, his enemies, executed all his sons; they then gouged out Zedekiah’s eyes so that the last image etched in his memory would be the corpses of his sons – and the apparent end of the Davidic dynasty. (see 2 Kgs 25:7).

Note: During David’s rule there was civil war.

Now a messenger came to David, saying, “The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom.” So, David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, “Arise, and let us flee, or we shall not escape from Absalom. Make haste to depart, lest he overtake us suddenly and bring disaster upon us, and strike the city with the edge of the sword.” 2 Samuel 15:13-14

Yet through exile and all the ups and downs of their subsequent history, the people of Israel would look back to the kingdom of David as an ideal – and look forward to its future completion with the coming of the Messiah, God’s anointed priest-king. Even in Jesus’ day, the Pharisees did not hesitate to identify the Messiah as “the Son of David” (Mt 22:42). For the Lord had promised David that a king in his line would one day rule all the nations, and he would reign forever: “I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body …. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be My son” (2 Sam 7:12-14). We find the promise cited in the Psalms as well: “The Lord swore to David a sure oath from which He will not turn back: ‘One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne …. Their sons also forever shall sit upon your throne.’ For the Lord has chosen Zion for his habitation: ‘This is My dwelling place forever’” (Ps 132:11-13).

Note: Jesus Christ proclaimed that the Messiah is God.

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” They said to Him, “The Son of David.” He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool”’? If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?” And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore. Matthew 22:41-46

The prophets expressed Israel’s combination of nostalgia and longing, and they foretold the Messiah’s coming with amazing accuracy. Even before the time of Zedekiah, Isaiah foretold that David’s line – the family tree of David’s father, Jesse – would be reduced to a “stump,” but from that stump would come forth “a shoot,” “a branch”: the Messiah (Is 11:1). “Hear then, O house of David! … The Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Is 7:13-14).

Note: The biblical message is about redemption through the Son.

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Isaiah 9:6-7

I Dream of Genealogy

The very first words of the New Testament fulfill the promise of the prophets and the longing of Israel: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David” (Mt 1:1). From the beginning Matthew identifies Jesus as the son of David, the long-awaited Messiah. Yet he does this in an odd, almost unprecedented, way. Though a genealogy was traditionally a chronicle of male succession, Matthew anomalously incorporates the names of four women. These women, moreover, all fall far from Israel’s ideal of purity – moral or racial.

Note: The biblical genealogy demonstrates the grace of God.

Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 5:20-21

The first mentioned is Tamar (Mt 1:3), a Canaanite woman who had sexual relations with her father-in-law (Gen 38:15-18). The second is Rahab, a prostitute and a pagan Canaanite (Mt 1:5; Jos 2:1-24). The third is Ruth, another pagan, a Moabite (Mt 1:5). And the last, significantly, is Bathsheba, “the wife of Uriah” the Hittite (Mt 1:6); it is Bathsheba, of course, who committed adultery with King David.

Note: David confessed his sin directly to God.

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight — that You may be found just when You speak, and blameless when You judge. Psalm 51:1-4

Matthew seems to flout the rules by listing women in Jesus’ genealogy; but he is actually doing something clever: a preemptive apologetic strike. By placing women – pagan women, and pagan women of shady reputation – among Jesus’ ancestors, Matthew effectively undercuts the arguments of anyone who would question Jesus’ messianic credentials. For surely the evangelist knew that the claim of Jesus; virginal conception would evoke wry smiles from skeptics. (And it certainly did. Jesus is called a bastard in several places in the Talmud, and the title “Son of Mary” itself was probably a slur. The Jewish custom was to call a man “son of” his father. Only a fatherless man would be called “son of” his mother.) Yet Matthew almost dates his fellow Jewish readers to raise questions about Jesus’ ancestry. Because if Jews derided Jesus as “son of Mary,” then King Solomon, the prototypical son of David, would lose four times over. For Solomon shared those same female ancestors with Jesus – and the last of them, Bathsheba, was Solomon’s own mother.

Note: The biblical genealogy demonstrates the grace of God.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:28-29

Matthew is safeguarding Jesus’ messianic credentials at the same time he’s showing the diving handiwork in the virginal conception. Without the Davidic matrix – the kingdom, the promise, and the prophecies – no one can truly understand the coming of Christ. The evangelist continues this oblique line of argument by quoting Isaiah’s prediction about the virginal conception of Immanuel, “God with us” (Mt 1:23). A few lines later, when Matthew recounts Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, the city of David, he cites Micah 5:2: “And you, O Bethlehem … from you shall come a ruler who will govern my people Israel” (Mt 2:6). Finally, concluding his infancy narrative, Matthew depicts the Holy Family settling “in a city called Nazareth” (2:23). The root of the word “Nazareth” is netser, or “branch” – and “branch” was the name that Isaiah gave to the Messiah, who would spring up one day from the stump of Jesse’s tree (Is 11:1).

Note: The biblical message is about redemption through the Son.

“And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him, and His resting place shall be glorious.” Isaiah 11:10

Seeing Stars

Thus, from the beginning of the New Testament, we see that the Davidic kingdom, like the garden of Eden, was a singular anticipation of the coming of Jesus Christ. In this light, the small details of David’s monarchy – again like the small details of the Protoevangelium – take on enormous significance. The structure of David’s monarchy was neither incidental nor accidental; in God’s providential plan, it foreshadowed the kingdom of God.

Note: The biblical message is about redemption through the Son.

But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also, I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen! 2 Timothy 4:17-18

At the end of the New Testament, in the book of Revelation, the Davidic typology continues as chapters 11 and 12 invoke Psalm 2, the psalm of the Davidic king. The psalm begins, “Why do the nations rage, and the people plot in vain?” Revelation, in turn, shows how “the nations raged,” bringing upon themselves God’s “wrath” (Rev 11:18; see also Ps 2:5). In Psalm 2, God tells the Davidic king: “You are My son, today I have begotten you” (v. 7) – anticipating the words spoken to Jesus at His baptism: “This is My beloved son, with whom I am well pleased” (Mt 3:17). The son of David would rule “the nations” with a “rod of iron,” according to Psalm 2:8-9. In Revelation, this promise is fulfilled as “the woman” brings forth her “male child,” who will “rule all the nations with a rod of iron” (Rev 12:5).

Note: The biblical message is about redemption through the Son.

Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him. Psalm 2:12

Continuing our study of Revelation, then, in light of Davidic typology, how should we understand the “woman,” this royal figure “clothed with the sun” and crowned with the stars?

Note: Typology is not needed for correct Biblical interpretation.

I bring My righteousness near, it shall not be far off; My salvation shall not linger. And I will place salvation in Zion, for Israel My glory. Isaiah 46:13

First, it is clear that this woman must hold an exalted place in relation to Israel, whose twelve tribes are represented by the twelve stars that crown her head. Indeed, John’s vision evokes the dream of the patriarch Joseph in the book of Genesis, of “the sun, the moon, and eleven stars … bowing down” to him (37:9). In Joseph’s dream, the eleven stars stand for his brothers, his fellow tribal patriarchs.

Note: God has not forgotten or replaced Israel.

And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed: Revelation 7:4

Yet there’s still more to Revelation’s woman. For in the most glorious days of the old covenant, the twelve tribes would indeed be united, and would pay obeisance to a female royal figure; and this figure surely foreshadows the woman we meet in the Apocalypse.

Note: A characteristic of paganism is goddess worship.

A goddess is a female deity. Goddesses have been linked with virtues such as beauty, love, motherhood and fertility. Wikipedia Encyclopedia

The Queen Mother

Israel’s monarchy arose in very specific historic circumstances in a particular geographic region. In the ancient Near East, most nations were monarchies ruled by a king. In addition, most cultures practiced polygamy; so a given king often had several wives. This posed problems. First, whom should the people honor as queen? But more important, whose son should receive the right of succession to the throne?

Note: Queens of Israel were sinners and not highly regarded.

After Jehoram's death, Ahaziah became king of Judah, and Athaliah was queen mother. Ahaziah reigned for one year from the age of 22 (2 Kings 8:26) and was killed during a state visit to Israel along with Jehoram of Israel. Jehu assassinated them both in Yahweh's name and became king of Israel. Wikipedia Encyclopedia

In most Near Eastern cultures, these twin problems were resolved by a single custom. The woman ordinarily honored as queen was not the wife of the king, but the mother of the king. There was an element of justice to the practice, since it was often the persuasive (or seductive) power of the mother that won the throne for her son. The custom also served as a stabilizing factor in national cultures. As wife of the former king and mother to the present king, the queen mother embodied the continuity of dynastic succession.

Note: Queens of Israel were sinners and not highly regarded.

Upon hearing the news of Ahaziah's death, Athaliah seized the throne of Judah and ordered the execution of all possible claimants to the throne, including the remnant of her Omri dynasty. However, Jehosheba, Ahaziah's sister, managed to rescue from the purge one of Athaliah's grandsons with Jehoram of Judah, named Jehoash, who was only one year old. Jehoash was raised in secret by Jehosheba's husband, a priest named Jehoiada. Wikipedia Encyclopedia

The office of the queen mother was well established among the gentiles by the time the people of Israel began to clamor for a monarchy. For Israel had not always been a kingdom. In God’s plan, God was to be their king (1 Sam 8:7). But the people begged the prophet Samuel to give them a king: “We will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nation” (1 Sam 8:19-20). God, then, allowed the people to have their way. But for His glory: Israel’s monarchy would providentially foreshadow the kingship of God’s own Son. Israel’s kingdom would be a type of the kingdom of God.

Note: Queens of Israel were sinners and not highly regarded.

As queen, Athaliah used her power to establish the worship of Baal in Judah. Six years later, Athaliah was surprised when Jehoiada revealed that Jehoash lived and proclaimed him king of Judah. She rushed to stop the rebellion, but was captured and executed. Wikipedia Encyclopedia

Historically, this played out as the people looked around them for models of governance. Remember, they wanted a king in order to be “like all the nations.” Thus, following the models of the neighboring lands, they established a dynasty, a legal system, a royal court – and a queen mother. We find this in Israel at the beginning of the Davidic dynasty. David’s first successor, Solomon, reigns with his mother, or gebirah (“great lady”), appears, then, throughout the history of the monarchy, to the very end. When Jerusalem falls to Babylon, we find the invaders taking away the king, Jehoiachin, and also his mother, Nehushta, who is given precedence, in the account, over the king’s wives (2 Kgs 24:15; see also Jer 13:18)

Note: Queen mothers were notorious for introducing sin to Israel.

Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as did his father David. And he banished the perverted persons from the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. Also, he removed Maachah his grandmother from being queen mother, because she had made an obscene image of Asherah. And Asa cut down her obscene image and burned it by the Brook Kidron. 1 Kings 15:11-13

Between Bathsheba and Nehushta there were many queen mothers. Some worked for good, some didn’t; but none was a mere figurehead. Gebirah was more than a title; it was an office with real authority. Consider the following scene from early in Solomon’s reign: “So Bathsheba went to King Solomon, to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. And the king rose to meet her, and bowed down to her, then he sat on his throne, and had a seat brought for the king’s mother; and she sat on his right” (1 Kgs 2:19).

Note: Wise King Solomon admonished his sinful mother’s bad advice.

And King Solomon answered and said to his mother, “Now why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also—for he is my older brother—for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.” Then King Solomon swore by the Lord, saying, “May God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life! Now therefore, as the Lord lives, who has confirmed me and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has established a house for me, as He promised, Adonijah shall be put to death today!” So, King Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he struck him down, and he died. 1 Kings 2:22-25

Note: Bathsheba was a manipulative woman.

This short passage packs implicit volumes about Israel’s court protocol and power structure. First, we see that the queen mother was approaching her son in order to speak on behalf of another person. This confirms what we know about queen mothers in other Near Eastern cultures. We see in the epic of Gilgamesh, for example, that the queen mother in Mesopotamia was considered an intercessor, or advocate, for the people.

Note: Solomon gave too much power to his mother early in his reign.

Go forth, O daughters of Zion, and see King Solomon with the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, the day of the gladness of his heart. Song of Solomon 3:11

Note: Bathsheba was removed from power after her Adonijah request.

Next, we notice that Solomon rose from his throne when his mother entered the room. This makes the queen mother unique among the royal subjects. Anyone else would, following protocol, rise in Solomon’s presence; even the king’s wives were required to bow before him (1 Kgs 1:16). Yet Solomon rose to honor Bathsheba. Moreover, he showed further respect by bowing before her and by seating her in the place of greatest honor, at his right hand. Undoubtedly, this describes a court ritual of Solomon’s time; but all ritual expresses real relationships. What do Solomon’s actions tell us about his status in relation to his mother?

Note: Bathsheba enticed King David to sin via a public bath.

Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. 2 Samuel 11:2

Note: Bathsheba was a manipulative woman.

First, his power and authority are in no way threatened by her. He bows to her, but he remains the monarch. She sits at his right hand, not vice versa.

Note: King David bowed to Bathsheba’s sexual enticement.

So, David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house. 2 Samuel 11:3-4

Note: Bathsheba was a manipulative woman.

Yet clearly he will honor her requests – not out of any legally binding obligation of obedience, but rather out of filial love. By the time of this particular scene, Solomon clearly had a track record of granting his mother’s wishes. When Adonijah first approaches Bathsheba to beg her intercession, he says, “Pray ask King Solomon – he will not refuse you.” Though technically Solomon was Bathsheba’s superior, in the orders of both nature and protocol he remained her son.

Note: Bathsheba according to her plan entrapped King David.

And the woman conceived; so, she sent and told David, and said, “I am with child.” 2 Samuel 11:5

Note: Bathsheba was a manipulative woman.

He relied on her, too, to be his chief counselor, who could advise and instruct him in a way, perhaps, that few subjects would have the courage to follow. Chapter 31 of the book of Proverbs provides a striking illustration of how seriously a king took the queen mother’s counsel. Introduced as the “the words of Lemuel, king of Massa, which his mother taught him,” the chapter goes on to give substantial, practical instruction in governance. We’re not talking about folk wisdom here. As a political adviser and even strategist, as an advocate for the people, and as a subject who could be counted on for frankness, the queen mother was unique in her relationship to the king.

Note: Bathsheba caused King David to murder an innocent loyal man.

And Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open fields. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.” Then David said to Uriah, “Wait here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart.” So, Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. Now when David called him, he ate and drank before him; and he made him drunk. And at evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.In the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter, saying, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die.” 2 Samuel 11:11-15

Note: Bathsheba was a manipulative woman.

The Key of David

Without the Davidic matrix we cannot begin to understand the coming of Jesus Christ. For His Davidic ancestry was essential not only to His self-understanding but also to the expectations of His contemporaries, and to the theological reflection of His followers, such as Saint Paul and Saint John. The Messiah would be David’s son, yet also God’s son (see 2 Sam 7:12-14). The everlasting king would come from David’s house, from David’s “body.” When the “male child” came to rule the nations, He would rule as a Davidic king, with a rod of iron, as David himself had sung.

Note: Jesus Christ is far greater than king David.

“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.” Revelation 22:16

Note: Jesus Christ says there are more than one church.

Yet this typological relationship would not cease with the fact of kingship; it would include many of the small details of the monarchy. As David established a holy city in Jerusalem, so his ultimate successor would create a heavenly Jerusalem. As David’s first successor reigned beside his queen mother, so would David’s final and everlasting successor. The Davidic monarchy finds its perfect fulfillment in the reign of Jesus Christ – and there was never a Davidic king without a Davidic queen: the king’s own mother, the queen mother.

Note: Jerusalem will not be holy until the return of Jesus Christ.

So, the Lord sent a plague upon Israel from the morning till the appointed time. From Dan to Beersheba seventy thousand men of the people died. And when the angel stretched out His hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the destruction, and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “It is enough; now restrain your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Surely, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, be against me and against my father’s house.” 2 Samuel 24:15-17

Only with this Davidic key can we unlock the mysteries, for example, of the wedding feast at Cana. Mary approaches her son to intercede for the people – just as Bathsheba spoke to Solomon on behalf of Adonijah. Mary counsels her son about the matter at hand; yet she counsels others to obey Him and not her. Jesus, then, speaks to His mother as her superior; yet He defers to her suggestion – just as one might expect a Davidic king to grant the wish of his queen mother.

Note: Like Solomon, Jesus Christ admonished his sinful mother.

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” John 2:1-4

Note: Mary was never involved in the ministry of Jesus Christ.

This same key of David also unlocks the mysteries of the “woman” of the book of Revelation. She is crowned with twelve stars – representing the twelve tribes of Israel – because she will bear the Davidic king. She is threatened by the dragon because the serpent’s allies, the house of Herod, would set themselves against the reign of David’s house and David’s successor.