PROF.
BEN ONYEUKWU (REV.)
NCE(Eng.) ND/HD (Journalism); BA (Hons)
MA, PhD.
PORTRAIT OF A WICKED MONARCH
(Part 3)
THE INFLUENCE OF A
GODLESS QUEEN
WRITER’S QUOTE:
“Opportunity to lead is opportunity to uplift and not
opportunity to victimize”.
MAIN TEXT:
….“there was
no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord,
because Jezebel his wife stirred him up”, (1 kings 21:25).
INTRODUCTION:
According to the Bible, Jezebel was
indeed, an evil influence on Ahab, her husband. But, this woman of notoriety is
like not alone in her dogmatic approach to issues that bordered on the throne
of her husband, as the Ugoeze, the wife of the Monarch of Owerre Nchi ise, the
Ozuruigbo v of Owerri, Eze Emmanuel Emeonyonu Njemanze may have been mistaken
for her type in a special report cited in the part two of this series, as
published in the Nigeria Newspoint Newspaper of December 2- 4, 2011, by Mrs.
Stella Njemanze Neboh. Now, read part of
her coments, “the night before my brother’s funeral, Charles against my advice
decided to visit onye eze, for the last time, pleading and hoping he would
change his mind. Charles was greeted at the door by Ugoeze, who is in charge
and the REAL traditional ruler of Owerre. She tells onye eze when to sit or
stand. She is the commander-in-chief, and I guess tells all Owerre people what
to do and when to see onye eze”…Though, Mrs. Neboh’s statement readily paints
the Ugoeze as a negative influence, but the writer does not seek to portray her
in that light, as the only intention is to use what has been said to convey a
message to the human society. On this note, therefore, please learn that.
MONARCHS SHOULD BE
INCHARGE OF THEIR THRONES AND NOT PUPPETS TO THEIR WIVES
The wife of a monarch should not
assume she is a monarch by virtue of marriage or form the habit of influencing
or arrogating to herself any official duty of the monarch, as this was the
problem of Jezebel, which most traditional rulers’ wives in this era are guilty
of. The wife of a monarch should equally not constitute a stumbling block to
anyone who seeks the attention of the king, but should be a caring mother of
the people of the kingdom. By implication, a monarch should be in charge of his
throne, and not a puppet to his wife, as was the case of King Ahab, for women
are weaker vessels that can easily be taken over by satan for evil works,
especially when they are in the corridors of power, and no doubt, certain
monarchs are like Ahab whose wife, Jezebel stirred into oppressive rule.
But, a ruler of the people should
learn to resist the temptation of taking over what lawfully belong(s) to his
subjects by the prompting of his wife, as well as deal with the covetousness
that may consent to such suggestions. And this, Ahab could not resist, as his
wife, Jezebel lured him into forcefully taking away a piece of land that was
Neboth’s as well as killed him, to become guilty of double crimes before God
and man. Today, how many kings in the world can really claim they have not been
negatively influenced by their wives in the course of their duties? And, how
many wives of such kings can stand before God and say they have not been
instruments of evil in the domains of their husbands? If the truth must be
told, the wives of most monarchs, like Jezebel, are evil influences on their
husbands, as certain unbecoming actions of the people’s traditional rulers are
prompted by them, (1 kings 21).
MONARCHS SHOULD CHECK
THE ANIMOSITY OF THEIR WIVES AND NOT YEILD TO THEIR DEMONIC DEMANDS
Animosity, according to the Oxford
Advanced Learner’s Dictionary “is a strong feeling of opposition, anger or
hatred”, and this type of anti-social behaviour played up in the life of
Herodias against John the Baptist, for his utterances against her unlawful
marriage with King Herod. The Bible narrates that Herod himself had given
orders to have John arrested, and had him bound and put in prison. He did this
because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married. For John
had been saying to Herod, it is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.
So, Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him”….(Mark
6:17-19).
The story above shows that it is
possible for some wives of Kings to hold grudges against certain elements in
the kingdom of their husbands, only to seek for the opportunity to strike. Did
Herodias succeed in her plot to kill John the Baptist? Surely, she did.
“Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his
high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee.
When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his
dinner guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I
will give it to you”. And he promised her with an oath, whatever you ask I will
give you, up to half of my kingdom. She went out and said to her mother, “what
shall I ask for? “The head of John the Baptist, she answered. At once, the girl
hurried in to the king with the request; I want you to give me right now the
head of John the Baptist on a platter”………So he immediately sent an executioner
with order to bring John’s head. The man went and beheaded John in the prison
and brought back the head on a platter”, (Mark 6:21-29).
What a wicked demand! And, a pointer
to the fact that certain wives of monarchs are vindictive, and could go extra
rules in their attempts to injure or kill perceived enemies. In this
connection, the present day kings should be righteous and courageous enough to
check and resist every wicked demand from their wives to mistreat any members
of their kingdom. However, let it be stated here that, “wickedness begets
wickedness”, and it is only when a monarch is himself wicked that he,
therefore, will yield to the wicked promptings of his wife to kill, dispossess,
deprive, kidnap or take other inhuman actions against the people he rules.
MONARCHS SHOULD MAKE
THEIR WIVES BRIDGE – BUILDERS AND NOT STUMBLING
BLOCKS
This work has already stressed in
section two that the wife of a monarch should not constitute a stumbling block
to the subjects of the kingdom of her husband. Also, the introductory part of
the discourse, in the words of Mrs. Stella Njemanze Neboh has equally portrayed
the Ugoeze of Owerre, as a woman of highhandedness, as well as a stumbling
block to the people of the Owerri
Ancient Kingdom.
This position is based on Mrs. Neboh’s already cited comment in the December
2-4, 2011 edition of the Nigeria Newspoint Newspaper, which for the purpose of
clarity, part of it, is hereby brought forward and I once again quote, “Charles
was greeted at the door by Ugoeze, who is in charge and the REAL traditional
ruler of Owerre. She tells onye eze when to sit or stand. She is the
commander-in-chief, and I guess tells all Owerre people what to do and when to
see onye eze”…
But, the wife of a man, sometimes
projects his attitude, and a monarch is also a man. Therefore, it is possible
his wife exhibits insinuations from him, and be wrongly judged by people.
Furthermore, open orders like, “I don’t want Lady “C” to see me”, “tell Doctor
“J”, I am not around”, and so on, are such orders the wife of a king may be
handling in keeping with the instructions of the husband or as a way of keeping him out of stress,
which may not be known to outsiders. However, these are false ways of administering
a kingdom, for a ruler should be upright, straightforward and honest, as well
as institutionalize transparency in his domain.
The foregoing, notwithstanding, let it
be noted that, like Jezebel, most wives of the present day monarchs are
inherently evil, as well as the masterminds of the wickedness done by their
husbands. It is on record that the plot that killed Neboth and granted the
ownership of his parcel of land to Ahab was from Jezebel, and similarly, many
die today by the schemes of certain wives of the traditional rulers of nowadays,
who now constitute stumbling blocks to the welfare of the people in their
communities, (1 king, 21). But, God expects our kings, as He expected king
Ahab,to change such a wicked order where it exists, by helping their wives see
reason for love and harmonious living in society, (Hebrews 12:14).
In conclusion, wives are gifts from
God to complement the efforts of their husbands, a duty they should do in the
fear of the Lord. But, when these highly esteemed helpmates toe the path of
satan, the results are never favourable, both to their husbands and the people
they associate with or serve. In other words, a wife influenced by satan,
automationally becomes an evil influence on the husband for evil works.
Therefore, the wives of our monarchs are by this advised to toe the path of
righteousness, as well as learn to PRAY
AND LOVE.
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