Since Mother’s Day, I have been thinking about how the scriptures give
many examples of the far-reaching influence a mother has on her child.
Mothers have great opportunities to lay down the teachings of God through
His word in the first formative years. It would be wonderful if the Bible
abounded with such examples, but it does not. In fact, we will examine three
cases where the mothers failed.
Jezebel was a promoter of Baal worship which was a pagan god (1 Kings
18:19). She had a total lack of conscience and exhibited extreme cruelty in
murdering many of God’s servants (1 Kings 18:3-4). She was full of wicked-
ness (1 Kings 21:8-10).
Athaliah was ruler over Judah for six years (2 Kings 11:1-3). She corrupted
and destroyed her husband, Jehoram (2 Kings 8:18). She murdered the
royal grandsons (2 Kings 11:1). She counseled her children to be wicked (2
Chronicles 22:2-3).
Herodias was Herod the Great’s granddaughter. She was an adulterous
woman who was violent and vindictive. She used her daughter to tempt
Herod to sin. She was directly responsible for the death of John (Matthew
14:1-12).
In all three of these cases, we learn that God was simply not a priority in
their lives and all three mothers demonstrated the how tragic it is when chil-
dren are persuaded to follow in wicked footsteps (Ezekiel 16:44). How dif-
ferent would these circumstances have been if these women were only godly
(Proverbs 31:25-30)!
