T h e s t o r y is told of a little girl walking with her mother. She stumbled over something and thereupon cried out, “Mother, why don’t you look where I’m going?” We are passing on this incident apropos of Mother’s Day, which is so near at hand, reminding us of the influence o f the mother on her children. We are not minimizing, in any degree, the respon sibility of the father in this matter of influence on the children o f the home, for that responsibility is very definite and great. It is to be regretted that so many fathers try to shirk this responsibility or are a positive hindrance to their children, either by their direct influence, or indirectly by making it more difficult for the mother to lead the children aright. But because o f the intimate association with her child, especially in'the young and formative period, the influence of the mother is, in some respects, greater than that of the father. The Scriptures contain many striking examples of the power of parents over their children for evil or for good. Concerning Ahaziah, king o f Israel (the North ern Kingdom), it is said, “He did evil in the sight o f the Lord.” And the record shows that both his father and mother influenced him for evil: “He did evil in the sight o f the Lord, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother. . . . For he served Baal, and worshipped him, and provoked to anger the Lord God of Israel, accord ing to all that his father had done” (I Kings 22:52, 53). Not long after the reign of Ahaziah over the Northern Kingdom, a king by the same name as cended the throne of Judah, in the Southern King dom. The biography o f this man is very closely linked with his mother; indeed, it may be said to gather largely around her. And what a biography it is ! “ Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jeru salem. His mother’s name also was Athaliah the daughter of Omri. He also walked in the ways of the house o f Ahab: for his mother was his coun sellor to do wickedly. Wherefore he did evil in the sight of the Lord like the house of Ahab: for they were his counsellors after the death of his father to his destruction” (II Chron. 22:2-4). His mother was his counsellor to do wickedly, and the counsel ended in his destruction! Going back a step farther in the ancestry of this man, we find that the mother o f Ahaziah was the daughter o f that personification o f wickedness—Jezebel— whose name even now is used as a symbol o f un godliness. There can be no question as to the in fluence exerted by Jezebel over her daughter Atha liah, whose influence in turn resulted in the de struction of her son. What a tremendous responsi bility is that o f the mother!
by John A. Hubbard
18
THE KING'S BUSINESS
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