Jezebel and Athaliah
Mother/Daughter Bible Study—Part Four
Between the Two of You:
Adult/Adult Study (If you are an altogether adult mother-daughter team)
Discuss or email back and forth your thoughts on the following:
- When Athaliah married Jehoram it was certainly a royal wedding. Discuss instances you have seen in our culture in which a great emphasis was placed on the actual wedding (the outward essentials) and not much thought and planning put into the hearts and core of the marriage itself.
- Athaliah surely was a woman who knew how to use her influence. She did so through her marriage. What does (do) your husband(s) do for a living? Try to make a list of some ways you can use your influence to put Christ in your husband’s sphere of influence or in his workplace. These can be as simple as sending Bible verses in his lunch bag to placing tracts in a public place at his work place to inviting co-workers to enjoy hospitality in your home with hopes of talking about the scriptures.
- When wives use their influence to draw husbands away from the Lord, it doesn’t exhibit a deep love for them (for their souls). Make a list of ways wives, even in the church, can draw husbands away from God today.
- Deuteronomy 6:5 gives a prerequisite for our success in teaching our children. List some practical ways we love the Lord with our hearts (all of our emotion) . Make a separate list for ways we love Him with our souls (the spiritual part of us) and a final list for the ways we love Him with our might (our physical strength). How can these areas of love profoundly affect our days with our children?
Adult/Teen Study (If you are a mom and teen daughter team)
- Make a list, with your daughter, of characteristics that she would like to find in a mate and/or have her write a letter to her future husband describing her aspirations for her future marriage. (see https://thecolleyhouse.org/?s=future+husband)
- Look together at II Chronicles 21: 12-19. Emphasize the fact that sin is ALWAYS worse than the sinner expects it to be. Imagine together Jehoram on his wedding day as he married the idolatrous Athaliah. Do you think he would have ever thought his life and marriage would end so?
- What are some modern day “idols”(things that people put before God in their lives and devotions)? What are some practical ways that we can strengthen our resolve to seek Him first (Matthew 6:33)?
- Does refraining from idolatry in our culture sometimes cause people to shun us or make fun of us? Jesus said we are blessed when we are persecuted for righteousness sake. Find this passage and list the reason Jesus gave for this blessedness.
- Do we get more chances to teach others when we stand up for righteousness in the face of persecution? How does I Peter 3: 12-16 indicate this?
Adult/Child Study (if you are a mom and child team)
(Be sure you tell your daughter, in age-appropriate terms, the material from the last post about Athaliah.)
- Talk to your daughter about what finally happened to Jehoram because he left God and went after idols. Discuss how wrong-doing, many times, feels very good for a short time (like when you do what you want to do rather than what Mom has said to do) but then later, it usually feels pretty bad (during the time of punishment). See if your daughter can think of other examples of this from scriptures:
- Can you think of a boy who left home with lots of money and plans for a very good time? (Luke 15)
- Can you think of some brothers who had a good time selling their brother to the Midianites?( Genesis 37)
- Do you remember a son who tricked his dad into thinking he was his brother, so he could get a blessing (Genesis 27)?
- How did each of these “great plans” turn out?
- Help your daughter make a few “pretty” memory verses to put on her mirror or dresser or on the wall of the playroom. You could even make a handprint in finger paints and put “Whatever your hand finds to do…” from Ecc. 9:10 or do it with a footprint and use Psalm 119:133. Show your daughter that “decorating” with the Word is fun and important. This is worth your time!
- This is a great time to take a few minutes for talking about why we give our money to God on Sundays and starting the habit of setting aside a part of your daughter’s money before any of the week’s allowance is spent. This is one way we show God that He is “first” in our hearts. It’s great to have a certain mug or dresser tray or pocket purse in which this money is saved back each week. Then when you get ready for worship on Sunday, you should help her remember the “money for God”.
