Sister to Sister: Like Mother, Like Daughter Part Two

Jezebel and Athaliah
Mother/Daughter Bible Study—Part Two

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:

1. Athaliah’s grandfather was Omri, the king who did more wickedly than any before him. Just how wicked was this? Do a little research and list the wicked deeds of the kings of Israel prior to Omri. Athaliah’s grandaddy was a black sheep in an already dingy royal line. He was making his mark on young Athaliah through the decisions he made. Is there a grandfather in your family who has made an impact for good or evil?
2. Athaliah was rich. Yet Athaliah never owned a car, computer, or dishwasher, she never lived in an air-conditioned home or had indoor plumbing. Is your family rich? Are there temptations in your relationship to let things become more important than people? How does this affect your attitudes and actions about evangelism?
3. Athaliah was poor. Her mother never taught her about Jehovah. Her father was never the spiritual or moral leader of their home. Her parents were both people void of a moral compass. Are there rich/poor people that you have known in your neighborhoods? List three decisions that we can consciously make as a mother-daughter team to be sure that the next generation is not morally poor. (Hint: My first one is that my grandchildren will have family Bible time EVERY day that they are visiting in my home.)

Adult/Teen Study (If you are a mom and teen daughter team)

1. There’s a royal home over in Britain whose members “eat from the silver spoons.”Do a little research of the past 25 years in the Windsor household and list at least ten occurrences that have made the members of that household very poor. Is there a reason why bad things keep “happening”in that royal household?
2. Athaliah’s grandfather bought the hill of Samaria and instituted idol worship there. Do a little research and find out what Samaria looked like by the time of Christ. What kinds of idols do we see in the lives of people today? Make a list. Are there “hills of Samaria”in our society around us (places where people gather and just give themselves over to things, ideas, and purposes that take their hearts away from Jehovah? (My first thought is in our living rooms in front of our televisions, but there are plenty more “hills of idolatry”around us.)
3. Do you know someone who gets to wear the latest fashions, get a manicure every time she wants one, carry expensive bags and wear expensive jeans and shoes? Is this material gratification good for her soul? Why or why not?

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.)

1. Can you think of a fairy tale story in which there was a rich princess? Did being a princess always make the girl happy? Athaliah was a very rich princess, but her mother and father did not honor God. Do you think she was happy at home? What if I gave you everything you ever wanted—the best dresses, ice cream and candy, toys and more toys, television whenever you wanted—but I never prayed with you, I never carried you to worship and I didn’t punish you when you were disrespectful? How do you think you would turn out as an adult? Do you think you would be happy through your days at home? How do you think you would learn to treat other people who do not have all of the things that I had given you? Would you enjoy being with friends who could not have all of these things? Would you learn to laugh at poor people?  If you got a new doll every single day, do you think pretty soon you would get tired of getting a new doll? Would you stop appreciating things people give to you? Let’s take the time to write a thank-you note to someone who has done something sweet for us and show that we have not forgotten how to be thankful.
2. What if you had never heard of God?! What if we never talked about Him, we never went to worship Him and we never prayed. What if we had no Bible story books and we never even thanked Him before we ate our food? What if we never even asked ourselves which choices God would like us to make? What if we did not care how he wants us to talk, dress or treat other people? What if we just did whatever we felt like doing? Think about what our days would look like.

• What do you think we would be watching on tv?
• What would play on our car radio?
• What would mom be wearing on a hot day to the grocery store?
• What would we do to someone who said something ugly to us?
• Would we care if our house was dirty or clean?
• What would we do on Sundays?
• What if we left the ball park and realized we had forgotten to pay for our hotdogs at the concession stand? What would we do?
• Would we write thank-you notes to people?
• Would we have family Bible time?
• Would we fix food for people who are sick?
• Would we worry about people going to hell when this life is finished?
• Do you think we would be happy? Where do you think we get our happiness in our home?

3. BOTH of Athaliah’s granddads were very, very wicked and mean men. What if your granddad(s) were very bad men? Would that make you sad? Talk about something very good (if possible) that your child’s grandfather does. Talk about things we can learn from good grandparents. Make a list (if possible) of good things your daughter is learning from a godly grandparent.