The Eternal Influence of a Faithful Mother
By Elizabeth Prata
ABI or ABIJAH (2 Kings 18:2), was the daughter of Zechariah, wife of Ahaz, and mother of Hezekiah, King of Judah.
In the verse, following her name and that of her son is the significant phrase, “And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord”.
By the way, mothers or wives in the books of Kings and Chronicles are mentioned often. Notice it.
As I was reading in 2nd Chronicles, I was thinking about the times when there was a wicked king on the throne. How devastatingly apostate and wicked the peoples’ life must be. How terribly hard it would be to remain faithful to the One True God amidst all the idolatry and blasphemy. I think the same things when coming to Anna’s story, Mary, and Lois/Eunice. Just before Jesus arrived it was terribly apostate, then, too.
So as I was reading about Ahaz and the goings on during that time, and we come to Hezekiah, I wondered how did Hezekiah turn out to be a faithful worshiper of Yahweh with his father being so wicked?
The mother.
Edith Deen wrote a book in 1955 called, All the Women of the Bible. I found confirmation of my initial thought about the mother of Hezekiah here in Edith’s note-
It is a credit to Abi that her son removed the high places of sacrifice and broke images, because he trusted in the Lord God of Israel. Abi’s husband, Ahaz, eleventh king of Judah, was a wicked king who despoiled the Temple and set up altars for idol worship. The fact that her son destroyed these sheds some light on the mother’s character.
She is called Abijah in 2 Chronicles 29:1.
In the New Testament, Paul is writing to young Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:5. Timothy’s father was not a believer, but was a Greek, as Acts 16:1 describes. So once again it was up to the faithful mother to teach her son about God. And apparently both Timothy’s mom Eunice and grandmother Lois did so.
Here we see an eternal commendation of Lois and Eunice’s faith, especially notable since they had tension within their own home with the father not believing, and pressures from society to worship the emperor and indulge in all manner of sins available to them.
For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelled in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well. (2 Timothy 1:5).
In our Christian lives we read of the impact mothers have had on men who grew in stature in the Lord and became powerful preachers or authors or missionaries.
Susanna Wesley (mother to John and Charles), Hudson Taylor’s mother Amelia, Charles Spurgeon’s mother Eliza, John Newton’s mother Elizabeth all mothers who are acknowledged from this vantage point of history to have had a profound impact on their sons, who in turn had a profound impact on the faith for the ages.
Moms, don’t give up. It might seem day by day that changing diapers, managing tantrums, sleepily helping the midnight feverish child and all the rest of the minutiae doesn’t add up to anything. Faith is incremental, though. It grows bit by bit, and over time it accumulates in a powerful way to emerge in a heart dedicated to the Lord. Though this Proverb 22:6 isn’t an explicit promise to every child everywhere, it is a foundational principle:
Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he grows older he will not abandon it.
Mothers are hugely important. “Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, And do not ignore your mother’s teaching;” (Proverbs 1:8).
There are all sorts of mothers. Please do not fret if you are not a birth mother yet or won’t be. Stepmothers and adoptive mothers also make great impacts on the child’s formative years. Foster mothers like Naomi, and grandmothers like Lois. Aunts, like Jehosheba who stole her nephew Joash the rightful heir, and hid him from murderous Athaliah and raised him for 6 years. Mothers-in-law like Peter’s, when Peter was so upset when she was feverish to the point of death.
Exodus 20:12, “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.”
Ephesians 6:1-3, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.“
Mothers, thank you. I appreciate you so much.
