Women of the Bible Part 16

2. Why do you think the woman responded to the promise of a son as she did in verse 16? Compare verse 28.

3. Why did she tell both her husband and Gehazi that everything was "all right" when it wasn't? What was her goal?

4. Hundreds of mothers lost sons in this period when G.o.d saved one boy through Elijah and now this one through Elisha. What do you make of these stories? What do they tell you about G.o.d?

5. What do you admire about the Shunammite woman that you would like to imitate?

Thursday HER PROMISE.

The Shunammite woman knew there was hope even in the most devastating of circ.u.mstances. She had been promised a son when she was barren, and now she tenaciously held on to that promise even though her little son lay dead on Elisha's couch. "It's all right," she said to her husband, knowing full well that their boy was gone. The G.o.d who had given her the promise wasn't gone. She knew he wouldn't forsake her.

"It's all right." Can you express that sentiment even when your world is cras.h.i.+ng in on you? Perhaps not. Remember, however, that even in the most agonizing of circ.u.mstances, even when you feel abandoned, even when tragedy strikes - G.o.d is there. Trust his word and gain a.s.surance from the Shunammite woman who, in the midst of appalling circ.u.mstances, could say, "It's all right."

Promises in Scripture G.o.d is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?

-Numbers 23:19 Praise be to the G.o.d and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compa.s.sion and the G.o.d of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles.

-2 Corinthians 1:3 - 4 For no matter how many promises G.o.d has made, they are "Yes" in Christ.

-2 Corinthians 1:20 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

- Hebrews 10:23 Friday HER LEGACY OF PRAYER.

"About this time next year," Elisha said, "you will hold a son in your arms."

-2 Kings 4:16 Reflect On: 2 Kings 4:8 - 37.

Praise G.o.d: That he never overlooks even a small kindness performed out of love for him.

Offer Thanks: For the kindness you have experienced at the hands of others.

Confess: Your tendency to overlook others' needs because you are so focused on your own.

Ask G.o.d: To make you jealous for opportunities to care for others in basic and practical ways.

Lift Your Heart The Shunammite woman is a wonderful example of someone vri' who antic.i.p.ated Jesus' words to his disciples to "seek first his [the Father's] kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Matthew 6:33). Like the lilies of the field, she didn't worry about G.o.d's provision and so experienced it abundantly. Ask for an opportunity this week to perform an act of practical kindness or hospitality for someone else. Consider lending your prayers, your gifts, and your energy on a regular basis to a group or ministry working to bring justice to those most in need of it.

Father, show me someone's need today. Then help me break out of my own small world and find a way to show your love to that person.

Athaliah.

HER NAME MEANS.

"The Lord Is Great"

Her Character: Granddaughter of Omri, one of Israel's most idolatrous and evil kings, she was the daughter of Ahab and most likely of Jezebel as well. She was the only woman to rule over Judah. While Ahab and Jezebel spread Baal wors.h.i.+p in the northern kingdom of Israel, Athaliah was busy promoting it a few years later in the southern kingdom of Judah. Controlled by her need for power, she murdered her own family members to secure it.

Her Joy: That her ruthlessness paid off, at least for a time, making her the ruler of Judah.

Her Sorrow: That her attempt to destroy the royal line of Judah failed.

Key Scriptures: 2 Kings 11; 2 Chronicles 22; 23:11 - 21.

Jehosheba.

HER NAME MEANS.

"Swear by His Name"

Her Character: A princess and the wife of the high priest, she was a courageous woman whose actions preserved the line of Judah, from which the Messiah would come.

Her Joy: To have preserved the life of her brother's youngest son, Joash, so that he could become the rightful king of Judah.

Her Sorrow: To have endured Athaliah's reign in Judah and to have suffered the loss of many of her nephews at the queen's hand.

Key Scriptures: 2 Kings 11:2; 2 Chronicles 22:11 Monday THEIR STORY.

Wicked queens are the stuff of fairy tales. Remember the snow queen in the tales of Hans Christian Andersen, or the evil queen in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe? Athaliah was at least as bad as her fairy-tale counterparts, a queen who chilled the hearts of G.o.d's people by murdering her own grandsons and promoting Baal wors.h.i.+p in the southern kingdom of Judah, just as her parents, Ahab and Jezebel, had promoted it in the north.

Athaliah married the king of Judah, thereby cementing an alliance between the northern and southern kingdoms. But after a few years he died and was succeeded by Athaliah's son, Ahaziah. In just a few months, Jehu, Jezebel's nemesis, slaughtered the new king.

After Queen Athaliah's husband and son were killed, she must have felt vulnerable and isolated, doubly so since her father Ahab's line had also been destroyed in Israel. Her paranoia and l.u.s.t for power formed a toxic mixture, moving her to murder her own son's children to secure Judah's throne for herself. Indeed she may even have gloated that she, Baal's emissary, had snuffed out Judah's royal heirs, making it impossible for G.o.d to fulfill his promise of a future Messiah from David's line in the tribe of Judah.

For a few years, from about 841 - 835 BC, Athaliah reigned in Judah, promoting Baal wors.h.i.+p and leading the people further and further from G.o.d. But right under her nose a conspiracy was brewing. Unknown to her, one of her grandsons still lived. Her own stepdaughter, Jehosheba, had hidden the infant, Joash, before the queen could murder him along with Ahaziah's other sons. Married to the high priest, Jehosheba risked her life by tucking the royal heir away in the temple for six years. Then, when the boy turned seven, her husband arranged a coup, crowning young Joash king.

As soon as Athaliah caught wind of the plot, she rushed to the temple, tearing her robes and screaming, "Treason! Treason!" But like her mother, Jezebel, before her, no one paid the slightest attention. Instead, Queen Athaliah was promptly seized and executed just outside the temple. As soon as the queen was dispatched, the people of Judah celebrated by destroying the temple of Baal along with its chief priest.

While the comparisons between Athaliah and Jezebel are all too obvious, their story reminds us of another that took place seven hundred years before. Egypt's Pharaoh, determined to destroy G.o.d's people, had ordered every male baby drowned in the Nile River. Like Pharaoh, hoodwinked by one of his own children (his daughter saved Moses and raised him as her own), Athaliah was fooled by her stepdaughter, Jehosheba. Once again a woman's courage and compa.s.sion helped to subvert evil and keep the promise alive.

Tuesday THEIR LIFE AND TIMES.

THE TEMPLE.

Smart Jehosheba! She hid little Joash away in the place Baal-wors.h.i.+ping Athaliah was least likely to stumble on him: in the temple of the Lord. Though at times the people of Israel misused the temple to wors.h.i.+p idols, it remained primarily a place for wors.h.i.+p of the true G.o.d.

King David had been the one to begin making plans for a great temple to replace the tabernacle as a place for wors.h.i.+p. The tabernacle was not a permanent building, and David thought it only fitting that G.o.d should have as magnificent a house as his own (2 Samuel 7:2). David gathered great stores of stone and iron and bronze and "more cedar logs than could be counted" (1 Chronicles 22:4) in preparation for building the temple. He also obtained "a hundred thousand talents of gold, a million talents of silver." Believe it or not, that's about 3,750 tons of gold and an astonis.h.i.+ng 37,500 tons of silver!

David's son Solomon actually built the temple in Jerusalem. The building began during the fourth year of his reign (966 BC) and wasn't completed until the eleventh year. The structure was built of stone cut and dressed at quarries and transported to the temple site. The stone was then covered with cedar wood, carved with cherubim and palm trees and flowers, then covered with gold. A reading of 1 Kings 5 - 8 gives a marvelous picture of the lavish structure Solomon dedicated to the Lord.

Jehosheba and her husband, the high priest, hid the heir to the throne in that same structure. The temple now housed not only the presence of the true G.o.d, but also the ancestor of G.o.d's Son, Jesus the Messiah. Through the brave actions of one woman, the lineage of David was protected and our salvation through the Messiah was a.s.sured.

Wednesday THEIR LEGACY IN SCRIPTURE.

Read 2 Kings 11:1 - 21.

1. Athaliah grew up as the daughter of Jezebel. How do you suppose that upbringing affected the person she became?

2. Athaliah's mother and brothers (Jezebel and her sons) were murdered in Israel. Athaliah's son was murdered in Judah. She then ordered the murders of her son's children so that she could reign. How do you think she justified her actions in her own mind?

3. What do you think went through Jehosheba's mind when she saved the baby Joash while his brothers and sisters were slaughtered (verse 2)? Describe how you imagine these events from her point of view.

4. Joash was the last of King David's line. Jehosheba probably didn't know she was playing a role in a.s.suring the eventual birth of the Messiah, Jesus, the promised descendent of David. What does this say about the way G.o.d works in the world?

5. Athaliah was brave in a way-she took action in her own interests, with horrible results. Jehosheba was brave in a more admirable way. When has your life called for courage? In what ways do you need courage now?

Thursday THEIR PROMISE.

G.o.d always wins. That's a pretty simplistic way of saying it, but it's true nonetheless. Even when people like Athaliah try to stomp out an entire family and put an end to G.o.d's plan for redemption, when people like the priests of Baal lead others to wors.h.i.+p idols instead of the true G.o.d, G.o.d will always triumph in the end. The negative forces of our culture make us wonder where we're headed as a people. Many of our leaders show little integrity or morality, and dishonesty is overlooked in the workplace. Kindness is often the exception rather than the rule. But don't despair. This is not a battle G.o.d plans to lose. In the end, he will prevail!

PROMISES IN SCRIPTURE.

No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame.

-Psalm 25:3 Many are the plans in a human heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails.

-Proverbs 19:21 But thanks be to G.o.d, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ.

-2 Corinthians 2:14 Friday THEIR LEGACY OF PRAYER.

But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes who were about to be murdered and put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Because Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram and wife of the priest Jehoiada, was Ahaziah's sister, she hid the child from Athaliah so she could not kill him.

-2 Chronicles 22:11 Reflect On: 2 Chronicles 22:10 - 12; 23.

Praise G.o.d: For his power, which is far greater than the power of evil.

Offer Thanks: That G.o.d always does what he says he will no matter the odds against him.

Confess: Any tendency to allow difficult circ.u.mstances to suffocate your faith.

Ask G.o.d: For courage to act on behalf of the innocent regard less of consequences.

Lift Your Heart Scripture often yields its richest insights once you learn to slow down and pray through what you have just read. Use the story of Jehosheba to teach yourself how to pray the Scriptures. Though a minor character, overlooked by most readers, she played a decisive role in the life of G.o.d's people.

Put yourself in her shoes for just fifteen minutes. Imagine what she must have felt like, not for a moment, but for several years as she defied an evil and powerful queen. Where did she find the strength? What were her temptations and fears? Let your imagination help you envision what her life might have been like. Ask G.o.d to speak to you through her story. Then ask for the grace to be like her-to be a woman who always cherishes, protects, and nurtures life.

After you've done that, take a moment to think about Jehosheba's joy the moment she learned of Athaliah's final defeat, realizing that the boy whose life she saved was now her king. Let another woman's story encourage you to do what is right regardless of the risks involved.

Lord, when I am faced with evil, whether it is in government, in the church, or in my neighborhood or family, help me to do whatever is in my power to resist. Give me wisdom to know what to do, courage to act well, and grace to trust you for the outcome.

Huldah.

HER NAME MEANS.

"Weasel"

Her Character: Trusted by the king with a matter of great importance, she was a prophetess whose word ignited a significant religious reform.

Her Sorrow: That G.o.d's people refused to respond to him with loving obedience, ignoring repeated warnings about the consequences of their unfaithfulness.

Her Joy: As a prophetess, she was privileged to be a messenger of G.o.d.

Key Scriptures: 2 Kings 22:14-20; 2 Chronicles 34:22 - 33 Monday HER STORY.

She pressed the leather scroll against her breast, as though cradling a living being. The high priest, Hilkiah, and several other men of Jerusalem stood before her. King Josiah wanted to know-would the words of the Book of the Law, which Hilkiah had just discovered in the temple, come to pa.s.s?

Holding the scroll by its wooden handles, she unrolled it carefully and began reading: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our G.o.d, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your G.o.d with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. . . . Fear the Lord your G.o.d, serve him only, and take your oaths in his name. Do not follow other G.o.ds, the G.o.ds of the peoples around you; for the Lord your G.o.d, who is among you, is a jealous G.o.d and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land" (Deuteronomy 6:4-5, 13 - 15).

"Cursed in the city and cursed in the country . . . sudden ruin because of what you have done . . . wasting disease . . . madness, blindness and confusion . . . an object of scorn and ridicule to all the nations . . . because you did not obey the Lord your G.o.d" (cf. Deuteronomy 28:15 - 68).

Though her voice was steady, Huldah's throat felt sore from the effort of speaking such words aloud, terrible threats that made her eyes well over, warnings that sp.a.w.ned vision upon vision from the past. In her mind, she watched as Judah's kings Ahaz and Mana.s.seh sacrificed their sons to pagan deities. She saw the smoke of incense rising before pagan idols in the temple. She looked on as prophets were murdered, as diviners and sorcerers were honored, as kings bowed down to the stars and the people followed suit, prost.i.tuting themselves to false G.o.ds and spurning the advances of the Almighty. She saw the children of Israel marching in chains from the land of milk and honey. Her face flushed as a burning sensation rushed through her body and searing words spilled from her lips: "This is what the Lord says: 'I am going to bring disaster on this place and its people, according to everything written in the book the king of Judah has read. Because they have forsaken me and burned incense to other G.o.ds and provoked me to anger by all the idols their hands have made, my anger will burn against this place and will not be quenched.' Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord: 'Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I have spoken against this place and its people, that they would become accursed and laid waste, and because you tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the Lord. Therefore I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be buried in peace.Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place.' "

Huldah is one of only four women with an authentic prophetic ministry mentioned in the Old Testament (along with Miriam, Deborah, and Isaiah's wife). Though prophets like Jeremiah and Zephaniah were also active at the time, King Josiah consulted Huldah about the amazing discovery of the Book of the Law (material that probably forms the core of the book of Deuteronomy).

Beyond the brief scene imaginatively retold above, we know little of her story-only that G.o.d entrusted her with his word in a time of national crisis. A hundred years earlier, Judah had witnessed G.o.d's punishment of the northern kingdom. Faithless Israel had been led captive to a.s.syria, just as the prophets had warned. Huldah surely knew the sordid details. She could not have missed its frightening significance for Judah. She may also have endured part of Mana.s.seh's fifty-five-year reign, the longest and worst of any king in Judah. Certainly, she would have been heartened by the recent reforms of King Josiah-his attempts to restore the temple though the people had all but forgotten G.o.d.

But her words of prophecy confirmed the king's fear. Judah was standing on a precipice. G.o.d was a jealous lover who blessed those who loved and obeyed him and cursed those who did not. Across the centuries, his slow anger was building to a fiery crescendo. Judah's infidelities had not gone unnoticed.

After Huldah's prophecy, Josiah led one of the greatest religious reforms in history, purging Judah and even parts of Israel of paganism. But the kings who followed him soon reversed course, leading the people astray once again. Thirty-five years after Huldah's prophecy, Judah was taken in chains to Babylon and all of its cities were destroyed.

The magnificent kingdom of David and Solomon had come to an end. But though every other nation captured by a.s.syria and Babylon ceased to exist, Israel still had a future. Chastened, it was never destroyed. Disciplined, it was never forsaken. All because G.o.d still loved his people.

The words of Isaiah, a prophet who preceded Huldah by a few decades, proclaimed a future day of restoration: "They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities. . . . Instead of their shame my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance" (Isaiah 61:4, 7).

Judgment and mercy, law and grace, punishment and salvation - these are the tensions that characterize the story of G.o.d's love affair with his people. Huldah was a woman who understood the paradox and who was not afraid to proclaim the truth, even to a king. Her words must have cost her, but she spoke them anyway. She cherished G.o.d's word in a time of spiritual crisis.

Tuesday HER LIFE AND TIMES.

BOOKS AND SCROLLS.

Ancient writers recorded their thoughts and information on clay tablets. Literally hundreds of thousands of these tablets have been found, many of which have yet to be read. And it is estimated that 99 percent of the ancient tablets still in existence have yet to be found.