A Mother’s Influence

 

Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her.  Proverbs 31:28

 

 

Dysfunctional Family

Matthew 14 describes a dysfunctional family situation.  King Herod has taken his brother’s wife, Herodias, as his own wife.  She had a fifteen year old daughter that must have been pretty attractive.  Herod has the daughter dance for him and a whole party of men.  (My guess is that this was not ballet.)

King Herod was so pleased by the performance that he promised this young woman whatever she wanted.  She consulted her mother, came back, and asked for the head of John the Baptist on a platter.  John was imprisoned because he had confronted King Herod about taking his brother’s wife.  Luke 3 says that there were other  evil things King Herod had done for which John boldly confronted him.

Herod and Herodias were wicked people. Though the Bible doesn’t give us a great deal of information about them – secular historians give some.  Herod and his ancestors had been known to kill their own sons if they thought they were a threat to the throne, they took each other’s wives, intermarried within in the family, and did whatever they thought necessary to protect their individual reigns.

Generational Effect

The scariest part of this tale is the generational consistency.  Each generation did what the last one did.  There was very little serving one another and very much protecting one’s own turf.  Herodias’s daughter could have asked for “anything” and she asked for the head of a perfectly innocent, godly man at the vengeful request of her mother.

What was she teaching her daughter?

The question faithful mothers and fathers need to be asking is, “What are we teaching?”  What example are we setting by the actions we take and the decisions we make?  Herodias was not considering anyone more important than herself when she prompted her daughter to ask for an innocent head on a platter.

Fear of Man

Herod was showing himself to be weak and afraid by not forbidding the murderous beheading. The passage says that he “was distressed, but because of his oath and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted.”  (Matthew 14:9)

The fear of man is a terrible thing.  He was distressed because he knew he was wrong. He went ahead and did it because he was afraid of what others – including his wife – would say.

Proverbs 31 says that the excellent wife will have children who rise and call her blessed (Proverbs 31:28).  I cannot imagine that a fifteen year old girl who has been asked (and allowed) to dance for a party of men and then carry a cut off head on a platter is calling her mother “blessed.”

There is much to be careful about in our culture if we want to raise children who will love and fear the Lord – and not man.  We must do for, and in front of, our children what we want them to do for, and in front of, their God.  They will follow our godly – but also our sinful – examples.

Are the ways we have instructed our children deserving of the term “blessed?”