Rotten Mama Relatives

As we approach Mother's Day this weekend, you know that it isn't always my favorite holiday. After sharing about Micah's Mama's Drama  and the far reaching Ripples of Rottenness last week, today I want to highlight another "Rotten Mama." 

This is really "rotten mamas" gone viral, infecting a whole family. This is the story of "Rotten Relatives," in addition to a rotten mama. Mother's Day is hard for many who look at their family tree and find they have few women who have nurtured tenderly or invested well in their lives. Some kids hate Mother's Day. I think it would've been that way for Joash, if it wouldn't have been for extended family.


Joash was the son of King Ahaziah, a King of Judah while the nation of Israel was split. The King was greatly influenced by the infamous evil Ahab, since his own mother (Athaliah) was a daughter of Ahab. Since there were often multiple wives at the time, Athaliah might not've been Joash's biological grandmother, but she was definitely "in the family," so let's call her "Granny Athaliah."(She would hate that!)  Joash's own mom was Zibiah of Beersheba (2 Kings 12:1), but in the story of his life's deciding moment .... she is absent.

• Joash had an absent mother, and that's hard enough.
• Joash also had an attacking Granny Athaliah. 

Selfishness makes a mama rotten. When Athaliah's son King Ahaziah was killed, she took the cake as the "Rotten Mama of the Year" and tried to kill all of the royal family and secure the throne for herself.  There are a lot of rotten mamas today, but Athaliah deserves a place in the rotten hall of fame. She had no regard for God's placement of the Davidic dynasty on the throne of His nation, and she threatened to derail it. I bet Satan was loving using this rotten mama as his tool. 


Young heir Joash might have thought there was no one to come to his aid, except that he had a godly relative, a redeeming relative, an audacious aunt. To be audacious means to be undaunted, brave, bold, and daring. I wish my nieces and nephews would think that of me, but guarding my apple pie at Thanksgiving probably doesn't qualify. :)  Aunt Jehoshabeath was the sister of the dead King Ahaziah, and she was married to the high priest.

Just when it seemed that no one would rescue Joash from the attack of his pseudo-Granny and absence of his mom, Aunt Jehoshabeath, "took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the king's sons who were about to be put to death, and she put him and his nurse in a bedroom.  Thus Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehroam and the wife of Jehoida the priest, because she was a sister of Ahaziah, hid him from Athaliah, so that she did not put him to death.  And he remained with them six years, hidden in the house of God, while Athaliah reigned over the land."  (2 Chron. 22:10-12)

This audacious aunt rescued Joash; God used her godliness to preserve His plan for the family of David to reign on the throne ... and to ultimately bear Jesus when He was born on earth. God intervened, and He used a godly woman to do it. She became a guardian of God's plan and of Joash's life. 


The extended family was messed up, but God used one godly woman to change the course of a child's life and that of a nation. Let's not "limit" mothering only to children we bear biologically.  Let's look for ways to extend our "mothering" by nurturing and loving God and children in an AUDACIOUS way.

Tomorrow ... I can't wait to tell you about the ripple effects from the actions of this audacious aunt!

Has God used a godly lady in your own life to help steer your life's path?