In this atmosphere Ahaziah was trained.  His mother’s name, says the record briefly, was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri, that is, the direct daughter of Jezebel.  He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly—­wherefore he did evil in the sight of the Lord, for they were his counsellors after the death of his father to his destruction.  What else could result in a home of which Athaliah was the head, in which the main training and influence were supplied by one of Jezebel’s brood.  The significant feature in all these Chronicles is the immense influence of women in shaping the lives and characters of kings.  The men seem to have little to do with it; the women are almost supreme.  Sons do not take after their fathers but after their mothers.  Again and again we read of a good king who had a wicked father—­Josiah, Hezekiah, and others.  They shake off their evil inheritance; they refuse to follow in their fathers’ steps; they destroy idolatry, and endeavour to redeem Israel from its iniquity.  But whenever this is the case you do not look far without discovering the cause.  A good mother has been at work—­woman’s gracious influence has counteracted against the pernicious example of the father.  And, on the other hand, we have a long list of vile and idolatrous kings, whose fathers were either comparatively worthy, or full of downright godliness, and then, invariably, there is some evil-minded royal consort at the back of it.  Whenever we can get into the secrets of court life, we find that the character of the wife determines the moral weight and form of the royal children.  It is her training that shapes the men.  How could it be otherwise indeed?  What time had those kings to spend on home matters, what with their fighting, judging, governing, and attending to all the affairs of empire?  How could they do a father’s work and watch the training of the future kings?  It was left to the mothers, and unhappy they who had mothers like Ahaziah’s.

And is not this an everlasting story, true to-day as it was in those old days?  It is the mother’s hand mainly that shapes men for good or evil.  Women more than men make the atmosphere of home—­the atmosphere which young lives breathe, and breathing never lose.  The wise woman buildeth her house—­the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.  What time does a father spend in disciplining the moral and spiritual nature of his children?  That has to be done in the hours when he is toiling in the warehouse, or resting wearily after the labours of the day, or surely it is not done at all.  From a mother the child receives all its early religious thoughts.  By her the Bible stories are taught, and through her lips the good book comes to be loved.  None can do it except her.  It is her eyes that watch every moral movement in the young life—­every sign of change—­every incipient error—­every beginning of good and evil habit.  No eyes can