ELIZABETH !!!!!!!!!!!!!

ELIZABETH !!!!!
# 1 __But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years. (LUKE 1:7)
The godly Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth, both from the priestly line, were aging people who seemed unable to have children. What a shock, then, for Elizabeth would have a son, John. 

# 2 _Is it any wonder Zechariah doubted? But saying the equivalent of "Oh, no you must be wrong" to an angel? What was he thing? God showed sense of humor, making the expectant father unable to speak until the birth of the promised child__perhaps so he wouldn't say any other silly things.  
# 3 - Some time later, Mary visited Elizabeth. Mary's relative immediately knew this young woman would bear the Messiah and praised her Lord for it. What a time of fellowship this must have been for these women who bore children with missions unlike any other in the world.  
# 4 - When Elizabeth had her son the relatives assumed the couple would follow custom by naming him after his father, Zechariah. But the angel had declared his name would be John, and that's what Elizabeth called the boy. The family questioned the father. As soon as he wrote, "His name is John," Zechariah's mouth was opened and he praised the Lord. From that moment on, all could see that John was somehow special. They wondered what the Lord would do with his life. 
# 5 - Elizabeth must have been amazed at the turn life took for her. Long accustomed to being thought barren, she was suddenly give a special child who would serve God in an unusual way. How blessed she must have felt! 
# 6 - When life takes unexpected turns for us, will we be a doubting Zechariah or a faithful Elizabeth? Trusting God takes a lot of faith when our lives are suddenly turned upside down. We have two choices: We can simply allow God to control whatever happens, or we can spend time worrying about the future. Since we can't change the future__and God has it all under control anyway__we may as well follow Elizabeth's example. We too, may find God has given us unexpected blessings. 

ELISHEBA !!!!!!!!!

ELISHEBA !!!!!
Aaron married Elisheba, daughter of Amminadad and sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadad and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.   (EXODUS 6:23)   
Aaron's wife doesn't get a lot of press un the Bible. Her brother Nahshon gets more mention as a leader of the tribe of Judah, but Elisheba would have been well known to the Israelites, as wife to their high priest.
# 2 _Elisheba had a wonderful husband, but her children were another matter. Leviticus 10:1__2 describes the death of her first two sons, Nadad and Abihu. Instead of following God's directions in worship, they pridefully made an unauthorized incense offering. As punishment, God consumed them with fire. Some scholars suspect that Nadad and Abihu had been drunk at the time, a condition which led them to take such unholy actions. The scholars' reasoning comes from the fact that soon after this incident, God warned Aaron and his sons not to drink before worship (See LEVITICUS 10:9). 
# 3 __Not every woman of God has children who make her proud. Every child is different, and while one may delight a mother, another may bring much sorrow. Christian mothers may faithfully witness to their children, yet be unable to turn them away from wrongdoing. But, as in the case of Elisheba, God may also provide a believing mother with a great blessing. Eleazar, Elisheba's third son, honored his parents faith, following in his father's footsteps. He became the head of the Levites and then high priest in Aaron's place.

DRUSILLA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DRUSILLA !!!!!!
# 1 _Several days later Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was a Jewess. He sent for Paul and listened to him as he spoke about faith in Christ Jesus. (ACTS 24:24)
Drusilla may have been a Jewess, but she wasn't a very faithful one. Felix was not her first husband__after only a year of marriage, she had left her husband Azizus, king of Emesa, to go with Felix. Perhaps this lack of faith isn't surprising, considering her background. Drusilla was a great-granddaughter of  Herod the Great and daughter of Herod Agrippa I.
Ruthlessness, not belief, was a hallmark of her family. 
# 2 _When the Jewish leaders brought Paul to Felix, demanding that he be punished for troublemaking, Paul took the opportunity to witness to Felix and his wife. They never came to faith, perhaps because they had another agenda__Felix was hoping for a bribe, not seeking the truth. Perhaps his wife had the same attitude.
# 3 _It does not matter if we come from a long line of faithless people. Each of us has an opportunity to accept Christ through a personal witness, a book, or the testimony of a preacher. Will we remain in a godless past or reach out to Jesus through faith? It's our choice alone.

DORCAS !!!!!!!

DORCAS !!!!!!
# 1 _In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which, when translated, is Dorcas), who was always doing good and helping the poor. (ACTS 9:36) _This faithful woman lived in the seaport city of Joppa, outside today's city of Tel Aviv. Dorcas was actually a Greek translation of her Aramean name, Tabitha, which means "gazelle." Scripture doesn't tell us if her frame matched her name, but it does say she leapt to do good works for others.
# 2 _While Peter was visiting nearby, Dorcas died. Her fellow Christians readied her for burial and sent a message to the apostle, who hurried to them. The sorrowing believes showed him example of Dorcas's generosity. After clearing the room, the apostle raised Dorcas, the other Christians, and even for those who heard about the miracle and came to faith in Christ.
# 3 _Do our lives testify to our faith as clearly as Dorcas's did? Living, dying, or being resurrected, she glorified her Lord. If we died, would our fellow Christians want to have us back as a powerful Christian testimony?  

DINAH !!!!!!!!

DINAH !!!!!
Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land. 
      (GENESIS 34:1)
In this simple sentence begins one of the saddest events of the book of Genesis. Dinah, a young and thoughtless girl, comes to a new country and unwisely goes out to seek friendship with the pagan woman there. On the way, she is raped by Shechem, son Hamor the Canaanite who was ruler of the city that shares his son's name. Afterward, when young Shechem belatedly decides to marry Dinah, he unknowingly brings disaster on his people. 
# 2 _Hamor, pushed on by his son, approaches Jacob to arrange a marriage. It was a common practice of that day, and the heartbroken Jacob listens. But before he makes a decision, Jacob's furious sons intervene. How can they give their sister to an unbelieving man? Surely Jacob must have struggled with this idea, since his father had commanded him not to marry a Canaanite__but what could he do that would benefit his daughter? Though Jacob is unaware of it, his sons come up with a wicked suggestion: If the Canaanites will accept circumcision, Jacob's sons inform Hamor and Shechem, they will accept the marriage. But there's more to their offer than meets the eye.
# 3 _Hamor agrees, but not because he's had a sudden conversion experience__he's interested in getting his hands on Jacob's wealth, the large herd of sheep in his possession. But the ruler has not reckoned with the brothers anger. The siblings plot to kill the male Shechemites while they are still in pain from the surgery. Three days after circumcision rite, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's full brothers, begin the attack on the city. All the male Shechemites are killed, and the Israelites loot the city. In order to keep his family safe, an angry Jacob moves his family out of the area.
# 4 _Double sorrow was Dinah's her rape and her brothers precipitate actions. Scripture gives us no clue about her life after this event, but it was surely changed forever. Dinah's life shows us that sometimes even simple, foolish decisions impact us powerfully. We need to be careful how we walk and with whom we associate. 

DIANA !!!!!!!

DIANA !!!!!
So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nough; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth. (ACTS 19:27) __Diana, also known as Artemis of the Ephesians, isn't, strictly speaking, a woman. She was a pagan fertility goddess who got the apostle Paul and his disciples into a lot of trouble. When Paul's ministry to Asia took off, Ephesian craftsman Demetrius the silversmith saw his nice little business of creating Diana idols going down the drain. So he calleda guild meeting and got the backing of his fellow silversmiths to take action.
# 2 __If they didn't act, the magnificent temple of Diana would suffer, the silversmith warned. Today that temple is known as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. In Demetrius's day, thousands of pilgrims flooded Ephesus to worship there, but he knew they wouldn't if the pilgrims became Christians. So Demetrius and his coworkers started a riot. Only the intervention of the city clerk saved Paul and his men, and Paul wisely moved on to Macedonia.  
# 3 __Diana led a lot of people into idolatry and away from the gospel. But her magnificence and her following only lasted a short time. After all, no one worships her today. Are you putting your faith in something that won't last long or the God who created the universe and will never fail you? Don't follow a Diana when you can draw close to the eternal Lord.

DELILAH !!!!!!!!!!!!

DELILAH !!!!!!! _Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. (JUDGES 16:4) _Say her name, and most Christians get an immediate picture of a sultry woman and desire gone wrong. The physically powerful Israelite judge Samson fell for this beautiful and desirable Philistine. As wise as he must have been, Samson had one fatal flaw: He never chose well when it came to woman__those foreign temptresses forbidden by God's Law always seemed to claim his attention. His marriage to a Philistine woman had ended disastrously, yet here he was, becoming romantic with Delilah. Maybe he thought it was okey as long as they didn't marry, but He should have read his Law a bit more carefully.

# 2 _No sooner had Samson fallen for this bad babe than the ruler of her nation asked Delilah to do some spying for them. The Israelites was so strong that they couldn't capture him, and they had a series of grudges against him. So they asked Delilah to find out what made her lover so powerful. Once they had his secret, the rulers planned to make him a slave.

# 3 __Maybe it was the money that made this bad girl decide Samson was expendable. Eleven hundred shekels from each of five rulers was no small amount of cash in that day. Delilah must have decided that all she needed was money, not love, and in her greed, she betrayed Samson completely.  

# 4 __At the same time, you have to wonder what Samson was thinking. Perhaps he enjoyed playing romantic games, but didn't he get the least bit suspicious when his beloved asked how his strength could be subdued? Didn't he figure that she was a Philistine and that others could be putting  her up to something? He'd had a very similar experience with his wife, before their marriage fell apart, so you'd think he had to have had an inkling, especially when he gave Delilah three false answers. You wonder how many times God had to show Samson the same lesson for him to learn.

# 5 __But when Samson should have left off dallying with Delilah, he kept coming around__giving her the opportunity to nag him endlessly. "You don't love me," she complained, and evidently he couldn't bear to see her unhappy. Eventually she wore him down, and he admitted that his vow as a Nazirite__and the long hair that was part of it__gave him his strength. Cut his hair, he said, and he'd be weak as any other man.  

# 6 __The Philistines took complete advantage of this information. Delilah got Samson to sleep in her lap, and a man came in to shave his head. Awakened, Samson soon stood powerless, and the Philistines made him a sightless slave. But these temporary victors forgot that hair grows again! And grow it did.

# 7 __Inside their temple, the Philistine rulers and an assembly gathered to rejoice at the capture of Israel's strong man. In the midst of their revealing, the crowd called Samson out to perform for them. 

# 8 __"Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform"(JUDGES 16:27). Adorned with a new head of hair and imbued with renewed strength, Samson stood before them, prayed for strength, pushed against the pillars with all his might, and brought down the pagan temple, killing himself and everyone in it.

# 9 __Who knows if Delilah was also there amid the crowd? Though she didn't seem like the religious kind, perhaps she had taken that opportunity to rejoice at the effectiveness of her sexual powers.

# 10 __Look at Delilah, and you get a clear picture of how not to live. Need an example of what loose living will get you? She's the poster child for it. The pain she caused someone who loved her ran so deep that Samson didn't mind sacrificing his life, if he could destroy the pagan temple he'd been taken to. Samson had been used by an immoral woman who evidently felt no guilt at betraying him.

# 11 __Delilah backs up God's Word, which commands a faithful husband-and-wife lifestyle. Romance is not a game, but a lifelong commitment. And any sexual activity outside marriage leads to heartbreak. Maybe yours won't come as quickly as Samson's did, and you may not die, but you can count on some pain when you don't live God's way. Just ask Delilah__if you can find her under all that rubble, that is.

DEBORAH THE PROPHETESS !!!!!!!!!!

DEBORAH THE PROPHETESS !!!!! _# 1 _Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. She had court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites came to her to have their disputes decided.

(JUDGES 4:4_5)

# 2 _God doesn't explain Himself. Suddenly, in a time when Israel has become unfaithful to the Lord, the scripture proclaims the position of Deborah, the only female to rule Israel during the years of the judges__that era between Joshua's death and Saul's accession as king. Deborah was not just a minor judge; she was an authoritative woman who decided disputes between men and held the power common to all Israel's judges. Nor was this a piece-of-cake leadership for Deborah. Israel had been subjugated by the Canaanite ruler Jabin of Hazor, yet the Israelites never brought an army against him until this woman was in charge. Deborah became the answer to the prayer for help her people sent up to God as they saw the Canaanites commander Sisera heading their direction followed by nine hundred chariots.

# 3 _God had chosen an unusual leader in Deborah, a very strong-minded woman who was also very close to Him. (Just read her interaction with her military commander, Barak, in Judges 4:6__9, and you'll see she was used to being obeyed.) As a prophetess, Deborah would have heard and communicated God's will to His people. Though she is not the only prophetess in the Bible, she alone ruled Israel. Not only that, she effectively led her country during wartime, when many people might have chosen a man for the job. After all, she couldn't command an army, could she? In a way, she showed the doubters that she could.

# 4 _God had given her authority, and Deborah obeyed His will implicitly. Maybe you've known a powerful woman like her. An in-charge kind of person, this judge rallied her leaders and the people against the Canaanites. Barak, chosen by God as the country's military commander, seems shy and retiring compared to the confident prophetess. God spoke to her, and she told Barak all He had commanded. Deborah did not make decisions based on her own desires, but on God's direction for His people. And she showed greater faith than her commander. She was probably a "God says it, I've heard it, that settles it" kind of believer, because she did not understand why Barak balked at going to war when God told him to. Barak flatly refused to go to battle without Deborah. That may have been fueled in part by an understanding that following her was following God, but doubt also played its role. Because of Barak's hesitancy, God commanded that a woman would take the life of Sisera.

# 5 _Deborah accompanied the ten thousand troops who attacked Sisera's forces and gave them the order to go into battle on God's chosen day. When Barak and his men obeyed, God caused the Canaanites to flee before them. But this was something other than Barak's happiest moment. Deborah's prophecy of Sisera's death was fulfilled when Jael, a woman, killed Sisera in her tent, after all the Canaanite troops had been destroyed.

# 6 _Judges 5 records Deborah's wonderful song celebrating the victory. Together with Barak, she gave the credit to God. From her verses we get a clear picture of how sad life had been like under the Canaanites. She described herself as "a mother in Israel," but she had also been something of a mother to Israel, encouraging, warning, and setting the pace for a whole nation. She praised Jael for killing the enemy with tent peg and hammer. Through Jael, God ended ting and gave Israel a complete victory.

# 7 _Need a picture of a confident, powerful woman who was also humble and faithful? Look to Deborah. Being an unlikely leader didn't stop her in her tracks, and it doesn't need to stop a Christian woman today, either. She can be a successful mother, leader, and wife, if she's obeying God every day.  

 

DEBORAH - REBEKAH'S NURSE !!!!!!!!

DEBORAH - REBEKAH'S NURSE !!!!! __Now Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel. So it was named Allon Bacuth.    (GENESIS 35:8)
Did you know the name of Rebekah's nurse? Genesis 24:59 told us she accompained her change to their new home with Jacob, but it did not mention the nurse's name. Now, at Deborah's death, we finally can put a name with a position.
# 2 _Deborah spent plenty of tears with her mistress. Perhaps Rebekah appreciated Deborah's kindness to her when she was tiny. Rebekah would have still needed her nurse as she grew, because Genesis 29:29 makes it obvious the bride had no maid. For awhile after Rebekah's marriage there were no children to change in the middle of the night, but Deborah helped her charge settle into a new way of life. When children did come, Rebekah desperately needed the nurse, since she had twins. Deborah was always there to dandle a crying child or wrap him in a blanket.
# 3 _Many of us have received help with our children from a friend, teacher, or youth-group worker. Do we appreciate the effort that goes into caring for children? Like Deborah, many give tender care to youngsters who are not theirs. Will it be a thankless task or one that recieves appreciation? Rebekah appreciated her nurse: The name of that oak under which Deborah was buried became Allon Bacuth: "oak of weeping."

THE DAUGHTER OF PHARAOH !!!!!!

THE DAUGHTER OF PHARAOH !!!!

Then Pharaoh's daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. "This is one of the Hebrew babies," she said. (EXODUS 2:5__6)

Being important doesn't mean everyone knows you. Though this woman was the daughter of Egypt's powerful ruler, the Bible never records her name or even that of her father. All we know of Pharaoh's daughter is her position and the fact that she had a kind spirit, for when she saw the baby Moses floating in a basket, her heart opened to him. The woman knew he was one of the Hebrews whom Pharaoh had commanded to be killed, yet this woman disobeyed her father and bravely saved the baby, who ironically became the prophet God used to free the Hebrews from Egypt's grasp.
# 2 _In time, the princess adopted Moses, opening doors of education and power to the young Hebrew. Because of the training he received in Egypt's court, he was probably in a better position to rule over the rebellious Hebrews. As an educated man, he would be able to record the first five books of the Bible for all people to read through the ages.
# 3 _Though we don't know that she ever came to faith, the princess played an important role in God's plan. Without her, the tiny baby would not have had the advantages he needed. But God placed the right woman in the right place at the right time, and He moved her heart to help young Moses. Her name may have disappeared, but her good work hasn't.
# 4 _We're probably all familiar with someone who doesn't know God but performs many good deeds. An unsaved family member may help us out and enable us to fulfill God's will in our lives. Do we recognize that this, too, comes from God? God may use many different people to accomplish His goal, but He does not abuse them. He never forces them to have faith in Him.
# 5 _Many daughters of Pharaoh live in our midst, unconsciously guided by their Creator to do His will. Yet they have no spiritual connection to Him. Do we reach out to them, hoping to help them understand Hid role in their lives? We can rejoice when they come to know Him, too. 

DAMARIS !!!!!!!

DAMARIS !!!!!!! __# 1 _A few men bacame followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others. (ACTS 17:34) __Luke mentions some men who accepted Christ as their Savior when they heard Paul's message in Athens, then sddenly he drops in the name of a woman: Damris. Perhaps, as John Chrysostom, a fourth-century archbishop of Constantinople, thought, she was te wife of Dionysius.

# 2 _Others suggest she was an important, educated woman, perhaps from another country. But in an age when women rarely got much mention, she must have had some stature to be listed immediately after a member of Athen's ruling council. Indeed, for her to be present at the meeting where Paul spoke would indicate she had some unusual importance.  

# 3 _The next time someone tells you women aren't important in the Bible, remind them of Damaris, Priscilla, and the Marys of the Gospels. People may write women off as being unimportant, but God never does. He includes them at every point in His story of redemption.

# 4 _You, too, are important to God. Whether or not you're ever mentioned in a book or known worldwide, God cares for you. His Son died for you, to draw you to His side. No one for whom Jesus died is unimportant or forgotten.

COZBI !!!!!!!!

COZBI !!!!!! _And the name of the Midianite woman who was put to death was Cozbi daughter of Zur, a tribal chief of a Midianite family. (NUMBERS 25:15)  # 1 Her name means "deceitful," and deceit had helped her seduce the Israelite learders Zimri. But it doesn't seem Zimri was slow in following her, and he wasn't the only one of his people who fell. Many followed the Moabites and Midianite woman into sexual sin while worshiping  their idols.

# 2 _God's anger burned brightly against His people, and retribution followed. He commanded Moses to kill the leaders and show off their bodies to His people. Meanwhile a plague broke out among the Isralites, perhaps to give them a picture of the deadliness of their sin.

# 3 _At that moment, in front of everyone, Zimri led Cozbi, the daughter of a Midianite chief, into a tent__the sort of place for prostitutes. While the rest of Israel repented of their sins, Zimri marched right by the whole assembly of Israel, ready to continue his wrongdoing.
# 4 _Aaron's grandson, Phinehas, quickly took care of the problem by running a spear through the couple's bodies, taking their lives. With the death of this willfully disobedient pair, the plague on Israel stopped__but not before twenty-four thousand people died.
# 5 _Cozbi shows us that sin doesn't pay. God may be patient with us, but He does not wink at disobedience. If we boldly continue in sin, it will eventually bring terrible judgment. Worse yet, our wrong may affect many innocent lives as well as our own. Are we willing to take that risk?

CHLOE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

chloe !!!! _My brothers, some from Chloe's household have imformed me that there are quarrels among you. (1 CORINTHINANS1:11) We don't really know anything more about Chloe or her household than this verse reveals, but she was probably an important woman, since she's named as the heade of her household. And we know a lot about her church from Paul's letters to the Corinthians.

# 2 _Chloe didn't belong to a perfect congregation__division, not unity, was the hallmark of the Corinthian church. Everyone wanted to choose a leader to follow: Paul, Apollos, Peter (Cephas), or Christ. No one seemed to be in charge.   

# 3 _Obviously some faithful believer from Chloe's household, perhaps even Chloe herself, became troubled by the quarrels that divided the Corinthian church. A report got back to Paul that these foolish arguments had separated believers. When he heard, he confronted the young Corinthian Christians, even generally naming the source of his information. Because Paul received this report, he was able to save the church from an implosion.

# 4 _Should we find ourselves in her situation, Chloe gives us an example. Do we drop a word in a church learder's ear or keep it to ourselves? we wonder. God provides us with the wisdom for each problem we face. By speaking now, we could defuse a serious problem later. 

CANDACE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CANDACE !!!!!!!!!
# 1 _So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship. (ACTS 8:27)
In the first century, unlike today, Candace was not a name, but a title. It belonged to the queen mother of the ruler of an area the Greeks called Meroe, around the upper reaches of the Nile River. The people of that nation felt the king was so holy he was good for nothing temporal, so Candace carried out many of his earthly responsibilities. As a trade center, her country was very wealthy, so her powerful official in charge of the treasury would have had the ability to travel to the Holy City for worship.
# 2 _From this trip, he brought back more than Candace would have expected__the news of the Messiah struck the Ethiopian eunuch's heart quickly, and he accepted Christ. According to tradition, the woman he served also accepted Christ.
# 3 _We never know, when we share our faith, what important person may be touched by our words. Though our friends might be humble, we may connect with a poweful man or woman who needs to come to faith. With a single witness, like Phillip God's Word may reach a person of influence. Speak up!

BILHAH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BILHAH !!!!!!
Laban gave his servant girl Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maidservant. (GENESIS 29:29)
Had Bilhah known what this change in her life would mean, perhaps she would have run the other way. For seving Rachel meant more than looking after her and running her errands. When Rachel did not have children, she decided her husband, Jacob, should follow a custom of the day and take Bilhah as a concubine. According to the custom, Rachel would adopt Bilhah's children as her own. But instead of establishing a happy family, Rachel began a competition with her sister, Leah, Jacob's other wife, who had borne him four children. Eventually their face-off saddled Jacob withtwelve sons and a far-from-peaceful household, disrupted by two wives and two concubines, Bilhah and Zilpah. Though God used Bilhah to raise up some of Jacob's sons, who would eventually become leaders of the twelve tribes of Israel, her role was not a thoroughly pleasant one. 
# 2 _God established marriage as between one man and one woman (See GENESIS 2:24) to reflect His covenant. Ignore that, and your family life, like Jacob's, can become as confused as the plot of a modern-day soap opera. But God blesses marriages that reflect His covenant love. Fithful love ends soap-opera lives and establishes a firm family that can serve God well. Would that  describe your family? If not, what can you change?

BATHSHEBA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BATHSHEBA !!!!!!!
One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, "Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite? (2 SAMUEL 11:2__3)
Bathsheba must have been a real looker__a king was unable to resist her when he got a look at her from the roof of his palace. David sent messengers to bring the Hittite's wife to him, and then David slept with her. Scripture never seems to ask how Bathsheba felt about this. Was she offended at being commandeered by a knig, or was she flattered that he had noticed her? Whatever her response, she didn't have any say in her situation.
# 2 _Then, to her horror, Bathsheba discovered she was pregnant. In Jewish law, the punishment for adultery was death for both the man and woman. Fear must have struck this beauty's heart. Even if she though to pass the child off as her husband's, Uriah had been away at war and surely would know the child was not his. So she told David, and the king came up with a solution. He called Uriah back to Jerusalem, assuming Bathshe ba could entice him into a romantic interlude__and the problem would be solved.
# 3 _But the king, who had fallen into this sin when he should have been on the battlefield, did not count on the uprightness of this foreigner who had taken the Jewish faith to heart. Coming to the king as ordered, Uriah refused to so much as cross his own threshold. When others were camping out, readying for war, he would not sleep with his wife in Jerusalem. David made him drunk, but he still would not go home. Seeing no other alternative, and perhaps feeling growing guilt over his own sins, the king changed plans, commanding that Uriah should be placed in the heat of battle and left defenseless. The plan worked: Uriah died. 
# 4 _Bathsheba lost her husband at the connivance of her lover. Perhaps she initially felt relief at getting out of a very tight situation. But if her husband treated her tenderly, as Nathan's accusation of David in 2 Samuel 12:3 implies, she must at least have felt some emotional conflict.
# 5 _When Bathsheba's short period of mourning ended, David made her his wife. In a few moths, she gave him a son. Though the Bible never blames Bathsheba for the sin between herself and the king, she shared in his grief when God punished David by taking the life of their child. But God quickly blessed her with another son, Solomon, who was loved by God and would become one of Israel's greatest kings. She also had three more children (See CHRONICLES 3:5).
# 6_ Years later, Bathsheba stood up for her son's right to become king of Israel, when his older brother Adonijah sought to grab the throne from the aging David (See 1 KINGS 1:5__21). At her request, Daivd kept his promise to make Solomon king (See verse 29).
# 7_Still, Bathsheba must have been more kindhearted than politically savvy, for when Adonijah asked to marry Abishag, who'd been David's nurse in his old age, Bathsheba pled his case to Solomon. Solomon deeply loved his mother, if the great respect he treated her with is any sign (See 1 KINGS 2:19). But he immediately saw that his brother was again threatening his throne, denied her mission, and had his brother killed.
# 8 _Bathsheb's story is that of the second chance. Her life was turned upside down by a king's desire, and she was seduced into sin with him. But she didn't stay there. God gave her another chance as David's wife, and the rest of the biblical account shows her as a caring mother and concerned wife. No one accused her of further sin, and she lived blamelessly.
# 9 _When God gives us second chances, we can follow in Bathsheba's footsteps. As long we are alive, we are on a mission for Him. Wil we make ours as successful as hers? Remember this: Bathsheba is one of only four women mentioned in the lineage of Jesus (See MATTHEW 1:6)

ATHALIAH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ATHALIAH !!!!!!!!
# 1 _When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family of the house of Judah.  (2 CHRONICLES 22:10)
Athaliah, daughter of Israel's wicked king Ahab, is one of the bad babes of the Bible. Instead of being a godly mother, Scripture tells us she encouraged her son, Ahaziah, to do wrong (See 2 CHRONICLES 22:3). After becoming king of Judah, Ahaziah joined his uncle Joram, king of Israel, in a battle against Hazael, king of Aram. Following the battle, the warrior Jehu, who had already killed many of Ahaziah's heirs, wiped out Judah's king, too.
# 2 _When Athaliah heard the news, she immediately sought to kill off all her grandchildren so she could gain the throne. Once she did that, her claim would be reasonably uncontested. This power-hungry woman literally sacrificed her family on the alter of her own ambition.
# 3 _Had she been successful, the line of the Messiah would have been destroyed. So God placed a faithful woman, Jehosheba, near Ahaziah's son Joash. This half sister of the dead king saved her nephew and his nurse, hiding them in a bedroom. For six years the child king remained in hiding at the temple while his gradmother ruled (See 2 KINGS 11:2__4).
# 4 _In the seventh year of Athaliah's rule, the priest Jehoiada introduced Joash to the Iraelite war commaders. They covernanted with Joash and protected him while Jehoiada anointed him king. Hearing heard the noise of her grandson's coronation, Athaliah called out, "Treason!" but the troops ignored her objections and obeyed the priest. Removing her from the temple, they took her life in Jerusalems Horse Gate.
# 5 _Athaliah's actions are shocking. Few of us would sacrifice our childern or grandchildren to gain power. But sometimes our fast-paced, twenty-first century existence causes us to shortchange our family of time and attention. If our jobs always come first, we travel incessantly, or we plce our children too often in the hands of others, perhaps we've begun to make the same mistake as this wicked queen. We don't have to serve a pagan god or want to rule a nation in order to get our priorities mixed up.
# 6 _If we fail, we aren't bad babes in the mold of an Athaliah__but we do need to repent, confess our wrongdoing, and find a way to make changes. Maybe that means reorganizing our time, refusing a promotion, or working a part-time job. Whatever it takes, let's not sacrifice our families to get ahead. Because, in the end, we won't be ahead at all__either with our loved ones or the God we serve.

ANNA !!!!!!!!!

ANNA !!!!!!
There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at the very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.                                (LUKE 2:36__38)
# 2 _This is all we know of Anna__you've just read the whole biblical accout of her. But it is enough to give a thumbnail sketch of her character abd devotion to God. Her name means "gracious," and grace seems to have permeated her life. She married, but after her husband died, she dedicated the rest of her life to God. Hers was a service of many years; at eighty-four, this widow was still constantly in the temple. She may have lived within the temple confines or perhaps lived nearby and simply spent most of her time "at church" Certainly her fellow Jews would have honored her for remaining single and dedicating her life in devotion to her Lord.
# 3 _As a prophetess, Anna held a position of honor. Clearly God spoke to her as she remained in the temple, worshiping, fasting, and praying. Is it any wonder that when the Messiah first entered the temple, she walked in on Him and His parents? Surely God led her there, to be blessed by the sight of the One she had long hoped for. Immediately recognizing Jesus, she thanked her heavenly Father and spread the news to others.
# 4 _When we share Anna's ability to obey, we'll discover how gracious God has been to us. His spiritual blessings will spill over into our lives and others', too.

AHINOAM !!!!!!!!

AHINOAM !!!!!!
# 1_Abigail. . .went with David's messengers and became his wife. David had also merried Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both were his wives. (1 SAMUEL 25:42__43)
Nearly every time the Bible mentions Ahinoam, David's other wife, Abigail, appears, too. Though Ahinoam was first married to David, the wealthy Abigail seems to overshadow her. Ahinoam didn't even come from an impressive city, for Jezreel was only a town in the hill country of Judah. Since her name means "gracious," perhaps Ahinoam never made trouble__but she had to feel slighted.
# 2 _With David and Abigail she traveled to find protection among the Philistines, so Saul could not destroy her husband. While David went to war at the Philistine king Achish's side, the Amalekites raided his home at Ziklag, capturing Ahinoam and Abigail. David returned early to rescure the women. What a joyous moment it must have been for Ahinoam to see her husband and his troops, for she might otherwise have become a slave.
# 3 _After Saul died, David became king of Judah, and Ahinoam bore his son Amnon. Amnon would grow up ti dishonor his half-sister Tamar, but Ahinoam may never have known that__since she's not mentioned in the story, she may no longer have been living.
# 4 _Ahinoam has only a small part in biblical history, though she was the wife of a king. She may have been quiet and faithful, getting less press than Daviv's other wives. Like Ahinoam, can we take a backseat? Or would we become resentful, needing front-page attention to be satisfied??

ADAH !!!!!!!!!

ADAH !!!!!!!!!
Lamech married two woman, one named Adah and the other Zillah. (GENESIS 4:19)
# 1 _Lamech, a man of Cain's line, became the first poloygamist in Hebrew history, marrying both Adah and Zillah. Though it might have seemed fun to him, what a wreck it made of woman's lives for centuries. For though he was the first to do it, he was hardly the last Hebrew to think more wives were better. From his example came a long history of marital confusion, conflict, and disobedience to God.
# 2 _ The Bible describes Adah and Zillah's children, but does not tell us how their mothers got along. Yet if Hebrew family history is any example, they probably didn't have a smooth life. For God intentionally commanded that one man should marry one woman (See GENESIS 2:23__24). Those who disobey God pay a price, so marital harmony probably wasn't a part of this tenthold.
Lamech's rebelliousness didn't limit itself no marriage. He took vengence by killing a man who wounded him. Like Cain, he overeacted and failed to seek God's counsels.
# 3 _From Adah's story we learn the importance of following God's laws. What must it have been like to live with this angry man? And how could Adah share her husband with Zillah, yet understand God's complete commitment to those who love Him?
# 4 _This quick picture of Adah's life teaches us to let God control our marital choices. In Him, we'll experience the warm, loving relationship we're looking for. Apart from Him, we may feel only pain.