GODLY
MOTHERS IN THE
HOLY BIBLE
“Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have
compassion on the son of her womb?
Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you.” (Isa. 49:15)
Here God is comparing His love, mercy and compassion
to the mother’s love for her children.
This shows mothers have the same attributes of God when it comes to
relationship with their children. The
woman described in Proverbs 31 is the model for all Christian mothers to
follow. She has a way of living that
brings fulfillment and contentment. She
exhibits a lifestyle of work and love based on godly wisdom.
“She watches over the
ways of her household,
And does not eat the
bread of idleness.
Her children rise up
and call her blessed;
Her husband also, and
he praises her:
"Many daughters
have done well,
But you excel them
all."
Charm is deceitful and
beauty is passing,
But a woman who fears
the LORD,
she shall be praised.
Give her of the fruit
of her hands,
And let her own works
praise her in the gates.”
(Pro. 31:27-31)
There are many examples of godly mothers in the Holy
Bible. We shall study three of them.
Jochebed, Real
Mother of Moses
The name Jochebed means "Yahweh
is glorious"
Jochebed was a woman
who loved her children.
She was the wife of Amram and the daughter of Levi. She had three children, two sons and a
daughter. They were Aaron, Moses, and
Miriam. (Numbers 26:59)
Jochebed
must have been a godly mother who dedicated all her children to the Lord and
His service. And perhaps because of
this all three of them would grow up to become leaders in Israel.
Aaron,
the oldest, became the first priest (Exodus
28:1). Both his parents were descended from the tribe of Levi and
it was from this line that the priesthood would come.
Miriam,
her second child and only daughter, became a prophetess (Exodus 15:20).
Moses
became the deliverer of the Israelites at the hands of Pharaoh in Egypt. God had a special assignment for Moses so He
made arrangements for his salvation. Under God's divine guidance Jochebed played
a part in her son's salvation.
Jochebed placed her
faith and trust in God.
“And a man of the house of Levi went and
took as wife a daughter of Levi. And
the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a
beautiful child, she hid him three months. (Ex. 2:1-2)
The
Bible says here, and in the book of Hebrews, that Moses' mother knew, when he
was born, that he was a beautiful child and a proper child (Hebrews 11:23). Now every mother believes
that her child is wonderful. But this is not what the Bible is talking about.
Jochebed knew that Moses was special to God, not just to her. Jochebed took
great pains to keep Moses hidden from Pharaoh after his birth. When he was
three months old she built a small ark and lovingly placed her child in the
little floating "vessel" and sent him on his way.
Now
what made her think that sending Moses down the river would keep him out of
harm's way? Look back at Exodus
1:22, "And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, “Every son who is born you shall cast into the
river, and every daughter you shall save alive."
The children that were murdered by Herod when Jesus was born were killed with
the knife and sword. Pharaoh's orders were to drown these children.
The
very river that was the final resting place of all the male Hebrew children
born at that time would become the means by which Moses was carried to safety
and kept alive.
Jochebed
gave her child to the Lord for his service.
“But
when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed
it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the
river's bank. And his sister stood afar
off, to know what would be done to him. Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down
to bathe at the river. And her maidens walked along the riverside; and when she
saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it. And when she had opened it, she saw the
child, and behold, the baby wept. So she had compassion on him, and said,
"This is one of the Hebrews' children." (Ex. 2:3-6)
Jochebed
knew Moses was in God's hands and that He would guide the ark she put him in.
The Bible doesn't say if she sent Miriam to follow the ark or Miriam went on
her own. I don't think Jochebed was worried about what would happen to Moses.
She didn't know what lay in his future but she did know that God was going to
take care of her son.
Jochebed
was an unselfish woman.
“Then
his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and call a nurse for
you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?" And Pharaoh's daughter said to her,
"Go." So the maiden went and called the child's mother. Then Pharaoh's daughter said to her,
"Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your
wages." So the woman took the child and nursed him. And the child grew, and she brought him to
Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. So she called his name Moses, F4 saying,
"Because I drew him out of the water." (Ex. 2:8-10)
She
gave up her son to be raised by, not only another woman but a heathen woman.
This could not have been easy for her even though she had two other children.
It's never hard for a mother to part with her child, especially a baby, no
matter what the circumstances. But I believe God blessed her for her
unselfishness.
She
was allowed to nurse the child and to keep him until he was weaned. In Biblical
times a child was weaned at around the age of two or three and in some cases
maybe as old as five. (Many Scripture references say the "child" was
weaned, not the "baby.") In whatever time she had with him, since she
would have been his first teacher, she instilled in him his heritage as a
Hebrew. She not only gave him physical food, her own milk, but she taught him
about God and gave him spiritual food to grow on. This is something he would
never forget. When he was ready she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter to raise
as her own son.
Jochebed
was Moses' real mother.
“By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused
to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer
affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of
sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in
F54 Egypt; for he looked to the
reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for
he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.” (Heb. 11:24-27)
Jochebed
prepared her son to live with someone else and for God's service. Yet Moses
never forgot who his real mother was or the training she gave him. Moses would find out later how important the
values were that his mother instilled in him at that early age. His love for
his people or for his God never left him. And his love for his mother lasted a
lifetime.
Jochebed
was not only a great woman but she was also an example of what a godly mother
should be.
Hannah
– Mother of Samuel
’For this child I prayed’ (1 Sam. 1. 27)
Hannah
shines in the Bible’s example of a godly mother because she had prayed. She had
prayed a mother’s prayer. No human ear heard that prayer. ‘Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her
voice was not heard’, but the Lord heard. We may be sure that as he
grew older, little Samuel would know he was the answer to his mother’s prayer.
Even his name testified that he was ‘Asked of God’.
Samuel was
brought up in a godly and well-ordered home. His father Elkanah and his family
were accustomed to go every year to Shiloh ‘to worship and to sacrifice unto
the Lord of hosts’, and when he was weaned, Samuel was taken to Shiloh and
presented to the Lord, for so had his mother vowed when she prayed. At Shiloh,
Samuel ‘ministered before the Lord, being a child girded with a linen ephod’.
What a
contrast there is between the child Samuel and the two sons of Eli, ‘whose sin
was very great before the Lord’, and, ‘who knew not the Lord’. Such sad words were spoken of those in the
public offices of religion. Even in
those days, however, this religious center of the nation was corrupt. ‘Men
abhorred the offering of the Lord’. There was flagrant immorality even within
the sacred precincts and at the door of the tabernacle. Eli was old and his
sons were unrestrained and profane. No wonder the spiritual life of the entire
nation was impoverished and Israel’s fortunes were at its lowest point. ‘Like
people, like priest’, for the priests had rejected knowledge and forgotten the
law of their God (Hos. 4. 6, 9).
Yet Shiloh
was still honored by the Lord, the tabernacle there is called ‘the house of the
Lord’, and the ‘temple of the Lord’, because the Ark of the Covenant was there
(1 Sam. 1. 9, 24; 3. 3). The Lord still would have His people honor His Name
there. There were also devout souls like Hannah, the spiritual remnant in the nation,
but sadly Eli did not have the spiritual discernment to recognize her true
devotion to the Lord. He assumed she
was drunk with the wine of excess. Women like Hannah shine for God in dark
days, and are still examples to us today. Her great song of thanksgiving shows
us her high conception of the Lord and her appreciation of what He had done (1
Sam. 2. 1-10).
Light was
coming to the nation. Samuel grew and the Lord was with him. In time, the Lord
spoke to him and revealed Himself unto him, and all Israel knew that ‘Samuel
was established to be a prophet of the Lord’. The word of the Lord was precious
(or rare) in those days, and there was no open vision. Yet, now, the Lord was
speaking again through Samuel, because Hannah had prayed.
The church has need of such praying mothers, and the Lord will bless them as He
blessed Hannah. Indeed, He will bless them abundantly for, denied of her first
son, it is recorded that, ‘she bore three sons and two daughters’ (1 Sam. 2.
21).
Samuel
became a man of prayer and was distinctive among the people. His prayer
ministry is referred to in 1 Samuel 12. 23. Did Samuel become a man of prayer
because of his mother’s example? Did not his mantle remind him constantly of
his mother’s love and her desires for him to be ‘lent to the Lord’ (1 Sam. 1.
28). What fragrant memories Hannah has left to us, exemplified in her
prayed-for and prayed-over son, Samuel.
Mary
is a Role Model for Mothers who are Women of God.
“Then
the angel said unto her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary: for you have found favor with
God. And, behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bring forth a Son,
and shall call his name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the
Son of the Highest.” (Luke
1:30-32)
Being
a mother is something very special. It is an awesome responsibility. Any child
is a gift from God and the rearing of children is one of the most important
things a parent has to do. We thank God
for what our mothers do and have done to rear us in a fashion that honors God.
The
love and caring of a mother starts before we are even born. With Mary it
started with a humble obedience to the will of God. When she learned of her
role in bringing Jesus into the world, she replied to the angel, “Behold
the maidservant of the Lord; Let it be to me according to your word
(Luke 1:38). As frightened as she must have been from
seeing an angel, she answered God's call to duty. She cared for her yet unborn
child when she visited her cousin Elizabeth. Even while she was pregnant, she
helped her cousin in the last few months before Elizabeth gave birth to John
the Baptist (Luke 1:39-56). Mary followed the customs of worship when she
brought Jesus to be circumcised according to the law (Luke 2:21). She made
worship a priority in her life even while Jesus was an infant.
Mary
protected the baby Jesus from harm by fleeing to Egypt when an angel warned
Joseph that King Herod would try to destroy him (Matthew 2:12-14). She
took Jesus to the feast of Passover where he stayed in the temple when he was
twelve years old (Luke 2:41-50). It was important for her to take her child to
the temple, just as a godly mother today would bring her children to church.
She attended the wedding in Cana and encouraged her son to perform his first
miracle. Mothers encourage us to be our best. She was always concerned for his
safety. One time when he had so many people following him they couldn't even
enter the house it was so full, and she wanted to be sure he was alright (Mark
3:21,31-35). Mothers will naturally be concerned for our safety.
Mary
followed Jesus to the cross and watched in horror as they crucified the Lord of
Life. She loved her son and must have
cried as he entrusted her care to John from the cross (John 19:25-27). She
visited the tomb on the morning of resurrection and her grief turned to joy
when she saw the empty grave! A mother is devoted and sticks by her children
through good times and bad times. What a wonderful example we have of
motherhood when we consider the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Be sure to
thank God for your mother today and tell her how much you love her.
A Sermon based on this Article was preached by Paul Wong
to a Congregation in Houston, Texas on
May 11, 2002
For comments please write first to: ark@pdq.net
May God bless you.
Updated on 02/12/04
Paul Wong is a Christian minister and the President of ARK International.
His ministry also serves as an architectural service company in Houston.
The ARK Forum on the Internet is international and non-denominational.
 |
Click here to this Website |
|
Write to: |
