Image from www.sirc.org
[Mother’s Day follows Labor Day —- wonder if the holiday planners made an unconscious connection between the two? We are resurrecting this post which analyzes how women in scripture fared in their roles as individuals with free choice, as wives, as mothers, and other roles they were limited to in their culture. Not surprisingly even in patriarchal narratives, women actually had a ‘voice’ and in fact ‘led’ men (husbands, sons) in decision making. It didn’t always go well, but the record of their counterparts—male biblical figures—were just the same, all humans are prone to committing mistakes and making unwise decisions when they follow their will over and above the revealed Divine Will in any circumstance. So here’s a short list of notable women, named or unnamed.—Admin1]
When we look for role models for mothers in the Bible, the track record for the women who are mentioned for what they did or did not do, is not all that impressive in some cases though surprising in others.
Consider Eve. Not the best role model for the first woman nor the first mother. Her name in Hebrew is Hawwah, for “living one” or “source of life”. “Eve” is from the Greek Eua, heua. She was named by Adam, who was given by the Creator the assignment and hence privilege of naming all the animals and all things living. Hebrew names are usually descriptive, but to non-Hebrew speakers these descriptive words are taken for names. Eve is rightly named, for it is she, the woman, and not the man, who is given the privilege [and later after the curse of painful childbirth] of carrying to full term and birthing humans.
Having had no role model of a mother to teach her how to mother and raise her children, we see her firstborn, Cain, turn into everything a mother would not wish for — a murderer of her other son. Was she a failure? We keep forgetting that while one son made wrong choices, another son seemed to have done right, at least in the only act for which he is commended by the Creator HImself — a pleasing offering. And there’s yet another son, Seth, from whom the line of other biblical figures like Noah and Abraham supposedly descended.
The next mother figure is practically invisible in the flood narrative, this would be Mrs. Noah. And yet she figures in birthing and mothering three sons — Jepthah, Shem, and Ham —-who would repopulate the earth again after all mankind has been wiped out. The wives of these sons are mentioned only in connection with their husbands, just like Noah’s wife.
Mrs. Abraham —Sarai later changed to Sarah [princess]—could not be a mother without God’s help and promise to her husband Abraham. She, like Eve, is not the best role model to emulate. For one, her faith in God’s promise to Abraham was weak, so she convinces Abraham to father a child through her maid Hagar. Then she sends off Hagar not once, but twice. She holds the track record, as far as we know, of birthing a son in her old age, something she herself could not believe and laughed when she first heard the promise. To her credit, she did produce an obedient son, Isaac. It has been speculated that her death was a result of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac because the narrative mentions her death thereafter.
Rebecca is next in line. She is sought out not by Isaac but by Abraham through his servant Eliezer. She marries Isaac, bears him twins, and since Isaac favored the older twin Esau, she favored the younger twin Jacob. She teaches Jacob to be conniving and together they manage to fool Isaac into giving the birthright and blessing to the younger twin. The rest of the story is recorded in Genesis 25-33.
The mothers of the 12 sons of Jacob get to be confusing, if one reads casually. There are two sisters, Leah and Rachel, and two servant-concubines Bilhah [Rachel’s servant] and Zilpah [Leah’s servant]. From these four women are born the 12 sons of Israel:
- Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah [Leah];
- Dan and Napthali [Bilhah];
- Gad and Asher [Zilpah];
- Issachar and Zebulun [Leah];
- Joseph and Benjamin [Rachel].
Such an extended family from the patriarch Jacob renamed Israel shows some complicated relationship between the sisters:
- Rachel is more loved than Leah,
- one is fertile while the other is barren,
- maidservants get into the picture due to the rivalry.
The effect on the next generation is not discussed, but trouble in a family such as this is to be expected. Two last tidbits related to this generation: there is one daughter born to Jacob and Leah, this is Dinah who is raped by Hamor, the prince of Shechem. Simeon and Levi, her brothers, exact vengeance and this has consequences on their future. Then there’s the firstborn of Jacob, Reuben, he defiled his father’s bed with Bilhah so he loses his birthright as firstborn to the sons of Joseph born in Egypt from an Egyptian mother. Read all about it in Genesis 34 and 35.
By the time we get to the Moses narratives, women are key to the early years of this greatest of biblical figures. He owes his being born first to YHWH of course, then the midwives who did not obey Pharaoh’s orders to kill all the male babies, then to Jochebed who gave him birth and put him on a floating cradle with sister Miriam watching closeby when the Egyptian princess discovers him and claims him as her adopted son. Midwives, mother, sister, princess—save the life of the man to whom YHWH not only reveals His Name, but His plan of redemption for His yet-to-be-formed nation. And then there’s Zipporah who connects Moses with the Midianites.
One more mother worth mentioning would be Naomi in the story of Ruth. Bereft of husband and two sons who die in the land of Moab, she turns bitter and releases her daughters-in-law before returning to her homeland but one, Ruth, chooses to return with her, giving one of the best quotes for gentile proselytes: “Your people will be my people, your God will be my God.” Ruth marries Boaz and mothers Obed who is the ancestor of David.
Next in line would be Bathsheba who became David’s wife under most sinful circumstances [adultery and murder] and yet she mothers the third king of Israel, Solomon, to whom is given the privilege of building the magnificent Temple in Jerusalem. Unfortunately, despite the wisdom Solomon is given which he himself asked for, he hardly applied that wisdom as King, having ended up with 700 wives and 300 concubines. The united monarchy which he inherited from his father David split into two, not the greatest legacy for a supposed “wise” king.
So . . . what is the influence of women and motherhood in a patriarchal society? Did they make a difference in the lives of Israel’s patriarchs and their progeny? Yes, of course . . . though it appears, at least in this short list of stories where some women contributed to making life complicated for their husbands and their sons, that unfortunately, some hands that rocked the cradle also rocked the boat!