Mothers
By Eric Carlson on May 1, 2023
Mothers are the most honored women in the Bible. Great emphasis is laid upon the influence of mothers. The word “mother” or “mothers” appears in the Bible almost 300 times. The word “mother-in-law” appears 11 times and is always in reference to Naomi, mother-in-law of Ruth. The bibles great emphasis on the importance and influence of mothers is revealed in:
Ezekiel 16:44 Everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb against you, “Like mother, like daughter.”
Love of children is deeply engraved into the hearts of Hebrew women. The term mother is given and regarded with the deepest reverence. Mothers carry the gift of life! The flame of life which is the lamp of the Lord according to Prov 20:27, the Neshama (soul) is divinely placed within the baby inside the mother‘s womb, the cradle of life. Thereby woman are the keepers of the light! So many lives have been influenced and saved through the prayers of Mothers and Grandmothers.
Scripture speaks highly of mothers who raise their children and influence their families in a righteous manner; in the oft-quoted Proverbs 31, the “wife of noble character” is honored by her husband and children for her virtues.
As the spiritual light keeper, mothers have been given the privilege of ushering in the holy Shabbat by lighting the candles on Erev Shabbat, Friday evening, ushering in the brightness, the illumination of the Word of God into the home filling it with Shalom, peace, and harmony. Also, the Shabbat Candles are traditionally lit by the women because it was a woman who removed the light from the world (Eve) and it was a woman who returned the light to the world Miriam (Mary) who gave birth to Yeshua. It’s because of this understanding that in a Jewish or biblical home, the wife and mother is called “akeret Habayit” in Hebrew which means the “mainstay” or “keeper” of the home. It’s the mother who, for the most part, determines the character and atmosphere of the entire home.
It’s this character and atmosphere that makes a Biblical household different from a non-Biblical home. A godly mother’s home is maintained, immersed, and kept according to Gods commands, mitzvahs, and directives as outlined in the whole book! This establishes holiness and purity within the home making it an abode for Adonai’s Presence, a home of Godliness, according to:
Exodus 25:8 “They are to make me a sanctuary (Mishkahn: abode, dwelling, tabernacle, residence, meeting place) so that I may live among them.
Mothers create a biblical home where God’s Presence may dwell every day of the week; 24/7, during every day, ordinary activities such as meals, chores, sleeping, resting, even when watching Television or playing video games! We are given a directive to live in accordance with:
Proverbs 3:6 In all your ways (D’räkhey’khä: Derek: way, journey, path, manner, habit, of course of life, moral character) acknowledge him; then he will level your paths.
Mothers have been and are playing a critical role throughout the scriptures and the Kingdom of God. Being a mother was and is something that every Jewish girl dreamt of. The enemy understands the critical importance of identity and its associated calling! This is why we are experiencing such an overwhelming spiritual attack and battle over gender identity. It’s ironic that the enemy knows the word better than most believers who are blinded to what’s unfolding around them in greater society. This war against gender identity is based on a very specific promise God gave to women:
Genesis 3:13-15 ADONAI, God, said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman answered, “The serpent tricked me, so I ate.” 14 ADONAI, God, said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all livestock and wild animals. You will crawl on your belly and eat dust as long as you live. 15 I will put animosity between you and the woman, and between your descendant and her descendant; he will bruise (yeshufecha: bruise, crush, strike, attack) your head (Rosh: head -Adam, dominion authority), and you will bruise (yeshufecha: bruise, crush, strike, attack) his heel (akev: heel, rear, footprint, track, seize by the heel; to circumvent as if tripping up the heels, to restrain, to hold by the heel, take by the heel, stay or supplant,).”
This is a profound revelation and understanding for our mothers. Yes, HaSatan tricked Eve, but his actual target was Adam’s dominion, his headship, Rosh, over all creation so he attacked, struck, Adam through Eve. Adonai promises Adam and Eve that the restoration of Mankind’s Dominion will be through the woman striking, crushing, attacking HaSatan by supplanting him, holding him by the heel, restraining HaSatan through childbirth. Both woman and men are made in the image and likeness of God. Women are co-creators with God bearing life in their wombs. This is why men, that woman are our most precious gift from God. Just pause for a moment and ponder HaSatan’s continual onslaught, assault and attack on Gender Identity, Gender authority, and marriage. God has given very specific roles and assignments for men and women just as He has for Jew and Gentile. Sisters, as co-creators with God you are our physical and spiritual partners who retain the key to victory over the demonic forces of evil and hell! We can’t win without you! There still remains gender bias in some denominations today. In Romans 16 Paul talks about Phoebe – a congregation leader! Most of Yeshua’s support was from women! Yeshua brought freedom and liberation to women who had suffered cultural oppression and gender bias that is unscriptural and ungodly. HaSatan knows this as evident by his relentless attacks in this area! This is why men are told in:
I Peter 3:7 You husbands, likewise, conduct your married lives with understanding. Although your wife may be weaker physically, you should respect her as a fellow-heir of the gift of Life. If you don’t, your prayers will be blocked.
The very thought of being the mother who would birth the Messiah was something that inspired women throughout the Bible and history. The Promised One, Mashiach was prophetically known to be a baby boy. If a woman bore a son, her hope and prayer was that he would be the Messiah. If she had a girl, she dreamed that her grandson might be the coming Redeemer. This is the reason why we repeatedly see times in scripture where all male babies were ordered killed such as Egypt when a prophesied redeemer was coming:
Exodus 1:15-16 Moreover, the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was called Shifrah and the other Pu’ah. 16 “When you attend the Hebrew women and see them giving birth,” he said, “if it’s a boy, kill him; but if it’s a girl, let her live.”
When the prophesied Messiah was known to be coming and King Herod asked the visiting Magi to tell him where the young Messiah was, they left Jerusalem on a different road to avoid revealing where Yeshua was:
Matthew 2:16 Meanwhile, when Herod realized that the Magi had tricked him, he was furious and gave orders to kill all the boys in and around Beit-Lechem who were two years old or less, calculating from the time the Magi had told him.
The honor and prophetic destiny of being a mother is profoundly revealed through the most well-known mother in scripture, Miriam the mother of Yeshua! She was given the great privilege of being the mother of our Mashiach, the Mother of God. Imagine Adonai’s Son as your own child! Such a great honor that Adonai blessed and chose her. Yet there was a reason. Adonai saw in her great integrity, honor, character, humility, and boldness. She was told by the angel exactly who her Son was. She understood the great responsibility God placed upon her.
Luke 1:26-33 In the sixth month, the angel Gavri’el was sent by God to a city in the Galil called Natzeret, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man named Yosef, of the house of David; the virgin’s name was Miryam. 28 Approaching her, the angel said, “Shalom, favored lady! ADONAI is with you!” 29 She was deeply troubled (diatarasso {dee-at-ar-as’-so}: disturbed, troubled, to cause one inward commotion, remove calmness of mind, disturb ones composure, to disquiet, make restless, to stir up one’s spirit, to strike ones spirit with fear and dread, render anxious, distressed) by his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Miryam, for you have found favor with God. 31 Look! You will become pregnant, you will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Yeshua. 32 He will be great, he will be called Son of Ha`Elyon. ADONAI, God, will give him the throne of his forefather David; 33 and he will rule the House of Ya`akov forever — there will be no end to his Kingdom.”
First, Miriam was a young mother full of hope, prospects, and dreams for a happy and successful future! As any young mother is! Experiencing a God encounter (I can empathize) quickens the soul. There is a profound sense of awe, wonder, and fear when approached by God! Troubled is the least descriptive term to convey the wide range of emotions she was experiencing as all her senses are being flooded, overwhelmed by the presence of God. All this takes place before the angel tells her who she will give birth to! Let me pause for a moment with a disclaimer. Motherhood isn’t a mitzvah, a command, or a requirement for women to be godly. Not in temple times, not today! Then like today not every woman wanted children and not every woman who wanted children were granted them. Biblical, godly mothers and matriarchs serve as examples of honor, integrity, character, steadfastness, loyalty, and commitment that all of us, regardless of who we are, male or female, parent or not, must strive to emulate and live like. Myriam was troubled, her spirit was stirred by this heavenly, supernatural invasion in her life! She was quite aware of the cultural stigma, oppression, and even rejection of women 2,000 years ago who bore children out of wedlock (though in her case this wasn’t the situation, but people would gossip, slander, and judge her regardless). Through all of this Myriam remained faithful, she honored and fulfilled God’s plans in her life for the life of God’s Son Yeshua!
Motherhood alone is daunting! It can be overwhelming under normal circumstances. In Myriam’s case how much more so? Yet she graciously and humbly said Hinenni to Adonai in this great honor! As a Jewish woman, a Jewish mother she knew it was her responsibility that her son be raised in biblical culture, what today would be called a Jewish Home, but that word didn’t exist 2,000 years ago. She would ensure Yeshua regularly attended Shabbat, kept the Feast Days, worshiped, and prayed to the God of Israel. Her success in raising Yeshua and her deep, intimate relationship with God’s Son is revealed powerfully in:
John 2:1-4 On Tuesday there was a wedding at Kanah in the Galil; and the mother of Yeshua was there. 2 Yeshua too was invited to the wedding, along with his talmidim. 3 The wine ran out, and Yeshua’s mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” 4 Yeshua replied, “Mother, why should that concern me? — or you? My time hasn’t come yet.”
Motherhood creates an eternal bond between mother and child. Humanity has coined a term for this bond: “Mothers Intuition”. It’s a product of the Ruach, the Holy Spirit. Intuition is the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning. Untold millions of babies and children have been saved from dangerous, life-threatening situations by “Mothers Intuition”! Moms unexplained sudden urge to find their child, to go to them, knowing something is wrong. This bond never ends between mother and child. Mothers know your mood and feelings without your communicating it to them, they know when you’re happy, when you’re upset, when you’re sick, and when you’re faking it!
This all plays out profoundly in Yeshua’s first miracle. First, both He and His mother are at a Jewish Wedding! How do I know (other than Yeshua and Myrian are Jewish)? In Temple times weddings were traditionally and culturally performed on Tuesdays. Still, in Israel today Tuesdays are the preferred day to perform Weddings. Second, we know it’s a Jewish wedding because there is wine, sorry to all my evangelical brothers and sisters, it is positively, absolutely, not grape juice at the wedding, it was wine. There are seven specific Hebrew words for wine found throughout the word of God and not one of them means grape juice.
Verse three is where the motherhood of Myriam comes out. She seems to inconsequently make a remark to Yeshua that the wine has run out. There are volumes of unspoken communication passing between Yeshua and Myriam. That bond between them, even though He is divine, He is still in a human body. Myriam’s “Motherly Intuition” is working in overdrive here. To someone who isn’t her child she is merely stating a fact, but Yeshua reads between the lines, He knows exactly what she means without any embellishment or additional communication. Yeshua’s reply in verse 4 explains it all: “Mother, why should that concern me? — or you? My time hasn’t come yet.”
She was aware, through her “Mothers Intuition”, through the Ruach HaKodesh that Her Sons time indeed has come! In true Jewish, motherly fashion she doesn’t argue with Yeshua, or cast doubts on His ability or source of power. I believe all the words that had been spoken to her regarding Yeshua by the Angel, by Zechariah, by all those who had interacted with him throughout His life flooded into her at this moment. She had revelation and knowledge of who He was, what He could do, and the source of His power and quietly, even humbly in an unconditional mothers love tells the servants do what He (Yeshua) tells you to do and Yeshua and the servants take action:
John 2:5-11 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Now six stone water-jars were standing there for the Jewish ceremonial washings, each with a capacity of twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Yeshua told them, “Fill the jars with water,” and they filled them to the brim. 8 He said, “Now draw some out, and take it to the man in charge of the banquet”; and they took it. 9 The man in charge tasted the water; it had now turned into wine! He did not know where it had come from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew. So he called the bride groom 10 and said to him, “Everyone else serves the good wine first and the poorer wine after people have drunk freely. But you have kept the good wine until now!” 11 This, the first of Yeshua’s miraculous signs, he did at Kanah in the Galil; he manifested his glory, and his talmidim came to trust in him.
I believe this was a glorious moment for this humble Jewish mother, yet I also believe it was a most painful, grievous one. She knew what his destiny was! So when His first miracle came to pass it was both the beginning and the end. It joyous and sorrowful at the same time!
It is still a wonderful privilege to be a mother today. The Bible says that children are a heritage from the Lord (Psalm 127:3). They are a blessing, a gift from God. Whether mother or father, we should all strive to be like these mothers and teach our children about God and His Word. May we honor all of our mothers this Mother’s Day!