“GIVE ME CHILDREN OR I DIE!” – THE IMPORTANCE OF MOTHERHOOD IN ANCIENT - AND MODERN - ISRAEL by Bobbie Ann Cole

 

Over and over in the Bible, we come across distressing stories of barrenness among Jewish women.  

This is strange, given that, during their period of slavery, we read that, “The Hebrew women (were) not like Egyptian women. They (were) vigorous and gave birth before the midwives arrived,” (Exodus 1:19).

At that time, the Children of Israel were reproducing so fast that the Egyptians became fearful! (1.13).

Shiprah and Puah (Ex.1:15-21)

TROUBLE CONCEIVING

Prior to the Exodus, Sarah, Rebecca and Rachel all had trouble conceiving, but God intervened, rendering their offspring especially precious.

·       Sarah, who was so old, that she laughed to hear she would bear a child. Her son, Isaac (“He will laugh”), would succeed his father, Abraham, as founder of the nation of Israel.

·       Isaac’s wife, Rebecca, could not conceive, so Isaac prayed and she bore Esau and Jacob.

·       Jacob loved Rachel but was tricked into marrying her elder sister, Leah who was super fertile when Rachel was not. Jealous, Rachel cried, “Give me children or I die!” (Gen.30:1).She bore Joseph, his father’s favourite who would save the Hebrews and Egyptians from a famine. Rachel died giving birth to a second son, Benjamin.

JESUS’ LINE

·       Later, in the time of the judges, Ruth, a Moabite, faced infertility. Her mother-in-law, Jewish Naomi, was past conceiving when all the family’s men died. It looked as if Naomi’s husband Elimelech’s line would die out. But Ruth and Redeemer husband, Boaz (“Strength”), bore Obed (“Worshipper”),future grandfather to the great King David and ancestor to our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

A VOW

·       Hannah, first wife of Elkanah, desperately wanted children. Second wife, Peninnah, who was fertile, lauded it over her. Hannah wept and prayed for a child. She vowed that, if God would give her a son, she would devote him to a life of service to God. She bore, Samuel (“Hears God”), and kept her vow. He would become a renowned prophet and judge.  

ELIZABETH AND MARY

·       In the New Testament, Elizabeth, of the Tribe of Levi and wife of priest Zechariah, was desperate for a child, though old. Serving in the Temple, Zechariah met the Angel Gabriel, who said they would have a son. Zechariah doubted but, in due course, Elizabeth bore the future John the Baptist. Elizabeth’s story appears side by side in Luke 1 with the Annunciation to Mary that she, a young virgin, would bear the son of God. And Mary soon bore Jesus.

Finally, after all these tales of woe, we have Mary’s story, in which she goes to the opposite extreme of the other biblical heroines already mentioned. She had likely only just then begun menstruating and, being young, betrothed and not yet married, was probably not yet ready to consider having children.

MOTHERS IN ISRAEL

We can understand the frustration and misery of women today who want children and do not conceive. They want children because they want a family, like others do.

But there was a whole other, additional rationale in biblical Israel.

To this day, Israel has a higher birth rate than most western, and some African, countries. Since biblical times it has been a Jewish woman’s purpose in life to be a Mother in Israel.

First and foremost, they please God by reproducing in response to God’s command in Genesis 1:28: “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it.”

Biblical Jewish couples particularly wanted sons to be heirs to the family property, keeping it within the family name. Your husband would delight in you if you bore him a son to carry on his line, (although solutions were found when there was no male to inherit).

There is still among observant Jews a preference for sons, perhaps because of restrictions on the religious practice of women among the Orthodox.

A son would also take care of his mother in her old age. Any woman living alone was vulnerable and needed a male protector.  A widowed mother could usually count on her son to take care of her. Doing otherwise would bring dishonour on his own name.

A place and a name have always been important to Jews, who have spent millennia wandering far from their Promised Land, in both biblical and post-biblical times. The Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem is called Yad VaShem, from the Bible verse: ″And to them will I give in my house and within my walls a ΄yad vashem΄ (a memorial and a name) that shall not be cut off.″ (Isaiah 56:5).

A Place and a Name — goes to the heart of Jewish purpose: that your line be remembered in the Land is everything.  

 

 

Bobbie Ann Cole is a writer, speaker, teacher and book coach.

She is writing about the real Mary of Nazareth, whose profound story is relatable to many of us. It’s the biggest writing challenge of her life.

Find out more about Bobbie.

TODAY, July 3^rd, at 7.30 pm UK time / 2.30 pm Eastern, you can join Bobbie in a discussion about book marketing: RAISING READERS. 

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