Topical Bible: Mothers

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Topical Encyclopedia

Definition and Role:
In the Bible, mothers hold a significant and honored position within the family and society. They are seen as nurturers, caregivers, and primary educators of their children. The role of a mother is deeply intertwined with the spiritual and moral upbringing of the next generation, as well as the maintenance of the household.

Biblical Examples:

1. Eve · As the first woman and mother, Eve is recognized as "the mother of all the living" (Genesis 3:20). Her role sets the precedent for motherhood in the biblical narrative.

2. Sarah · The wife of Abraham and mother of Isaac, Sarah is a pivotal figure in the Abrahamic covenant. Her account highlights themes of faith and divine promise (Genesis 21:1-3).

3. Hannah · Known for her fervent prayer and vow to dedicate her son to the Lord, Hannah is the mother of Samuel, a significant prophet in Israel. Her account exemplifies faithfulness and dedication (1 Samuel 1:27-28).

4. Mary · The mother of Jesus, Mary is revered for her obedience and submission to God's will. Her role in the life of Jesus is central to the New Testament narrative (Luke 1:38).

Attributes and Responsibilities:

· Nurturing and Teaching: Mothers are often depicted as the primary nurturers and educators of their children. Proverbs 1:8 advises, "Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother."

· Wisdom and Guidance: The Bible frequently associates mothers with wisdom and guidance. Proverbs 31:26 describes the virtuous woman, saying, "She opens her mouth with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue."

· Compassion and Comfort: Mothers are often seen as sources of comfort and compassion. Isaiah 66:13 uses the imagery of a mother's comfort to describe God's comfort for His people: "As a mother comforts her son, so will I comfort you."

Cultural and Religious Significance:

In biblical times, motherhood was highly esteemed, and a woman's ability to bear children was often seen as a blessing from God. The cultural context of the Bible places a strong emphasis on the family unit, with mothers playing a crucial role in maintaining the spiritual and moral fabric of the household.

Spiritual Symbolism:

Mothers in the Bible often symbolize the nurturing aspect of God's character. The imagery of motherhood is used to convey God's care, protection, and provision for His people. This symbolism underscores the deep respect and honor afforded to mothers within the biblical tradition.

Challenges and Trials:

The Bible does not shy away from depicting the challenges and trials faced by mothers. From the sorrow of infertility experienced by women like Sarah and Hannah to the grief of losing a child, as seen in the account of Mary at the crucifixion, the Bible acknowledges the complex emotional landscape of motherhood.

Conclusion:

The biblical portrayal of mothers is rich and multifaceted, encompassing a range of experiences and emotions. Mothers are depicted as vital to the spiritual and moral development of their children, and their role is celebrated and revered throughout the Scriptures.

Greek

3389. metroloas -- a matricide
... Word Origin from meter and aloiao (to smite) Definition a matricide NASB
Word Usage kill* (1), mothers (1). murderer of mothers. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/3389.htm - 6k

4994. sophronizo -- to recall one to his senses, admonish
... sides of a matter. Doing this is vital to counseling young women (mothers)
in the will of God (Tit 2:4). [4994 () and 4993 () are ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/4994.htm - 8k

3384. meter -- mother
... a mother. Word Origin a prim. word Definition mother NASB Word Usage mother
(75), mother's (7), mothers (2). mother. Apparently ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/3384.htm - 6k

Strong's Hebrew

517. em -- a mother
... Word Origin from an unused word Definition a mother NASB Word Usage infancy* (1),
mother (145), mother's (67), mothers (5), mothers' (1), parting (1). ...
/hebrew/517.htm - 6k

Library

Down to the Mothers
... DOWN TO THE MOTHERS. ... Down to the mothers, as Faust went, I go, to the roots of our
manhood, Mothers of us in our cradles; of us once more in our glory. ...
/.../kingsley/andromeda and other poems/down to the mothers.htm

A Plea to Mothers.
... THE VALUE OF A PRAYING MOTHER CHAPTER XXV. A PLEA TO MOTHERS. Home as God intended
it is built upon the corner-stone of virtue and prayer. ...
/.../byrum/the value of a praying mother/chapter xxv a plea to.htm

Post-Nicene Mothers
... PART FIRST. WOMEN OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE V POST-NICENE MOTHERS. It requires
a considerable amount of imagination, coupled with a facility ...
/.../brittain/women of early christianity/v post-nicene mothers.htm

Mothers, Daughters, and Wives in Israel
... Chapter 9 Mothers, Daughters, and Wives in Israel. In order accurately
to understand the position of woman in Israel, it is only ...
/.../edersheim/sketches of jewish social life/chapter 9 mothers daughters and.htm

Mothers are Looking Down from Heaven.
... Mothers are Looking Down from Heaven. I remember in the Exposition building
in Dublin, while I was speaking about Heaven, I said ...
/.../moody/moodys anecdotes and illustrations/mothers are looking down from.htm

Altemus' Mother Stories Series
... ALTEMUS' MOTHER STORIES SERIES. MOTHER STORIES A Book of the Best Stories
that Mothers can tell their Children MOTHER NURSERY RHYMES ...
/.../mother stories from the old testament/altemus mother stories series.htm

Altemus' Mother Stories Series
... ALTEMUS' MOTHER STORIES SERIES. * * * * * MOTHER STORIES A Book of the Best
Stories that Mothers can tell their Children. MOTHER NURSERY ...
/.../mother stories from the new testament/altemus mother stories series.htm

Blessing the Children
... When the mothers came to Him with their little ones, the disciples looked on them
with disfavor. ... Thus several mothers came together, with their little ones. ...
/.../white/the desire of ages/chapter 56 blessing the children.htm

God's Jewels.
... I would speak most earnestly to you mothers, because as you are the earliest,
so are you the most powerful teachers of your children. ...
/.../the life of duty a years plain sermons v 2/sermon lxiii gods jewels.htm

The Voice that Waked the Dead --The Children of the Kingdom.
... There were many mothers with their children around them who came out of their low
white houses to follow Jesus in the way, and to listen when He sat down to ...
/.../lathbury/childs story of the bible/chapter xxxi the voice that.htm

Thesaurus

Mothers (27 Occurrences)
... Multi-Version Concordance Mothers (27 Occurrences). ... (WBS). Matthew 24:19 But woe
to those who are with child and to nursing mothers in those days! (WEB NIV). ...
/m/mothers.htm - 14k

Nursing-mothers (1 Occurrence)
Nursing-mothers. Nursing-fathers, Nursing-mothers. Nursling .
Multi-Version Concordance Nursing-mothers (1 Occurrence). ...
/n/nursing-mothers.htm - 6k

Mother (2641 Occurrences)
... motherhood was highly respected. Among the patriarchs women, and especially
mothers, occupy a prominent place. In Rebekah's marriage ...
/m/mother.htm - 17k

Fathers (572 Occurrences)
... Matthew 10:21 And brother will give up brother to death, and the father his child:
and children will go against their fathers and mothers, and put them to death ...
/f/fathers.htm - 39k

Nursing-fathers (1 Occurrence)
Nursing-fathers. Nursing-father, Nursing-fathers. Nursing-mothers . Multi-Version
Concordance ... (DBY). Nursing-father, Nursing-fathers. Nursing-mothers . ...
/n/nursing-fathers.htm - 6k

Ebb (1 Occurrence)
... Multi-Version Concordance Ebb (1 Occurrence). Lamentations 2:12 They tell
their mothers, Where is grain and wine? When they swoon ...
/e/ebb.htm - 7k

Swooned (3 Occurrences)
... (See RSV). Lamentations 2:12 They say to their mothers, Where is corn and
wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of ...
/s/swooned.htm - 7k

Sisters (20 Occurrences)
... Mark 10:30 but he will receive one hundred times more now in this time, houses,
brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land, with persecutions; and in the ...
/s/sisters.htm - 13k

Swoon (3 Occurrences)
... (See RSV). Lamentations 2:12 They tell their mothers, Where is grain and
wine? When they swoon as the wounded in the streets of the ...
/s/swoon.htm - 7k

Pouring (21 Occurrences)
... Lamentations 2:12 To their mothers they say, 'Where 'are' corn and wine?' In their
becoming feeble as a pierced one In the broad places of the city, In their ...
/p/pouring.htm - 13k

Resources

What does the Bible say about Christian mothers? | GotQuestions.org

What does God have to say to single mothers? | GotQuestions.org

Should all mothers be stay-at-home moms? | GotQuestions.org

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Concordance

Mothers (27 Occurrences)

Matthew 10:21
And brother will give up brother to death, and the father his child: and children will go against their fathers and mothers, and put them to death.
(BBE)

Matthew 19:12
For there are some eunuchs, who were so born from their mothers womb: and there are some eunuchs, who were made eunuchs by men: and there are eunuchs, who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.
(WBS)

Matthew 24:19
But woe to those who are with child and to nursing mothers in those days!
(WEB NIV)

Mark 10:30
but he will receive one hundred times more now in this time, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land, with persecutions; and in the age to come eternal life.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Mark 13:12
And brother will give up brother to death, and the father his child; and children will go against their fathers and mothers, and put them to death.
(BBE)

Mark 13:17
But woe to those who are with child and to those who nurse babies in those days!
(See NIV)

Luke 21:16
But you will be given up even by your fathers and mothers, your brothers and relations and friends; and some of you will be put to death.
(BBE)

Luke 21:23
Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who nurse infants in those days! For there will be great distress in the land, and wrath to this people.
(See NIV)

Ephesians 6:1
Children, do what is ordered by your fathers and mothers in the Lord: for this is right.
(BBE)

Colossians 3:20
Children, do the orders of your fathers and mothers in all things, for this is pleasing to the Lord.
(BBE)

1 Timothy 1:9
as knowing this, that law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS NAS RSV NIV)

1 Timothy 5:2
the elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, in all purity.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

1 Timothy 5:4
But if any widow has children or children's children, let these see that it is right to take care of their family and their fathers and mothers: for this is pleasing in the eyes of God.
(BBE)

1 Peter 2:2
Be full of desire for the true milk of the word, as babies at their mothers' breasts, so that you may go on to salvation;
(BBE)

Genesis 32:11
Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he come and strike me, and the mothers with the children.
(WEB NAS RSV NIV)

Exodus 1:21
And because the women who took care of the Hebrew mothers had the fear of God, he gave them families.
(BBE)

Exodus 22:30
In the same way with your oxen and your sheep: for seven days let the young one be with its mother; on the eighth day give it to me.
(See NIV)

Ruth 1:8
And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go back to your mothers' houses: may the Lord be good to you as you have been good to the dead and to me:
(BBE)

Job 31:15
Did not God make him as well as me? did he not give us life in our mothers' bodies?
(BBE NIV)

Proverbs 30:11
There is a generation that curse their father, and do not bless their mother.
(See RSV NIV)

Isaiah 49:23
Kings shall be your nursing fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers: they shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of your feet; and you shall know that I am Yahweh; and those who wait for me shall not be disappointed."
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT RSV NIV)

Jeremiah 15:8
Its widows have been more to Me than the sand of the seas, I brought in to them -- against the mother -- A young man -- a spoiler -- at noon. I caused to fall upon her suddenly, wrath and trouble.
(See RSV NIV)

Jeremiah 16:3
For thus says Yahweh concerning the sons and concerning the daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them, and concerning their fathers who became the father of them in this land:
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Jeremiah 31:8
Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her who travails with child together: a great company shall they return here.
(See NIV)

Lamentations 2:12
They tell their mothers, Where is grain and wine? When they swoon as the wounded in the streets of the city, When their soul is poured out into their mothers' bosom.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Lamentations 5:3
We are orphans and fatherless; Our mothers are as widows.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Hosea 10:14
And rise doth a tumult among thy people, And all thy fortresses are spoiled, As the spoiling of Shalman of Beth-Arbel, In a day of battle, Mother against sons dashed in pieces.
(See NAS RSV NIV)

Subtopics

Mothers

Mothers and Daughters

Mothers and Sons

Mothers Staying Home With Kids

Related Terms

Twenty-five (36 Occurrences)

Womb (84 Occurrences)

Twenty-nine (8 Occurrences)

Relative (33 Occurrences)

Sixteen (24 Occurrences)

Laban (52 Occurrences)