Biblical Mothers

Biblical Mothers

God loves us all and would like everybody to be saved. If you've had a difficult life, remember it could have been worse. With your faith and the helping hands of God life can be much sweeter and better. Ladies and gentlemen, whether you have parented a single child, several children, or none at all, I'd venture to say you've never had to endure such harsh and unpleasant life-choices that are about to be presented here for your attention.

To set the scene, let's open with the trials and troubles of Jerusalem's population, around 586 BC. That city was suffering from the divine, though totally justified, judgment of God. All of which was predicted by Jeremiah. Possibly, he might have been the author of the book of Lamentations, documenting the misery and mourning recorded therein. Let's begin there with an ugly narration from chapter 4, verse 10, where the New King James Version displays a rather grotesque truth quite plainly. “The hands of the compassionate women have cooked their own children; they became food for them in the destruction of the daughter of my people.” What a horribly sad commentary about people starving for food and seemingly lacking all hope under the dark and dangerous shadows of the wrath of God.

A similar accounting can be read from Second Kings 6:26-29 about an event that took place in Samaria. The king of Israel was walking on the wall around the city. A woman shouted out to him. She said, “My lord and king, please help me!” The king replied, “If the Lord does not help you, how can I help you? I cannot give you grain from the threshing floor or wine from the wine press.” Then he said to her, “What is your trouble?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give me your son so that we can eat him today. Then we will eat my son tomorrow.’ So we boiled my son and ate him...”

Unfortunately, distasteful tales of bad biblical mothers abound throughout the Bible. Consider Athaliah, whose very name meant “afflicted by God.” She was the wife of King Jehoram and because of his sins, the Lord inflicted him with a disease of the bowels. The king suffered from this for two years before dying from that affliction. After his untimely death, his son Ahaziah was crowned king. Athaliah directed her son towards several devilish schemes and used her influence to further establish Baal worship in Judah. Queen Athaliah happened to be away when an assassin arrived and killed Ahaziah. After the death of her son, this evil queen ordered the wanton murders of all the remaining royal family. However, Athaliah carelessly missed one of her grandsons—the newborn infant Joash. Illegally, she took the throne, the seat of power for herself. She was the only female-sovereign to govern from David’s throne in all biblical history.

After Athaliah reigned for six years, a high priest, Jehoiada, ordered the palace guards to surround the temple. Six year old Joash was brought forward and publicly crowned as the rightful king. As the new king was anointed, the people clapped their hands and shouted, “Long live the king!” Athaliah, overhearing the commotion in the palace courtyard, guessed what was happening. She began shouting, “Treason! Treason!” Then, the high priest commanded the troops to capture queen Athaliah and execute her. As a side note to this account, the young King Joash reigned for forty years, and was one of the outstanding kings of Judea, some two and a half centuries before its destruction at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.

Possibly the worst mother in the Bible was Herodias, a princess of the Herodian dynasty of Judea during the time of the Roman Empire. Initially, she was the wife of Phillip, who was the brother of king Herod II. This Herod, Herod Antipas, was one of the sons of Herod the Great who had 14 wives. Herod II divorced his first wife, a daughter of King Aretas of Arabia.

According to Josephus, when Herod II visited to his brother Philips estate, he and the still wedded Herodias fell in love and made plans to get married. Thus, Herodias was the sacrilegious spouse who left her husband Phillip in sinful lust. Therefore, her marriage to Herod was illegitimate from day one.

As God willed it, John the Baptist began his ministry during the reigns of Philip and Herod Antipas (Luke 3:1). In the course of his impassioned preaching and denunciation of all sin, John “rebuked Herod Antipas not only because of his marriage to his brother’s wife, Herodias, but for all the other evil things being committed. As a direct result of John's fiery public admonishments, Herod II had John the Baptist tossed into prison” (Luke 3:19–20).

Matthew 14:3–5 provides additional details of this wickedness: “Now Herod had John arrested, bound him, and put in prison because Herodias has first been the wife of his brother Philip. John had been telling Herod II, “It is not lawful for you to have her.' For sure, Herod wanted to kill John. He feared John, knowing him to be righteous and holy, but he was afraid of the people because they considered John a prophet.” Likewise, Herodias, Herod's wife, also hated John and wanted him killed. “So the grudges against John smoldered until Herodias had a spark of an evil idea. She and her daughter Salome's (daughter by Herodias' first husband) conspired to have John the Baptist executed.