1 Kings 3:16-28 Motherly Love
Intro: Read: "What Is a Mother?" from Tale of the Tardy Ox Cart, p.395.
A mother does all the things listed because she loves her children.
In order to help illustrate a Mother’s love, we turn today to one of the best known stories in the entire Bible. This story is known around the world as an illustration to the wisdom of Israel’s third king, Solomon.
Obviously, we aren’t condoning this mother’s lifestyle, but I do we can see some things about a mother from this story.
Prop: We should all realize the love our mothers have their children & be thankful for them.
I. A mother’s love is universally well known (16-28).
A female’s maternal instincts and human compassion are known the world over.
I am quite sure you could go to the deepest, darkest, most remote place on the earth and this would hold true.
This is true of animal mothers…
No one wants to get between a momma & her baby….
Ill. #1: Some of you may remember in our study of 2 Samuel, when Absalom leads a rebellion against David, one of his advisors said go after and kill David right away. However, his other advisor, Hushai, warned Absalom "… thou knowest thy father and his men, that they [be] mighty men, and they [be] chafed in their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field: …"(2 Sam. 17:8). Hushai was trying to get him to picture the meanest and angriest thing he could think of, and a momma bear robbed of her cubs did the job quite well… It did it so well, that Absalom followed his advice.
No hunter, in his right mind wants to get between a momma and her baby…
I learned this lesson myself at a very young age, when over visiting at the "family farm."
Ill. #2: When I was just a little kid, I got between a mother hen and her chicks, let me tell you this much, I didn’t stay there for very long as she charged me with her wings all furled out…
This is just as true of human mothers…
Solomon, in his wisdom, uses this well known fact. This knowledge is what enabled him to successfully try the case.
Solomon no doubt learned what a mother’s love is like from his mother, Bathsheba.
What does Solomon know about a mother’s love?
II. A mother’s love is nurturing (21).
This mother rose in the morning to nurse her baby boy.
For a mom, sleeping in, is usually out of the question. There is a child who needs to be cared for. This mom got up in the morning (dawn, at the breaking through of the daylight).
It is true that these ladies didn’t have anyone else to help them.
But, the responsibility for taking care of the children, especially as babies, usually falls
on the mother.
If your kids are going to eat, and eat healthy, it will usually depend on the mom.
Ill: Pastor Musgrave only fed his kids French fries….
Ill: Totally forget to feed them…
Mom’s this means that you need to be disciplined, get to bed at a decent time after putting the kids to bed and getting up in the morning to take care of your children….
This is what a loving mother does, because a mother’s love is nurturing.
Trans: A mother’s love is not only nurturing, but it is also Resourceful…
III. A mother’s love is resourceful (16).
A mother uses all means at her disposal to take care of her children.
This mom took this case to the Supreme Court. Going to the King was like the highest court in the land.
She didn’t give up. She kept on fighting for her child.
There is no way of knowing how many times prior to this that she has pleaded her case before someone….
She kept appealing to higher & higher powers…
Typically, there isn’t anything or anyone more tenacious than a mother fighting for her child. It doesn’t matter who or what gets in the way. You better watch out if it is you.
IV. A mother’s love is attentive (21).
"consider" in v.21 has idea of perceiving pertinent data by using your senses.
Can’t you just see the likely scenario.
This mom gets up to nurse her baby. She finds the baby dead. She would have likely taken the child in her arms, sobbing & holding the baby, thinking her child is dead. No doubt later, she starts thinking more clearly. This mom begins looking at & examining the baby. She must be in shock as she begins to think, "this isn’t my baby…"
She tells Solomon in v.21 "Behold, it was not my son, which I did bear."
This mom can identify this baby, though very young (presumably still just a few days old).
No doubt, she had spent countless hours looking after this young child by bathing him, counting his toe & fingers, rocking him, singing to him, and looking him over very closely as she hold him close to her….
Dad’s aren’t so much like that.
We see them, and check to make sure all the parts are there and they seem to be working…. We change them, feed them, burp them, & then we put them down.
Ill: Remember when the wise men came to Joseph & Mary to see Jesus. The Bible says in Luke 2:19 "But Mary kept all these things, and pondered [them] in her heart.
"Note that the Bible says, Mary pondered those things in her heart – Joseph was there too, but it is interesting that the Scriptures only mention Mary. I think this shows the difference between a mom & a dad.
A mom, knows what her child did, who you did it with, what you were wearing, and the last thing you said before you left the left the house on January 12th 2002. But, a dad doesn’t even know what he did on Jan. 12th 2002, much less know what his child did.
V. A mother’s love is sacrificial (26).
We already mentioned how she got up in the morning.
Mothers will often willingly & gladly forego sleep, and other comforts all for the sake of their children. They will do without new clothes, new furniture, a new car….. so that their child can have music lessons, the clothes, food and medical care that they need,
Not only that, but a mom will sacrifice even greater for the sake of the child.
Many moms would willingly give their own life, if they could spare the life of their child. No doubt this mom here would have, but that wasn’t an option.
We see here, that this mom would have given this child up, before letting him be harmed in some manner.
1 King’s 3:26 says her bowels "yearned".
"yearned" is word that means to be warm or hot. According to the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (TWOT), it is a word that expresses "the emotions of filial attachments."
The word "filial," according to Webster’s, means "befitting a child in relation to his parents."
It was this love, unique to a mother, that caused her to say, "O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it" (v.26).
Ill: In Ex. 2:1-10, it was because of this sort of love that Moses’ mother too, was willing to give him up hoping that he wouldn’t be harmed.
Evidently, she placed him in that basket hoping someone would adopt baby Moses.
Yes, a loving mom will sacrifice for the sake of her children.
Ill.: Remember the Susan Smith story?
This is the mother who told police that a man approached her in order to take her car while her kids were in it. She got out and let that man take her car and her kids without a life & death fight. That story seemed odd to me & to Kim too. Her actions didn’t seem to jive with how we expected a loving mother to act. Sure enough, we found out later the car wasn’t stolen, but she had driven the car into that lake herself…
A loving mother would sacrifice her life, and even be willing to give up the child for the sake of the child.
You see, a mother sacrifices every day for her children, through all the hard work that she does.
Read: "Housewife’s Lament" from Tale of the Tardy Ox Cart, p.397.
Conclusion:
We have a special day set aside on our calendar, because of the things we see right here in 1 Kings 3. It is set aside because:
- A mother’s love is universally well known.
- A mother’s love is nurturing.
- A mother’s love is resourceful.
- A mother’s love is attentive.
- A mother’s love is sacrificial.
Invitation: Mom – is your love like this? Is your love universally well known around your house? All of us – do we really appreciate our moms for all that they do, have done for us?
