"the Tale Of Two Mothers" Series

In Jesus Holy Name February 5, 2023

Text: Galatians 4:22-23 Redeemer

“The Tale of Two Mothers”

There is a great story in I Kings that explains the wisdom of Solomon. When Solomon became king after his father David died he prayed that God would give him wisdom to lead the nation of Israel. It was granted. Here is the story, you probably know it well.

“God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight…..as measureless as the sand on the seashore.” Two women came before him asking for his decision regarding their children. The two women both had a child. They were living in the same house. In the middle of the night one of the children died. The mother of the dead infant quietly slipped her dead child in the bed of the other mother and took her living child to her bed. In the morning, the mother saw that the dead child was not hers. (I Kings 3)

Standing in front of the King, the other woman was insistent that the living child was hers. The other mother was also insistent, and so they argued before the king. Then the king said, “bring me a sword.” He gave the order to cut the child in two and give each mother half a child. Immediately the mother of the living child was filled with compassion and said: “Give the living child to her. Don’t kill him.”

The king realized that she was the true mother and gave the living child back to her. “All Israel heard the verdict and held King Solomon in awe because of his wisdom.

In Galatians Paul tells the story of two women. Sarah and Hagar. As you may remember Abraham and Sarah were promised a son…but she could not conceive. After 25 years of trying Sarah finally suggested to Abraham to have a child by her Egyptian servant girl, Hagar. We could talk about Abraham and Sarah’s failure to trust God’s promise… It had been 25 years. Sarah may have meant well, but we suffer today in the middle East because of Abraham’s decision to go along with Sarah’s suggestion. The son born to Abraham and Hagar is Ishmael.

It was Josephus, a Jewish historian writing in the first century, who first

advanced the idea that Ishmael was the ancestor of the Arabs. In The Antiquities of the Jews Josephus stated that Ishmael was "the founder" of the Arabian nation, and Abraham was "their father". Well that may or may not be true.

But that is not where Paul takes us with the tale of two women. “These things may be taken “figuratively”, he writes. Two points Paul is making. Sons have a father. Slaves have a master.

“When the time had fully come… God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those under the law that we might receive the full rights of sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts…..” Galatians 4:4-5

“When the time had fully come”….By the first century, the Roman Empire had brought a universal peace, a common language and the best roads the world had ever known. The proliferation of false religions had created a spiritual hunger for something authentic. The political, religious, economic and social conditions were suited to the rapid spread of the message of hope and life by faith in Jesus. (Leonard Sweet article from Long Range planning)

In his book “The Knowledge of the Holy”, A.W. Tozer gives this example. It is a simple illustration of the plans of our sovereign God, He writes: “An ocean liner leaves New York bound for Liverpool. Its destination has been determined by proper authorities. Nothing can change it. This is a least a faint picture of sovereignty and the meaning of “When the fullness of time”….

On board the liner are scores of passengers. These are not in chains, neither are their activities determined for them by decree. They are completely free to move about as they will. They eat, they sleep, play lounge about on the deck, read, talk together as they please; but all the while the great liner is carrying them steadily onward toward a predetermined port…

The mighty liner of God’s sovereign design keeps its steady course over the sea of history. God moves undisturbed and unhindered toward the fulfillment of those eternal purposes which He purposed in Jesus before the world began. We do not know all that is included in these purposes but enough has been disclosed to furnish us with a broad outline of things to come and give us hope and assurance of our eternal salvation”…. and current well being as we live our lives.

“A. W. Tozer “The Knowledge of the Holy, The Attributes of God; Their Meaning in the Christian.”