Chapter 19
Mothering Worth Mentioning
In This Chapter
Exploring the selfish motives of Sisera’s mother
Witnessing the moral confusion of Micah’s mother
Seeing how the woman of Tekoa influences King David
Observing the two mothers who seek advice from Solomon
Glimpsing at the honest life of the mother of Belshazzar
M any women of the Bible are described simply as mothers, without being named. The mothers we discuss in this chapter span the spectrum of good and evil, with some falling smack in the middle of mediocrity. Some women exhibit great faith in God and love for their children, and others show the worst of fallen human nature. Wise or foolish, generous or selfish, prideful or humble, these nameless women of the Bible are known by their roles as mothers.
Material Minded: Sisera’s Mother
Sisera’s mother was a woman whose priorities in life seem a bit skewed. She lived in the twelfth century BC. While her son Sisera, a Canaanite general, is away in battle, she has thoughts that seem out of place for a mother in her situation. Instead of typically worrying about his safety, the mother of Sisera is preoccupied with thoughts of the spoils of war he will bring her. She thinks of herself more than of her son. Ultimately, her story is sadly ironic — while she hopes and wonders about his return from battle for selfish reasons, she doesn’t know that he is already dead.
Sisera’s mother is waiting for him to return home from a war her son has lost. The Israelites, led by Deborah the Judge (see Chapter 10 for more on her), have defeated the Canaanites in an epic battle, conquering 100,000 Canaanite troops, led by Sisera, with only 10,000 of their own Israelite men. (See Judges 4:12–17 for more details.)
The mother of Sisera could have represented the pains and casualties of war, waiting and worrying about her son’s safety. But she doesn’t know her son has been defeated, and one night she peers out a window and wonders if her boy is late because his chariot is stuck. She wishes him home, not for his safety but for the gifts she hopes he will bring her. She eagerly anticipates the booty Sisera has captured: “Spoil of dyed stuffs for Sisera, spoil of dyed stuffs embroidered, two pieces of dyed work embroidered for my neck as spoil?” (Judges 5:30).
Meanwhile, Sisera has already been killed — and not honorably or for a good cause, the Bible says. After Sisera loses the war and becomes a cowardly fugitive, a woman named Jael tricks him into hiding in her tent. While Sisera is asleep, she pounds a wood stake into his head, fastening him to the ground. This gruesome death is contrasted with irony in the Song of Deborah in the Book of Judges. “Out of the window she peered, the mother of Sisera gazed through the lattice: ‘Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why tarry the hoofbeats of his chariots?’ “ (Judges 5:28). While Sisera’s mother impatiently awaits the return of her son, primarily for the nice gifts he will bring her, she has no idea that he has already died a gruesome death.
The Bible doesn’t mention Sisera’s mother after his death, and it doesn’t say when she discovers the bad news or what her reaction was. You can imagine the sadness, shock, and then guilt she must have felt when, after spending so much time and energy fantasizing about the goodies Sisera was going to bring her, she finds out that the most valuable prize, his very life, was taken from him.
Falsely Religious: Micah’s Mother
The story of Micah and his mother, who lives in the twelfth century BC, is a paradox of absurdities. The story of this nameless woman, mentioned briefly in Judges 17:1–4, goes something like this: When 1,100 silver shekels are stolen from Micah’s mother, she utters a curse upon anyone involved with the theft. Micah soon confesses that he stole the money. His mother then blesses him with the same lips that had just cursed him. And when the money is returned, she takes 200 of the 1,100 silver pieces to pay a smith to make an idol of the Lord God, a practice vehemently forbidden by the Mosaic law.
Many contradictory elements are at work in this story:
Micah breaks a commandment: “Thou shalt not steal.”
His mother does worse by cursing the thief, her own son, and practicing idolatry (Judges 17: 4–6).
Micah is repentant and confesses his actions, and his mother blesses him.
Their behavior shows moral and spiritual confusion on the part of both mother and son, and it’s a confusion that was heavily present during the time that they lived. Because there was no king, the land lacked a moral and spiritual leader, leaving the people to make their own decisions — often the wrong decisions.
The sin of Micah’s mother is one of false religion. The reason why the Hebrews were forbidden to make any images or idols of God is the same reason why they were forbidden to speak the sacred proper name of God. ( YHWH, from the verbal root meaning “to be.” Thus God’s name seems to mean “He who is” or “He who causes to be.”) Unlike the pagans who uttered names and made idols of their false gods in order to control or manipulate them, Jews were to trust completely in the God who can’t be seen and whose name they could not speak.
Zeus and Jupiter, Hera and Juno, Isis, and more had names and images, and if you had both, you could persuade the deities to grant any request. God, however, was so almighty and powerful that no one could control him, and no one dared say his name. The mother of Micah didn’t have a pagan idol, but one of the Living God. Yet, he forbade such things. Based on her cursing and idol use, she is shown to be — not a devout Hebrew — but someone of superstition.
Morally Influential: The Woman of Tekoa
Through an Oscar-worthy performance made for the greater good, the woman of Tekoa (described in 2 Samuel 14:1–20) played a part in securing Israel — at least for a short time. She lives in Israel in the tenth century BC, when David was king, and she is renowned for being a wise person, a devout Jew, and a moral influencer on a par with the likes of Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
The woman of Tekoa is called into service by King David’s general, Joab. She must travel from her home in Tekoa (approximately 12 miles from Jerusalem) to help address a situation in the royal family. King David’s son, Absalom (son of David and Maacah), had gone into exile for killing his brother Amnon (son of David and Ahinoam) in retribution for Amnon’s part in the rape of Absalom’s sister (and Amnon’s half sister), Tamar. The Law of Moses (Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17) required the death penalty for fratricide (bumping off your own brother). After three years, General Joab is afraid that if David dies, while his heir Absalom is banished and Prince Solomon (son of David and Bathsheba) is still a boy; then the kingdom is in jeopardy with no ruler.
Joab asks the woman of Tekoa to go to King David and pretend to be in mourning. The woman must present herself as a mother of two sons — one of whom has killed the other. She tells King David that her family is seeking justice and wants her only surviving son to be punished, according to the Law of Moses. (See 2 Samuel 14:5–7.)
But even though she mourns the unjust death of her son, she doesn’t want her other and only remaining son to die as well. She begs the king for his wise counsel and royal authority to prevent the destruction of her family.
The woman’s story is actually a parable about King David’s own family, and it serves its purpose well. It gets King David thinking about his own family’s situation. Soon David sees that he must rescind the exile order and forgive his older son, for the greater good of the nation of Israel, in spite of his anger at his son’s deed.
In any event, she speaks her words with conviction and intensity — and changes history in doing so.
Conflicted: The Two Mothers and King Solomon
The story of these two nameless mothers (see 1 Kings 3:16–28) has been told and retold through the centuries. These mothers go before the wise and clever King Solomon to solve a conflict. Their story sounds like an exaggerated episode of Judge Judy — except that these mothers can rely on the renowned wisdom of Solomon to decide their case.
The unwed women work as prostitutes in the same brothel and have recently given birth to sons. Unfortunately, one of their infant boys has died. Both women now appear before the king, claiming to be the mother of the surviving infant.
The first mother tells Solomon that on the night of the infant’s death, their babies were switched. She claims that her son is still alive and that she woke up with the other woman’s dead baby next to her side.
The second mother says that she is the mother of the living child now before the king. She claims that Mother #1 simply can’t accept that fact, which is why she has created the bizarre story of midnight baby swapping. Because both are ladies of the evening who live in a house of ill repute, no one can corroborate either one’s story.
With no DNA tests as evidence, all King Solomon had to go on was literally one mother’s word against the other’s — quite a pickle for even wise King Solomon. So the king, who had formerly asked God for the gift of wisdom to rule Israel, now tests his mettle. He orders a soldier to take his sword and cut the infant in half, giving each mother an equal part.
This peculiar command is not one that judges today would be issuing in court. Before the deed is done, the first mother shouts to stop the soldier before his sword can touch the child: “Please, my lord, give her the living boy; certainly do not kill him!”(1 Kings 3:26). The second mother responds, “It shall be neither mine nor yours; divide it” (1 Kings 3:26).
Solomon uses their reactions to figure out the real mother. He knows that the child’s real mother is the one willing to give him up rather than see him die. Solomon’s tactic is meant to elicit the maternal instincts of the real mom, and he succeeds.
The story and the solution still intrigue people thousands of years later. Solomon has shown great wisdom in being certain that the real mother would make the sacrifice of renouncing her claim in order that the child might live. He knows a mother’s love is this strong. While these two harlot mothers are not mentioned again in Scripture, the scene of them before Solomon has been portrayed in art throughout the centuries. Artists who have portrayed this scene include Bartholomäus Bruyn the Elder, Solomon’s Judgment , 1532; Nikolay Gay, The Judgment of King Solomon, 1854; and William Blake, Judgment of Solomon, 1827.
Cannibalism in the Bible
In 2 Kings 6:26–30, a bizarre Bible story deals with two mothers during a horrible famine. They both make a pact to kill their sons and share in eating them to stay alive. After the first mother does the unspeakable and both partake in cannibalism, the second one changes her mind and refuses to kill, let alone eat, her son, even though she joined the other mother the day before. The first cannibal mother approaches King Jehoram of Israel, complaining that her accomplice has broken their pact to mutually kill and consume their offspring to survive the famine. This Bible story isn’t one you’d tell little children, that’s for sure.
This macabre tale shows the absolute lowest level to which a mother could slip: survival by killing and consuming your own child. It is as revolting and reprehensible now as it was then. The fact that the Bible contains such a story is testimony that human beings are capable of great good and holiness or great evil and wickedness. Thankfully, the majority of mothers in Scripture are too decent and good to ever commit such heinous acts.
Voice of Reason: Belshazzar’s Mother
The mother of King Belshazzar (wife of King Nebuchadnezzar; seventh century BC) is not named in the Bible. As Queen Mother, however, she has significant influence and rules indirectly as regent while her son was too young to be king. As he grows up, Belshazzar proves to be a bit of a playboy who indulges himself too much and too often. His mother is a voice of reason and wisdom in the Babylonian kingdom, second only to that of the prophet Daniel.
The mother of Belshazzar may have regretted getting involved in her son’s affairs, because doing so spelled disaster for her people. But she was an honest and upright woman who preferred knowing the truth, no matter how painful. On one occasion, King Belshazzar invites 1,000 aristocratic guests to the palace and defiles the sacred gold cups his father King Nebuchadnezzar had stolen from the Temple of Jerusalem. While they guzzle wine and engage in debauchery, a dismembered hand appears out of nowhere and begins writing on the wall. Scared silly, the king pleads for anyone to interpret the foreign message. He promises to clothe this able man in purple, put a gold chain around his neck, and rank him third in the kingdom. (See Daniel 5:1–7 for the details.)
Belshazzar’s mother, the queen, enters the scene. She utters eloquent and wise advice to her no-good son. She suggests that he ask the person who gave sound counsel to his father before him, the man who interpreted the dream of Nebuchadnezzar when no one else was able. (Daniel 5:10–12 gives the account of the queen’s remarks to her son.)
“Mene, mene, tekel, peres” was the message written by the mysterious hand, which no one could translate. Heeding his mother, Belshazzar calls for Daniel, who immediately understands the cryptic note on the wall. Mene comes from the verb “to number”; tekel comes from the verb “to weigh”; and peres comes from the verb “to divide.” Thus Daniel interprets the message to mean the following: God has numbered the days of the kingdom and weighed King Belshazzar on the scales of justice. God has found him guilty, and he will divide the Babylonian Empire among the Persians and the Medes.
This prophecy came to pass. If her son had half of his mother’s integrity, his kingdom might never have been destroyed. That very night King Belshazzar died. His mother was mentioned in only these three verses and then no more. (See Daniel 5:24–31 for more details.)