Mother
MOTHER
The Hebrew words AM and AB, mother and father, are simple and easy sounds for infant lips, like mamma and papa in English. See ABBA. “Before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and My mother,” Isa 8:4 . In addition to the usual meaning of “mother,” AM sometimes signifies in the Bible grandmother, 1Ki 15:10, or some remote female ancestor, Gen 3:20 . It is put for a chief city, 2Sa 20:19 ; for a benefactress, Jdg 5:7 ; for a nation, as in the expressive English phrase, “the mother country,” Isa 3:12 49:23. The fond affection of a mother is often referred to in Scripture; and God has employed it to illustrate his tender love for his people, Isa 49:15 . Mothers are endowed with an all-powerful control over their offspring; and most men of eminence in the world have acknowledged their great indebtedness to maternal influence. When Bonaparte asked Madame Campan what the French nation most needed, she replied in one word, “Mothers.” The Christian church already owes much, and will owe infinitely more, to the love, patience, zeal, and self-devotion of mothers in training their children for Christ.
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Mother
See Family.
Fuente: Dictionary of the Apostolic Church
Mother
A title used to designate the superioress of a large community or congregation of religious women. It is used principally to designate the superior general of an entire congregation, the provincial superior, if the congregation be divided into provinces, and sometimes to designate the local superior of an independent community. In some communities, as in the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, it is the title of a professed religious.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Mother
( , em, a primitive word; Gr. ; but mother-in-law is , chamoth’; once , chothe’neth, Deu 27:23; Gr. ). “The superiority of the Hebrew over all other contemporaneous systems of legislation and of morals is strongly shown in the higher estimation of the mother in the Jewish family, as contrasted with modern Oriental, as well as ancient Oriental and classical usage. SEE WOMAN. The king’s mother, as appears in the case of Bathsheba, was treated with especial honor (1Ki 2:19; Exo 20:12; Lev 19:3; Deu 5:16; Deu 21:18; Deu 21:21; Pro 10:1; Pro 15:20; Pro 17:25; Pro 29:15; Pro 31:1; Pro 31:30)” (Smith). “When the father had more than one wife, the son seems to have confined the title of ‘mother’ to his real mother, by which he distinguished her from the other wives of his father. Hence the source of Joseph’s peculiar interest in Benjamin is indicated in Gen 43:29 by his being ‘ his mother’s son.’ The other brethren were the sons of his father by other wives. Nevertheless, when this precision was not necessary, the step-mother was sometimes styled mother. Thus Jacob (Gen 37:10) speaks of Leah as Joseph’s mother, for his real mother had long been dead. The step-mother was, however, more properly distinguished from the wombmother by the name of ‘father’s wife.’ The word mother’ was also, like FATHER, BROTHER, SISTER, employed by the Hebrews in a somewhat wider sense than is usual with us. It is used of a grandmother (1Ki 15:10), and even of any female ancestor (Gen 3:20); of a benefactress (Jdg 5:7), and as expressing intimate relationship (Job 17:14).
In Hebrew, as in English, a nation is considered as a mother, and individuals as her children (Isa 1:1; Jer 1:12; Eze 19:2; Hos 2:4; Hos 4:5); so our ‘mother-country,’ which is quite as good as ‘father-land,’ which we seem beginning to copy from the Germans. Large and important cities are also called mothers, i.e., ‘mother- cities’ (comp. metropolis, from the Greek), with reference to the dependent towns and villages (2Sa 20:19), or even to the inhabitants, who are called her children (Isa 3:12; Isa 49:23). ‘The parting of the way, at the head of two ways’ (Eze 11:21), is in the Hebrew ‘the mother of the way,’ because out of it the two ways arise as daughters. In Job 1:21 the earth is indicated as the common mother, to whose bosom all mankind must return.'” The term is also applied to a city as the parent or source of wickedness and abominations; as “Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots ” (Rev 17:5). The Church, as the Bride, is spoken of as the mother of believers (Isa 49:14-22; Isa 56:8-12; Psa 87:5-6; Gal 4:22; Gal 4:21); and the sentiment, at once so mild and so tender, which unites the mother to her child is often alluded to in the sacred volume to illustrate the love of God to his people (Isa 44:1-8; Isa 56:6-12; 1Co 3:1-2; 1Th 2:7; 2Co 11:2). SEE CHILD.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Mother
Honored in Israel as she is not in the East generally; one superiority of Judaism over other contemporary systems (1Ki 2:19). King Solomon rose up to meet and bowed himself unto Bathsheba, and set her on his right hand (Lev 19:3). Figuratively, a city is mother of the surrounding villages its daughters (Jos 15:45; 2Sa 20:19). Ezekiel (Eze 21:21) uses “mother of the way” for the parting of the way into two roads which branch from it, as from a common parent; however, Havernick, from a Arabic idiom, translated it as “the highway.”
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Mother
MOTHER.Concerning the relations of Jesus with His mother, and her influence upon His training, we can but infer that the mother of such a son must herself have been an exceptional personality. See art. Mary (Virgin). Professor W. M. Ramsay, in his Education of Christ, shows how thorough was the instruction given to the Jewish youth. With this the mother had much to do. Granted that religious genius is not to be accounted for by environment, there still remains the overwhelming probability that the feminine qualities in the character of JesusHis graciousness, gentleness, and sympathyfound a congenial setting in the home at Nazareth. Had it been otherwise, some hint of the fact must have been given in the records of His public ministry. It has been contended that such a hint is given in Mar 3:31 ff., an incident which also finds a place in the other Evangelists. Another is Mat 10:35-37 || Mar 10:29, Luk 12:53; Luk 14:26. But it should not be overlooked that these hyperbolical expressions by no means involve the repudiation of the filial tie. They are rather designed to mark the thoroughness with which the religious life should be embraced, the higher love absorbing and transforming the lower. The emphasis with which, in other connexions, Jesus denounces contemporary sins against the filial relationship is a proof that with Him the ideal life did not consist with holding it in contempt (Mar 7:10-13, Mat 15:4-9). The filial relationship is to be superseded only by the greater sacredness of the conjugal (Mat 19:5, Mar 10:7). In His response to the question of the rich young ruler Jesus emphasizes the command to honour father and mother (Mat 19:19 etc.), but (Mat 19:29 etc.) loyalty to the truth as expressed in Himself is made to take precedence of all other ties. The reason for this insistence is obvious, and has been abundantly illustrated in the history of the worlds benefactors.
Concerning our Lords dealings with other mothers than His own, few details are given in the Gospels. It is noteworthy that the mother of Zebedees children (Mat 20:20) goes unrebuked, as does the action of the mothers who brought their children to Him (Mar 10:13). His sympathy with motherhood may be inferred from these incidents, as also from the healing of the daughter of the Canaanitish woman (Mat 15:22, Mar 7:26). The same is implied in the pathetic phrase (Luk 23:28) uttered on the way to Calvary. In nothing is the uniqueness of Jesus more clearly seen than in this kind of reverence for womanhood, so unexpected in a religious teacher of His time (Joh 4:27). See Woman.
Literature.F. W. Robertson, Serm. 2nd ser. xviii. xix.; Rendel Harris, Union with God, ch. iv.; Stalker, Imago Christi, ch. ii.; A. Morris Stewart, Infancy and Youth, of Jesus, p. 105.
R. J. Campbell.
Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels
Mother
MOTHER.See Family, 3.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Mother
The name is too tender, too common, and too interesting to need much explanation; but though it is not necessary, in the ordinary acceptation of the word, to dwell upon it by way of explaining its meaning, yet it may not be amiss to remark the general application of it. As a woman who brings forth a child is by virtue of it immediately called a mother, so the church, which brings forth children to God in Christ is called “the Jerusalem which is above, who is the mother of us all.” (Gal 4:26.) The name is applied to all that carry this kind of maternity. The synagogue is called the mother of the Jews. Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, (saith JEHOVAH by the prophet) which I have put away?–here mother means the synagogue. (See Isa 1:1.) Babylon is called the mother of harlots, Rev 17:5. An holy matron is called a mother in Israel, 2Sa 20:19; Jdg 5:7. Our grave is called by Job our mother’s womb, Job 1:21.
Fuente: The Poor Mans Concordance and Dictionary to the Sacred Scriptures
Mother
muther (, ’em, mother, dam, ancestress; , meter): In vain do we look in the Scriptures for traces of the low position which woman occupies in many eastern lands.
1. Her Position in the Old Testament
A false impression has been created by her present position in the East, especially under Mohammedan rule. Her place as depicted in the Scriptures is a totally different one. Women there move on the same social plane with men. They often occupy leading public positions Exo 15:20; Jdg 4:4; 2Ki 22:14. The love of offspring was deeply imbedded in the heart of Hebrew women, and thus motherhood was highly respected. Among the patriarchs women, and especially mothers, occupy a prominent place. In Rebekah’s marriage, her mother seems to have had equal voice with her father and Laban, her brother Gen 24:28, Gen 24:50, Gen 24:53, Gen 24:55. Jacob obeyed his father and his mother Gen 28:7, and his mother evidently was his chief counselor. The Law places the child under obligation of honoring father and mother alike Exo 20:12. The child that strikes father or mother or curses either of them is punished by death Exo 21:15, Exo 21:17. The same fate overtakes the habitually disobedient Deu 21:18-21.
In one place in the Law, the mother is even placed before the father as the object of filial reverence Lev 19:3. The Psalmist depicts deepest grief as that of one who mourneth for his mother Psa 35:14. In the entire Book of Proverbs the duty of reverence, love and obedience of sons to their mothers is unceasingly inculcated. The greatest comfort imaginable is that wherewith a mother comforts her son Isa 66:13.
2. Position in the New Testament
And what is true of the Old Testament is equally true of the New Testament. The same high type of womanhood, the same reverence for one’s mother is in evidence in both books. The birth of Christ lifted motherhood to the highest possible plane and idealized it for all time. The last thing Jesus did on the Cross was to bestow His mother on John the beloved as his special inheritance. What woman is today, what she is in particular in her motherhood, she owes wholly to the position in which the Scriptures have placed her. Sometimes the stepmother is spoken of as the real mother Gen 37:10. Sometimes the grandmother or other female relative is thus spoken of Gen 3:20; 1Ki 15:10.
Tropically the nation is spoken of as a mother and the people are her children Isa 50:1; Jer 50:12; Hos 2:4; Hos 4:5. Large cities also are mothers (2Sa 20:19; compare Gal 4:26; 2 Esd 10:7), and Job even depicts the earth as such Job 1:21.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Mother
The ordinary applications of the word require no illustration; but the following points of Hebrew usage may be noticed. When the father had more than one wife, the son seems to have confined the title of ‘mother’ to his real mother, by which he distinguished her from the other wives of his father. Hence the source of Joseph’s peculiar interest in Benjamin is indicated in Gen 43:29, by his being his mother’s son.’ The other brethren were the sons of his father by other wives. Nevertheless, when this precision was not necessary, the step-mother was sometimes styled mother. Thus Jacob (Gen 37:10) speaks of Leah as Joseph’s mother, for his real mother had long been dead. The step-mother was however more properly distinguished from the womb-mother by the name of ‘father’s wife.’ The word ‘mother’ was also, like father, brother, sister, employed by the Hebrews in a somewhat wider sense than is usual with us. It is used of a grandmother (1Ki 15:10), and even of any female ancestor (Gen 3:20); of a benefactress (Jdg 5:7), and as expressing intimate relationship (Job 17:14). In Hebrew, as in English, a nation is considered as a mother, and individuals as her children (Isa 50:1; Jer 50:12; Eze 19:2; Hos 2:5; Hos 4:5); so our ‘mother-country,’ which is quite as good as ‘father-land,’ which we seem beginning to copy from the Germans. Large and important cities are also called mothers, i.e. ‘mother-cities’ with reference to the dependent towns and villages (2Sa 20:19), or even to the inhabitants, who are called her children (Isa 3:12; Isa 49:23) [WOMAN].
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Mother
The law commanded that honour was to be paid to a mother as well as to a father. In nearly all cases the mothers of the kings of Israel are mentioned as well as the fathers. The wise woman who appealed to Joab as ‘a mother in Israel,’ was at once listened to. 2Sa 20:19. A mother has naturally great influence over her children, whether for good or evil, as Jochebed the mother of Moses, and Jezebel the mother of Athaliah. The children of the virtuous woman arise and call her blessed. Pro 31:28. Timothy had a faithful mother and grandmother. 2Ti 1:5. There are also ‘mothers’ in the church, who have the Lord’s interests at heart in the welfare of the saints, as Paul called the mother of Rufus his own mother also. Rom 16:13.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Mother
General references
Exo 20:12; Deu 5:16; Mat 19:19; Mar 10:19; Luk 18:20; Eph 6:2; Exo 21:15; Exo 21:17; Lev 18:7; Lev 19:3; Lev 20:9; 1Ki 19:20; Pro 1:8; Pro 6:20; Pro 10:1; Pro 15:20; Pro 19:26; Pro 20:20; Pro 23:22-25; Pro 28:24; Pro 29:15; Pro 30:11; Pro 30:17; Mat 10:37; Mat 15:4-6; Mar 7:10-12; 2Ti 1:5 Children, Commandments to; Parents
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Mother
Mother. The superiority of the Hebrew, over all contemporaneous systems of legislation and of morals, is strongly shown in the higher estimation, of the mother in the Jewish family, as contrasted with modern Oriental, as well as ancient Oriental and classical usage. The king’s mother, as appears in the case of Bath-sheba, was treated with special honor. Exo 20:12; Lev 19:3; Deu 5:16; Deu 21:18; Deu 21:21; 1Ki 2:29; Pro 10:1; Pro 15:20; Pro 17:25; Pro 29:15; Pro 31:1; Pro 31:30.
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
MOTHER
Father and mother are words which, in all languages, may figuratively signify the author or producer of a thing.
A city which has great dominions under it, and consequently several other cities, is frequently called a mother,f1 in respect of those cities which are therefore, by analogy, her daughters. Nay, a city may be called a mother, in respect of the inhabitants; as in Isa 49:23; and therefore, in the symbolical language, mother is explained of the patria, or country, or city. See Suetonius in Jul. Cs. sec. 7, and Artemidorus, L, ii. c. 82, where he says, “that to dream of lying with one’s mother, denotes the obtaining of power in one’s own country -mother being the symbol of one’s country.
F1 Ezek 23; Hos 2:2; Hos 2:5; Hos 4:5; Isa 50:1.
Fuente: A Symbolical Dictionary
Mother
is used (a) of the natural relationship, e.g., Mat 1:18; 2Ti 1:5; (b) figuratively, (1) of “one who takes the place of a mother,” Mat 12:49-50; Mar 3:34-35; Joh 19:27; Rom 16:13; 1Ti 5:2; (2) of “the heavenly and spiritual Jerusalem,” Gal 4:26, which is “free” (not bound by law imposed externally, as under the Law of Moses), “which is our mother” (RV), i.e., of Christians, the metropolis, mother-city, used allegorically, just as the capital of a country is “the seat of its government, the center of its activities, and the place where the national characteristics are most fully expressed;” (3) symbolically, of “Babylon,” Rev 17:5, as the source from which has proceeded the religious harlotry of mingling pagan rites and doctrines with the Christian faith.
Note: In Mar 16:1 the article, followed by the genitive case of the name “James,” the word “mother” being omitted, is an idiomatic mode of expressing the phrase “the mother of James.”
denotes “a matricide” (No. 1, and aloiao, to smite); 1Ti 1:9, “murderers of mothers;” it probably has, however, the broader meaning of “smiters” (RV, marg.), as in instances elsewhere than the NT.
“without a mother” (a, negative, and No. 1), is used in Heb 7:3, of the Genesis record of Melchizedek, certain details concerning him being purposely omitted, in order to conform the description to facts about Christ as the Son of God. The word has been found in this sense in the writings of Euripides the dramatist and Herodotus the historian. See also under FATHER.
Fuente: Vine’s Dictionary of New Testament Words
Mother
Jdg 5:7 (a) Deborah as the deliverer of Israel took care of the people of GOD as though they were her own children.
Isa 50:1 (a) Israel as a united nation is compared to a wife or a bride who begat the great multitude of the people of Israel. The nation had turned away from GOD as a wife turns away from her husband. (See Hos 2:2; Hos 4:5; Hos 10:14).
Jer 50:12 (a) Those who founded and established the great city of Babylon are described in this manner. They formed this mighty, powerful group, they nourished the Babylonians, and taught them to war. The Lord describes the heathen gods and their customs as having been those who moulded Israel into their present evil condition. They followed the gods of the Hittites and the Amorites.
Eze 19:2 (a) The strong, able founders of Israel are compared to a mother lion. The nature was fierce, and their attitude cruel. They were no longer the sheep of His pasture.
Eze 23:2 (a) This type probably refers to the one kingdom which existed under Solomon. It was afterwards divided into two kingdoms, which are mentioned as the two daughters.
Mat 12:49-50 (a) Our Lord indicates that there is a very close and sweet relationship between Himself and those who love Him enough to leave all other associations just to live with and for Him.
Rom 16:13 (a) The servant of GOD who leads GOD’s people has that sweet, tender care for them and looks after their best interests as we find in the family relationship.
Rev 17:5 (a) This term probably refers to the Roman Catholic church. Most of the large denominations have emerged from that tremendous system, and have carried with them some of the grave clothes, the habits, the ways and the customs of the Roman church. Some of these “daughters” are so near like the mother church that it is difficult to distinguish them from her.