Great Mothers of the Bible

1. Read: Psalm 113:1-9

2. About the Text:

1) This is a great Psalm about God’s attributes.

2) While it discusses the greatness of God, it also discusses God’s humility.

3) He humbles himself to help men (v.6).

4) Who does God help?

a. The poor (v.7).

b. The barren woman (v.9).

5) He lifts up the poor.

6) He gives the barren woman a home and makes her a mother.

7) God wanted women to be mothers.

8) Being a mother is a great and honorable thing, and highly valued by God.

3. Ref. to S, T, P, O, and A.

1. We are all familiar with the story of Moses birth.

1) A new Pharaoh rose who did not know Joseph.

2) He enslaved the children of Israel, but they continued to flourish.

3) He instructed the midwives to kill the boys that were born (Exodus 1:16-17).

4) The Pharaoh then commanded every son to be cast into the Nile (Exodus 1:22).

2. Moses was born.

1) Jochebed did not throw Moses into the Nile.

2) She hid Moses for three months to keep him alive (Exodus 2:2).

3) When she couldn’t do this anymore, she put him in a ark of bulrushes.

4) She ensured that it would not sink, and put it in the reeds by the bank.

5) Pharaoh’s daughter came to bathe.

6) She found the child and adopted him; Jochebed was hired to be the nurse.

7) He was called Moses which means “drawn out” (Exodus 2:10).

3. Jochebed was a great mother because . . .

1) She did not obey Pharaoh’s immoral and wicked command – Psalm 47:8 – “God reigns over the nations; God sits on His holy throne.”

2) She sought a way to protect herself and the child.

3) She was able to rear Moses for his formative years and teach him about God – Ephesians 6:4.

1. Hannah’s background.

1) Her husband, Elkanah, was of the priestly tribe of Levi, of the family of Kohath (1 Chronicles 6:33-38).

2) She was one of his two wives.

3) “Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children” (1 Samuel 1:2).

4) This situation was exacerbated by Peninnah provoking her (1 Samuel 1:6).

2. Hannah’s devotion to God.

1) In her bitterness, she prayed to God (1 Samuel 1:10).

2) She made a vow to give her child “to the Lord all the days of his life” (1 Samuel 1:11).

3) She named him Samuel because she asked him of the Lord.

4) She gave Samuel to the Lord (1 Samuel 1:24-28).

5) She brought him clothes and cakes every year at the sacrifice (1 Samuel 2:19).

3. Hannah was a great mother because . . .

1) Hannah gave her complaint to the Lord instead of returning in kind.

a. In this she displayed the Spirit of Christ.

b. “Who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously” (1 Peter 2:23).

2) Hannah kept her promise to give Samuel to the Lord.

a. She did not take God’s name in vain (Exodus 20:7).

b. “He who swears to his own hurt and does not change.” (Psalm 15:4).

c. She continued to love and support him through the years.

1. Mary’s background.

1) She lived in Nazareth (Luke 2:4-5).

2) She found favor with God (Luke 2:30).

3) She was betrothed, but not yet married (Matthew 1:18).

4) She was chaste in her behavior—she had not known a man (Luke 1:34).

2. She became pregnant with Jesus by the Holy Spirit.

1) “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus” (Luke 1:31).

2) “And the angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God’” (Luke 1:35).

3) Joseph would have put her away if not for the intervention of the angel Gabriel (Matthew 1:20).

3. Mary was a great mother because . . .

1) She obeyed God.

a. She had to have done this to find favor with God.

b. She remained pure before marriage.

c. 1 Thess.4:3-4.

2) She had faith in God.

a. She believed the word of the angel.

b. She endured the indignities of pregnancy before marriage being innocent.

c. She believed in her Son and stayed with him until His death on the cross.

d. Hebrews 11:6 – “Without faith . . . .”

1. We have looked at three great mothers in the Bible.

1) Jochebed the Mother of Moses

2) Hannah the Mother of Samuel

3) Mary the Mother of Jesus

2. While the institution of motherhood is blessed, there is something more about which we should be concerned.

3. “And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!” But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” (Luke 11:27-28).

4. Invitation