A Perfect Mother
The first mention of “mother” in the Bible occurs shortly following the creation of mankind. Adam had been created from the dust of the earth on the sixth day, after God had created all other things. The woman was the final creation of God, and she was made from the rib of Adam. We can read this in Genesis 2:23-24, which also reveals one of the reasons God created both “male” and “female”. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. This passage also shows that God’s plan for the procreation of the human race was always to occur within the institution of marriage. “ . . . shall cleave to his wife . . .”
The second mention of mother in the Bible is in Genesis 3:20, and from this passage we understand that Eve, the wife of Adam was the beginning of motherhood. And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. Shortly after Adam and Eve sinned, they were exiled from the Garden of Eden, and they began their family. With the birth of her son Cain, Eve became a mother. She again became a mother with the birth of Abel, and later Seth, as well as other unnamed children. (Genesis 5:4)
It has already been stated, Eve had sinned, and therefore she was not “perfect”. Neither are any other humans, as Romans 3:23 informs. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; However, God knows that we cannot be perfect in the sense of “being without fault”, but He also knows women can “perfectly” carry out the role for which women was created. Here, I am not referring to just their role in procreation. I speak of the capability of the woman to 1) bear children (man cannot do this). And, 2) rear those children to know God, revere God and His Word, and faithfully serve God as a young person and into adulthood and throughout their lives. Indeed, this is the job of the woman that would be “a perfect mother”.
After the fifth chapter of Genesis, nothing else has been said about Eve in the Old Testament. We do not know how Eve raised Cain, Abel, Seth or her other children, but we do know from Genesis 4:26 that after the birth of the son of Seth, men began to call upon the name of God. And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD. This seems to indicate that Eve, Seth’s mother perhaps indeed had some positive influence upon him during his most formative years.
There are many other mothers mentioned in the Bible and all had some influence on their children. We know of the Genesis chapter 27 account of Rebekah’s influence on Jacob to deceive his father, Isaac. This is not the type of influence a mother should have on her offspring. We also know of a mother who made sure her son would be properly influenced. The woman was Hannah of 1Samuel 1:20-22 who prayed to God for a son. Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the LORD. 21 And the man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer unto the LORD the yearly sacrifice, and his vow. 22 But Hannah went not up; for she said unto her husband, I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the LORD, and there abide for ever.
Hannah fulfilled her vow to God, and gave her son Samuel to the service of God, to the benefit of His people Israel. Hannah turned her son Samuel over to Eli the priest who properly guided young Samuel toward God, even though he could not do so with his own sons. Hannah was blessed, in that 1Samuel 2:21 tells us she was privileged to bear five other children she herself could influence to serve God. And the LORD visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bare three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the LORD.
There are many other mothers identified throughout the Old and the New Testament. However, few mothers stand out as do a certain two who are named in 2Timothy 1:5. One is Lois, the mother of Eunice, who is the mother of Timothy. When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also. Timothy’s mother was a Jewess, but his father was a Greek as we read in Acts 16:1. Then came he to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek:
Regardless of the strife that may have resulted in a family where the mother was a believer (a Christian), and the father was not, the mother and the grandmother saw to it Timothy knew the scriptures. We know this from 2Timothy 3:15. And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. No doubt Eunice made some mistakes in raising Timothy. All mothers do. No mother is perfect. But she perfectly raised her son in the Word of God. This, in my understanding, makes her, and all others who do so, a “perfect mother”. They showed their child a chance for eternal life. If you are a mother, be “a perfect mother” teach your child the truth.
Dennis Strickland – Mooresville church of Christ
