PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 338: THE THEOLOGY OF MOTHERHOOD, Part 2
LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 3
38: THE THEOLOGY OF MOTHERHOOD, Part 2
Without motherhood the story of the Bible could not be written. Without motherhood there could be no genealogies. Without motherhood the world would come to a halt. The theology of motherhood is necessary to the Bible.
Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.
Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies. Last week I began talking to you about the theology of motherhood. We’re going to continue that today.
Here’s another definition of biblical theology. “The study of religious faith practiced and experienced, with a focus on the nature of divinity, and God’s relationship to mankind.” You noticed that that is not just ethereal, but it’s practice and experience as well. Doctrine is down to earth. Doctrine affects our personal lives.
I believe that the theology of motherhood is . . .
the study of God’s maternal heart,
His mandate of motherhood to women,
and the outworking of motherhood as an experience and practice in our lives,
all found in His Word, because theology is based on the Word of God.
The story of the Bible is not about motherhood, but, ladies, get this.
Without motherhood, the story of the Bible could be written.
It took women to continue the story of the Bible. The first words God ever spoke were these: “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth. Subdue and take dominion.” Adam couldn’t do this alone. He couldn’t do it without motherhood.
Recently, I was reading an article by James Hamilton, also called “A Biblical Theology of Motherhood.” I enjoyed some quotes from his article. He says, “Motherhood is vital to the mandate God gave to humanity to fill, subdue, and rule the earth. Humanity cannot do what God commanded apart from motherhood. Motherhood makes the story of the Bible possible.”
And then, a quote from me: “The whole world hinges on the womb of a mother. All the amazing feats, remarkable inventions, astounding advancements, and brilliant discoveries that take place in this world happen because of a person. And that person began in the womb. Without the womb of the mother, nothing happens in this world. It all comes to a halt. We can’t even have genealogies without mothers. Mothers keep it going.”
Another quote from James Hamilton: “God answers satan’s defiance and disobedience with the obedient submission of a woman, who does what God made her to do, helping her husband to multiply, fill, and subdue the earth. She does that by bearing children. By means of motherhood, God answers satan’s boast with a baby’s cry. God answers satan’s pride with a humble child.”
We read in Psalm 8:2: “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained strength, because of Thine enemies, that Thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.” Every baby that is born is really a threat against satan. Satan, who hates life, does not want life to be born. On the other hand, God is the author of life. He loves life. He looks for the godly seed in every marriage. The very first words He ever spoke were these: “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth.”
Of course, we know that can’t happen without a mother, without the womb of a mother. So powerful is the mother in the earth. No wonder satan hates motherhood. He tries to eradicate motherhood. He tries to get rid of life. In fact, we’re now, in this hour in which we’re living in society, there is such an attack against the woman. The liberal woman doesn’t even know what is a woman! I think she really does, but they do not want to even confess what is a woman.
Because what is a woman? The most distinguishing characteristic is her womb. The womb of the mother. They want to eradicate the womb. They don’t want a womb. They don’t even want to say, “What is a woman?” because then they have to face up to the fact of who they are, of who God created them to be. Really, ladies, nearly everything I say to you on these podcasts is all the theology of motherhood.
We’re up to podcast number 338. I think if you were to go to every podcast, I know that some of you have listened to every single one, and they are all a theology on motherhood. In fact, I did a series of podcasts that was called “The Land of Motherhood.” Oh, I did so many podcasts on that series. You can go back and check it out. It’s filled with the theology of motherhood.
But today, I’m going to begin sharing more of God’s heart of motherhood, motherology, from a Scripture. Often, I begin in the beginning, in Genesis 1. But this time I want to start in Jeremiah 29:4-9. This is an amazing passage in Scripture. This is a message from Jeremiah the prophet, to the people, the people of Judah who had been taken to Babylon. They were taken as captives. Sadly, the evil in Israel had accumulated until God had to vomit them out of the land.
Years before, the ten tribes of Israel had gone from the land of Israel. Now there were only two tribes left, Judah and Benjamin. Now it became their turn, and God had to vomit them out of the land He gave them up because of their evil. They began to follow the evil of the nations who were in the land before they came in. Now they’re in Babylon. They’re away from their beloved land of Israel.
Jeremiah the prophet comes to them with the Word of the Lord, from the Lord of hosts. Wow! What is he going to tell them? The Lord of hosts has a word for them. How will they live in Babylon, in this foreign country? And God brings them a word, and He tells them seven things He wanted them to do. Interestingly, they were not what you would think. They were very, very practical.
We go to the very passage and read it here. Jeremiah 29:4: “Thus saith the Lord of hosts.” Now, “the Lord of hosts” is the name for God, who is the God of the armies of Israel, the God Who is a man of war. God, who protects His people, Israel. “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all who are carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon.” OK, what is He saying?
“Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon; Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished.
“And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace. For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.”
So, we see seven things there that God told them to do. These seven things were things He had already told them to do. They were His mandate for His people from the very beginning of creation.
They are: build, dwell, plant, eat, increase, pray, and don’t be deceived.
Those are seven things God gave to His families living in Israel. Really, they are motherology. They are homeology. They are parentology. They are what God wants us to do as families.
We’re going to look at these seven things. We’ll start with . . .
No. 1: TO BUILD
That was the very first thing God said: “Build houses and dwell in them.” The word “build” is the word banah in the Hebrew. We see that this word actually has a number of meanings. Number one, “to build, to rebuild, to establish.”
God is into building. God is on our side when we’re building a house. He loves that. He wants us to build a house. He wants us to dwell in a home. As we build our homes, we’re building our family. This is what God is all about. This is His plan. Of course, as we build a home, we will be building a family altar.
I love that quote from Matthew Henry. He states:
“Wherever man hath a tent, God should have an altar.”
In other words, in whatever home we build, as our family grows, we establish an altar so that we can give God the pre-eminence in our home. I also did a series on THE FAMILY ALTAR. Check that series out too, on the podcasts. They were podcasts 308 to 318. It took a lot of podcasts to talk about that.
Let’s look at some Scriptures about building, because first of all, God talks about building an actual house. And yes, God is into that. He not only wants us to build a house, but He also wants us to build our marriages and build our families.
We see in Proverbs 9:1: “Wisdom hath builded her house. She hath hewn out her seven pillars.”
Proverbs 14:1: “Every wise woman buildeth her house, but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.”
Proverbs 24:3: “Through wisdom is a house builded, and by understanding it is established. By knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.”
Do you notice in those three Scriptures, that there are three words that are repeated in every Scripture? Wisdom, build, and home. Those three words all go together. They are triplets. God wants us to build, but He wants us to build with His wisdom. What does He want us to build? Our homes.
The word “home” in the Hebrew means “a home or a family,” because those are synonymous. A home is for a family, and a family lives in a home, so those words are synonymous. That word banah means, as I said, “to build, to rebuild, to establish.”
It also means “to repair,” and interestingly, ladies, it also means “to establish a family, to bring forth children.”
In building a home, part of building a home is not only building a structure, but building a family to live in that structure, and to bring forth children. If we are fulfilling Proverbs 14:1: “Every wise woman buildeth her house,” well, that’s a woman who is bringing forth children in her home.
Let’s look at that in some other Scriptures so you know I’m not just talking off the top of my head.
Genesis 16:2: “Sarai said unto Abram” (that was before they were called Sarah and Abraham) “Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing. I pray thee, go in unto my maid. It may be that I may obtain children by her.”
When Sarah couldn’t have children of their own, she tried to do it man’s way, instead of continuing to trust God. We know the story. She told Abraham to go in to her maid. What does the Bible say? “Obtain children by her.” The word is banah. “They are to build up my home.”
Genesis 30:3: “And Rachel said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her.” The word “have children,” once again, is banah, to build. The only way that Rachel could build up her family is through children.
In Deuteronomy 25:9, it says . . . Well, maybe I should give you a little background on this Scripture. In Bible days, if a husband died, the next brother had to take his brother’s wife, his widow, as his wife, and build up children for that husband. She became his wife, and the first baby that would be born to that wife would take her husband’s name, “That his name will not be blotted out of Israel.”
God was very, very concerned about the names. I think maybe we forget about that in our society today, don’t we? But to God, the name is important. He wanted every family name to carry on in Israel. Sometimes there would be a brother who didn’t want to do that. He didn’t want to have that child take his brother’s name.
When that happened, we read in Deuteronomy 25:9: “Then shall his brother’s wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto the man that will not build up his brother’s house.” Those words there, “will not build up,” are the word banah. This brother wouldn’t build it up to his brother. He wouldn’t give the name of his brother to this child.
I think of our own experience. We actually, can you believe this? We had to wait for 15 grandchildren before we got a grandchild with the Campbell name. We already had quite a number of grandsons, but they didn’t have the Campbell name. It was our 15th grandbaby who was a son and had the Campbell name. Now, today, with over 50 grandchildren, we only have five grandsons with the Campbell name. Can you believe that? Wow! It’s not easy to carry on the name.
What about families who have only a couple of children? And then those children marry, and they only have a couple of children. The names of families in the USA are dying out mightily, because you have to have a big family to ensure that you're going to carry on that family name.
Then we have the story of Onan (Genesis 38:6-10). Have you heard of the story of Onan? His brother died, so Onan was the one who had to marry this widow, which was Tamar. The Bible says that he did not want to do this. It says that each time that he went into his brother’s wife, he spilled the seed, the semen, on the ground. He wasted it, because he did not want to build up the name of his brother, to build up her house.
That grieved God, and the Bible says: “And God killed him.” Wow! But it obviously wasn’t a one-time thing. He continued in rebellion, and every time he went into his brother’s wife, he spilled the seed. “I’ll spill the seed. OK, that doesn’t sound too bad.” But if you look in the Hebrew, the word for “spilled” is not just “spilled.” The word is “destroy.” (Hebrew – sahat – to destroy, corrupt, go to ruin).
It is the same word that God used when he said to His people: “Go and destroy the Amalekites.” When He’s speaking about destroying a people in battle, it’s the word “destroy.” That is the same word that is used when Onan wasted that seed. He destroyed it, because he spilled it, and he didn’t allow it to go into his brother’s wife to build up. We may not look upon these things as serious, but in God’s eyes they are.
Then I love this Scripture in Ruth 4:11: “And the Lord make the woman” (who is Ruth) “that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build up the house of Israel.”
Wow! Isn’t that an amazing Scripture? You would think that the Bible would say that the sons of Jacob were the ones who built the house of Israel! But no, God used the names of the mothers, because without the woman, without the mothers, those children would not have come into the world. God says Rachel and Leah built the house of Israel. Nothing actually happens in this world without the mother, without the womb of the woman.
When we go back even to the very beginning, we see when God created man in Genesis 2:6, it says: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.”
God formed the man. But later He created the woman, because God didn’t create the woman at the same time. The next thing God did after creating the man was to create the garden, and He put the man in the garden.
Then later He created the woman. When He created her, we go over, same chapter, but down to verse 21: “And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept. He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof. The rib which the Lord God had taken from man made He a woman.” This time, he didn’t form the woman.
Do you know what the word is? Once again, it’s the word banah, to build. He built the woman. He constructed her from what he took out of the man. In fact, man was made from the dust of the ground, but not the woman. She was built from the man himself. This is the very first word of the word banah, and it’s used for the woman, because it’s the woman who builds the home as she brings forth children.
Then not only is the word “build” used for the mother, but it’s also used for the daughter. We go over to Psalm 144:12. Here in this Scripture, it says: “That our sons may be as plants grown up in the youth. That our daughters may be as cornerstones, polished after the similitude of the palace.” That word “similitude” in the King James version, that’s a word I don’t think we would even use today. I don’t think you’d go around saying “similitude.”
But that word in the Hebrew is tabniyth, and it means “a pattern, a construction, a structure.” It comes from the root word banah, “to build.” So, once again, God brings this word when He’s talking about our daughters, because they are going to be the ones who will continue to bring forth children into the home, who keep the generations going, who keep the genealogies going.
Without the mother, and then the daughters coming from the mother, and then the daughters who will then continue to bring forth children, there would be no genealogies. There would be no more generations. The whole world would come to a halt. Such is the power of the mother and of the womb.
So, precious ladies, we as mothers, we’re training our daughters how to be builders of the home. Yes, how to build a wonderful, beautiful home. How to build a stable home, and also for them to know that they are the bringers forth of children as they build their home, because that is the big part of the meaning of banah. That’s what we do. We are building up.
While we’re on Psalm 144:12, a beautiful Scripture, a vision for our sons and for our daughters. Our sons as plants in their youth: “Our sons grown up as plants in their youth.” God doesn’t want our sons to be little wimpy boys. He wants them to grow into maturity, growing into maturity, even in their youth.
I used to wonder, “Why does God use this image of plants or tree for our sons?” He uses “cornerstones,” or the “pillars of a palace” for our daughters, because pillars of a palace have to be strong to hold up a huge building such as a palace. Of course, our daughters do need to be strong. But He didn’t use our sons for that. He talks about them as “plants grown up in the youth.”
But of course, as we think about it, the plants and the trees grow outside. Usually. the work of the man is outside the home, whereas the work of the woman is building up the home inside the home. That’s what we’re doing, building up our homes. We not only build a house; that’s construction. But we’re building up marriage, building up family life. “Every wise woman buildeth.”
So, lovely ladies, we have to remind ourselves every day that we are builders. A builder does something. It takes action. When you're building, you're working. You’re not sitting idly by, just looking at the building. No, you are involved in making it grow, and making it get bigger, and making it become more beautiful, and making it according to the pattern.
Every day, we need to think about it. “OK, what am I doing today to build into my marriage? To make it stronger? To make it more loving? To make it more wonderful? What am I doing? I’m doing something every day, something tangible, something special for my husband.” Maybe something you say to him. Maybe something you write on a little note to him. Maybe something you do to him, something you do for him. But you're thinking of something every day.
The same with your family. “Oh Lord, how can I build into my family today? How can I make my home a more special place for them to live and grow and experience Your presence? What do You want me to do? How can I make it more wonderful? How can I make our family life stronger?”
Here's a good question to ask yourself. Every decision you make, and you're making decisions every day, about little things, and of course big things. But everything adds up. Even the little things are important. But every decision you make, ask this question: “Is what I am doing, or what I am planning to do, will this make my home and my family stronger? Will it cement our family together more? Will it bind us together more? Or will it fragment our family?”
Now, think about it. If your decision is going to be something that will fragment the family, you’ll all be going your various ways. It’s not something that brings you together. Well, forget about it! Don’t do it. But if what you're deciding is something that will bind you together more, make you closer knit as a family, make you stronger together as a family, OK. You know that’s something you can do.
There’s a little secret to knowing what to do when you have to make all these decisions which you're constantly making. I love this quote of a wonderful woman. Her name is Connie Holtquist. Sadly, she is now passed away. But this lady, oh, before I give you the quote, I must tell you about her.
She must have had one of the worst marriages that anyone could ever be in. Her husband was in and out of jail for years and years. But this woman, God gave her tenacity to hang on for her marriage. Oh, I won’t tell you the whole story, but you can read it. I actually printed it two times in Above Rubies because it’s so powerful, and I have it on my webpage.
You can go to aboverubies.org, and put in the search, “Bring Him Home.” You can read this most powerful testimony. In fact, if you know someone who’s going through a very difficult marriage, you could send that testimony to them. It is the most powerful testimony I have ever read of a marriage.
Go to: http://tinyurl.com/Marriage-BringHimHome (You will cry!)
Anyway, Connie wrote this one time: “Can you imagine any woman in the Bible leaving their own home, and going out to build the kingdom of another man, or household? No, the virtuous woman puts all she has into building up her own husband’s kingdom.” That’s a good quote, isn’t it?
Wow! I can’t believe where time is going. What’s our time, girls? Wow, all right, just about time to close. Maybe I should end up here, or I’ll start on something, and I won’t be able to end! May you be blessed today.
Part of the theology of motherhood is building up your marriage, building up your home, making it stronger, cementing it together, or pounding your stakes deep, that you're not going to be a family that’s scattered, but you are a family that’s together. God loves togetherness. “And every wise woman buildeth up her home.” Remember, part of building is bringing forth children.
“Dear Father, we thank You so much for all Your goodness to us. I pray for every mother and every daughter, and anyone else listening today, that You will pour out Your blessing upon them. I pray that You will encourage them in Your ways.
“Lord, we live in a society that lives opposite to Your ways. I pray that You will help me, and each one listening, to live according to Your Word. Lord God, it is Your Word that is true. Everything else is a lie. Your Word says: “Let God be true, but every man a liar.” Lord God, help us to be those who are on your side of truth, living in that realm. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.”
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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Transcribed by Darlene Norris
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