All month, we have been focusing on mothers and their grief, pain, and suffering over their children, and how they display “matchless wonder” concerning them. All of these women’s stories are distinct.
This week’s story concerns two prostitutes who were considered low-life women in the Old Testament, and even now. But this narrative will prove that no matter how low a woman will or can go, their love for their children can still be matchless. This story proves it.
Also, when most people hear the story about these two women, the focus is ninety-nine percent of the time on Solomon and his wisdom. However, there is a narrative inside of this narrative that people hardly focus on or pay attention to, and that is the mothers in the story.
✍🏾This narrative begins with two women, both living in the same house, who gave birth to their sons three days apart.
1 Kings 3:16-27
16 Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood before him. 17 And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house. 18 And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also: and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house. 19 And this woman's child died in the night; because she overlaid it. 20 And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. 21 And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear. 22 And the other woman said, Nay; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No; but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king. 23 Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living. 24 And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king. 25 And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other. 26 Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it. 27 Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.
The statement made that “her bowels yearned upon her son” (1 Kings 3:26) speaks volumes of her love, affection, yearning, and emotions toward her son. The word “yearn” is used several times in scripture to describe deep, emotional, and passionate feelings. The word Yearn means to desire, wait longingly for, wish for, want, crave, pant, thirst
The Lexicon dictionary’s meaning for yearn/yearning is:
Yearning - to desire, wait longingly for, wish for, want, crave.
Longing - great affection for, to strain after, to greatly desire to have something or someone.
Longing - great affection for, to strain after, to greatly desire to have something or someone.
The point of this woman’s matchless love for her child is that she would rather the ruthless mother have her child than see her child dishonored and murdered. She knew that if her child lived, at least she could have the chance to be around him, behold his face, and maybe even have a part in his life. There could even be a possibility that she could get him back. But to see her child cut in half before her very eyes when she could stop it was more than she could bear.
In this story, I want to focus on the statement “her bowels yearned upon her son” to show the depth of her love for her son and how she saved his life, despite having to turn him over to another woman.
The Hebrew word translated as bowels is rachamim, meaning something like “tender mercies” or “maternal nurture” (a word also rendered in the plural as mercies, compassions, or pity, and in the singular as matrix or womb in the KJV). Leonard J. Coppes. “Racham,” in Harris and others, Theological Workbook, 2:841-43
In English, the inwards, especially the bowels, are the felt site of some of our most intense passions. Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1975; reprint, New York: Collier, 1920), 7.
Tender mercy, inward affection, sympathy, pity, compassion—these are the bowels, the depths of feeling that we may have for one another. We express these feelings best by cherishing our children. We love, protect, and forgive them daily. We see their needs before they ever do.
Scriptural References
Here are some scriptures associated with the word “bowels” that can be used in the exact context in the real mother’s thought:
📌And Joseph made haste; for his bowels did yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there. (Genesis 43:30)
📌My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. (Jeremiah 4:19)
📌But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? (1 John 3:17)
📌Colossians 3:12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
📌I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. (Psalm 22:14)
📌And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him [Abram], saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. (Genesis 15:4)
📌But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab’s hand: so he smote him therewith in the fifth rib, and shed out bowels to the ground, and struck him not again; and he died. (2 Samuel 20:10)
The real mother had a love for her son that was beyond the love that the other mother could comprehend. Even though many people may look down on her, and think that she may even be the scum of the earth, however, the love she had for her son proved that there is something about a mother’s love for her children that is very special.
It is interesting to note that in the four narratives presented, only two of the mothers are speaking. In Eve’s narrative, we only read about her talking to the serpent, although we did not read the scripture, we know that it is there: Genesis 3:2-3. After that, we never hear her voice, her thoughts, her hurt, or grief concerning the dual loss of Cain and Abel.
Mary did lots of speaking in the narrative concerning her grief over the death of Jesus in the beginning, although her voice is not made apparent in the videos that were presented.
In Rizpah’s case, she never speaks in the narrative, although we know that she prayed, cried, wept, and had to have expressed her pain and grief in verbal form. However, there remained a tacit voice in both Eve and Rizpah’s pain and grief. A voice of pain that was not heard but understood nevertheless.
Bio:
Queen Kirkwood Hatchett is a poet and writer who has self-published most of her written works, including A General Study of the Books of the Bible, Transitioning from Promise to Fulfillment, and her memoir, Survival of the Inner Man. Her most famous poem, Crack: The Drug from Hell, from her first publication, From the Heart: A Book of Poetry(©️1994 Hodale Press), opened many doors for her. She has received a host of plaques, awards, and certificates for her dedication to the community and Body of Christ, her writings, and her volunteer services. A survivor of childhood sexual and physical abuse, Queen is a creative artist who doesn’t separate her faith from her life’s work. When she is not writing, she enjoys time with family and friends or making something with her hands.
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