Maternal Emotion
Maternal Emotion
The emotion of motherhood, or the maternal instinct, is strong in the majority of women, to the extent that some women weep if they do not have children, and long for offspring with all their hearts.
Our mother Sarah gave her maidservant Hagar to our father Abraham so that she might bear him offspring to be attributed to her.
How remarkable was the conflict that arose between two sisters, Leah and Rachel, in competing to bear sons, until Rachel said concerning this: “With great wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and indeed I have prevailed” (Gen. 30:8).
Indeed, the desire for sons made Rachel say to her husband Jacob: “Give me children, or else I die!” And Jacob’s anger was aroused against Rachel, and he said: “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” (Gen. 30:1–2).
Because of the desire for sons, the barren woman, if she gave birth, would say: “God has taken away my reproach” (Gen. 30:23). Her childbearing was considered salvation (1 Sam. 2:1), (Luke 1:71).
Because of the longing to bear sons, Hannah wept in the temple before the Lord, prayed abundantly in bitterness of soul, and made a vow to dedicate the child to the Lord (1 Sam. 1).
Bearing sons brought joy, causing women in old age to rejoice at childbirth, such as Sarah and Elizabeth.
The Scripture likens a woman who bears sons to a fruitful vine, saying in the Psalm: “Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, your children like olive plants all around your table” (Ps. 128:3).
The emotion of motherhood appears at its peak toward the only son, especially if the mother is a widow.
Maternal emotion grows very strong toward the infant, for he has none but his mother. In this the Lord said: “Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you” (Isa. 49:15).
The emotion of motherhood is very strong even among animals. Scripture gives the example of a hen gathering her chicks under her wings, and by these images it likens the love of God.
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