Marvellous Mothers’ Mentality, Methods & Tactics

By Rev. Emmanuel Oghene

Marvellous Mothers’ Mentality, Methods and Tactics outlines respectable mothers’ determination to add value to the lives of their child when no one else would. Any woman who conceives and bears a child that grow up to be a VIP is favoured by God of Israel the maker of the universe. Samuel’s mother, Hannah and Lemuel’s mother got God’s support to become the queen-mothers of their generation. They partnered with God to provide members of their generation. They offered prayers that God considered good enough to answer as they requested. Lois packaged her daughter, Eunice who in turn packaged her son, Timothy who became suitable to serve alongside Paul as apostle to the Gentiles. After Mary played her God-assigned role to conceive, bear and nurture Jesus into adulthood, she went a step further to urge Jesus to perform His miracle ever. John 2:1-11 can be said to mean that she gave Jesus the confidence to perform His first miracle.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Feb 28, 2020
• ISBN: 9781984594211

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Copyright © 2020 by Rev. Emmanuel Oghene.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)

Copyright © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.

Living Bible (TLB) The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.;

Easy-to-Read Version (ERV) Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International;

Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. Website.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 02/28/2020

Xlibris

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Unless otherwise indicated, scriptures are from

Good News Translation (GNT) Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society;

Living Bible (TLB) The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.;

Easy-to-Read Version (ERV) Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International;

The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson;

CONTENTS

Dedication

Appreciation

Introduction

1 Sarah

2 Leah And Rachel

3 Mrs Jochebed Amram – Mariam, Aaron And Moses’ Mother

4 Hannah

5 Bathsheba

6 The Prostitute Mom

7 The Widow Of Zarephath

8 Prophet’s Widow

9 The Rich Woman Of Shunem

10 King Lemuel’s Mother

11 Mary The Mother Of Jesus Of Nazareth The Christ

12 Mrs Zebedee – Apostles James’ And John’s Mother

13 The Canaanite Woman

14 Lois And Eunice

15 Who Art Thou, Mum?

Author’s Other Published Titles

DEDICATION

To all mothers who provided their locality with the Joseph, Moses, Gideon, Jephthah, Samuel, David, Lemuel, Jesus, and Timothy of their generation.

APPRECIATION

Yet, my greatest gratitude goes to the Lord who, during the final phase of this work, proved beyond all doubts that this is His project. His presence and intervention were so real whenever I was ready to work on this manuscript. It was an unprecedented experience indeed. God bless my only Comfort Temilola, for her encouragement.

INTRODUCTION

There is a famous pastor, his mother’s only child and the youngest of his polygamous father who passed when he was just two and a half years old. His mother was the youngest and last wife of his father. At the death of his father, his mother went for spiritual consultation to help her decide whether to remarry or not. The prayer warrior she consulted to get God’s counsel told her if she did not remarry and devoted her life to raise this only child, he would grow up to benefit her more than ten sons would. She opted not to remarry and have other children as she understood the revelation to mean that her only child was destined for greatness. As a result, she laid down definite rules for this child very early.

According to this pastor, his mother forbade him from ever going to the stadium or any theatre to watch others perform unless he was the actor that his fellow humans were going to the stadium or theatre to watch. This became the guiding principle for this man. As a result, whatever that he set out to do in life, he determined that he must work extra hard until his achievement and performance was something good enough for others to troop out to watch him to their delight. Decades later, this child became prominent, powerful and respected and she enjoyed great respect as the mother of this famous pastor and preacher.

Motherhood is about a woman bringing a child into the world and nurturing same into a responsible adult to benefit society. There is conceiving and birthing a child and nurturing which is parenting a child. Surrogate mothers merely conceive and birth the child while the clients who contracted the surrogate mother does the parenting. Comprehensive motherhood is conceiving, birthing and parenting a child into a personality that benefits society and mankind in general.

Genesis 35:16-21 confirms that Rachel conceived and gave birth to Benjamin, but she did not have the privilege of nurturing him into adulthood as she died on the day that he was born. 1 Samuel 4:19-22 confirms that Ichabod’s mother died on the day he was born. A woman’s mother died on the day she was born, and her father took on the responsibility of nurturing her because her father’s sister would not take on the responsibility. She grew up to become the most illustrious member of that family like 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 confirms that God helped Jabez to become just as he requested of God.

Exodus 23:26 and 2 Kings 2:19-22 can be interpreted to mean that not all conceptions are birthed safely or live birth. Marvellous mothers take on the comprehensive responsibility of motherhood and goes a step further to ensure that their children get the best of the best possible out of life. No sacrifice is too great for them to make for the wellbeing of the children that God gave them the privilege to bring into this world. Peninnah and Hannah bore their husband, Elkanah children. Though Peninnah’s children were older, it was Hannah’s eldest child, Samuel that became the most illustrious member of Elkanah’s household. Hannah consciously pursued this privileged position for Samuel.

1

SARAH

Sarah’s greatest mistake was initiating the conception and birth of Ishmael to her husband, Abraham by her Egyptian maid, Hagar. She initiated the idea in her desperation to solve her protracted problem of childlessness and make her husband happy in the process. Genesis 16 confirms that while introducing the idea to Abraham she claimed that God was responsible for her childlessness. Rather than consciously ask God’s help to solve the problem she opted to solve the problem without reference to God Genesis 25:19-24 says that her son, Isaac asked God to solve the same problem for his wife, 75 years later. Also, 1 Samuel 1 confirms that Hannah did several generations later.

Genesis 23:1-2 and 19-20 confirms that Sarah lived for 127 years while Genesis 17:17-18 infers that Sarah was 10 years younger to her husband, Abraham. Genesis 21:1-8 implies in verse 3 that Sarah was 90 years old when she gave birth to her only child and son, Isaac. Genesis 12:1-4 and 16:1-16 can be interpreted to mean that she remained the only woman in Abraham’s life until she was 85 years old when she converted her Egyptian maid, Hagar into Abraham’s concubine to bear her (Sarah) a surrogate child who was born as Ishmael. Hagar bore Ishmael when Abraham was 86 years old and therefore, Sarah was 76 years old. The conception and birth of Ishmael caused Sarah a great deal of pain. Genesis 16 confirms that his conception worsened Sarah’s childlessness miseries while Genesis 21:1-9 confirms that the presence of Ishmael punctuated Sarah’s motherhood miracle, happiness and joy. Then, Genesis 21:9-10 confirms that this prompted Sarah to compel Abraham to solve the problem that Hagar and Ishmael had become in their family and her life once and for all.

Demanding that Abraham got rid of Hagar and Ishmael can be interpreted to mean that Sarah determined to correct her lifetime’s greatest mistake as much as she possibly could with God’s help before she died. It means that she was determined never to leave the mess that she created that would affect her child negatively after her demise for her child to clean up. Genesis 17:15-22, 18:1-15 and 21:1-8 recount God’s confirmation that He meant Isaac to be Abraham’s chief inheritor. Sarah was never privy to God’s confirmation to Abraham that Isaac would serve as his chief inheritor in Genesis 17:15-22, yet she was able to make a demand that aligned with God’s view on the subject.

Genesis 21:1-14 and 23:1-2 recount Sarah’s great effort to work for the wellbeing of Isaac before she died. Bible record strongly suggests that it was the last most significant endeavour that she engaged before her passing. She was able to intuitively decode God’s plan that Isaac be Abraham’s chief inheritor and got God’s support to compel Abraham to enforce the protection of Isaac’s entitled inheritance from Abraham’s other children. Genesis 24 can be interpreted to mean that it was part of the reason that Abraham subjected his chief servant, Eliezer a native of Damascus to Isaac rather than any of his other sons. Genesis 25:1-8 can be interpreted to mean that it is part of the reason Abraham ensured the emergence of Isaac as his chief inheritor 38 years after Sarah’s death just before he (Abraham) died. The passage suggests that the last most important task that Abraham carried out before he passed at the age of 175 was to ensure that Isaac’s younger siblings, their children and mothers left Isaac alone to inherit him without stress. Genesis 26:1-13(5) can be interpreted to mean that God blessed Isaac during famine in Gerar in the land of the Philistines sometime after Abraham’s passing as part of reward due for Abraham’s obedience to God during his lifetime rather than any other of Abraham’s children because God had ordained Isaac to be Abraham’s chief inheritor. Genesis 16:1-6 and 21:1-14 say:

1    Abram’s wife Sarai had not borne him any children. But she had an Egyptian slave woman named Hagar, 2 and so she said to Abram, "The

LORD

has kept me from having children. Why don’t you sleep with my slave? Perhaps she can have a child for me. Abram agreed with what Sarai said. 3 So she gave Hagar to him to be his concubine. (This happened after Abram had lived in Canaan for ten years.) 4 Abram had intercourse with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she found out that she was pregnant, she became proud and despised Sarai. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, It’s your fault that Hagar despises me. I myself gave her to you, and ever since she found out that she was pregnant, she has despised me. May the

LORD

judge which of us is right, you or me! 6 Abram answered, Very well, she is your slave and under your control; do whatever you want with her." Then Sarai treated Hagar so cruelly that she ran away.

1    The

LORD

blessed Sarah, as he had promised, 2 and she became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham when he was old. The boy was born at the time God had said he would be born. 3 Abraham named him Isaac, 4 and when Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when Isaac was born. 6 Sarah said, God has brought me joy and laughter. Everyone who hears about it will laugh with me. 7 Then she added, Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age. 8 The child grew, and on the day that he was weaned, Abraham gave a great feast. 9 One day Ishmael, whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham, was playing with Sarah’s son Isaac. 10 Sarah saw them and said to Abraham, Send this slave and her son away. The son of this woman must not get any part of your wealth, which my son Isaac should inherit. 11 This troubled Abraham very much, because Ishmael also was his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, Don’t be worried about the boy and your slave Hagar. Do whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that you will have the descendants I have promised. 13 I will also give many children to the son of the slave woman, so that they will become a nation. He too is your son. 14 Early the next morning Abraham gave Hagar some food and a leather bag full of water. He put the child on her back and sent her away. She left and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba. (GNT)

As the father of both Isaac and Ishmael, Abraham did not want to be seen to promote dispute between his two sons. Sarah insisted on protecting her child from his unkind older half-brother. Coincidentally, God approved Sarah’s demand in this instant. Until she demanded the separation to protect her son’s interest, God did not direct