Christ on the cross...

 

Description of Illustration: greyscale, Christ on the cross, Golgotha the place where Jesus was crucified, skull at the foot of the cross, just outside of Jerusalem's walls, halo and crown of thorns

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Who was Belshazzar's mother?

       Belshazzar's mother (Dan. 5:10, ii, 12) is referred to as queen in Daniel 5:10. She was either the grandmother or, more probably, the queen-mother during the reign of Belshazzar, last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Some scholars are of the opinion that she was Nitocris, queen of Babylonia, to whom Herodotus ascribed many civic improvements.
      If so, Belshazzar's mother was regarded as the noblest and most beautiful woman of her time. History records that during the insanity of her husband, Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 4:36), Nitocris did
much to beautify Babylon. She built beautiful bridges, wharves, tiled embankments, and lakes and made improvements and enlargements to the buildings. Years after Nebuchadnezzar's death she was an
influential force in the government.
      Though in the three verses of the fifth chapter of Daniel Belshazzar's mother appears and disappears, like a face in a window, she gives us much of herself in a single speech there. It came when Belshazzar was celebrating a great feast.
      The king, crazed with drink, earlier had shouted to his butlers to bring the cups of the Lord's Temple which had been brought to Babylon as plunder from Jerusalem. These sacred vessels were filled with wine and defiled by the lips of the drunken king and his thousand lords. At the height of the celebration an apparition, in the shape of the fingers of a man's hand, wrote upon the walls the words, "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin" (Dan. 5:25). None of the drunken guests could understand what they meant.
      Then it was that Belshazzar's mother, learning that her son was troubled by this astonishing occurrence, came into the banquet hall. Not knowing how to interpret the strange words, she advised the
king to call in Daniel, now an old man, who had served Nebuchadnezzar as an interpreter of dreams years before.
      Daniel appeared and read the meaning of the words, which were, "God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it; thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting; thy kingdom is divided, and
given to the Medes and Persians."
      In that same night Belshazzar was slain, and Darius seized the kingdom. The queen-mother probably never saw Belshazzar again after her brief appearance in the banquet hall.
      Her mention in the Bible came not because she had beautified Babylonia - if she was Nitocris - but because she knew the prophet Daniel, who foretold the coming of Christ.
      Of one thing we can be certain: Belshazzar's mother was a woman who believed in the greatness of God, because in her speech in the banquet hall, when she advised the king to summon Daniel, she
described him as a man "in whom is the spirit of the holy gods." And she wisely added, "And in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him."

Who was Jabez' Mother?

       Jabez' mother (I Chronicles. 4:9) bore her son in sorrow and called him by a name meaning "sorrow." She gave to the world a son "more honorable than his brethren." He became a prayerful and pious man, who asked that God might keep him from evil. His prayer was answered. Doubtless the sorrow of Jabez' mother had drawn her closer to God.
       It is probable that she was familiar with the story of how Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him Beth-el, and perpetuated the circumstances which marked her son's birth similarly.
       Some scholars are of the opinion that Jabez was the son of Coz (I Chronicles. 4:8) . If so, his mother also had other children.
       If she lived to know of the achievements of her godly son, she must have felt compensated for all her sorrow. Jewish writers affirm that Jabez became an eminent doctor in the law. His reputation is thought to have drawn so many scribes around him that a town, probably in the territory of Judah, was called by his name (I Chronicles 2:55).

What is the lesson taught about persistent prayer?

        'The importunate widow (Luke 18:3, 5) appears in one of Jesus' parables. When the widow went to the judge begging him to avenge her of her adversary he refused. She continued to plead with the judge to help her. Finally he yielded to her plea for he feared that "by her continual coming she weary me."
       Jesus used the parable of the importunate widow to teach his disciples the need for persistent prayer.

How did God save a widow's sons from slavery?

        The widow whose oil was multiplied (II Kings 4:1-8) appears early in the story of Elisha. It evinces the prophet's kindness for a poor widow. She had no claim to the compassion of the prophet, except that he had known her husband, who "did fear the Lord." Her husband had died with debts so heavy that his creditors had come and demanded that her two sons be given them as slaves, in payment of the debts.
       Unless she could pay her debts she would have to part with her sons. Without fear she approached the prophet Elisha, who asked, "What shall I do for thee?" And when she told him her trouble, he then asked, "Tell me, what hast thou in the house?" When she told him that she had nothing but a pot of oil, he told her, "Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbors, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full."
       The woman had to possess a childlike and trusting faith to carry out such orders. But it came to pass when the vessels were full that she said to her son, "Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed." When the widow came back to Elisha and told him what had happened, he directed her, "Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest." It was enough to give the poor widow permanent relief, and Elisha had provided for her future and given her the added blessing of keeping her sons by her side.

Who were the women of Midian?

       Women of Midian (Num. 31:9), after their husbands had been slain, were taken as captives by the Israelites. With their children, their cattle, their flocks and goods, the women were taken as spoils of war to Moses and Eleazar, the priest in the camp on the plains of Moab before the congregation there.
       Moses was "wroth" that these women of Midian had been saved because they came from a people who had committed trespasses against the Lord, and a plague had followed. He ordered that the women who had been married be killed, but that the virgins be saved and given as wives to the Israelites.
       The lesson taught here is that the Israelites believed that victory in war belonged to Yahweh. Thus any booty, even women of the enemy, belonged to Him and must be divided according to His will.
       This story again lets us see how women of antiquity were regarded not as persons but as things, just like cattle and flocks and household goods.

Who was the one designated mother in the letters of Paul?

       Rufus' mother (Rom. 16:13) one of those to whom Paul sent salutations in his letter to the Romans, written from Corinth and probably carried by Phebe, a deaconess of the Church at Cenchrea near Corinth.
       "Salute Rufus chosen in the Lord," Paul wrote, "and his mother and mine." The last phrase referred, of course, to his spiritual relationship in the early Christian Church with Rufus' mother. The phrase shows us that she was a spiritually minded woman, probably one of the most faithful workers in this early church.
       In Paul's long list of salutations in this chapter, this is the only woman designated as a mother.

Did Paul's intimate family plot against him?

       Paul's sister was the mother of a son, who seems to have resided with her, probably in Jerusalem. He gave information to the chief captain of the plot to kill Paul, so that he might avoid the ambush. It may be inferred that Paul's sister was connected with some of the more prominent families. 

"But Paul’s nephew—his sister’s son—heard of their plan and went to the fortress and told Paul." Acts 23:16 NLT

7 Things We Do by Faith...

Seven things believers do by Faith from the Berean Literal Bible:

1. We become children of God - For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:26
2. We live by faith - For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it has been written: "And the righteous will live by faith." Romans 1:17
3. We stand by faith - Not that we lord it over your faith, but are fellow workers with you of joy; for in the faith you stand firm. 2 Corinthians 1:24
4. We walk by faith - For we walk by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians. 5:7
5. We pray by faith - But let him ask in faith, doubting nothing, for the one doubting is like a wave of the sea, being blown and being tossed by the wind.  James. 1:6
6. We overcome the world by faith  - For everyone having been born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory having overcome the world: our faith. 1 John. 5:4
7. We wait for our reward by faith - For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly await the hope of righteousness. Galatians 5:5

from Tyndall...

The Queen of Sheba Visits King Solomon

Description of Illustration: greyscale, the Queen of Sheba is greeted by King Solomon in the throne room, lions of Judah on display, columns surrounding the King's Court, family of the king, peacocks in the court, advisors to the king

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Her Rights?

Description of Illustration: greyscale, a young girl, wide-eyed, standing in front of a factory, a child who works in a factory, this illustration first appeared in a Suffragette publication...

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How did Jesus respond to the parents of a blind son?

       The mother of the blind son (John 9:2, 3, 18, 20, 22, 23) figures in the story of Jesus' healing of her son. She testified to doubting Jews that her son was blind from birth. She does not appear alone, but always with her husband in the phrases "his parents" or "the parents."
       When Jesus' disciples asked, "Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" (John 9:2), they assumed a current idea of that period that every calamity is due to some sin. Jesus replied with one of his positive statements; "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents; but that the works of God should be made manifest in him."
       Then Jesus spat on the ground and made a paste of dust and spittle and put it on the son's eyes. One commentator suggests that this symbolized the creative act of Genesis 2:7. After Jesus had sealed
the man's eyes he sent him to the pool of Siloam to wash away the clay.
       After the man had received his sight, his parents were summoned before the Pharisees to testify that their son had been born blind and to explain how he had been healed. The parents declared that the man was their son, that he had been born blind, and that now he could see. More than this they would not say, for they feared displeasing the Pharisees and being put out of the synagogue. They said to the Jews: "He is of age; ask him" (John 9:23), meaning "Ask our son." 

The meaning behind "The mother whose hour is come..."

        The mother whose hour is come (John 16:20-22) is referred to by Jesus. He reminds His followers of the sorrow that comes to a woman in pains of labor before the birth of her child, and also of the great joy that follows when her child is born and she first sees it. Then she thinks not of the anguish, but of her joy. He tells His disciples they will be sorrowful, but their sorrow will be turned to joy at the Resurrection.
       Jesus foretold the last days of the Temple at Jerusalem, and in reporting His message, the first three Gospel writers use exactly the same words: "Woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!" (Matt. 24:19; Mark 13:17; Luke 21:23).
       His words point to the suffering of those living in Jerusalem when the Temple is destroyed.

What does the Bible teach about Eve, the first woman?

Marble relief by Lorenzo Maitani, Orvieto Cathedral, Italy.

       The story of the first woman begins with Eve in the Garden of Eden, where she first discovered that she bore a unique relationship to God, the supreme power in the universe. The great reality is not that she came from the rib of Adam but that God created her and brought her womanly nature into being.
       The divine purpose relative to woman is found in the first part of the first story of the Creation: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them" (Gen. 1:27). Here we have warranty for woman's dominion. The fact that God did not give man dominion until he had woman standing beside him is evidence enough of her exalted place in the Creation.
       Various theories regarding the origin of Genesis and of the story concerning Eve, the first woman, have been evolved. Some scholars believe that parts of Genesis are based on myths and fables. Others call it a "legend wrapped around fundamental spiritual truths.''

• Who Wrote the Torah? Textual, Historical, Socialogical, and Idealogical Cornerstones of the Formation of the Pentateuch
• What does it mean that the Bible is God-breathed?

       All Bible scholars concede that the story of Creation was conceived by an ancient people, to whom great truths about the spiritual universe in which they lived were becoming known. How these truths became known and why, scholars cannot answer. Nor do they try to answer all the questions concerning the creation of the first woman. The significant fact is that this first woman was set in a pattern of sublime religious truths.
       The magnificent theme of the story is that God, seeing the incompleteness of man standing alone, wanted to find a helper for him. Not having found this helper in all created things, such as the birds of the air or the beasts of the field, God was obliged to make for man a helper who was his equal and who shared in the same processes of creation in which he shared. And so God created this helper Eve, whose name means "life" not from the animal kingdom, but from the rib of Adam himself.
       The symbolism of the rib is that it was taken from the place nearest to Adam's heart, thus indicating the close relationship of man and woman. The real essence of the story is that man and woman were made for each other, that woman is bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh; therefore they are not all that God intended them to be until they are together.
       The oneness of man and women in true marriage comes into its fullest meaning in Genesis 2:24: "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." Marriage emerges, not as a civil contract, but as a divine institution. In this union of Adam and Eve all marriages become coeval with Creation, fully demonstrating that the laws of morals and the laws of nature are coincident.
       Eve herself, like all of us, came into a universe that was immeasurable and orderly, and her creation takes on the same wonder as that of the stars, the sun, the moon, and all other things which God created and called good.
       In the Genesis account Eve is elevated to ethereal beauty and lofty dignity. As a great sculptor might strike a beautiful figure out of Parian marble, Eve arises from the rib of Adam beautiful of form and figure and with Paradise as her birthplace. Milton, in his Paradise Lost, has called her Queen of the Universe and Fairest of the Fair. By poet and artist alike she has usually been pictured with gleaming golden hair, with a face celestial in loveliness and a form strong and immortal.
       All of the great epochs in a woman's life, her marriage, mating, and motherhood, unfold in all of their completeness in the Genesis account of Eve. The family, too, with all its joys and heartaches comes into being, with Eve as the center of it. In Eve all the elemental questions of life, birth, and death, even sin and temptation, are shown in their human dimension.
       When Eve listened to the serpent, representing temptation, she followed, not the will of God, but the path of evil. When she ate the fruit from the Forbidden Tree, she acted independently of God, in whose image she had been created. From God, who watched over her truest interests, she turned to a serpent, which distorted the truth regarding the fruit God had forbidden. The serpent beguiled Eve by telling her that if she would eat of the forbidden fruit she would gain for herself new delights.
       After she had partaken of the forbidden fruit, she also gave it to Adam, and he too ate it, thus sharing in her guilt. In this act we have an excellent example of woman's impulsiveness and man's inclination to follow woman wherever she leads, even into sin. Eve with Adam "hid from the presence of God'' for they knew they had done wrong. Afterward, when Eve told God that "the serpent beguiled me, and I did eat," she displayed the natural tendency of woman to blame, not herself for her wrongdoings, but those around her.
       Though Eve fell far short of the ideal in womanhood, she rose to the dream of her destiny as a wife and mother. Paradise had been lost. She knew that, but something wonderful, maternal care, had been born. In Eve, motherhood became a great sacrifice and a sublime service. The winged creatures and the animals of the Garden of Eden achieved their motherhood lightly, but for Eve, though motherhood often was achieved at the price of anguish, it became her sacred responsibility.
       In the birth of her first son Cain and her second son Abel, Eve experienced all the pains of childbirth, never forgetting perhaps what God had said when she ate of the forbidden fruit, "I will multiply your pain in childbirth."
       When her first son was born, we know that Eve, like all mothers, also experienced great joy. The whole world had been re-created, and she could exclaim, "I have gotten a man from the Lord." Here are the sublimest words from the lips of Eve, who named her first son Cain, meaning "gotten" or "acquired." Eve realized that her child came not merely from her flesh but from God himself. Her positive assertion of this makes us certain that God, and not the serpent, now ruled over her life.
       Later Eve gave birth to a second son, Abel, meaning "breath" or "fading away." The first mother saw her sons grow to be as different in nature as in interests. Early she discerned signs of jealousy between them. Finally Cain, her first son and most beloved, killed his brother Abel. Though the story does not furnish details, we can picture this first mother as experiencing all the anxieties, heartaches, and torments suffered by other mothers of wicked sons down the centuries of time.
       Yet Eve knew that God was still in this universe which He had created. In a few years she was to see the fulfillment of His plan in her own life. Cain married and Eve had a grandchild, Enoch, as well as other heirs. A long interval elapsed. Adam, we are told, was 130 years old when Eve, who could not have been much younger, gave birth to Seth, his name meaning "to appoint" or "to establish." And she took new courage in the fact, we know, for she said, "God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. A great seed this was to be, for the ancestry of Jesus Christ was to be traced back to the line of Seth.
       Other sons and daughters were born to Adam of Eve, though the other children's names are not listed. But after her time for childbearing passed. Eve's story merged into that of her children. She lived on in Seth, the strongest of her children, and in the great line of Seth's descendants, who called "upon the name of the Lord." 

• The Holy Bloodline of Seth
• Messianic Generations of Joseph and Mary
• Joseph's relationship to Mary by Biblical Anthropology

       Twice in the New Testament, both times in the Pauline writings, Eve is mentioned. Paul reminds the Corinthians that they, like Eve, are in danger of being led away from the simplicity of Christ's teaching and can be hurt by the "subtilty of the serpent" which brings disunity (2 Corinthians 11:3). Paul expresses his position in regard to woman in a letter to his assistant Timothy. He argues that man is superior, "For Adam was first formed, then Eve." Though he recognizes that "woman being deceived was in the transgression," he declares she can be saved in childbearing, if she continues "in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety‚" (1 Tim. 2:13-15).

• She will be saved through childbearing by Paul Carter  
• Are women really saved by childbearing according to 1 Timothy 2:15?

       But let us turn back to the Genesis account where we have the scriptural record that male and female were created in His own image. Despite her later transgressions. Eve still stands forth as a revelation of the Father, and as one who can rise above her transgressions. by Edith Deen, 1916

More About Eve, Mother of All Women:

• Eve - The Mother of the human race, the mother who needs a savior and the woman who is the first ancestor of Mary, mother of Jesus.

Who Was Sarah, "Mother of Nations"

Sarah, "Mother of Nations"

        The first woman distinctly portrayed in the dramatic history of man's spiritual development is Sarah, beloved wife of Abraham, founder of the House of Israel. The story of the beautiful and distinguished Sarah and her husband, "Father of Faithful," covers more space in the Genesis account than does that of the entire human race from the Creation down to their time.
       Sarah's life was one continuous trial of her faith in God's promise that she was to be the Mother of Nations. 'Through this trial she emerged as a woman of power, one who was a dutiful and beloved wife and who finally became a favored and venerated mother.
       In Sarah's period, which was probably sometime in the nineteenth or twentieth century B.C., woman assumed little importance until she had given her husband a son, for it was through his son that a man lived on. The tragedy of Sarah's early life was that she was barren, but the miracle of her life was that she gave birth to Isaac, Son of Promise, when, humanly speaking, the time had passed when she could become a mother.
       The miracle was achieved through the faith of Abraham and the loyalty of Sarah to her husband. While they still resided at Haran, God said to Abraham, "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation" (Gen. 12:1, 2) .
       Sarah's life became Abraham's. Where he went she went, not as his shadow but as a strong influence. Together they experienced the vicissitudes of nomadic life and found in them great spiritual significance. Abraham, man of God, was willing to forsake home and country for the unknown, with Sarah ever at his side. Her love and loyalty were blessed by Abraham's devotion to her.
       Departure from their native land, the only land either of them had ever known, did not divide them in love or purpose. Dangerous were the wastelands and towns through which they traveled, but Sarah never looked back, as Lot's wife did later when she left Sodom. Tenaciously Sarah shared her husband's dangers and heartaches and also his great purposes and dreams.
       Early in their wanderings, under the spreading tree of Moreh, in the rich valley of Shechem, Abraham built an altar to the Lord. Later he built an altar near Beth-el, twelve miles north of Jerusalem, and another under an oak at Mamre. It is easy to imagine that Sarah worshiped at these altars with her husband. Though less credulous than he, she had a high conception of wifely duty, for Sarah was obedient, to Abraham. She became what Peter calls an "heir" with Abraham of "the grace of life" (I Pet. 3:7) .
       The adversity of famine that swept them later into the Valley of the Nile did not divide them, nor did great prosperity, which followed Abraham through most of the days of his long life. The intensity of their union deepened and became like a mighty force that nothing, not even Hagar, a secondary wife and mother of Abraham's first child, Ishmael, could diminish.
       When Sarah and her husband started their wanderings, they both were in their mature years. The Bible says she was sixty-five and he was seventy-five. They had known only one home, Ur, about halfway between the head of the Persian Gulf and Bagdad. From this ancient city of reed and mud huts Sarah traveled with her husband along 'the level banks of the Euphrates and on around the Fertile Crescent to the trail south along the Mediterranean. The arch of this crescent was flourishing in these times as a place of rich caravan trade.
       This couple's caravan was impressive in the beginning; and Abraham increased his wealth as he traveled. Their long entourage consisted of menservants and maidservants as well as sheep, oxen, asses, and other herds and flocks. The extent of their household later may be imagined by the fact that, at Abraham's word, no less than 318 servants, born in his house and trained to arms, accompanied him to the rescue of his nephew, Lot. Those left to attend his flocks and herds, which he possessed in great numbers, must have been in equal proportion. The beautiful confidence and true affection existing between Sarah and Abraham are reflected in the authority she had over this household during his absence. He recognized her as his equal. She never subjected herself to a lesser role, and Abraham never demanded it.
       We can picture their long caravan with its riding animals brilliantly attired with wool and bead trappings, as were their riders, forming a cavalcade of color as it moved from the fertile green valley into the parched land where little grew but dry thorn bushes and tamarisk trees.
       Perhaps the most impressive figure in the caravan was Sarah herself. Though Bible records furnish no further details than the fact that she was "a fair woman to look upon," we can picture her as wearing a flowing robe blending several rich colors, perhaps the warm reds and azure blue made familiar by the old masters. The drapery of her robe extended to a headdress with a veil that partly hid her face. It is easy to imagine she might have had alluring auburn hair, plaited and coiled in halo effect, exquisite olive skin, red lips and cheeks, deep-set eyes that brightened as she smiled, and a figure both commanding and graceful.
       Sarah was a princess in bearing and character, as her name signified. From Babylonia, she brought with her the name of Sarai, but fourteen years later, at the time of her approaching motherhood, God changed her name from Sarai to Sarah, and her husband's name from Abram to Abraham (Gen. 17:5, 15).
       Sarah was her husband's half-sister on the side of their father Terah, who had journeyed with them from Ur as far as Haran. Such marriages were not uncommon in the early patriarchal era. As Sarah and Abraham journeyed through strange and perilous country, Abraham passed his wife off as his sister, which was a half-truth. Possibly it was because he knew that these ancient monarchs would employ any means, however cruel and violent, to get the radiantly beautiful Sarah into their harems. Early in their wanderings Sarah was taken into King Pharaoh's court, but it is evident from the record that her ardent affection for Abraham was not diminished by the pomp, riches, and power of a great Egyptian king. Josephus informs us that Sarah, courageous and unafraid, admitted to her royal admirer that she was the wife of Abraham; consequently Pharaoh gave many gifts to Abraham because of the beautiful Sarah. Isn't it to Sarah's credit that her own fidelity to Abraham secured her escape?
       The same situation recurred when Sarah and Abraham arrived, a decade or more later, at the court of Abimelech in Gerar. This king, too, we are told, desired Sarah for his harem, though these two similar stories may be variant records of the same incident.
       Growing impatient for the birth of Abraham's promised son, and not understanding the divine delay, Sarah concluded she was the obstacle. The promise had been made about eleven years before when Sarah and Abraham had left their homeland. Because she had not yet conceived, Sarah devised the plan of giving her maid Hagar, probably obtained as a gift from Pharaoh, to her husband as a secondary wife, a common custom in patriarchal times. Hagar, who had become the favorite in Sarah's large household of servants, evidently enjoyed her mistress' full confidence.
       With wavering faith but with a willingness to forsake her own vanity, Sarah went to Abraham and said, "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. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai‚"(Gen. 16:2).
       Sarah's lack of faith in her ability to give birth to a child of her own was to bring long years of anguish, for this child by the bond-woman Hagar, she later would learn, was not the child God had promised. According to an ancient custom, the child of such a union as Sarah proposed between her maid and her husband would be regarded as Sarah's own child.
       After having been admitted to intimacy with Abraham, and after learning she had conceived by him, Hagar became proud and assuming and quickly forgot her mistress' generosity in exalting her from the position of bondwoman to that of concubine. Understandably human, Sarah showed her worst self when she uttered reproach to her husband: "I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the Lord judge between me and thee‚" (Gen. 16:5).
       Sarah, we can be quite certain, still enjoyed the love and confidence of her husband, for when she complained to Abraham about Hagar's insolence and impudence, he answered her saying, "Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee‚" (Gen.16:6). That was reassurance enough of Abraham's affection for Sarah and his recognition of her supremacy over a maid, even one who was to bear him a child.
       Not one to submit tamely to ingratitude, Sarah took quick steps to reprimand Hagar. In no state of mind to take such reprimands, Hagar fled into the wilderness. "And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands‚" (Gen. 16:9).
       There is no record that further enmity between Sarah and Hagar occurred until about fourteen years later. Sarah doubtless had formed an attachment to Hagar's son Ishmael, her foster son, and may even have regarded him as the Son of Promise. When the boy was thirteen years old, Abraham was circumcized, signifying that he had entered upon a covenant with God. Then God told Abraham that He would not establish His covenant with Ishmael but with a son whom Sarah would bear.
       Soon after this three men came toward him as he sat in his tent door. Desiring to offer them his best hospitality, he hastened to Sarah's tent and asked her to make cakes upon the hearth for their guests. In this service Sarah became the first woman in the Bible to extend hospitality to guests.
       Her guests turned out to be divine messengers who had come to tell Abraham that Sarah would give birth to a son. Out of curiosity Sarah was listening to their conversation from her own tent. Not knowing who these strangers were, "Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?" (Gen. 18:12). In a later passage (Gen. 18:15) it is explained that she had laughed because she was afraid. Could it be that her laughter came from a sorrowful heart, that her mirth represented a heaviness of spirit? (Prov. 14:13).
       Sarah surely had developed great faith or she could not have become the mother in the Bible's first story of a miracle birth. The ancient writers who recorded her story believed that with God nothing was impossible, not even the birth of a child to a woman long past the age to bear children.
       Paul, in his epistle to the Romans, in speaking on salvation that comes not by law but through faith, best expresses the miracle of Isaac's birth in this manner, "And being not weak in faith, he [Abraham] considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb‚" (Rom. 4:19).
       Soon Sarah was to know all the bliss of a young mother. She would even nurse her child at her own breast, experiencing the while a visible manifestation of the wonderful power and unchanging love of God. In later years her son Isaac would display tenderhearted qualities, evidence enough of the gentle influence of his mother in these formative years of his life.
       On one of Isaac's birthdays, probably his third, his father made a great public feast, celebrating the child's weaning. At this feast, during which throngs of guests rejoiced, Hagar and Ishmael, who was now about seventeen years old, stood aside mocking. Once more Sarah, a woman of positive decision, demanded of Abraham, "Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac‚" (Gen. 21:10).
       Like any mother of a toddling youngster, Sarah did not look forward to rearing him with a rough half-brother and his jealous mother. Probably there was more wisdom than harshness in the positive stand Sarah took against Hagar and Ishmael, for we have the record that God spoke again to Abraham, saying, "Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that
Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called" (Gen. 21:12).
       Early the next morning Abraham sent away the bondwoman and her son, first placing on her shoulder a skin bottle of water. Though Abraham had been Hagar's legal custodian, he now followed the patriarchal custom when he turned her out, because of her misdemeanors toward his wife. Though in distress when expelled from the household of Abraham and Sarah, Hagar was to find new strength from God, a God who had mercy even upon those who had acted wrongly. He protected Hagar by filling her jug with water and by teaching her son Ishmael to become an expert with the bow.
        Now Sarah could instruct her son Isaac in wisdom and piety, without the discord that had been created by these two who had mocked her. Sarah is not to be condoned, of course, for not showing more love, even to those who had mocked her. But in this wasn't she protecting her child rather than herself?
       As Isaac reached manhood, Sarah was to come face to face with an even greater trial. At God's command, Abraham set forth with their beloved Son of Promise to sacrifice him upon an altar. As Sarah
sorrowfully watched her husband and son depart for the mountains in the land of Moriah, we can imagine her anguish of heart. And yet this woman who had developed great faith could now turn to the same omnipotent God who had miraculously brought forth her child in her old age. He was a God of love and mercy and majesty. She would remain obedient to him.
       Anxiety and sorrow were not to overwhelm her for long. She soon would learn that God did not demand the sacrifice of a son. A ram would be offered up instead of Isaac.
       We have no record of Sarah in the years that follow her son's and husband's return from Moriah, but we can assume she enjoyed the love and companionship of a devoted husband and a loyal son until her death at the age of one hundred and twenty-seven years. She is the only woman in the Bible whose age at death is recorded. This again signifies the important place that she held in the minds of early Hebrews.
       In the Cave of Machpelah, near Abraham's well-loved oak of Mamre, Sarah was buried. In selecting this site for his wife's last resting place, again Abraham demonstrated his great affection for her. Records tell us also that he mourned for her (Gen. 23:2). A few years later, on his wedding night, Isaac took his bride Rebekah to his mother's own tent, thus showing how fondly he, too, cherished her memory.
       At Hebron, over the cave of Machpelah which Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite (Gen. 23) there stands today a conservative Moslem mosque. The lower portions of the walls surrounding the enclosure are believed to date from the time of Solomon. Here in the mosque are the cenotaphs of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and other descendants of their family, erected just above their tombs in the cave below. Sarah, the first matriarch in the Bible, lies there in the honored place.
       In Hebrews 11:11 she is mentioned with those whose faith was outstanding. It says of her: "Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised." In Galatians 4:23-31, she is the free-woman in what is called the Allegory of Agar or Hagar. The allegory tells that it was the free-woman (Sarah) who gave birth to a child according to the Spirit, while the bondwoman (Hagar) gave birth to a child according to the flesh.
       The fact that Sarah is mentioned in three other places in the New Testament, I Peter 3:6 and Romans 4:19 and 9:9, as well as in Isaiah 51:2, is evidence of the revered place she held in Hebrew history. Today this "Mother of Nations" lives on, some four thousand years later, as the woman whose faith helped to achieve one of the miracle births of the Bible.

Did Abraham marry after Sarah died?

        Keturah (Gen. 25:1, 4; I Chron. 1:32, 33), second wife of Abraham, after the death of his beloved Sarah. Six sons were born to Keturah and Abraham: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. From these sons descended six Arabian tribes of southern and eastern Palestine. The best-known tribe bearing the name of one of Keturah's children were the Midianites. We come upon them first as camel-riding merchants traveling from Gideon to Egypt with gum, balm, and myrrh; These same Midianites sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty sheckels of silver.
       Keturah's sons were not joint heirs with Sarah's son Isaac, who received his father's blessing and became heir to all his large holdings. In order that they might not interfere with Isaac, legitimate Son of Promise, Abraham made special gifts to his younger sons by Keturah and sent them away, just as he had sent Ishmael away.

Who was Sarah's Egyptian handmaid, Hagar?

Hagar with her son, Ishmael.

       HAGAR (Gen. 16:1, 3, 4, 8, 15, 16; 21:9, 14, 17; 25:12), Sarah's Egyptian handmaid, obtained probably while she and Abraham were in Egypt. The maid became the mother, through Abraham, of Ishmael, from which came the tribe of Ishmaelites, who were nomads of northern Arabia.
       When Sarah was 76 years old (according to the way of reckoning time then) and had failed to conceive the heir God had promised, she followed a custom of the times, that of giving her maid Hagar to her husband. And Hagar became the earthly channel for what Sarah thought was the Heir of Promise.
       When Hagar had been raised to the place of secondary wife by her mistress, her pride became inflated and she was insolent to Sarah. Her actions caused Sarah to complain to her husband, who told her to do with her maid as she pleased. Upon being reprimanded by Sarah, Hagar fled to the wilderness.
       The angel of the Lord found Hagar by a fountain of water and inquired of her what had happened. Hagar announced that she was fleeing from her mistress. The angel then announced to Hagar that she would conceive by Abraham and that her seed would be multiplied for posterity. Hagar's child was born and named Ishmael.
       About 14 years later the angel told Abraham that Sarah would bear a son in her old age, and that she would be a mother of nations. This Heir of Promise, Isaac, was born when Hagar's son Ishmael was about 14 years old. Sarah weaned her child when he was about three years of age and celebrated the weaning with a festival. But Hagar and her son Ishmael stood off mocking Sarah's child.
       Sarah said to Abraham, "Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son" (Gen. 21: 10). Abraham yielded after an angel had told him that Isaac was the son through whom God's promises would be fulfilled.
       Early one morning Abraham arose and placed a goatskin of water upon Hagar's shoulder and sent her with Ishmael into the wilderness. After the water was gone, Hagar cast her son under a shrub to die and lifted up her voice and wept.
       When God heard Ishmael crying, he told Hagar to fear not, but to arise, for he would make of Ishmael a great nation. Then she opened her eyes and saw a well of water and gave her son a drink.
       The child grew and dwelt in the wilderness of Paran. The final account in Genesis states that "his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt."
       The concluding Biblical record of Hagar is in Galatians 4:24-25, where she is referred to as Agar. Paul speaks of her, a bondwoman, and Sarah, a freewoman, saying: "Which things are an allegory: for
these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children." The allegory compares the child of the flesh and the child of the spirit.
       Many traditions have arisen around the name of Hagar. One is that after Sarah's death Abraham took Hagar for a wife. Abraham's second wife was Keturah, meaning "separation."
       Other traditions center around Hagar and Mecca and the holy well of Zem-Zem, in the sacred area surrounding the Kaaba, or holy building. In the cornerstone here is said to be the original Koran of the Mohammedans. At this well Hagar and her son were supposed to have quenched their thirst.
       From the Arabs of the Hagar-Abraham line, Mohammed was descended, say Mohammedans. The strength of Islam, still mighty on three continents, is said to be bound up with the name of Hagar.

Who were the three wives of Esau?

       Bashemath the first from Genesis 26:34, the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and the first of two of Esau's wives. In Genesis 36:2 she is called Adah. She became his wife when he was forty years old and turned out to be a "grief of mind" to Esau's parents, Isaac and Rebekah.
       Tradition has it that Esau had hunted, eaten, and drunk for years with sons of Elon, his wife's brothers, also had sworn, sacrificed, and vowed to their false gods of the fields and the groves. Having outdone her brothers in his debaucheries, Esau finally had brought Bashemath, a Canaanite, and Judith, daughter of Beeri, another Canaanite, into the covenanted camp of his father.
       The record of Bashemath's marriage to Esau comes at a significant place. The next verse begins the story of the blessing and how Jacob obtained it. A long space of years had passed, however, probably about thirty-seven. Esau had had time to repent of his errors and to return to the godly way of life. But he did not. He continued in the path of the godless; and it is probable that this wife was one of the reasons for his turning away from God.
       Bashemath 2 from (Gen. 36:3, 4, 10, 13, 17), a second wife of Esau also bearing the name of Bashemath. She was the daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebajoth and in Genesis 28:9 her name is given as Mahalath. Esau probably married her after his marriage to the first two Hittite wives recorded in Genesis 26:34. This second Bashemath or Mahalath was the mother of Reuel.

Who was the daughter of Zechariah?

        ABI (II Kings 18:2), daughter of Zechariah, wife of Ahaz, and mother of Hezekiah, King of Judah.
       Following her name and that of her son is the significant phrase, "And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord," a phrase repeated often in Kings and Chronicles in the lists of queen-mothers.
       It is a credit to Abi that her son removed the high places of sacrifice and broke images, because he trusted in the Lord God of Israel.
       Abi's husband, Ahaz, eleventh king of Judah, was a wicked king who despoiled the Temple and set up altars for idol worship. The fact that her son destroyed these sheds some light on the mother's character.
       She is called Abijah in II Chronicles 29:1.

What did Jesus do for the widow of Nain?

The widow of Nain, given a priceless gift.

       The widow of Nain's son (Luke 7:11-19) was the first person Jesus raised from the dead. It was after He and his disciples and a multitude following Him had left Capernaum and had entered the village of Nain, which lies on the lower slopes of the Little Hermon.
      When Jesus came to the gate of the city, "Behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her."
      Luke goes on to relate that Jesus had compassion upon her, as He always did upon women in distress. No one asked Him for help, but walking up to the widow Jesus said, "Weep not." Such words were not a feeble effort to console her. They had a deeper meaning, as she was soon to learn.
      He came and touched the bier of her son and spoke to him, "Young man, I say unto thee, Arise." And the young man who had been dead began to speak. Though Luke does not give us a definite picture of the mother or express how she felt when her son was raised from the dead, the one graphic stroke is sufficient: Jesus "delivered him to his mother."
      The most amazing phase of the healing of the widow of Nain's son is that all who had witnessed this miracle "glorified God," saying a great prophet had come among them. And they recognized that Jesus was a far greater prophet than had been Elijah, who had raised from the dead the son of the widow of Zarephath. Elijah had raised her son after he had gone into a room alone and prayed for the boy. But Jesus healed the son of the widow of Nain instantaneously as a bewildered crowd looked on.

Who Was The Widow With Two Mites?

The widow gives, even though she is poor.

       The widow with two mites (Mark 12:41-44; Luke 21:1-4) has given us one of the most meaningful short stories in the Bible. During the last Passover week of Jesus' life on earth, this poor woman entered the Court of the Women in the Temple at Jerusalem and cast into the chest there her two mites, hardly enough to buy a loaf of bread.
       Streams of visitors were in the Holy City through the seven days of the great annual Feast of the Jews, and this woman would have passed unnoticed, but devotion like hers could not escape Jesus' notice. Her sacrifice appealed to Him, and He preserved her story in the safekeeping of His praise. Both Mark and Luke relate it.
       Luke tells that in praising her generosity Jesus said, "This poor widow hath cast in more than they all: For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had." (21:3-4)
       The cash value of her gift compared to the gifts of the wealthy was hardly enough to notice, but the devotion behind it was another matter. That devotion, beginning there and spreading throughout the world, has built hospitals and helped the needy, fed the hungry and encouraged the imprisoned. Today the world knows more about the poor widow than about the richest man in Jerusalem in her day.

Who Are The Women In Revelation?

Women of The Apostolic Church Are Symbolic

        Women in Revelation represent apocalyptic symbolism, to which the key has been lost. In Revelation 12:1, we have "a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." The text continues, "And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered" (Rev. 12:2). In this same chapter, verses 13-17, there is more about how Satan persecutes the woman.
       In Revelation 17, reference is made to "the great whore that sitteth upon many waters ... a woman upon a scarlet colored beast . . - THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS . . . the woman drunken with the blood of saints . . . the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her." All again represent apocalyptic symbolism and must be interpreted spiritually.
       In Revelation 18:7-10, a queen is mentioned. This refers to the wicked city of Babylon and her destruction.
       In Revelation 19:7-8, emphasis centers on "the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints." Mention is made again in Revelation 21:9 of "the bride, the Lamb's wife." All of this imagery of the Lamb's bride, most scholars concede, centers around the ideal Church and its final glory. Other interpretations have been innumerable.

Who are all of the queens and consorts listed the Old Testament?

This listing of 25 Queens includes reigning queens and consorts found in the Old Testament.

1. Abi
2. Ahinoam 1rst
3. Artaxerxes' queen
4. Athaliah
5. Azubah
6. Belshazzar's mother
7. Esther
8. Hamutal
9. Heph-zibah
10. Jecholiah
11. Jedidah
12. Jehoaddan
13. Jeroboam's wife
14. Jerusha
15. Jezebel 1rst
16. Maachah 3rd
17. Maachah 4th
18. Meshuilemeth
19. Nehushta
20. Queen of heaven
21. Queen of Sheba
22. Tahpenes
23. Vasfiti
24. Zebudah
25. Zibiah

Who are all of The queen-mothers listed in The Old Testament?

This listing includes 21 queen mothers of kings, the kings' names are in parentheses.

1. Abi (Hezekiah), 
   
2. Athaliah (Ahaziah)
3. Azubah (Jehoshaphat)
4. Bath-sheba (Solomon)
5. Belshazzar's mother
6. Hamutal (Jehoahaz, Zedekiah)
7. Heph-zibah (Manasseh)
8. Jecholiah (Azariah or Uzziah)
9. Jedidah (Josiah)
10. Jehoaddan (Amaziah)
11. Jerusha (Jothan)
12. Jezebel (Ahaziah, Jehoram)
13. Lemuel's mother
14. Maachah  3rd (Abijah)
15. Maachah 4th (Asa)
16. Meshuilemeth (Amon)
17. Naamah  2nd  (Rehoboam)
18. Nehushta (Jehoiachin)
19. Zebudah (Jehoiakim)
20. Zeruah (Jeroboam)
21. Zibiah (Joash or Jehoash)

Looking at life through different glasses...

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD,
plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."
Jeremiah 29:11

    

Description of Illustration: A man looks through the wheels of a bike instead of regular glasses, this implies that his point of view is unique, unlike many others. greyscale, hand-drawn illustration, 3 scriptures are included...

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways,
 declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
 so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."
Isaiah 55:8-9

"As we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.
 For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."
2 Corinthians 4: 18

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"E Pluribus Unum"

Description of Illustration: American eagle with flag shield and scroll "E Pluribus Unum" which is the national motto for the United States of America "Out of Many, One", House of Congress building, hand drawn illustration both the American flag and the Christian flag illustrated, greyscale

Have a question about the illustration? Just type it in the comment box and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. I only publish content that is closely related to the subject folks.

7 Important scriptures that describe what faith really is...

7 Important scriptures that describe what faith really is... - from the New International Version of The Bible

1. What faith is‚"Substance" and "Evidence" of the unseen - Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews. 11:1 
2. Without faith one cannot come to nor please God - And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11:6 
3. Faith comes by hearing the word of God - Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. Romans 10:17 
4. It is according to our faith when we believe the truth - When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they replied. Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you" Matthew 9:28, 29
5. It is not according to our faith when we believe error - Then they got Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. They took the ornate robe back to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.” He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.” Genesis 37:31-33 
6. Jesus prayed that Peter's faith would not fail him - But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”Luke 22:32 
7. The faithful are God's friends - And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. James. 2:23
   

from Tyndall...

Mothers guard your children...

"Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is
 old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6 ESV

Description of Clip Art: scriptures, mother guarding her child from danger, child dependent on mother's caution

"Arise, cry out in the night at the beginning of the night watches!
Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord!
Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children,
who faint for hunger at the head of every street."
 Lamentations 2:19 ESV

"And these words that I command you today shall be on
your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and
 speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk
 by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be
as frontlets between your eyes." Deuteronomy 6: 6-8

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Questions About Art Ministry or Religious Art in General:

        These questions and answers are here because I worked for many years both exhibiting in and orchestrating religious art exhibits in area St. Louis churches.

1. Must an art ministry be run by an artistic person?
2. Are there artworks that shouldn't be exhibited in a church art show?
3. Should artists be allowed to sell their work out of a church?
4. Where should people hang a church art exhibit?
5. Is your art ministry . . . Christian?

Questions About Art and Christianity:

      Believe it or not, I do get questions about these topics both through the mail and in person from believers etc... I figure it comes with the territory and is also my obligation to answer according to my faith as a Christian artist.

1. Is painting Jesus the same as committing idolatry?
2. Do the volunteers at your blog believe in salvation by works?
3. What did Jesus look like?