This post originally appeared on the now-retired Momma Theologians website. While less directly about PMADs than most of the other posts on The Sorrows of Eve, this biblical theology lays foundations for why motherhood matters and why it is so hard.
Motherhood is hard. That’s not something we moms need to be told, though, because we live it every day! While motherhood is often categorized as a “thankless job,” we may still receive encouragement that we’re doing a good job or reminders that children are a blessing. But in difficult seasons, that doesn’t sink in, the encouragement or reminders of gratitude don’t go very deep.
Most platitudes about motherhood only scratch the surface of what the Bible has to say about children, the process of childbearing, and the significance of the womb. We only have a smattering of verses specifically about children, such as “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28) and “Children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward” (Psalm 127:3). But if we look at the whole story of Scripture, we will find out why children are a blessing, why having them matters—and why motherhood is so hard.
Be Fruitful and Multiply
Before we ever read the words “womb,” “childbearing,” or “children,” Scripture lays important foundations about fertility. In Genesis 1, God creates every living thing “according to its kind” (Gen. 1:11-12, 21, 24-25). He blesses the birds and fish to “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 1:22).
This pattern is echoed but expanded when God makes people. He creates Adam and Eve in His image (Gen. 1:26-27). God blesses them to “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 1:28). In doing so, Adam and Eve will fill the earth not just with more humans, but more of their kind—the image of God.
Pain in Childbearing
But that isn’t the end of the story. Adam and Eve sin, and the consequences for their disobedience directly affect their fruitfulness. Eve will now bring forth children in pain and toil (Gen. 3:16). The blessing of having children becomes intertwined with trouble. Not only is it harder for Eve individually, but a war begins between the seed of the Serpent and the seed of the woman, the promised offspring of her womb (Gen. 3:15). Yet in this war, her Offspring will prevail.
This gives Eve hope: childbearing will be painful, but the womb will be an instrumental tool moving God’s plan of redemption forward. It is a primary weapon in the war between the seed of the Serpent and the seed of Promise. Eve believes this, and hopes that Cain is the promised seed (Gen. 4:1). Instead, Cain becomes the first to join the seed of the Serpent. He is the first in a long string of proofs that having children is now filled with pain and toil extending beyond physical childbirth.
Give Me Children or I Die
The rest of Old Testament history confirms this difficulty. After the flood, God reiterates the importance of childbearing (Gen. 9:1-7) and children continue to be valued and longed for (Gen. 30:1). Yet time and time again we see it “not working.” Sarah, Rachel, and Hannah are infertile. Here we see not only the toil and pain in childbearing or the lack thereof, but also God’s sovereignty in opening and closing the womb. All three women do eventually conceive, but Rachel dies giving birth to a breech baby (Gen. 36:6-7).[1]
Even still, God continues to advance His plan of redemption through fertility. He could have sent Jesus earlier and in another way. He could have grown Israel in other ways, too. But instead, He fills the wombs of women with the seed of the Promise.
Meanwhile, the war between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman still rages. God’s people grow despite enslavement in Egypt, and when Exodus opens the seed of the woman is numerous. Yet in the same chapter, the seed of the Serpent strikes, slaughtering Hebrew infants. God, however, shows that He is mightier than Pharoah and rescues His people.
Wombs Blessed and Cursed
As He covenants with Israel in the wilderness, God makes it clear that although fruitfulness is important, it’s a blessing, not a right. Fruitfulness comes with faithfulness (Deut. 28:4, 11). For disobedience, the fruit of the womb is cursed (Deut. 28:18), though not irreversibly.
But God closes the womb for reasons other than unfaithfulness. With Samuel, He closes the womb of Hannah, a righteous woman, in order to open it for His praise and purposes (1 Sam. 1:5-6, 1 Sam. 2:1-7).
God is not done yet. When God promises that a descendant of David would be raised up to rule forever (2 Sam. 7:12), He again shows that His plan of redemption progresses through childbearing.
Hope in Exile
But the prophets cast shadows on this hope, indicating that while God keeps His covenant, Israel’s disobedience means they forfeit blessing as they go into exile. In the vein of Deuteronomy 28, the prophets’ oracles of woe foretell miscarriage, barren wombs, and the deaths of children as judgment for Israel’s sin (Hosea 9:11-16–but we also need to remember Hannah: there are reasons other than judgment God may close a womb! Mothers facing infertility should not assume they are in sin or being disciplined for something.). In their idolatry, Israel no longer wages war against the Serpent, but joins the enemy.
Yet God does not abandon His people. In the midst of decline, He provides more detail about the Seed of the Woman. What Eve hoped Cain would be is coming: the virgin will bear a son and He will be called Immanuel, God with us (Is. 7:14). This child, the Mighty God Himself, will rule justly and righteously (Is. 9:6-7). God gives Israel hope, not only of Immanuel, but also of a future when the barren woman – a sign of cursed Jerusalem[2] – becomes fruitful once more after the Suffering Servant has borne their sins (Is. 53:12-54:8).
The Virgin Conceives
After years of exile and then silence, God continues to move His plan of redemption forward through the wombs of women. This time, He uses a barren old woman, Elizabeth, and a betrothed virgin, Mary.
Mary miraculously bears a son (Luke 1:30-33) who will fulfill the prophecies Isaiah gave, saving the people from their sins, fulfilling God’s promise to Adam and Eve. This child, Jesus, dwells for a time in Mary, “Immensity cloistered in thy dear womb.”[3] This does not make wombs holy, but does show again how God uses a process sin makes difficult to redeem humanity from their sin.
The wait is over. The long-awaited Seed has finally arrived.
A New Fruitfulness
But in Jesus’ ministry, we start to see a shift of focus. Israel’s highest good, like ours, was to love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. But their primary growth, and the way God moved redemption forward, came through physical offspring.
Jesus, however, emphasizes that entrance to His kingdom happens by spiritual rebirth (John 3:4), His family are those who obey Him (Luke 11:27-28, 8:19-21), and the Great Commission changes the emphasis of the church to disciple-making (Matthew 28:18-20).
With this focus on spiritual fruitfulness, is the womb now obsolete as a weapon for the Kingdom? Does the priority of spiritual offspring mean that physical childbearing no longer matters? While the kind of fruitfulness is re-focused by the Great Commission to prioritize spiritual offspring, it does not appear to negate the value ofphysical childbearing. Having babies continues to multiply the image of God on the earth and sanctify mothers. Parenting is not only intensive discipleship, but often opens the door for further evangelism and discipleship opportunities.
Paul’s teaching on family points to the continued value of biological family (Titus 2:4, 1 Timothy 5:10-14), while also adding a significant placefor singles (Matt. 19:12, 1 Cor. 7:32-34), which also means that infertile or unmarried women are still warriors for the Kingdom. Motherhood is not, nor has it ever been, ultimate—the worship of God is, as we see in the final state in Revelation.
After a fly-over view of the whole Story of Scripture, we can see that childbearing sits under the sovereign hand of God. Motherhood is hard, because of the curse, because of our own sin, and because Satan still wars against the image of God in the seed of the woman (Rom. 16:20, 1 Peter 5:8). But momma, take courage, because childbearing is blessed, and it matters for the Kingdom of God.
Takeaways
- How does tracing childbearing through Scripture give you hope and comfort in your suffering as a mother, be that miscarriage, infertility, postpartum depression, or wayward children?
- How does Scripture’s view of childbearing align with your motives for having children and thoughts on family size? Be sure to consider both the creation order and the Great Commission.
- While you should not feel that motherhood is taking you away from “ministry,” or that you need to do more than stay at home and disciple your children alongside your husband, the priority of spiritual fruitfulness should pull you towards discipling your children and involvement in the body of Christ. How does this challenge or encourage you?
[1] BAS Library, “Did Rachel Have a Breech Birth?” Bible Review 14:1 (February 1998), https://www.baslibrary.org/bible-review/14/1/11.
[2] Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, vol. 7 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1996), 525.
[3] John Donne, La Corona, http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/donne/lacorona.htm
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