Barren Women in the Bible

Jewish Women’s Archive ^ | 2021 | Rachel Adelman

[CondoleezzaProtege]

In the biblical stories of barren women, maternity is further complicated in order to heighten the drama of the arrival of the promised son, emphasizing the divine role in conception and birth. In the case of the patriarchal stories in Genesis, the matriarchs’ barrenness emphasizes that it is God who disrupts continuity, in the transition from one generation to the next, and then selects the true heir to the covenant…

There are six barren women in the Bible: three of the four matriarchs (Sarah, Rebekah and Rachel) in Genesis; Hannah, mother of the prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 1-2); the anonymous wife of Manoah, mother of Samson (Judges 13); and the “great woman of Shunem,” also called the Shunammite, an acolyte of the prophet Elisha (2 Kings 4:8-44). In some cases, the presence of a fertile, though less beloved, co-wife exacerbates the barren woman’s distress.

…In many of the narratives, the barren woman is promised the much-desired son by an angel of God or an emissary in an “Annunciation Scene” that heralds the birth of the beloved son. While Sarah is sequestered in her tent, three men/angels appear to Abraham to announce the birth of a son to them in their old age (Genesis 18:10, 14). Similarly, Rebekah is privy to an oracle about the destiny of her twins, Jacob and Esau, who become the progenitors for the nations Israel and Edom (25:21-23); God hears Rachel and remembers her (30:22)…

In the Bible and until quite recently, the problem of infertility was attributed physiologically to women, though ultimately it was God who was seen as holding the keys to opening and closing the womb…

[CondoleezzaProtege]

And in the New Testament, see this dynamic continue to play out with Elizabeth, Mary’s older and infertile cousin who gives birth to John the Baptist six months before Mary gives birth to Jesus — as a virgin.

[CondoleezzaProtege]

4 Those who were mighty are mighty no more!

Those who were weak are now strong.

5 Those who were well are now starving;

Those who were starving are fed.

The barren woman now has seven children;

She with many children has no more!

6 The Lord kills,

The Lord gives life.

7 Some he causes to be poor

And others to be rich.

He cuts one down

And lifts another up.

8 He lifts the poor from the dust—

Yes, from a pile of ashes—

And treats them as princes

Sitting in the seats of honor.

For all the earth is the Lord’s

And he has set the world in order.

- 1 Samuel 2 (from Hannah’s prayer)

[central_va]

Barron women of Fox News:

1. Perino
2. Bream
3. Campagno

There are a lot more

[Dilbert San Diego]

LOL.

[lee martell]

In Old Testament era, there was no concept of male infertility, or low sperm count. It was always seen as the woman’s fault.

[FamiliarFace]

Not mentioned in the Bible, but Catholic tradition holds that Anne, mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was also barren. She and her husband Joachim promised God that the child would be given into the service of the Lord if He ever granted them a child.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Anne

[delchiante]

Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Samson’s mother, Hannah, Michal, and Elisabeth.

Some would say there was 7 barren.

1 Samuel 2:5
“Those who were full hire themselves out for bread,
But those who were hungry cease to hunger.
Even the barren give birth to seven,
But she who has many children languishes.

What’s interesting is the barren didn’t give birth to 7, but 8.

Sarah (1)
Rebekah (2)
Rachel (2)
Samson’s mother (1)
Hannah (1)
Michal (0)
Elisabeth (1)

Hannah as the 5th barren, did give birth to the 7th child.

Hannah had 3 more sons and 2 daughters, though.

So the previous barren women gave birth to 13 children.
1+12.
11 men, 2 women.

[CondoleezzaProtege]

In the MAGA era, and I virtually watch no cable media including Fox. But I’ve always really liked Dana Perino. Didn’t know about the other two.

Dana does not have children, but she is happily married.

There are many women who have children, but are divorced or have been divorced in the past.

Ideally one is both happily married once AND with children. But if you had to pick…

Several of the women in the Old Testament had to share their husbands with other women. 😕I’d imagine that tarnish the joy of having a long awaited child.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Thanks for this.

Here is a corollary:
THE BIBLE’S UNUSUAL & MIRACULOUS BIRTHS

SARAH: ISAAC
Genesis 17:15-22, 18:9-15 – Barren & Aged, Foretold

REBEKAH: ESAU & JACOB
Genesis 25:21-26 – Barren

RACHEL: JOSEPH
Genesis 30:22-25 – Barren

JOCHEBED: MOSES
Exodus 2 – Given Up for (Forced) Adoption

MRS. MANOAH: SAMSON
Judges 13 – Foretold

RUTH: OBED
Ruth 4 – David’s Gentile Great-Great-Grandmother
(Could also include Gentile Rahab's grafting into Jesus' lineage)

HANNAH: SAMUEL
1 Samuel 1:1-20 – Barren

SHUNAMMITE: A SON
2 Kings 4:14-17 – Barren

JOB: 7 SONS & 3 DAUGHTERS
Job 42:13-16 – To Replace Satan’s Depradation

ELIZABETH: JOHN
Luke 1:5-25, 36, 39-45, 57-80 – Barren & Aged

MARY: JESUS
Luke 1:26-38; 2:1-20 – Foretold, Generated by the Holy Spirit

[Hebrews 11:6]

Several of the women in the Old Testament had to share their husbands with other women. 😕I’d imagine that tarnish the joy of having a long awaited child.

There is a wonderful WW2 movie starring Humphrey Bogart called Sahara. Bogart meets a Sudanese soldier who is Muslim and their conversation veers onto marriage. Sudan says The Prophet recommends four wives: one wife gets lonely, two fight, three spur two-against-one, but four is harmonious, two and two. So Bogart assumes Sudan has four. "Oh, no, too much for me--I have only one wife, like you."

[9YearLurker]

Not sure that male infertility was understood at the time.

[CondoleezzaProtege]

Not sure that male infertility was understood at the time.

True - but now that I think about the above examples: most of them ‘shared’ their husbands in polygamist type arrangements. And of course Sarah attempted to use her servant Hagar as a surrogate. So their pain was protracted and compounded by the fact that their husbands had no trouble impregnating other women. So in most of their cases, God had intentionally closed up the women’s wombs for a time. It was not male infertility.

[9YearLurker]

We might interpret it differently.

[sasportas]

We should bear in mind what God had in mind, namely the future fulfillment of the seed of the woman prophecy, Gen. 3:15. Gen. 3:15 being the first prophecy of the Bible.

There would be long running enmity between the serpent, and the woman and her seed. A woman would give birth to a son whose heel would be bruised in that enmity, i.e., Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, but ultimately would crush the head of the serpent in that enmity. And, as women do not have “seed,” this Son’s birth also prophesies something supernatural, the virgin birth.

We know what happened in God’s promise of a son to be born to Abraham and Sarah (whom the Bible says was barren), though they both had become very old yet Isaak was born. We should recognize God’s intervention was supernatural.

Obviously, Isaak was not the fulfillment of the Gen. 3:15 prophecy of the seed of the woman, Isaak only pointed to another, and far greater, Son who would be supernaturally conceived, who would ultimately prevail over the serpent.

When God promises something, as in the promise made to Abraham of a son, though the situation of Sarah’s infertility seemed impossible, rest assured it will happen.

This is truly an incredible narrative, God calling Abram and Sarah almost six thousand years ago, who was infertile, yet with a promise of a son whose birth would have to be supernatural! We should ask ourselves, why this strange narrative in the first place? unless God had in mind a future Son? Jesus Christ the Son of God.

[CondoleezzaProtege]

RUTH: OBED Ruth 4 – David’s Gentile Great-Great-Grandmother (Could also include Gentile Rahab's grafting into Jesus' lineage)

Gentile and Prostitute* Rahab. Jesus had stunning lineage indeed.

[sasportas]

Correction, God called Abram and Sarai about four thousand years ago, not six thousand.

[daniel1212]

The stark contrast with contraceptionageddon of the modern world.

Hannah: "vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head." (1 Samuel 1:11)

Jephthah's daughter: "said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows." (Judges 11:37)

Rachel: "Give me children, or else I die." (Genesis 30:1)

Today in most all cases: Kill this growing product of a procreative act I chose to engage in, with its uniquely human DNA, and safely quarantined for months in my womb , and especially before it looks even more human, or else I will have to endure manifesting the result of my choice to engage in fornication, and displease my selfish BF, and then the pain of of child birth.

And unless I give up part of myself to adoption, then I will have to sacrifice time and money I could have spent on myself, and maybe pursuing a career, and instead have to care for this product which can grow to provide fulfillment and blessing in the long term. As women have realized for most of human history. Delayed gratification is so backward.

Man is to either living single, celibate and continent, or be lawfully married and have all the children God will give you, in a life of temperance.

[CondoleezzaProtege]

mm — I don’t know, while the heart of Hannah was lovely, there was also undue idolatry of having a child that caused Sarah a lot of grief (Hagar fiasco) and exposed in Rachel when she hid Laban’s idols…She ended up dying childbirth years later.

In contemporary times, the aggressive fervor towards IVF and reproductive technologies reflect the same spirit.

God cares more about the state of our hearts than the state of our wombs.

[daniel1212]

mm — I don’t know, while the heart of Hannah was lovely, there was also undue idolatry of having a child that caused Sarah a lot of grief (Hagar fiasco) and exposed in Rachel when she hid Laban’s idols…She ended up dying childbirth years later.

Yearning for a child does not mean the child is an idol, any more than yearning for water is, for both are natural desires, and not necessarily idols if in the context of fulfilling a primary purpose in God's plan, which. unless a life of celibacy and continence in dedication to God is chosen, for women is normatively the bearing and raising of children in marriage, and support of the husband as being the her leader.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Genesis 1:27-28)

I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. (1 Timothy 5:14)

The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, (Titus 2:3-4)

That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. (Titus 2:4-5)

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. (Ephesians 5:22-28)

[CondoleezzaProtege]

Yearning for water...

Water and food can become idols too. That’s why regular fasting is a good spiritual practice that Jesus himself (who was *gasp* unmarried!) modeled regularly.