Chronological timeline of texts tagged with Divine Motherhood
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In the Hebrew Bible and related traditions, God is sometimes described using maternal imagery such as providing care and protection, giving birth, or breastfeeding. Later Jewish and Christian writings follow this pattern and describe God acting like a mother.
Note: Dates shown in this timeline are approximate and based on scholarly estimates.
Back to Tag5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 49:25
Hebrew Bible
22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough near a spring whose branches climb over the wall. 23 The archers will attack him, they will shoot at him and oppose him. 24 But his bow will remain steady, and his hands will be skillful; because of the hands of the Powerful One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, 25 because of the God of your father, who will help you, because of the Sovereign God, who will bless you with blessings from the sky above, blessings from the deep that lies below, and blessings of the breasts and womb. 26 The blessings of your father are greater than the blessings of the eternal mountains or the desirable things of the age-old hills. They will be on the head of Joseph and on the brow of the prince of his brothers.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Deuteronomy 32:18
Hebrew Bible
16 They made him jealous with other gods, they enraged him with abhorrent idols. 17 They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods they had not known; to new gods who had recently come along, gods your ancestors had not known about. 18 You forgot the Rock who fathered you, and put out of mind the God who gave you birth. 19 But the Lord took note and despised them because his sons and daughters enraged him. 20 He said, “I will reject them. I will see what will happen to them; for they are a perverse generation, children who show no loyalty.
7th-5th Centuries B.C.E.
Isaiah 31:5
Hebrew Bible
4 Indeed, this is what the Lord has said to me:“The Lord will be like a growling lion, like a young lion growling over its prey. Though a whole group of shepherds gathers against it, it is not afraid of their shouts or intimidated by their yelling. In this same way the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will descend to do battle on Mount Zion and on its hill. 5 Just as birds hover over a nest, so the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will protect Jerusalem. He will protect and deliver it; as he passes over he will rescue it.” 6 You Israelites! Return to the one you have so blatantly rebelled against! 7 For at that time every one will get rid of the silver and gold idols your hands sinfully made.
7th-5th Centuries B.C.E.
Isaiah 66:14
Hebrew Bible
12 For this is what the Lord says: “Look, I am ready to extend to her prosperity that will flow like a river, the riches of nations will flow into her like a stream that floods its banks. You will nurse from her breast and be carried at her side; you will play on her knees. 13 As a mother consoles a child, so I will console you, and you will be consoled over Jerusalem.” 14 When you see this, you will be happy, and you will be revived. The Lord will reveal his power to his servants and his anger to his enemies. 15 For look, the Lord comes with fire; his chariots come like a windstorm to reveal his raging anger, his battle cry, and his flaming arrows.
5th Century B.C.E.
Jeremiah 2:27
Hebrew Bible
25 Do not chase after other gods until your shoes wear out and your throats become dry. But you say, ‘It is useless for you to try and stop me because I love those foreign gods and want to pursue them!’ 26 Just as a thief has to suffer dishonor when he is caught, so the people of Israel will suffer dishonor for what they have done. So will their kings and officials, their priests and their prophets. 27 They say to a wooden idol, ‘You are my father.’ They say to a stone image, ‘You gave birth to me.’ Yes, they have turned away from me instead of turning to me. Yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’ 28 But where are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them save you when you are in trouble. The sad fact is that you have as many gods as you have towns, Judah. 29 Why do you try to refute me? All of you have rebelled against me,”says the Lord.
6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E.
Psalm 91:4
Hebrew Bible
1 As for you, the one who lives in the shelter of the Most High, and resides in the protective shadow of the Sovereign One— 2 I say this about the Lord, my shelter and my stronghold, my God in whom I trust— 3 he will certainly rescue you from the snare of the hunter and from the destructive plague. 4 He will shelter you with his wings; you will find safety under his wings. His faithfulness is like a shield or a protective wall. 5 You need not fear the terrors of the night, the arrow that flies by day, 6 the plague that stalks in the darkness, or the disease that ravages at noon. 7 Though a thousand may fall beside you, and a multitude on your right side, it will not reach you.
195-175 B.C.E.
Sirach 15:2
Deuterocanon
1 Whoever fears the Lord will do this, and whoever holds to the law will obtain wisdom. 2 She will come to meet him like a mother, and like a young bride she will welcome him. 3 She will feed him with the bread of learning, and give him the water of wisdom to drink. 4 He will lean on her and not fall, and he will rely on her and not be put to shame.
150-100 B.C.E.
Baruch 4:8
Deuterocanon
6 It was not for destruction that you were sold to the nations, but you were handed over to your enemies because you angered God. 7 For you provoked the one who made you by sacrificing to demons and not to God. 8 You forgot the everlasting God, who brought you up, and you grieved Jerusalem, who reared you. 9 For she saw the wrath that came upon you from God, and she said: Listen, you neighbors of Zion, God has brought great sorrow upon me; 10 for I have seen the exile of my sons and daughters, which the Everlasting brought upon them.
100-50 B.C.E.
Wisdom of Solomon 8:2
Deuterocanon
1 She reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other, and she orders all things well. 2 I loved her and sought her from my youth; I desired to take her for my bride, and became enamored of her beauty. 3 She glorifies her noble birth by living with God, and the Lord of all loves her. 4 For she is an initiate in the knowledge of God, and an associate in his works.
70-100 C.E.
4 Ezra 10:7
Pseudepigrapha
5 At that I interrupted the train of my thoughts, and I spoke sternly to the woman: 6 ‘You are the most foolish woman in the world,’ I said; ‘are you blind to the grief and sufferings of our nation? 7 It is for the sorrow and humiliation of Zion, the mother of us all, that you should mourn so deeply; 8 you should share in our common mourning and sorrow. But you are deep in sorrow for your one son. 9 Ask the earth and she will tell you; she must mourn for the thousands and thousands who come to birth upon her.
54-55 C.E.
Galatians 4:26
New Testament
22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. 23 But one, the son by the slave woman, was born by natural descent, while the other, the son by the free woman, was born through the promise. 24 These things may be treated as an allegory, for these women represent two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai bearing children for slavery; this is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar represents Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written:“Rejoice, O barren woman who does not bear children; break forth and shout, you who have no birth pains,because the children of the desolate woman are more numerousthan those of the woman who has a husband.” 28 But you, brothers and sisters, are children of the promise like Isaac.
70-90 C.E.
Matthew 23:36
New Testament
34 so that on you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 35 I tell you the truth, this generation will be held responsible for all these things! 36 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would have none of it! 37 Look, your house is left to you desolate! 38 For I tell you, you will not see me from now until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
75-85 C.E.
Luke 13:34
New Testament
31 At that time, some Pharisees came up and said to Jesus, “Get away from here because Herod wants to kill you.” 32 But he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Look, I am casting out demons and performing healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will complete my work. 33 Nevertheless I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the next day, because it is impossible that a prophet should be killed outside Jerusalem.’ 34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would have none of it! 35 Look, your house is forsaken! And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
90-110 C.E.
John 16:22
New Testament
21 When a woman gives birth, she has distress because her time has come, but when her child is born, she no longer remembers the suffering because of her joy that a human being has been born into the world. 22 So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. 23 At that time you will ask me nothing. I tell you the solemn truth, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.
300-600 C.E.
Neofiti Genesis 49:25
Targum
24 But he placed his confidence in the Strong One. He stretched out his hand and his arms to beseech mercy from the Strong One of his father Jacob, with the strength of whose arm all the tribes of Israel are sustained. 25 May the Memra of the God of your father be at your aid, and may the God of the heavens bless you with the best of the dew and the rain that descend from the heavens from above and with the blessing of the springs of the abyss that come up from the earth, from beneath. Blessed are the breasts from which you sucked and the womb within which you lay. 26 May the blessings of your father be added for you, to the blessings with which my fathers Abraham and Isaac blessed me, which the lords of the world Ishmael and Esau longed for from the beginning. Let all these blessings come; let them become a crown of dignity on the head of Joseph, and on the brow of the pious man who was master and ruler over the land of Egypt, and paid attention to the honor of his father and the honor of his brothers.
1105 C.E.
Midrash Lekach Tov
Rabbinic
When the manna would fall upon the camp at night, the dew would first descend and spread out as if it were a fine cloth, so that the manna would not become soiled. Then the manna would descend upon it, and afterward another layer of dew would come upon it from above, as it says, ‘When the dew fell upon the camp at night, the manna fell upon it’ (Numbers 11:9). The dew came to protect the manna from the snakes and scorpions. The dew resembled a woman's breast: just as an infant finds nourishment there, so too the manna came down between layers of dew, and each person would open the door of his tent and find his sustenance prepared, ready for eating and drinking, fresh as though drawn from the sun and the moon.