- Proverbs 1:8
“My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother” (Prov. 1:8).
Those who look upon the Proverbs as the address of Solomon to his son Rehoboam naturally take “father” as standing for the former. Naamah, in this case must be the mother – not an Israeli.
1 Kings 14:31, “And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And his mother’s name was Naamah an Ammonitess. And Abijam his son reigned in his stead.”
“And forsake not the law of thy mother“
Forsake. The radical meaning of הִּטּשׁ (tittosh) is that of “spreading,” then of “scattering” (Aiken), and so the word comes to mean “forsake, reject, or neglect.”
Three categories to learn from your mother
Practical truths: The law; תּורַת (torath), construct case of תּורַה (torah), from the root יָרָה (yarah), “to teach,” hence here equivalent to “a law” in the sense of that which teaches – a precept.
Life example: Titus 2:3, “teachers of good things” — (καλοδιδασκάλους); only here in the New Testament, not found in the LXX., or in classical Greek; teachers, by their holy demeanor as well as by their words.
Theological doctrine: The law (torah) of the mother is that practical teaching which she imparts orally to her son, but torah is also used in a technical sense as lex, to signify the whole body of the Mosaic Law.
2 Timothy 3:14, “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;” Eunice – mother; Lois – grandmother.
“Mother. This he adds, because children, when grown up, are very prone to slight their mother’s advice, because of the infirmity of their sex, and because they have not that dependence upon and expectation from their mothers which they have from their fathers.” Matthew Poole
From Lois to Eunice to Timothy to those taught by Timothy, this transgenerational inculcation of the law implies all the guiding principles argued for here at Standard Sacred Text. Practical wisdom, consistent life example, and preserved theological doctrine is dependent upon a codified standard sacred text. Happy Mother’s Day!
Standard Sacred Text.com 