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Bible Encyclopedias
Mother
Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
or The ordinary applications of the word require no illustration; but the following points of Hebrew usage may be noticed. When the father had more than one wife, the son seems to have confined the title of 'mother' to his real mother, by which he distinguished her from the other wives of his father. Hence the source of Joseph's peculiar interest in Benjamin is indicated in , by his being his mother's son.' The other brethren were the sons of his father by other wives. Nevertheless, when this precision was not necessary, the step-mother was sometimes styled mother. Thus Jacob () speaks of Leah as Joseph's mother, for his real mother had long been dead. The step-mother was however more properly distinguished from the womb-mother by the name of 'father's wife.' The word 'mother' was also, like father, brother, sister, employed by the Hebrews in a somewhat wider sense than is usual with us. It is used of a grandmother (), and even of any female ancestor (); of a benefactress (), and as expressing intimate relationship (). In Hebrew, as in English, a nation is considered as a mother, and individuals as her children (;;;; ); so our 'mother-country,' which is quite as good as 'father-land,' which we seem beginning to copy from the Germans. Large and important cities are also called mothers, i.e. 'mother-cities' with reference to the dependent towns and villages (), or even to the inhabitants, who are called her children (; ) [WOMAN].
Public Domain.
Kitto, John, ed. Entry for 'Mother'. "Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature". https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/kbe/m/mother.html.
