Nursing in the Bible
So I was curious how many references there are in the Bible about "nursing". I got out my trusty concordance from my Bible college years and looked up nursing. There were only a few scriptures. One was in red print spoken by Jesus right before crucifixion.
26As they led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. 27A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. 28Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. 29For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’
Luke 23:26-29
There was another reference is Isaiah 49:15:
15“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
I will not forget you!
My favorite reference is actually a story when Moses was born in Exodus 2.
1Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, 2and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. 3But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. 4His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him. 5Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to get it. 6She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said. 7Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” 8“Yes, go,” she answered. And the girl went and got the baby’s mother. 9Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. 10When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses,a saying, “I drew him out of the water.”
So what you need to know that happened before this story is that the king of Egypt, Pharaoh, ordered that all the Egyptian boys be killed and thrown into the Nile River for population control. Similar to the elimination of girls in China with the "one-child policy". Originally the midwives were ordered to kill all the boys at birth, but they feared God and didn't obey Pharaoh's order. There was a woman (Moses' mother) who gave birth to a boy and that is where Exodus 2 starts. What does it mean when the scripture says he was a fine boy and I wonder what caused her not to be able to hide him anymore. Instead of just throwing her baby in the river like Pharaoh commanded, she placed him in a basket and made it waterproof. The basket floated by Pharaoh's daughter's living quarters and rescued the baby. Moses' sister (Miriam) watched as the lady found her brother. She asked about getting a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby. That would have suggested that she needed a woman that was lactating. Of course Moses' sister got their mother. The mother was asked to nurse her own baby for payment. The scripture said she kept the baby until he was grown, assuming weened and then became Pharaoh's daughter's son. Nursing mothers know the incredible bond that you feel with your child. Imagine nursing for 3 months, then giving him up, nursing him again for a while longer and then him becoming someone else's son!
26As they led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. 27A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. 28Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. 29For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’
Luke 23:26-29
There was another reference is Isaiah 49:15:
15“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
I will not forget you!
My favorite reference is actually a story when Moses was born in Exodus 2.
1Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, 2and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. 3But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. 4His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him. 5Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to get it. 6She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said. 7Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” 8“Yes, go,” she answered. And the girl went and got the baby’s mother. 9Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. 10When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses,a saying, “I drew him out of the water.”
So what you need to know that happened before this story is that the king of Egypt, Pharaoh, ordered that all the Egyptian boys be killed and thrown into the Nile River for population control. Similar to the elimination of girls in China with the "one-child policy". Originally the midwives were ordered to kill all the boys at birth, but they feared God and didn't obey Pharaoh's order. There was a woman (Moses' mother) who gave birth to a boy and that is where Exodus 2 starts. What does it mean when the scripture says he was a fine boy and I wonder what caused her not to be able to hide him anymore. Instead of just throwing her baby in the river like Pharaoh commanded, she placed him in a basket and made it waterproof. The basket floated by Pharaoh's daughter's living quarters and rescued the baby. Moses' sister (Miriam) watched as the lady found her brother. She asked about getting a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby. That would have suggested that she needed a woman that was lactating. Of course Moses' sister got their mother. The mother was asked to nurse her own baby for payment. The scripture said she kept the baby until he was grown, assuming weened and then became Pharaoh's daughter's son. Nursing mothers know the incredible bond that you feel with your child. Imagine nursing for 3 months, then giving him up, nursing him again for a while longer and then him becoming someone else's son!
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