God’s Image Study • Commandment 5: Father and Mother
“But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother.”
— Galatians 4:26, LSB
As we examine the command to honor father and mother, Paul’s words give us an explicit spiritual relationship to follow.
He names a mother, identifies her as Jerusalem above, and describes her as free. We must retain each part as we examine the surrounding passages.
Motherhood, Promise, and Freedom
Paul compares Abraham’s two sons and the women who bore them. He explains the account allegorically through two covenants, distinguishing birth according to the flesh from birth through promise.
Present Jerusalem is described as enslaved with her children. Jerusalem above is free. Paul then identifies his readers as children of promise, corresponding to Isaac. Read Galatians 4:21–31.
Motherhood here carries meaning concerning origin, belonging, and inheritance. The relationship involves how the children are brought forth and the condition into which they belong.
Paul Leads Us Back to Isaiah
Immediately after naming Jerusalem above as mother, Paul quotes Isaiah’s invitation for the barren woman to rejoice.
Isaiah 54 develops that promise through an enlarged tent, descendants, restored relationship, and compassion. The woman addressed is also described through the experiences of wifehood and widowhood. Read Isaiah 54:1–8.
Later, the passage speaks of her children being taught by YHWH (יהוה) and receiving great peace. Motherhood, children, and God’s teaching appear within the same unfolding picture. Read Isaiah 54:11–14.
This brings us back to the mother’s instruction in Proverbs. We can follow the connection while attending to who teaches and how the children receive.
Nourishment and Comfort
Isaiah 66 invites those who love Jerusalem to rejoice with her. The imagery includes nursing, satisfaction, being carried, and being comforted.
God then compares His own comfort to a mother comforting her child and promises comfort in Jerusalem. Read Isaiah 66:10–13.
Notice the relationships: Jerusalem is pictured as nourishing, the children receive care, and God identifies Himself as the One who comforts.
Maternal language helps express what God does. Our examination concerns the life and care conveyed through these roles.
The Bride Shown as Jerusalem
In Revelation, the angel announces that he will show John the Bride, the Lamb’s wife. John is then shown the holy city, Jerusalem, descending from heaven from God and having God’s Glory. Read Revelation 21:9–11.
Placed alongside Galatians and Isaiah, this develops the connection we followed in our Bridegroom and Bride Study: Jerusalem, wife, mother, children, and the life God provides.
Each relationship contributes something. We must examine how they belong together while preserving the roles being described.
Returning to Honor
Our study of the fifth commandment now carries these passages alongside its instruction to honor both parents.
As we explore that connection, we ask: Do we recognize the mother Scripture names? Are we attending to the teaching, nourishment, and care associated with her?
Threads to Follow
Christ and fatherhood: Examine Isaiah 9:6 alongside life, authority, and his relationship to God.
Children and inheritance: Follow promise and belonging into the commandment’s promise of life.
Orphans and Widows: Preserve Isaiah 54’s restoration imagery for our future study.
The books were opened…
🌿 By Maria Emilia
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