22: But the children struggled together within her; and she said, ‘If all is well, why am I like this’ so she went to inquire of the Lord.
23: And the Lord said to her: two nations are in your womb, two people shall be separated from your body; and one people shall be stronger than the other, and the other shall serve the younger.
An alcoholic cousin explained the Bible like a seasoned preacher
As an adult I find there are many incidents and conversations that trigger childhood memories and conversations I did not understand as a child. There are times when my mind voluntarily reflects on the past, hearing certain words or actions that remind me of a second cousin, who was an alcoholic. He and his sister were raised frequenting church by a highly religious mother, a widow. She later married a preacher, becoming co-pastor pastor of a small church. At the time it was time it was unpopular and “ungodly” for women to preach in the pulpit.
Because of his self-taught history of religion, Tom understood the Bible better than he understood the reason for his alcoholism. Sometimes he would hold “church” on the front porch as a small group of children gathered on the steps of our two-story house. He was always patient with us.
Being totally ignorant of the Bible and its characters, we peppered Tom with childish questions, trying to make it appear that we were contributing to the teach and preach sessions. We did not understand the meaning of the verses and words written in red. The color attracted our attention not the words. Why did God do this or do that, we asked. Who or what is the Devil and where does he live? Did God know him? My cousin Tom answered all our questions, none of which I can remember. We had no way of knowing if he was right or wrong. But no adult ever argued against what he preached as fact when talking to them.
Today, as an adult, I need to hear those conversations with my cousin, who died when I was in elementary school. I would love to hear him explain barren women as described in the Bible, and the women's subsequent pregnancies. How did they, in their old age, suddenly become pregnant, bearing great sons as noted in the Bible?
If Tom were alive today, I would ask him to explain the mystery of barren women. I committed to some research to learn about barren women. I remember hearing my grandmother talking about a couple of her friends were barren. “She would say, ‘They can’t have no babies and never will. I feel so sorry for them". In vitro fertilization, a procedure that helps couples or a single individuals have children, was nonexistent.
“In agrarian societies during the Biblical period (1200-600 BCE) bearing children was highly valued and women’s primary roles was that of mother. Birthing and raising children, however, were fraught, given the high rate of maternal death in childbirth and of infant immortality; only half of all children born survived to the age of five.
“In the Biblical stories of barren women, maternity is further complicated in order to heighten the drama of the arrival of the promised son, emphasizing the divine role in conception and birth. In the case of the patriarchal stories in Genesis, the matriarchs’ barrenness emphasized that it is God who disrupts continuity, in the transaction from one generation to the next, and then selects the true heir to be the covenant”. Barren Women in the Bible, by Rachel Adleman, 2021.
2024, abortions, IVF and scared doctors
In 2022 the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, a fight so-called Christians have been wanting to do for 50 years. They say they are prolife but their actions towards real-life children suggests a different attitude. They seem to think that life applies so long the “child” is a fetus in its mother’s womb. After birth, they are on their own. States are making it a criminal act for women to seek abortions, no matter the age; no matter if she was raped by a husband, boyfriend, stranger or relative.
Doctors who perform abortions are threatened with prison, steep fines and their license revoked. This is to assure doctors will never perform another abortion. Expectant women, no matter their emergencies or life-threatening conditions, cannot get an abortion. In hardcore states where abortion laws are strict, the fetus or expectant mother will have to be at death’s door before a doctor will treat the mother or both. Doctors are afraid to help pregnant women in emergency rooms. They are fearful of following the Hippocratic Oath they are supposed to live by.
Life or death of the mother, or the fetus does not sway male dominated legislatures to reconsider their stance on abortions. They have decided that destruction of a frozen embryo is tantamount to murder and prosecutable in a court of law.
The recent Supreme court ruling in Alabama on IVF awakened a bee’s nest. There is fear that the ruling might find a new home in other states. In the ruling women are barred from getting a legal abortion; IVF stops them from using the services of a clinic that attempts to stimulate pregnancy. A definite decision has not been made regarding IVF despite several states starting to entertain criminalizing IVF.
According to Mayo Clinic, “in vitro fertilization, also called IVF, is a complicated series of procedures that can lead to a pregnancy. It’s treatment for infertility, a condition in which you can’t get pregnant after at least a year of trying for most couples. IVF also can be used in prevent passing on genetic problems to a child.”
The Clinic continues: “During the intro fertilization, mature eggs are collected from ovaries and fertilized by sperm in a lab. Then a procedure is done to place one or more of the fertilized eggs, called embryos, in a uterus, which is where babies ae developed. One full cycle of IVF takes about 2 to 3 weeks. Sometimes these steps are split into different parts and the process can take longer. IVF can be used using a couple’s own eggs and sperm. Or may involve eggs, sperm or embryos from a known or unknown donor”.
During my reading about in vitro fertilization or IVF, I did not see the word “barren” in reference to women or couples wanting to get pregnant. In the Bible, childless women are commonly referred as “barren” when they are unable to get pregnant. Without the divine intervention of God, infertile today without the aid of invitro fertilization women and couples today will never realize motherhood and parenthood. Not all of the “barren” women mentioned in the Bible were 20- or 30-year-olds or younger. They were up in age when they realized that God looked upon them with favor.
There was an instance where a handmaiden was appointed a designated surrogate to bear a child for a childless couple. The wife, though loved by her husband, had to watch the surrogate grow bigger and bigger with the child sired by her aging husband. One of the many barren women mentioned in the Bible was Sarai.
According to Genesis 16, “Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar.” The story further states, “So Sarai said to Abram, ‘See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to find my maid; perhaps shall obtain children by her’. And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai.’”
“Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abam to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes”.
Reminding Abram of their covenant, God told Abram, after changing his name to Abraham, he would be the father of many nations. He changed Sarai’s name to Sarah.
And then God sprang more information on Abraham regarding Sarah in Chapter 17; 16. “And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her”.
Falling on his face, Abraham laughed and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child”? The child was born and he was named Issac.
I titled the section of this story “Nothing under the sun is new” because there is a belief that modern day medical miracles are comparable a newly penned novel. Surrogates are mention and used in the Bible. Through God’s intervention in vitro fertilization was regularly employed to impregnant “barren” woman who were doomed not realize the joy of motherhood. God knew in advance the sex of the children these once barren women gave birth to. God made these predictions without use of or observing sonogram. All of the wives that eventually got pregnant, were not young, nor were their husbands. Only the surrogates were much younger.
“In the Bible and until recently, the problem if infertility was attributed physiologically to women, through ultimately it was God who was seen as holding the keys to opening and closing the womb. Only female figures are identified by the descriptor “barren”. A woman’s infertility might also be marked by the phrase “she had no progeny.” Often these women suffered deep shame aa consequence, their barrenness attributed to some hidden wrong, sin or flaw”. (Barren Women in the Bible by Rachel Adelman, June 23, 2021)
Around 2004 the New York Daily News printed that Shebat St. James was the oldest woman to get pregnant, giving birth to twins in the United States. She turned 57. She got pregnant through in vitro fertilization with the help of donated eggs.
Mangayamma Yaramati,74, got pregnant with the help of in vitro fertilization.
Dalinder Kaur, 72, of India, was postmenopausal. She got pregnant with the help donor eggs. She gave birth to a child April 19, 2016. At the time she was reported being the oldest woman in the world to get pregnant. She also participated in IVF treatments.
Bhateri Devi Singh, 66 of Akwa, India, gave birth to triplets June 2010 with the help of IVF treatments from the National Fertility Center in Hayana, India.
OImkari Pannar, 70, gave birth to baby June 27, 2008 in Muzffarnagar, India. She underwent IVF treatments to get pregnant.
Margaret Adenuga, 68, gave birth to twins April 19, 2020 in Logos, Nigeria. She underwent IVF treatments.
Rajo Devi Lohan, 70, of Hissar, India, was postmenopausal, took part in IVF treatments, donor eggs. She gave birth November 2008, but she died while giving birth. She had a four-year daughter.
Doctors who perform abortions are threatened with prison, steep fines and their license revoked. This is to assure doctors will never perform another abortion. Expectant women, no matter their emergencies or life-threatening conditions, cannot get an abortion. In hardcore states where abortion laws are strict, the fetus or expectant mother will have to be at death’s door before a doctor will treat the mother or both. Doctors are afraid to help pregnant women in emergency rooms. They are fearful of following the Hippocratic Oath they are supposed to live by.
Life or death of the mother, or the fetus does not sway male dominated legislatures to reconsider their stance on abortions. They have decided that destruction of a frozen embryo is tantamount to murder and prosecutable in a court of law.
The recent Supreme court ruling in Alabama on IVF awakened a bee’s nest. There is fear that the ruling might find a new home in other states. In the ruling women are barred from getting a legal abortion; IVF stops them from using the services of a clinic that attempts to stimulate pregnancy. A definite decision has not been made regarding IVF despite several states starting to entertain criminalizing IVF.
According to Mayo Clinic, “in vitro fertilization, also called IVF, is a complicated series of procedures that can lead to a pregnancy. It’s treatment for infertility, a condition in which you can’t get pregnant after at least a year of trying for most couples. IVF also can be used in prevent passing on genetic problems to a child.”
The Clinic continues: “During the intro fertilization, mature eggs are collected from ovaries and fertilized by sperm in a lab. Then a procedure is done to place one or more of the fertilized eggs, called embryos, in a uterus, which is where babies ae developed. One full cycle of IVF takes about 2 to 3 weeks. Sometimes these steps are split into different parts and the process can take longer. IVF can be used using a couple’s own eggs and sperm. Or may involve eggs, sperm or embryos from a known or unknown donor”.
During my reading about in vitro fertilization or IVF, I did not see the word “barren” in reference to women or couples wanting to get pregnant. In the Bible, childless women are commonly referred as “barren” when they are unable to get pregnant. Without the divine intervention of God, infertile today without the aid of invitro fertilization women and couples today will never realize motherhood and parenthood. Not all of the “barren” women mentioned in the Bible were 20- or 30-year-olds or younger. They were up in age when they realized that God looked upon them with favor.
Nothing under the sun is new; God was way ahead
of the 21st Century medical world
There was an instance where a handmaiden was appointed a designated surrogate to bear a child for a childless couple. The wife, though loved by her husband, had to watch the surrogate grow bigger and bigger with the child sired by her aging husband. One of the many barren women mentioned in the Bible was Sarai.
According to Genesis 16, “Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar.” The story further states, “So Sarai said to Abram, ‘See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to find my maid; perhaps shall obtain children by her’. And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai.’”
“Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abam to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes”.
Reminding Abram of their covenant, God told Abram, after changing his name to Abraham, he would be the father of many nations. He changed Sarai’s name to Sarah.
And then God sprang more information on Abraham regarding Sarah in Chapter 17; 16. “And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her”.
Falling on his face, Abraham laughed and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child”? The child was born and he was named Issac.
I titled the section of this story “Nothing under the sun is new” because there is a belief that modern day medical miracles are comparable a newly penned novel. Surrogates are mention and used in the Bible. Through God’s intervention in vitro fertilization was regularly employed to impregnant “barren” woman who were doomed not realize the joy of motherhood. God knew in advance the sex of the children these once barren women gave birth to. God made these predictions without use of or observing sonogram. All of the wives that eventually got pregnant, were not young, nor were their husbands. Only the surrogates were much younger.
“In the Bible and until recently, the problem if infertility was attributed physiologically to women, through ultimately it was God who was seen as holding the keys to opening and closing the womb. Only female figures are identified by the descriptor “barren”. A woman’s infertility might also be marked by the phrase “she had no progeny.” Often these women suffered deep shame aa consequence, their barrenness attributed to some hidden wrong, sin or flaw”. (Barren Women in the Bible by Rachel Adelman, June 23, 2021)
Around 2004 the New York Daily News printed that Shebat St. James was the oldest woman to get pregnant, giving birth to twins in the United States. She turned 57. She got pregnant through in vitro fertilization with the help of donated eggs.
Mangayamma Yaramati,74, got pregnant with the help of in vitro fertilization.
Dalinder Kaur, 72, of India, was postmenopausal. She got pregnant with the help donor eggs. She gave birth to a child April 19, 2016. At the time she was reported being the oldest woman in the world to get pregnant. She also participated in IVF treatments.
Bhateri Devi Singh, 66 of Akwa, India, gave birth to triplets June 2010 with the help of IVF treatments from the National Fertility Center in Hayana, India.
OImkari Pannar, 70, gave birth to baby June 27, 2008 in Muzffarnagar, India. She underwent IVF treatments to get pregnant.
Margaret Adenuga, 68, gave birth to twins April 19, 2020 in Logos, Nigeria. She underwent IVF treatments.
Rajo Devi Lohan, 70, of Hissar, India, was postmenopausal, took part in IVF treatments, donor eggs. She gave birth November 2008, but she died while giving birth. She had a four-year daughter.
These were just a few women past their prime and were not expected to get pregnant. Some of them had never been pregnant but wanted children and were willing to do whatever it took to realize motherhood. Unlike in the Bible, none of them were visited by God, nor did he send angels to tell the women do not despair any longer. They would have the child they and their husband so desired.
I understand that doctors, researchers and scientists think that what they have discovered in the 21st Century is absolutely new and innovative. Many in these professionals would relate that their discoveries are brand new. They will attempt to explain that the impregnation of the older women in the Bible are either myth or conceived by natural means—via sexual activity.
Unlike the older women getting pregnant as cited in America and nationally, the wives in the Bible were much, much older, as were their husbands. And how would these men and women of healing and medical discoveries explain the huge age differences? What about the sudden fertility of the older women? Conceptions occurred without the help of in vitro fertilization, or a series of premenopausal treatments. Did God, in his wisdom, know the secret before it was passed down to man centuries and centuries later?
No matter your belief, whether it is in God or science, these so-called “myths” cannot be denied as they have been recorded in the Bible. If the recorded pregnancies, and use of surrogates are figments of Biblical scribes’ imaginations, who imbued them with the kind of infinite wisdom that bled into futuristic medicine?
I understand that doctors, researchers and scientists think that what they have discovered in the 21st Century is absolutely new and innovative. Many in these professionals would relate that their discoveries are brand new. They will attempt to explain that the impregnation of the older women in the Bible are either myth or conceived by natural means—via sexual activity.
Unlike the older women getting pregnant as cited in America and nationally, the wives in the Bible were much, much older, as were their husbands. And how would these men and women of healing and medical discoveries explain the huge age differences? What about the sudden fertility of the older women? Conceptions occurred without the help of in vitro fertilization, or a series of premenopausal treatments. Did God, in his wisdom, know the secret before it was passed down to man centuries and centuries later?
No matter your belief, whether it is in God or science, these so-called “myths” cannot be denied as they have been recorded in the Bible. If the recorded pregnancies, and use of surrogates are figments of Biblical scribes’ imaginations, who imbued them with the kind of infinite wisdom that bled into futuristic medicine?
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