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RULERS OF JUDAH AND THEIR QUEEN MOTHERS (Gebirah)

from 930 BC—587/6 BC: one ruling family = the House of David
(dates from New Jerusalem Bible translation)

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Do you not know that Yahweh, God of Israel, has given eternal sovereignty of Israel to David and his sons by an inviolable covenant? 
2 Chronicles 13:5

The Gebirah, the Queen Mother of the Kingdom of Judah, was an official position held by the mother of the Davidic kings.  She was the most important and influential woman in the royal court and the king's chief counselor.  The Hebrew word gebirah is found 15 times in the Old Testament and can be translated as "Queen Mother," or "Great Lady" [Genesis 16:4, 8, 9, 1 Kings 11:19 (used for the Egyptian Queen Mother); 15:13; 2 Kings 5:3; 10:13; 2 Chronicles 15:16; Psalm 123:2; Proverbs 30:23; Isaiah 24:2; 47:5, 7; Jeremiah 13:18; 29:2].  In Sacred Scripture, the mother of the Davidic king is listed along with her son in the books of 1 & 2 Kings and 1 & 2 Chronicles when he assumes the throne.  The only queen mother not listed are those of King Jehoram, who married wicked Athaliah, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel of Israel [2 Kings 8:17-18]; King Ahaz [2 Kings 16:2-3]; and King Asa [1 Kings 15:10].  In the case of Jehoram and Ahaz, their mothers may have died prior to their sons assuming the throne of David. In the case of Asa, his grandmother retained the title Gebirah, his mother having died or perhaps his grandmother, the former Gebirah, did not relinquish her power and authority upon the succession of her grandson.  Scripture indicates that the Gebirah assumed a throne alongside her son [see 1 Kings 2:19] and exercised her role as counselor [2 Chronicles 22:3] and intercessor to the king [1 Kings 2:13-21].  In times of conquest, both the king and his mother represented royal power [2 Kings 24:12].  The Gebirah was clearly the most important woman in the Kingdom of Judah; a king had many wives, but he had only one mother.  The Gebirah of the eternal Davidic Kingdom of Jesus Christ is Mary of Nazareth.  She appears in this role in Revelation 12:1.  The institution of the Gebirah was not practiced in the Northern Kingdom.  The mothers of those kings are not listed in Scripture.

Additional information on the institution of the Davidic Gebirah may be found in these resources:

1. Birth of the Messiah, Father Raymond Brown, New York: Doubleday, 1993.
2. Ancient Israel, Father R. De Vaux, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1961.
3. Queen Mother: A Biblical Theology of Mary's Queenship, Edward Sri, Steubenville, Ohio: Emmaus Road Publishing, 2005.

Michal Hunt Copyright © 1991, revised 2016 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.