The mothers of Scripture — what Hannah, Sarah, Mary, and Eunice have in common
Dillon McCurdy · September 21, 2026 · 8 min read
The Family series, part 6 of 6 · Proverbs 31:10–31; 1 Peter 3:1–6; 1 Timothy 5:9–16; Titus 2:1–5
Start by reading Proverbs 31:10–31. Webster's defines a mother simply as "a female parent... a woman who has borne a child." Scripture fills that definition out with real women.
Seven mothers
Eve, the mother of all living — the first mother. Sarah, the mother of Isaac. Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau. Hannah, the mother of Samuel. Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptizer. Mary, the mother of Jesus. Eunice, the mother of Timothy.
What they had in common
Some of what they shared wasn't flattering. Several of them questioned God at first — Eve with the fruit, Sarah laughing at the promise of a son, Mary asking how a virgin could conceive. Several were barren for years — Sarah, Hannah, Elizabeth. God's great mothers were not women who had it easy or got it right the first time.
But look at where they ended up. Hannah was a woman of great prayer — and praying Samuels come from praying Hannahs. Eunice, along with her mother Lois, passed a "sincere faith" down to Timothy (2 Timothy 1:5). Mary was willing to be used by God: "May it happen to me according to your word." Sarah "judged him faithful who had promised" (Hebrews 11:11). These women had faith in God, and they handed it to their children. That's the common thread.
A godly example
"Ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives" (1 Peter 3:1). A mother's and wife's behavior is a key element in a spiritually successful home. Children watch their mother longer and closer than anyone. What she believes, they will absorb — and how she lives will either confirm it or contradict it.
What a mother's life looks like
Paul gives an unexpected job description in 1 Timothy 5. He's listing the qualifications for a widow the church should support, and in doing so he describes a life well lived: she brought up children, showed hospitality to strangers, washed the saints' feet, helped the afflicted, and devoted herself to every good work. He also describes the life to avoid — idle, wandering from house to house, gossiping, meddling, saying things that shouldn't be said. And he tells the younger women what to do: marry, have children, manage the household, and give the adversary no opportunity to speak badly of them.
Titus 2:1–5 says the same and calls it "sound doctrine" — a phrase used only four times in the New Testament, three as a warning about people who won't endure it, and once here to tell us what it is. Sound means whole, healthy, not broken. Doctrine is what's laid down as true by the Master. So this isn't a cultural preference; it's part of the healthy teaching of the church. Older women are to be reverent, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of what is good — and they're to train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, workers at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, "so that God's word will not be slandered."
A mother who prays like Hannah, believes like Sarah, yields like Mary, and passes her faith down like Eunice is doing the most important work on earth. The world may not put her on a stage. Scripture does.
Empty hands first
Look at how those women started. Sarah laughed. Hannah couldn't have a child and couldn't do a thing about it. Not one of them produced the very thing she's remembered for. God did it, and they believed Him.
That's where anybody starts with God, mother or not. You don't bring Him a résumé. You can't manufacture righteousness any more than Hannah could manufacture a son. Jesus lived the life you couldn't, died in your place for your sin, and God raised Him up on the third day — and He hands all of it to whoever will ask Him for it. Whosoever will. The offer is open while you're sitting there reading.
If you're already His: Eunice never got a stage either. She just handed her faith down to a kid. Find one person younger in the faith than you this week — your own child, a girl in your church, the tired young mom in the back row — and give her one thing you actually know about God. Not advice. Scripture. Then pray with her before you leave.
The Family series: ← Part 5 · Part 6 · Read next: Husbands, love your wife · Wives, submit as unto the Lord