22-08-2026, Saturday of Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
Memorial of Our Lady, Mother and Queen
גְּבִירָה (Gebiyrah Heb) (Queen Mother En) (Jer. 13:18, 20, 1 Kings 1:31 )
The Word to reflect today is גְּבִירָה (Gebiyrah Heb), which means Queen Mother.
Mary is the Queen Mother in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. The Queen Mother had a particular role in the Jewish world and that meaning is elevated and amplified in the age of the Church.
In the book of Jeremiah, the prophet says, “Say to the king and the queen mother: ‘Take a lowly seat, for your beautiful crown has come down from your head… Where is the flock that was given you, your beautiful flock? (Jer. 13:18, 20).” The role of Queen Mother is not incidental; it is a royal office. The flock of Judah belongs not only to the king but to the Queen Mother as well. She was known in Hebrew as the Gebirah (גְּבִירָה – Queen Mother). Psalm 45 says “She stands at the king’s right hand” (“dressed in gold of Ophir”). Why is she standing at his right hand? Well, anytime in the Old Testament, you see someone at a king’s right hand, it means they share in his authority (“The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand”). So, she has authority, she has an office, she also acts (this is important) as a kind of royal intercessor. And you can see this custom reflected in a famous story from the book of Kings.
The wife of King David was Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon. While David was still living, Bathsheba entered the royal throne room to see her husband: “Bathsheba bowed and paid homage to the king, and the king said, ‘What do you desire?’ (1 Kings 1:16)” Then, as she is leaving, she shows due honor to the king: “Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground and paid homage to the king and said, “May my lord King David live forever (1 Kings 1:31)!”
In the next chapter of 1 Kings, David has died and Solomon, Bathsheba’s son, has taken the throne. She is now the Queen Mother! This time when she enters the throne room, she does so as the Queen Mother, the Gebirah. She was asked by a man named Adonijah to go to the king and intercede on his behalf. Bathsheba obliged: “So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. And the king rose to meet her and bowed down to her. Then he sat on his throne and had a seat brought for the king’s mother, and she sat on his right. Then she said, ‘I have one small request to make of you; do not refuse me.’ And the king said to her, ‘Make your request, my mother, for I will not refuse you (1 Kings 2:19-20).’”
Notice what happened here! The king rose and bowed to her, not the other way around. And the king brought a throne for her to be placed next to his own. And the king says that he will not refuse the request of his mother.
Jesus Christ is the Son of the Most High who is the heir of King David. His reign will last forever. And for that eternity, surely the mother of the king, the Gebirah, will reign alongside her Holy Son. Mary is the Queen Mother spoken of in many different passages in the Old Testament. What is revealed in the Old Testament is fulfilled in a far greater way in the New and Everlasting Covenant and kingdom of Jesus Christ.
Just as Adonijah – and all of Israel – went to the queen mother as an advocate to present petitions to the king who would not refuse her, so too do we approach the Queen Mother Mary as our Advocate who lovingly takes our petitions to our Lord and King Jesus Christ.
Prayer: “We fly to thy protection, O holy Mother of God, despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us from all danger, O ever glorious and blessed Virgin.”