Meroba of Capernaum, the unworthy mother
Galilean from Capernaum. Widow of Jacob and mother of the young Alphaeus whom she rejects and mistreats following her remarriage.
"Then you got married again… and with the memory of your previous wedding, you lost also that of your children. [...] Why do you not speak, and your attitude is so arrogant?» «Because I did not ask for Your words… and I do not know why You have come to annoy me…»"[1]
This hardness of heart will cause young Alphaeus to leave for the care of Sara of Aphek, disciple of Jesus.
Apostolic journey
Her sad fate will be recalled a few months later:
"[...] the woman from Capernaum who, after she married for the second time, no longer loved the children of her first marriage, and then she came to «such a bad end that people considered her death a divine punishment»" says Salome.[2]
Her name
Meriba, the closest sounding to Meroba, means "Quarrel" and refers to the place on Sinai where Moses made water spring forth for a people in revolt. Meroba, subjected to Google’s Hebrew automatic translator, gives "maximum."