OT Role and Responsibilities of Children

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-Well, we’re going to be looking at...

…the Role and Responsibilities of Children...

…in the Old Testament Era, tonight.

We’ve done the same type of survey, for both...

Mothers

Fathers

And so, now we’re forced to deal with the kids!

And, of course I’m kidding.

But, isn’t that the way...

…our society views children?

As a burden?

As something that robs your joy and freedom?

As something that ties you down?

As something that keeps you from...

real happiness?

enjoying your life to the full?

As a necessary evil that must be endured...

…for the continuation of the human species?

And brethren, it’s so easy...

…for us to buy in to that narrative.

But for us to do so...

…is for us to abandon...

…what the Bible says about children...

…and How God commands us to think about them.

So, my hope for this survey is:

1.) That it will help us (adults) to recover...

…a biblically accurate view of children...

…and help us to repent of...

…those worldly, atheistic, secular, selfish notions...

…that permeate our society today.

2.) That it will inform you children...

…of God’s calling upon you...

…during this period of your life.

3.) That it will help us parents...

…to be faithful in raising you up...

…to be faithful to him in your lives.

Let’s pray for grace to do those things...

…and then we’ll jump on in:

Pray

-Let’s begin with a definition.

What is a child?

I suppose the simplest definition would be:

A human offspring.

But then, when does a child...

…become an adult?

Our government says at age 18...

…regardless of any other consideration.

I’m sure most of you know...

…that I don’t think the issue...

…is as simple as that for a Christian.

For example, if the government said...

The age of an adult is age 6!

And, you must fully emancipate them at that time...

Would we be being obedient to God...

…if we fell in line with that?

Of Course Not!

So, we must try to...

…look to God’s word...

…and not to our civil government...

…to know when and how...

…to navigate those waters.

-Now, many subscribe to the idea...

…that in Bible times...

…you were considered a full adult around 12-13...

…after you underwent your Bar-Mitzvah.

Granted, at the time...

…the Jews would consider boys...

…to be “sons of the law” after Bar Mitzvah.

(explain)

So, certainly this was...

…a stage of progress and graduation...

But I don’t think that...

…it meant they had reached full blown adulthood.

Here’s why:

After Jesus’ year of preparation (for Bar Mitzvah):

Luke 2:51 (ESV)

51 And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them...

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And, His life isn’t really recorded...

…anymore after that...

…until he begins his public ministry...

…around the age of 30.

So, that means you’re not a full adult...

…until you reach the age of 30!!! (kidding)

-The reality is, brethren...

…that the Bible doesn’t clearly state an age...

…at which full adulthood is reached.

And I suspect that that’s part of...

…the divine wisdom of inspiration...

…that makes the scriptures...

…transcendent of time and culture.

(elaborate)

However, the OT does give us some idea...

…of what that looked like for the Hebrew people.

For example:

Leviticus 27:1–7 (ESV)

2 ...If anyone makes a special vow to the Lord involving the valuation of persons,

3 then the valuation of a male from twenty years old up to sixty years old shall be...

5 If the person is from five years old up to twenty years old, the valuation shall be...

6 If the person is from a month old up to five years old, the valuation shall be...

7 And if the person is sixty years old or over, then the valuation for a male shall be... and for a female...

Now, this was likely measured by...

…how productive they could be to the family.

But, it gives us a basic idea...

…of how various age groups were allocated.

-Also, there’s this:

Numbers 1:2–3 (ESV)

2 “Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel . . every male...

3 From twenty years old and upward, all in Israel who are able to go to war, you and Aaron shall list them...

There’s also this:

Numbers 14:29 (ESV)

29 your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me,

And then there’s this:

Exodus 30:11–14 (ESV)

12 “When you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give a ransom for his life to the Lord...

14 Everyone who is numbered in the census, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the Lord’s offering.

-Now, whatever the age parameters...

…one thing is unmistakably clear:

The Bible Holds Children in HIGH Regard

Kostenberger says this:

God, Marriage, and Family: Rebuilding the Biblical Foundation (The Role and Responsibilities of Children)

The esteem in which children were held in ancient Israel . . . can be attributed to several factors and convictions:

(1) the belief that every human being is created in the image of God (Gen. 1:27; Psalm 8);

Genesis 1:27 (ESV)

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:26 (ESV)

26 ...And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

That implies that Children:

Are more important than pets

Are more important than the environment

Are more important than climate change!

Psalm 8:3–8 (ESV)

3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet,

7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,

8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

We must have a biblical view...

…of humanity’s place in the world.

-And that brings us to Kostenberger’s next point:

(2) the view that children ensure the perpetuation of humanity and the fulfillment of the divine mandate to subdue and cultivate the earth (Gen. 1:26; 5; 9:18–19);

Genesis 1:27–28 (ESV)

27 So God created man in his own image...

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over . . . every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Can’t do that without children

And Genesis 9 shows us, that...

…even though man’s evil...

....HAD brought about the destruction...

…of the antediluvian world...

…He did not change his mind...

…about man’s rightful place within it:

Genesis 9:1–2 (ESV)

1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

2 The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered.

Genesis 9:6–7 (ESV)

6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.

7 And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.”

This has huge implications for political ideologies today!

-Alright, thirdly, Kostenberger points to:

(3) the notion that the conception of children was ultimately a product of divine action and hence a sign of God’s favor (with the corollary that barrenness was viewed as a sign of divine disfavor);

Genesis 1:28 (ESV)

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply...

Genesis 4:1 (ESV)

1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.”

Genesis 17:15–16 (ESV)

15 And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife...

16 I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”

Genesis 30:22–23 (ESV)

22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb.

23 She conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away my reproach.”

Psalm 113:9 (ESV)

9 He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the Lord!

-Alright, fourthly:

(4) the valuing of children as an important economic asset...

Psalm 127:3–5 (ESV)

3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.

4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth.

5 Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

There is real benefit

There is real honor

That’s the BIBLICAL VIEW

Think about this:

Proverbs 17:6 (ESV)

6 Grandchildren are the crown of the aged...

Not a fat retirement

Not the ability to travel the world

Not financial independence

-Finally, he points to...

(5) the belief that in a sense parents live on in and through their children (hence one’s worst fate was for one’s “seed” to be cut off and one’s “name” to be blotted out; cf. 1 Sam. 24:21; 2 Sam. 14:7; Ps. 37:28; Isa. 14:20–21).

We can see this in Saul’s plea to David:

1 Samuel 24:21 (ESV)

21 Swear to me therefore by the Lord that you will not cut off my offspring after me, and that you will not destroy my name out of my father’s house.”

In this general principle:

Psalm 37:28 (ESV)

28 For the Lord loves justice; he will not forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.

I would argue that our society:

Despises the blessings of God

Longs for the very opposite!

Woe unto us!

We need to repent!

-Alright, let’s move on to...

…the area of responsibility.

The first and foremost responsibility...

…of those under the age of 20...

(as the outworking of their duty to God)

…was, without question...

To Respect, Honor, and Obey their Parents

We saw the case for this...

…being made last time...

…in our study of mothers in the OT.

Remember?

It began with the perpetual foundation...

…of the Moral Law (10 Commandments):

Following after our Duty to God...

And at the very top of our duty to our fellow man:

Deuteronomy 5:16 (ESV)

16 “ ‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you...

Leviticus 19:2–3 (ESV)

2 “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.

3 Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God.

Both would make them holy

Both would distinguish them...

…from the nations around them.

How important was this Responsibility?

Deuteronomy 21:18–21 (ESV)

18 “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them,

19 then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives,

20 and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’

21 Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

Exodus 21:15 (ESV)

15 “Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death.

Leviticus 20:9 (ESV)

9 For anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother; his blood is upon him.

This is how serious God views this responsibility

-Now, notice something else about the Commandment:

Notice that regarding it...

...the Bible never gives any...

Qualifications

Limitations

Exception Clauses

Term Limits

In fact, the NT carries that responsibility forward...

…in an undeniable way.

For starters:

Ephesians 6:1–3 (ESV)

1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise),

3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”

This would have been a good place...

…to have let us know that...

…things were different now (if that was the case).

Also, there’s this:

Mark 7:9–13 (ESV)

9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!

10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’

11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban” ’ (that is, given to God)—

12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother,

13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down...

These are grown children...

With elderly, or otherwise dependent parents.

Don’t try to find ways to justify neglecting your parents

They’re your primary responsibility

(NOT the government’s)

1 Timothy 5:4 (ESV)

4 But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God.

And he goes on to say:

1 Timothy 5:8 (ESV)

8 But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

-Now, this does come with ONE qualifier...

But we need to be careful...

…not to let it be an excuse...

…for otherwise disobedient...

…selfish, or lazy hearts:

It is a qualifier of principle:

1 Timothy 5:3–6 (ESV)

3 Honor widows who are truly widows...

5 She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day,

6 but she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives.

1 Timothy 5:7 (ESV)

7 Command these things as well, so that they may be without reproach.

1 Timothy 5:9–16 (ESV)

9 Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years of age, having been the wife of one husband,

10 and having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work.

11 But refuse to enroll younger widows...

He warns of potential sins...

14 So I would have younger widows marry, bear children, manage their households, and give the adversary no occasion for slander...

16 If any believing woman has relatives who are widows, let her care for them. Let the church not be burdened, so that it may care for those who are truly widows.

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What’s the principle?

Actual need and dependence.

Implied in that, is...

…Parents have a duty...

…to take care of themselves...

…and not burden their children, etc...

…for as long as they possibly can.

But when the need is truly there...

Grown children are to step up...

Without reservation

Without complaint

…and give some return to their parents...

…for all they’ve done for them.

Brethren, I hope you can see, how...

This biblical “co-dependence” . . .

…brings great order and stability...

…to a society.

This is yet another weakness...

…of the idea of Western Individualism.

-Alright, let’s look briefly at...

...two more (related) areas of Responsibility:

1.) Responsibility to help parents in and around the home.

2.) Responsibility to the rest the family

For the first, I’m just going to read a quote:

OT Scholar, Daniel Block...

…described the OT household, like this:

Five- and six-year-old boys and girls would begin to pick vegetables, gather fuel and clean up after a meal.

The household would organize tasks according to gender by the time they reached adolescence, assigning the males labor that required greater strength and danger (hunting, handling domesticated livestock, and butchering cattle and sheep)

and training females in the special skills needed to run a household (harvesting vegetables, preparing food, spinning yarn, knitting garments and caring for babies; cf. Prov. 31:10–31). — Daniel Block

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Of course our economy is different in the West today...

…but the principle is extant and universal:

You help your parents with whatever they need help with!

-Finally, Kostenberger mentions...

…the OT child’s responsibility to the broader family:

(i.e., siblings, grandparents, etc.)

And probably nowhere is this principle...

…more clearly implied...

…than in the concept of the Levirate Marriage.

It is, in a sense...

…the Biblical Response to Cain’s question:

Genesis 4:9 (ESV)

9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”

Well, biblically speaking...

The answer is, YES!

Think about it:

Deuteronomy 25:5–6 (ESV)

5 “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her.

6 And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.

What are the underlying principles in that?

1.) You ARE your brother’s keeper.

2.) Life isn’t all about you. There are bigger considerations than your happiness.

3.) Responsibility to look out for the well-being...

…of your entire family.

Remember:

1 Timothy 5:8 (ESV)

8 ...if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

And finally, remember this:

1 John 4:19–21 (ESV)

19 We love because he first loved us.

20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

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