Difference between revisions of "Children"

<p> Βen , "son;" bath , "daughter;" both from baanah , to build. [[Regarded]] as consecrated to God, in the same covenant relation as the parents; therefore sons on the eighth day were circumcised (&nbsp;Genesis 17:12). Hence, flowed parents' responsibility to rear children in the way of the Lord (&nbsp;Genesis 18:19; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 6:7; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 11:19); also children's responsibility to obey parents, as a preparatory discipline for the higher relationship to God. At five years of age, the boy passed under the father's training. At 12 he became "son of (i.e. subject to) the law," and was advanced to a fuller instruction in it. Smiting, or even cursing, a parent was punishable with death (&nbsp;Exodus 21:15; &nbsp;Exodus 21:17); also contumacy (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 21:18-21; compare &nbsp;Deuteronomy 27:16). The child might be sold to bondage until the [[Jubilee]] year for a parent's debt (&nbsp;2 Kings 4:1; &nbsp;Nehemiah 5:5). </p> <p> [[Children]] were often nursed until they were three years old. They were carried on the mother's hip or shoulder (&nbsp;Isaiah 49:22; &nbsp;Isaiah 66:12). Governors or tutors watched them in nonage (&nbsp;Numbers 11:12; &nbsp;2 Kings 10:1; &nbsp;2 Kings 10:5; &nbsp;Isaiah 49:23; &nbsp;Galatians 3:24, paidagoogos , the guardian slave who led the child to school). The mother's example and authority were weighty over sons and daughters alike (&nbsp;Proverbs 10:1; &nbsp;Proverbs 15:20), even with a royal son (&nbsp;1 Kings 2:19). Daughters had no right of inheritance; but if a man had no son the daughters received the inheritance, but they must marry inside their own tribe. Metaphorically: CHILDREN OF LIGHT (&nbsp;Luke 16:8; &nbsp;Luke 1Th_6:5), of obedience (&nbsp;1 Peter 1:14, "as children of obedience" Greek), of this world, of Belial, of wisdom (&nbsp;Matthew 11:19), of faith. (See BELIAL.) </p> <p> As children resemble their parent, so those in whom these several qualities, good or bad, predominate, are children of them severally (&nbsp;2 Samuel 23:6). So [[Barnabas]] is termed "son of consolation," expressing his predominant grace (&nbsp;Acts 4:36); John and James "sons of thunder," characterized by fiery zeal (&nbsp;Mark 3:17). So "sons of might," "daughters of sons" (compare &nbsp;Isaiah 5:1, "a very fruitful hill," Hebrew: "the horn (i.e. peak) of the son of oil,") "children of the bridechamber" (&nbsp;Matthew 9:15), the heavenly Bridgegroom's best men (friends) who go and fetch the bride, the apostles and evangelists who seek to bring sinners to Jesus and to heaven (Matthew 25). </p>

<p> The more children—especially male children—a person had among the Hebrews, the more was he honored, it being considered as a mark of divine favor, while sterile people were, on the contrary, held in contempt (comp. ; ; ; ; , sq.; 128:3; ; ). That children were often taken as bondsmen by a creditor for debts contracted by the father, is evident from ; ; . Among the Hebrews, a father had almost unlimited power over his children, nor do we find any law in the [[Pentateuch]] restricting that power to a certain age; it was indeed the parents who even selected wives for their sons (; ; ; ). It would appear, however, that a father's power over his daughters was still greater than that over his sons, since he might even annul a sacred vow made by a daughter, but not one made by a son (; ). Children cursing or assaulting their parents were punished by the [[Mosaic]] Law with death (; ; ). Before the time of Moses a father had the right to choose among his male children, and declare one of them (usually the child of his favorite wife) as his first-born, though he was perhaps only the youngest. Properly speaking, the 'firstborn' was he who was first begotten by the father, since polygamy excluded all regard in that respect to the mother. Thus [[Jacob]] had sons by all his four wives, while only one of them was called the first-born (); we find, however, instances where that name is applied also to the first-born on the mother's side (; comp. 2:42; ). The privileges of the first-born were considerable, as shown in Birthright. </p> <p> Fig. 131—Modes of carrying children </p> <p> The first-born son, if not expressly deprived by the father of his peculiar rights, as was the case with [[Reuben]] (Genesis 49), was at liberty to sell them to a younger brother, as happened in the case of [[Esau]] and Jacob (, sq.). Considering the many privileges attached to first-birth, we do not wonder that the Apostle called Esau a thoughtless person (). There are some allusions in [[Scripture]] to the modes in which children were carried. These appear to be adequately represented by the existing usages, as represented in the following figure, in which #1 represents a Nestorian woman bearing her child bundled at her back, and #2, an [[Egyptian]] female bearing her child on her shoulder. The former mode appears to be alluded to in several places, and the latter in . For other matters regarding children, see Adoption, Birth, Birthright. </p>