"Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages" (Ex. 2:9). The New
Testament tells us that "Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning"
(Rom. 15:4). With this in mind, may we "learn" as we consider some Old Testament scriptures;
and may we be stirred in our souls as to our responsibility toward those who have been committed
to our care!
The Lord said of Abraham, "For I know him, that he will command his children and his
household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the
Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him" (Gen. 18:19). May we as
parents strive so to order our lives and our households, that our children will "keep the way of the
Lord."
There is much instruction in the Word with regard to parental responsibility; but it is only when
parents know the truth themselves that they will be able to teach their children. We read in Isa.
38:19 that "the father to the children shall make known thy truth." Along the same lines is the
statement in Deut. 6:6,7:"And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine
heart:and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou
sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when
thou risest up." A constant testimony to the children will bear fruit. Likewise, Deut. 11:18,19 puts
upon the parents the responsibility of laying up the Lord’s words in their own hearts and souls,
and teaching them unto their children.
Moses said to the elders of Israel, "And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto
you, What mean ye by this service? that ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s passover,
who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and
delivered our houses" (Ex. 12:26,27). Similarly, we read in Deut. 6:20,21,23, "When thy son
asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the
judgments, which the Lord our God hath commanded you? then thou shalt say unto thy son, We
are Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt; and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand:. .
. and he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he swore
unto our fathers."
The twelve stones taken out of the midst of Jordan and pitched in Gilgal were to be a sign among
the Israelites, that when their children asked their fathers in time to come, "What mean ye by these
stones?" they were to let their children know of the mighty hand of the Lord which dried up the
waters of Jordan; "that ye might fear the Lord your God for ever." See Joshua 4.
The Lord had promised to His servant David, "There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit
on the throne of Israel; so that thy children take heed to their way, that they walk before me as
thou hast walked before me (I Kings 8:25).
May God graciously grant to us all the needed wisdom to teach our children, and to so live before
them that they might learn aright the ways of the Lord.