The Gift of a Child

Introduction

The importance of children

In the ancient world if a person becomes significant or important to a belief system then it is assumed that he(usually) must have had some kind of miraculous or special birth (eg Marduk, Horus, Zoroaster, Athena, Alexander, Sargon, Krishna, Buddha, Huitzilopochtli …). This may not involve both a father and a mother.

In the Hebrew Scriptures the first woman, Eve (Havvah), is named the mother of all who live [Genesis 3. 20]. In that culture a woman’s value was often measured by her ability to produce children. If a couple fail to produce offspring it is regarded as the fault of the woman. She will have to endure the stigma associated with childlessness. In a patriarchal society women are required to comply with their husband’s wishes, remain silent and keep out of sight in the tent.

A man could take several wives and could also use concubines to provide him with children if necessary. Sons were needed to preserve the family line, property and identity, the family name. Children are a blessing [Gen 1.28; 12. 2 – 3; Deuteronomy 7.14; Psalm 27. 3; Ps 28].

At this time of year we begin to look towards the birth of Jesus and so inevitably Mary and Joseph are key characters in this momentous event in time. Other couples through the Hebrew Scriptures and the times just before this birth set various scenes that can help us to understand Mary’s and Joseph’s role and involvement.

There continues to be a significant physical, mental, and emotional investment in building a family today and, for some, a child is the visible evidence of success and worth.

In this series of four studies we will consider the gift of a child to couples in the Hebrew Scriptures and the beginning of the New Testament. Some of the fathers are noteworthy characters. The mothers are women of strength, honour and integrity: feisty and not afraid to buck tradition and the requirements of society. They speak and act in ways that conscience tells them are appropriate in order to protect their children.

Advent Week 2

The child is desired and then given away

As long as he lives, he is given to the Lord. [1 Samuel 1. 28]

(i) Jochebed, Amram and Moses

In the time of the exile in Egypt, the Israelites ‘multiplied’ (“swarmed”)[Exodus 1. 7]. The Egyptians grew worried that the Israelites might grow so strong as to overcome their masters. Thus the Israelites lose their status as useful foreign workers and, even though they were slaves, become a threat to the authority of the Egyptians. Pharaoh needs to suppress and subjugate them so he decides that baby boys born to Israelite mothers should be killed at birth [Ex 1. 15 – 16].

It is into this setting that a baby boy with a special destiny is born. His mother is courageous and imaginative. She can hide a new-born but when he is three months old it becomes more difficult. It seems as if Jochebed will lose Moses but she has a cunning plan. In accordance with Pharaoh’s instruction to all the people to throw every boy child into the Nile [Ex 1. 22], she follows these orders but encases the baby in a buoyant basket before throwing him in. As the basket floats among the reeds her daughter keeps watch [Ex 2. 4].

To have to do something like this to save your child must be a distressing experience, but parents will often make great and courageous sacrifices in order to ensure the safety of their child. By similar means children have been given away and thus saved through the centuries: by Kindertransport; when refugee children are sent on alone to a place of safety.

When the boy in the basket is discovered by Pharaoh’s daughter and he is about to be lost to the family, Miriam, his sister, speaks boldly to the princess and makes an astute suggestion: Jochebed can help as a wet nurse and in the upbringing of the child [Ex 2. 7 – 9]. Amram, the father of these children does not appear in these events: he was of the family of Levi, the family that became the priestly clan.

Thus, while Pharaoh has decided that the main threat is from the boys who will grow into warriors, it is the women who thwart his plans. The midwives undermine Pharaoh’s scheme to exterminate the baby boys and Jochebed does not lose her child. God uses our resourcefulness and ingenuity to further his purposes.

Moses, like Isaac, Jacob, David, and Solomon, who all have a significant role in the story of salvation, is not the firstborn in his family but he is chosen and therefore usurps his older brother, Aaron. Moses is to be the leader of the people. He becomes a major player in the history of the Jews: he survives the threat of death, takes the people across the waters, brings the Law to the people and takes them through the wilderness to the edge of the Promised Land.

Many children, after a traumatic beginning to their lives, have a determination to do well:
they achieve great things and are an asset to their adopted society.

(ii) Hannah, Elkanah and Samuel

Hannah embodies many of the characteristics of the barren women already mentioned. She has to watch another woman, Peninnah, produce children for her husband. In those times and in that culture, polygamy was permitted, especially in order to ensure continuation of the family line, but it was not usual. It seems that God has destined Hannah to be barren: ‘the Lord had closed her womb’ (1 Samuel I. 6). Her husband, Elkanah, while caring, does not seem to be taking any action on her behalf. He already has children by Peninnah. Hannah is distressed and she weeps [1 Sam 1. 10] but then she bravely suggests to God that she could make a pact with God.

In this bold and confident step Hannah approaches God directly. In that society a woman does not do this. Hannah challenges God: if God has created the world surely God can give her a child. She offers God a deal: give me a son and I will give him back to you. Hannah makes an arrangement with God, a bargain, and the ‘Lord remembered her [1 Sam 1. 19], ‘the Lord took note of Hannah’ [1 Sam 2. 21]. Hannah conceives and has a son, Samuel.

Elkanah, even though head of the household and therefore owner of his wife, acquiesces when Hannah tells him that, because she has made a promise to God, the child shall be a Nazirite [1 Sam 1. 11, 22] for life [see week 3]. Samuel is brought up in the family until old enough to be taken to Shiloh to live with Eli, the priest. Hannah has ‘lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives, he is given to the Lord’ (1 Sam 1. 28): she had made a promise and she was determined to keep it. In this kind of situation, even if it is the child’s best interests, there may never be recovery or acceptance of the necessity of this action. Parents whose child is taken from them, in the best interests of the child, for fostering or adoption may feel guilt that they have not fought hard enough or loved the child well enough. They may worry that the child may despise them for having allowed this to happen: for deserting them. The trauma for all parties may never be resolved.

Hannah can now hold her head high: she expresses her faith in God in song [1 Sam 2. 1 – 10]. God, the rock, is strong, eternal and reliable. There is uncertainty in life but situations of misfortune can be reversed if there is trust in God and his compassion. Hannah does not lose Samuel entirely because each year she makes him an ephod, a simple linen garment, and takes it when she and her husband make their annual pilgrimage [1 Sam.2. 19].

In this episode Hannah subverts tradition: she has disrupted the accepted order of the patriarchal society [Gen 1. 16]. There is a change in the social order and a move towards equality and co-operation but she has had to take responsibility for her decision and its consequences.

Let us pray for those who have miscarried, or experienced a still birth,
for those who have decided to have a termination,
for parents who experience mental health problems
after the birth of their child,
for parents whose children have been lost through divorce,
who have been taken into care or given up for adoption,
and for social workers, therapists and counsellors.

God of compassion be with those who lives have been broken
by the loss of the hope invested in a child.
Be with them in whatever feelings they may experience.
May those who seek to support them give the encouragement needed
so that in time they may come to look beyond their present distress
and towards the future with confidence.

Amen, come, Lord Jesus!