The Biblical data defining what is a child
What is a
child? When does one begin being a child? When does one stop being a child? How
does the Bible look at this question? These questions need to be asked and
answered when it comes to even the most rudimentary of understandings about
children. We simply need to know how the ancient people of the Bible looked at
the concept of childhood.
How did the people mentioned in the Bible look at their children?
What defined a child in their world? What were the various phases of childhood
as outlined in the Bible and how can we understand them? These questions are
extremely important to ask and to answer. This is because we need to accurately
interpret to whom the Biblical texts in the book of Proverbs
suggesting smacking are directed.
To embark upon a study of the matter of the development of
children in ancient Jewish society, one must first examine what Jewish people
have said about children in their own works. This makes sense because it is the
Hebrew Bible (the Christian Old Testament) that contains the texts that
virtually everyone advocating smacking refers to. In opening this
investigation, it is amazing what is available for the researcher, but it
equally more surprising what is not available. It is very surprising that more
has not been written on the development and environment of children in the
Bible, but it appears that up until now few have been asking the questions that
are now being posed by those interested in the history of child development in
ancient cultures.[1]
There are a number of interesting Jewish sources written by
Rabbis, some of whom are ancient and other of which are more modern. However,
these volumes are not a part of the mainstream body of reference literature
available to Christians for several reasons. First, there is a lack of
connection between Christian and Jewish scholarship and there are also language
barriers. Many of their ancient volumes are written in Hebrew, Arabic, Yiddish,
Aramaic or other languages and are simply not available to those outside of the
traditional circles of Hebrew and Semitic scholarship. There are few ways for
people, not knowledgeable of Jewish writings and without the needed language
skills, to access the wisdom of these giants of Biblical scholarship.
From a more academic viewpoint, we also don’t have a lot of books on the
subject of Jewish attitudes to children. In a recent book on the Jewish family,
David Kraemer, who authored the section of this volume concerning “Images of
Childhood and Adolescence in Talmudic Literature,” says the following:
“When asking about that other species of children (here the author is speaking
of information concerning childhood development that would interest the
professional student of childhood issues), we have woefully little to work
with.”[2]
Additionally, Kraemer points out that he was only able to find one book solely
devoted to the subject of speaking “of the traditional attitude toward Jewish
children.”[3] This book, “The Jewish Child,”
by W.M. Feldman, as Kraemer points out, found so little information about
Jewish attitudes toward children that Kraemer said: “Feldman was forced to pad
the book with chapters on such matters as mathematics in the Talmud, presumably
because children learned math in school.”[4] Kraemer
provides a great deal of excellent information from the period in which the
Talmud was written (from the third century BCE until the fifth century CE), but
as for a treatment of the child in the Bible itself, there is very little
information available from Jewish sources.
Solomon Schecter, the English Hebrew scholar who was active in the last part of
the last century published a short article about children in a Hebrew journal,
but his article was a basic introduction to children’s themes in the
environment of Jewish history. Certainly, this article is interesting and
valuable, but it does not focus on a detailed analysis of the book of Proverbs
or any of the texts relating to smacking.[5]
However, some excellent Jewish sources are available. One of the
most illuminating volumes in English (for those interested in the Jewish
perspective on education and child rearing and texts related to child rearing
in the Bible) is the book titled “Sparing the Rod: A Torah Perspective on
Reward and Punishment in Education.”[6] This volume reveals several
important sources of the abovementioned Jewish works. This volume is an amazing
glimpse into the wisdom of Jewish learning.[7] This book refers to many
works written by Rabbis, but most of these works are not available currently in
English translation. This is why this volume is so valuable because it gives us
a glimpse into the depths of Hebrew scholarship.
Now if some Jewish scholars, who do not have the New Testament as
their Holy Scripture, are pointing out that the Biblical, post-Biblical and
historical sources are vague concerning specific information about children and
how ancient Hebrew society looked at them, how is that Christian ministers or
Bible teachers can come along now and explain what the texts of the Hebrew
Bible mean relative to children when individuals whose expertise far outstrips
those of us in the Christian world are saying that they don’t have the answers
to these questions? This is one question that those in the Christian world who
advocate smacking children need to answer.
Thankfully, some important work has been done in this regard by
the eminent Christian Hebrew scholar, Alfred Edersheim. He was a
Christian scholar who was intimately familiar with all of the Hebrew body of
scholarship and his knowledge of Jewish religious sources was first rate.
A
definition of terms
A good
place to begin any discussion is with a definition of terms. In the Hebrew
Bible (the Old Testament), there are quite a number of terms that are used to
describe children at various phases of life. Edersheim in his invaluable work “Sketches
of Jewish Life” says the following: “The tenderness of the bond which
united Jewish parents to their children appears even in the multiplicity and
pictorialness of the expressions by which the various stages of child-life are
designated in the Hebrew [in the Hebrew language]. Besides such general words
as ‘ben’ and ‘bath’ [these are Hebrew terms and their meanings
follow here] -- ‘son’ and ‘daughter’ -- we find no fewer than nine different
terms, each depicting a fresh stage of life.”[8] These
phrases “ben” (Hebrew: son) and “bath” (Hebrew: daughter) are
used hundreds of times in the Bible and are general terms used to describe,
sons, daughters, children and a person’s age.[9]
This is an extremely important statement. What
Edersheim is saying is that the phrases in Hebrew that describe children and
childhood are distinct and are also characterized by an almost visual element.
This will become more evident when we look at the examples given by Edersheim,
but this point cannot be mentioned without some commentary. There is a reason
for this. When we look at terms in the Bible that describe actions directed at
a certain person or group, because we are dealing with a very old text that is
culturally disconnected from our modern world by many hundreds of years, we
need to be sure that the group in our modern world that we are applying these
texts to are the same group in the ancient world that the people at that time
applied the same information to. If we don’t do this, then we can misapply the
information we are looking at by applying it to a group of individuals for whom
it was never intended.
This is where the main problem comes in understanding to whom the
texts in the book of Proverbs were directed. If we assume that they were just
applied to “children” in general without any definition, we run the risk of
misapplying the text to a subgroup of the category of “children” who were never
intended to be the recipients of such teachings. This is where great care is
required in knowing and correctly applying the Biblical information that we do
have. This approach seems to be a sensible one. It seems that we really don’t
have another choice in this regard because apart from direct commentaries from
the writers themselves, how can we be absolutely certain that what we are saying
about a text represents the meaning that the author intended? First, we have to
clearly define the terms we are discussing. Then we can consider to who these
terms are to be applied. We then have to look at how these terms are used
throughout the Bible to determine God’s definition of them. This is the best
course of action to take to understand whom we are talking about. It is also
very important to carefully consider the information that we do have and not
dismiss something as unimportant. The entire Bible is important and valuable.
What we find in the Hebrew Bible is that, just as we have in
English, we have terms that very specifically describe the various phases of
childhood. By understanding these terms and by correctly applying them to the Biblical
texts that refer to them (and not applying them to the Biblical texts that
don’t!), we position ourselves on a more equal level when it comes to comparing
who is being discussed in one section and who we can apply those teaching to
today. Let us look at these various phases now.
When we are willing to take a fresh new look at childhood in the
Bible, we can see, as did Alfred Edersheim, that the words employed by the
Biblical writers are very visual in nature in describing the various stages of child
development. Edersheim opens his examination of this important matter with the
following: “the first of these [terms designating phases of child development]
simply designates the babe as the newly ‘born’ -- the ‘yeled’ or,
in the feminine, ‘yaldah’ -- as in Exodus 2:3; 2:6; 2:8. [these
texts in Exodus concern the baby Moses]”[10]
It is important here to mention what Edersheim meant by his use of
the word “pictorialness” in describing the words used to point to the various
phases of child development in the Hebrew Bible. The way that these words
convey a visual or “picture like” sense is by connecting them to the Hebrew
verbs from which the nouns are constructed. In Hebrew, the word “yeled”
(masculine) or “yaldah” (feminine) are both related to the verb “yalad.”
This verb simply means, “to give birth.”[11] So the meaning of the noun of
the same root refers to the one who came from the giving of birth. This is the
“pictorialness” that Edersheim refers to. This verb, in various forms is found
several hundred times in the Bible.[12] This word is given a very clear meaning as referring to the
time in the life of a child from birth to the time of weaning. Look at the
following verse from the book of Genesis that shows this very clearly. “And the
child (Hebrew: yeled) grew, and was weaned.”[13] [Historical sources show that
this weaning took place at the age of three.[14] More on this later.]
We also find a logical approach to naming various stages of
children’s lives in the Bible. This takes place through specifying names based
upon actions taking place in the lives of the children themselves. By
understanding that the use of certain words relates to actions that children
specifically are doing (that point to a time in life that they are doing them),
this will help us to correctly understand what stage of life is being referred
to in the Biblical verses related to children.[15] Rather than just referring
solely to “children,” we can better define the time in the life of these
“children” and by doing this we can begin to put flesh on the skeletons that
are these Biblical texts. Let us now return to Edersheim’s discussion with
these points in mind. They will help us to understand the words that are used
in the Bible to describe these important phases in the life of children.
To demonstrate the subtle difference a word can bring Edersheim says the
following: “But the use of this term [the term refers to the word ‘yeled’ which
means ‘babe’] throws fresh light on the meaning of some passages of Scripture.
Thus we remember that it is applied to our Lord in the prophecy of His birth:[16] ‘For a babe (Hebrew: yeled) is born
unto us, a son (Hebrew: ben) is given to us.’”[17] This
word “yeled” appears almost 90 times in the Bible.[18]
Edersheim continues: “The next child-name in point of time, is ‘yonek,’
which means, literally, ‘a suckling.’”[19] Note
that Edersheim specifically uses the phrase “in point of time.” This is because
each of these names follows the other as far as time is concerned. This word in
Hebrew comes from the verb “yanak” which literally means, “to suck.”[20] In English, we would refer to these children as
“infants” or “nursing babies.” In fact, there are two different terms in the
Bible that describe two different periods of a suckling child. The first term “yonek”
refers to babies who are in the period of life that is characterized as
receiving nourishment only from their mother’s breast. These are children who
are aged from birth to about 12 months or so. After 12 months or so, children
begin to eat other food other than that provided by their mothers through
nursing, but they are also still nursing. This takes place, depending upon what
culture you are referring to, anywhere from 12 months until a child is about
two and a half or even three. This transition from receiving nourishment
through suckling only to a combination of suckling and eating solid food is
mentioned in the Bible by referring to a different term to point out this new
phase. (In the Bible, the age of three was the time for weaning officially as
mentioned previously.) The term that describes this phase of life of suckling
as well as eating some solid food is the Hebrew word “olel.” “As the
word implies, the “olel” is still ‘sucking;’ but it is no longer
satisfied with only this nourishment, and is ‘asking bread,’ as in Lamentations
4:4: ‘The tongue of the suckling child (yonek) cleaves to the roof
of his mouth for thirst; the newly eating children (‘olelim’ -
plural of the word olel) ask bread.”[21] (translation
mine) Edersheim continues: “This word, ‘olel,’ refers to a child who is
not weaned yet but still periodically nurses at its mother’s breast.[22]
One point that must be made regarding these two terms is that they are distinct
and refer to two specific phases of life. An “olel” is always older than
a “yonek.” The point that differentiates these children is the fact that
some are eating food from their mothers only, while others are supplementing
their mother’s milk with food from other sources. Note the following quotes
that show this: “Out of the mouth of babes [23] and
sucklings[24] hast thou founded strength because
of thy enemies;”[25] Note also: “to cut off from
you man and woman, child[26] and suckling[27]…”[28] This is ample
evidence to demonstrate the distinction in these terms. The term “yonek”
(or its related words) is found 32 times in the Bible[29] whereas
the term “olel” occurs 20 times.[30]
Logically, the time following the period of a child nursing at the
breast is characterized by a specific term in Hebrew just as it is in English.
This is the fourth designation found in the Bible. It “represents the child as
the ‘gamul’ or ‘weaned one,’”[31] from a verb which primarily
means to complete, and secondarily to wean.”[32] This verb, which jointly
means “to complete” and “to wean,” shows the child completing the nursing
phase. There are several texts in the Bible that specifically refer to this completion
of the weaning phase. They refer to a variety of situations and personalities.
For example, it is mentioned in the book of Genesis “that Isaac was weaned.”[33] King David also spoke about
humility and pursuing a life of peace and tranquillity. He compared this to a
weaned child sitting next to his mother. In this comparison, he shows that he
had come to learn to humbly approach life and not to seek things that were
beyond him. In doing this, he became aware of an inner peace and found a sense
of completeness. This feeling he compares to that of weaned children who find
that when they complete the nursing process, they find a sense of peace and
quietness resting beside their mothers. This is an extremely beautiful and
deeply sensitive comparison from the inspired pen of King David[34] who refers to this weaned
child as sitting next to his mother.[35] We find that the phase of
life for these children is between the ages of three to four. Note again that a
“gamul” is always older than an “olel.”
This period is followed by another term mentioned by Edersheim.
These years are times of particular closeness to their mothers, even clinging
to her. He described it like this: “After that the fond eye of the Hebrew
parent seems to watch the child as it is clinging to its mother -- as it were
ranging itself by her -- whence the fifth designation, ‘taph.’[36] The use of this word is further
defined when we look at some of the verbs that are related to this noun. We
find that the reason that Edersheim referred to this term as showing a child
“clinging to its mother” or “ranging itself by her” is because the verbal uses
of this noun refer to the English word “swaddled.” This term refers to the
ancient custom of women wearing swaddling bands. These were exterior garments
that were band-like in construction and were a handbreadths or so thick and
were used to carry children by their mothers. This verb is used in a beautiful
description of God’s right hand “spanning” the heavens.[37] This word “spanned” means
swaddled. It shows that God cares for the heavens in the same way that a mother
with child cares for it and brings it close to her with her right hand. We even
find that the earth in ancient times had a “swaddling band” around it.[38] This was a circular band like
ring similar to that found around other planets.[39]
We also have the Bible referring to “swaddling clothes” which were
garments that were used on very young children who were yet to be trained in
normal bodily functions. These garments were used to wrap the child around
their body and could easily be removed quickly to facilitate a child who needed
to relieve him or herself. These garments were wrapped close to the body in a
circular fashion.[40]
In using this word “taph” it gives the strong impression
that Hebrew mothers were intensely close to their children and their children
stayed very close to their mothers throughout the time prior to the age of six
years. This idea is beautifully taught in an extremely touching verse found in
the book of Isaiah that describes the birth of a whole nation in one day who
will be “carried upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees. As one whom his
mother comforts, so will I comfort you.”[41] This is just more evidence
that women in ancient times carried their young children and swaddling bands
were a part of this process.
In closing this discussion about the word “taph,” we find
this phrase used 42 times in the Hebrew Bible and it universally refers to
“little children.”[42] This period refers to young children who are between the
ages of four to six years. After age six, then began a process of either
continued closeness to the mother for girls or separation from the mother for
boys and beginning a new life spending most of their time with their fathers.
Continuing, Edersheim says: “The sixth period is marked by the word ‘elem’
(in the feminine, ‘almah,’ as in Isaiah 7:14, of the virgin mother,
which denotes becoming firm and strong.”[43] This
is time in life mentioned in the Bible is when a young person is approaching
adolescence. This word is translated in English by words such as “maid,”
“damsel,” “virgin,” “stripling,” and refers to those young people who are not
yet even young adults. These words are today called “pre-teenagers” in modern
language. These words together are found nine times in the Bible.[44]
Now, as we have in English there is another term that refers to the time just
after and including the teenage years, where the young person is now starting
to gain some sense of independence. Edersheim phrases it this way: “As one
might expect, we have next the ‘na’ar,’ or youth -- literally, he who
shakes off, or shakes himself free.[45] [The word na’arah is
the feminine form of this word na’ar and it is also found
frequently in the Bible.[46]] This word is found over
200 times in the Bible.[47] There are some
poetical uses of this phrase “na’ar,”[48] but
the vast majority of these texts refer to younger men or women who have yet to
marry.
One term that Edersheim does not refer to in his treatment of this issue is the
word “bthulah”[49] We find this word used
to refer to the phase of life for young women just immediately prior to
marriage. Girls in this stage of life were referred to by the phrase “bthulah.”
This word means a young woman who has not participated in sexual intercourse,
or specifically, a virgin. This is the exact meaning and there are
numerous texts to show this.[50] This word appears
50 times in the Bible.[51]
Edersheim, concludes his discussion of these terms with the
following: “Lastly, we find the child designated as ‘bachur,’ [the
feminine is bachurah but this word is apparently not found in
the Bible] or the ‘ripened one;’ a young warrior, as in Isaiah 31:8;
Jeremiah 18:21; 15:8.”[52] Note again, Edersheim uses the word “lastly” which shows a
continuing time element in discussing the terms. This phrase is where we start
to see words describing marriage being coupled with those describing this phase
of life. Note the following: “For as a young man (bachur) takes to
himself (in marriage) a virgin (bthulah), so shall thy sons take thee to
themselves, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall thy God
rejoice over thee.”[53] So we find that the phrase “bachur” refers to a time
in the life of young men, where marriage starts to become a reality. Men in the
Biblical and post-Biblical periods generally married between 13 and 17 and
women generally married between 12 and 18.[54]
Finally, the last two words that describe the final stage of life,
adulthood, are man and woman. In Hebrew, these terms are for man, “ish,”
and for woman, “ishah.” These terms are only mentioned here for
continuity and reference, as we are not specifically discussing them in this
context. They appear hundreds of times in the Bible.[55]
Edersheim concludes his comments regarding these terms by saying the following:
“Assuredly, those who so keenly watched child-life as to give a pictorial
designation to each advancing stage of its existence, must have been fondly
attached to their children.”[56] Of this there is
no question. It is quite interesting that the ancient Hebrews had specific
designations for each phase of human development, much like our modern English
terms newborn, infant, nursing child, toddler, preschooler, prepubescent,
pre-teen, teenager, young adult and adult.
What the evidence from the Bible shows is that the Biblical writers had
specific terms that they employed to each phase of life. The catchall phrase
“child” is not sufficient to describe the multiplicity of terms used by the
Biblical writers.
Conclusion
Now that we
have defined and placed these terms in context, let us now consider how to
better understand the Biblical passages that refer to these terms. At the very
beginning of the book of Proverbs we have an introduction that orients the
reader to the book as a whole. This section mentions that the book is directed
to the “young man.”[57] This word for “young man”
(Hebrew: na’ar), as the previous analysis has shown, does not
include young men who fall into the pre-teen category. Let us look at the
evidence that shows this.
As mentioned earlier, the Hebrew terms that refer to the phases of
life are “yeled,” “yonek,” “olel,” “gamul,” “taph,” elem,”
“na’ar,” “bthulah,” “bachur,” “ish” and “ben.”
Let us now look at the occurrences of these terms in the book of Proverbs.
Now, the words “yeled,” “yonek,” “olel,” “taph,”
“bthulah,” are peculiar in the book of Proverbs for one important
reason. This is because they are not found once in any verse in the whole book
in either masculine or feminine forms. Additionally, the words “bachur,” “gamul,”
and “elem” are found only once.[58] The most prominent of these
listed words found in the book of Proverbs is the word “ish” which means
“man.” This word also overwhelmingly refers to grown men. This word is used in
the book of Proverbs 84 times.[59]
The word that we find used in three of the verses that advocate
smacking in Proverbs is “na’ar.”[60] The phase of life associated
with the “na’ar” (which means the “one shook lose”) is that of young
adulthood or the teenage years. This is significant. Based on this evidence, it
is safe to say that all of these texts in the book of Proverbs have no
application to anyone less than about ten to twelve years of age.
The other two verses[61] often quoted by smacking advocates when referring
specifically to the recipient of the corporal punishment both refer to the word
“son.” In Hebrew, the word used is “ben.” This word is used hundreds of
times in the Bible and can refer to a son of any age. In light of the use of
this word, “son,” it makes sense, considering especially that we have three
others texts that all refer to the use of the “rod,” that we let these three
texts, which use the Hebrew word “na’ar,” be our primary sources of
authority to understand who was the recipient of such corporal punishment.
Obviously, we cannot let the two texts, which use the word “son” (Hebrew: na’ar)
let us interpret the three texts, which use the more specific term “young
adult” or “teenager.” All who are fathers refer to their teenage boys as their
“sons,” but not all fathers’, who have sons, are teenagers. We have to let the
more precise term young adult or teenager, which in Hebrew is “na’ar,”
be our guide when applying these texts to individuals.
In conclusion, this evidence shows that the book of Proverbs is
referring to a specific phase in the life of a person. It is not referring to
“children” in the non-specific way. We have to be very careful in handling the
information that we do have from this book because this information is sparse
and terse. We also need to be very careful not to read things into the texts
that are not there on the basis of an English translation. We have to let the
original Hebrew words and their meanings come through into our understandings
or else we can lose the richness of meaning that is there for the interested
party to investigate. This advice must be especially heeded when it comes to
such issues of immense social importance as how we bring up the next
generation. For their sakes, we need to be right and protect them from
teachings that are not directed at them in the first place.
With this information in mind, let us now look at some further
evidence concerning early and modern Hebrew conceptions about smacking and the
book of Proverbs. It will pay great dividends to pay attention to the words of
some of the great Hebrew scholars who devoted their lives to Bible study.
[1] See Kramer, The Jewish
Family, pg. 64-66, 1996.
[2] Kraemer, The Jewish Family,
pg. 66
[3] ibid.
[4] ibid., pg.66-67
[5] Solomon Schecter, Journal of
Jewish Studies
[6] Author is Meir Munk, Mishor
Publishing Co. Ltd., Bnei Brak, Israel 1989. For more information about this
volume contact Judaica Express in the USA at 1800 2 BOOKS 1.
[7] I wish to thank Rabbi Reuben
Feinstein, the son of the late eminent Rabbinical scholar, Rabbi Moses
Feinstein of New York, for his permission to quote this book. I highly
recommend it to anyone interested in the Jewish perspective on this issue to
get a copy of this volume mentioned in this paragraph.
[8] Edersheim, Sketches of Jewish
Life, pg. 103
[9] In Hebrew, when asking
someone’s age, even today in the modern language, you say: “The son (or
daughter) of how many years are you?” This may seem an odd way to ask this
question to the English ear, but this is how it was done in ancient times and
this is also how it is done today.
[10] ibid., pg.104
[11] See Genesis 4:18; 4:22; 6:4;
10:8
[12] Wigram’s Englishman’s Hebrew
and Chaldee Concordance (WEHCC), pg. 527-530
[13] Genesis 21:8
[14] Mc’lintock & Strongs:
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological & Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. II,
pg. 243, article. ‘child,’ which refers to Genesis 21:8; Exodus 2:7,9; I
Samuel 1:22-24; II Chronicles 31:16 and Matthew 21:16
[15] This concept is not strange
to the English language either. For example, look at the verb “drive.” This
word refers to an action of moving something from one place to another. It can
refer to something such as a “driving a car or a tractor,” but it can also
refer to things such as animals, like “driving a herd of sheep.” Now, what is
the noun form of this verb? It is driver. So, the noun and the verb form of a
word are closely connected in English as well as Hebrew. Hebrew only is
different in the sense that each word has its own gender while in English
gender is express through the use of adjectives or pronouns. In English, we say
“a male driver or a female driver.” In Hebrew, there is no such use of these
helping words because each word has its own gender. So, to say “male driver,”
in Hebrew it is only one word “nahag.” Female driver is “nahagah.”
(Hebrew in this sense is similar to Spanish, which incorporates the gender into
the word directly such as “senor” (gentleman), or “senoritah.” (lady)
[16] Isaiah 9:6
[17] Edersheim, Sketches of Jewish
Life, pg. 104
[18] See WEHCC, pg. 530
[19] Edersheim, Sketches of Jewish
Life, pg.104
[20] This verb appears 32 times in
the Hebrew Bible and in every occasion refers to sucking, suckling or nursing.
See WEHCC, pg.542.
[21] Edersheim, Sketches of Jewish
Life, pg.104
[22] ibid.
[23] Hebrew - olelim –
plural of olel
[24] Hebrew – yonekim –
plural of yonek
[25] Psalm 8:3
[26] Hebrew - olel
[27] Hebrew - yonek
[28] Jeremiah 44:7
[29] WEHCC, pg. 542
[30] WEHCC, pg. 907
[31] Psalm 81:2; Isaiah 11:8; 28:9
[32] Edersheim, Sketches of Jewish
Life, pg.104
[33] Genesis 21:8
[34] Psalm 131
[35] ibid.
[36] Edersheim, Sketches of Jewish
Life, pg. 104; See also Esther 3:13, The ‘taph’ and the women in one
day; Jeremiah 40:7; Ezekiel 9:6
[37] Isaiah 48:13
[38] This “swaddling-band” was
disturbed in the time of Noah and caused the Flood according to research
conducted by Dr. Ernest L. Martin, my father and an extraordinary
interdisciplinary Christian scholar. See his booklet “Solving the Riddle of
Noah’s Flood” (ASK Publications:1987)
[39] Job 38:9
[40] See Luke 2:7 and 2:12
[41] Isaiah 66:12-13
[42] WEHCC, pg. 484
[43] Edersheim, Sketches of Jewish
Life, pg. 104
[44] WEHCC, pg. 943
[45] Edersheim, Sketches of Jewish
Life, pg.104
[46] Genesis 24:14; 34:12
[47] WEHCC, pg. 823-4
[48] In the book of First Samuel,
Chapter 1, we find the word “na’ar” being used of Samuel immediately
following his weaning in v.24. It is used several times also in Chapter 2
during the stage of Samuel growing up. It is clear that Samuel was brought to
live in the Temple when he was a very young boy. It is also clear that from
where he lived in Ramah, the Temple was at that time in Shilo, less than half a
day’s journey away. While he was away from his mother, he had plenty of
supervision living in the Temple at that time. The reason for the use of this
phrase to describe him in this stage is not clear, however, he was “shaken
free” from his home life at an early age to prepare him for the great tasks he
underwent.
We
see the same phrase used of Moses who was only a small baby at the time in
Exodus 2. This phrase is coupled with the previously mentioned term “yeled.”
It seems clear from the context that Pharaoh’s daughter was speaking
poetically. The dialogue almost sounds like a mother saying: “Look here at this
little man crying!”
[49] Which in English means “virgin.”
[50] Note Deuteronomy 22 in
particular
[51] WEHCC, pg. 284
[52] Edersheim, Sketches of Jewish
Life, pg. 105
[53] Isaiah 62:5
[54] Mc’lintock & Strong’s:
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological & Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. V,
pg. 775.
[55] WEHCC, “ish,”
pgs.60-69 (over 1,600 times); ishah, pgs.175-178 (over 550 times)
[56] Edersheim, Sketches of Jewish
Life, pg. 105
[57] This suggestion has been
reiterated by Dr. Randall Heskett in Interpretation Journal April 2001 article:
“Proverbs 23:13-14,” pgs. 181-4. This is an article by a professor with
expertise in Old Testament Hebrew.
[58] For bachur, see
Proverbs 20:29 and for elem, which in this case we find the word in
the feminine gender being “almah” see Proverbs 30:19. For gamul,
the verbal form gamal is found in Proverbs 11:17, but in this
case, the context does not refer to a child being weaned.
[59] WEHCC, pg.67-8
[60] Proverbs 22:15; 23:13-14;
29:15
[61] Proverbs 13:23,24 and
Proverbs 19:18
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