Thursday, June 28, 2012
Misunderstood Bible Passages, Part 34 of 47
TEXT: "Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it" (Proverbs 22:6).
IDEA: The vagueness of Proverbs 22:6 brings us some clarity about the principles of rearing children.
PURPOSE: To help listeners see that the proverbs give us a skill in handling life.
Proverbs 22:6 is one of the best known in the collection: "Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it."
Why do you think readers are drawn to it?
Do you think some people are drawn to it because they crave assurance and not wisdom?
I. In the Hebrew text, this proverb—like some others in the collection—is a riddle.
In the introduction to the proverbs (1:5-6) we are told that the study of this collection will help us understand the riddles of the wise.
Riddles come to us from virtually every culture in the ancient world.
One writer says, "The ancient world is riddled with riddles."
Proverbs 22:6 is a riddle in the Hebrew text. It's "bring up a child in his way, and when he is old, he will not depart from it."
What is vague and thus makes it a riddle is the statement "in his way."
As we try to figure that statement out, we get insights or clarity about rearing our children.
II. The statement "train up a child in his way" can be interpreted in at least three different ways:
It can be interpreted to mean "let him alone, let him do what he wants, don't discipline him," and when the child is old, he won't change.
You can bend a twig but you can't bend the oak.
Parents who will not or cannot discipline their children often will come to see the bad results.
Is this always true?
It can also be interpreted to mean "bring up a child in his particular way."
You can't mass-produce your children. Did you find with your children that they had different temperaments?
So you have to suit your discipline to your child.
It means that you have to know each of your children.
How would you suit their discipline to each particular child in the family?
It can be interpreted to mean "bring up a child in the way he should go."
This means that you have to know the way yourself.
It's dangerous for parents to decide what they want their children to be in a vocation, but it's an advantage to know what you want to develop in your child's character.
It says that you are to give some thought to what influences you can bring into your child's life that will shape a child into what God wants the adult to be.
