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dizzy_dave
Guest
Any books of the bible good to read for helping with fatherhood (being a better parent)? Thanks God bless!
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stillsmallvoice
Guest
Hi all!
I’ve always liked this lesson:
Exodus 18:2-3 reads: “And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her away, and her two sons…” In 18:6, Jethro informs his son-in-law, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming unto you, and your wife and her two sons…” Why does Jethro refer to Moses’ and Zipporah’s children as “her two sons”? He does this twice, once in a direct message to Moses. Gershom and Eliezer were Moses’ sons too. What gives? What is Jethro’s reiterated point? Our Sages teach that Jethro was, in effect, rebuking his son-in-law for being an absentee father. Jethro was telling Moses, “Moses! For all that you’ve been involved in your boys’ lives, they might just as well be ‘her two sons’ because she is basically raising them on her own & that’s not good. Your responsibilities to your nation cannot and do not justify your neglecting your duties as a father.”
This crisis in Moses’ family shows up later, in Numbers & Judges. Judges 18:30 reads: “And the children of Dan set up for themselves the graven image; and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests…” Manasseh in Hebrew is Menashe, which is spelled with 4 letters M-N-SH-E. In the (original) Hebrew, the “N” in Menashe in 18:30 is written in a tiny superscript. Our Sages say that Menashe (i.e. Manasseh) should really be Moshe, i.e. MOSES & that the verse should read: “…Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses” but that when Samuel the prophet (who, as we believe, is the author of the Book of Judges) wrote this verse, he added an extra “N”, transforming “Moshe” into “Menashe”, so as not to embarrass & shame Moses by announcing to the world that his grandson was the priest of an idol-worshipping cult. (Perhaps it was the traumatic experience of not having a full-time Dad, that led Moses’ children & grandchildren to stray so quickly from the path?)
Numbers 16 leads off with Korah’s attempted coup d’etat against his cousins Moses and Aaron. We all know what happened to Korah but, as Numbers 26:11 tells us, “The sons of Korah died not,” i.e. they had the good sense not to follow their father on his ruinous path. I Chronicles 6:18-22 informs us that none other than Samuel the prophet was one of Korah’s direct descendants. There is a charming rabbinical tradition that Korah saw that whereas Moses left something to be desired as a father & that his descendants would be idolatrous priests, one of his, Korah’s, descendants would be a holy prophet, i.e. Samuel. Our Sages thus depict Korah as telling his cousin Moses: “Moses! You can’t even lead your own family & yet you dare think that you can lead the nation??!! What gall! You are not fit, stand aside & let someone who can, lead.” Look at the flip-flop. The wicked man (Korah) had righteous descendants while the righteous man (Moses) had wicked descendants.
There is also a very good lesson for us parents in I Kings 1:6 says:
Howzat?
Be well!
ssv
I’ve always liked this lesson:
Exodus 18:2-3 reads: “And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her away, and her two sons…” In 18:6, Jethro informs his son-in-law, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming unto you, and your wife and her two sons…” Why does Jethro refer to Moses’ and Zipporah’s children as “her two sons”? He does this twice, once in a direct message to Moses. Gershom and Eliezer were Moses’ sons too. What gives? What is Jethro’s reiterated point? Our Sages teach that Jethro was, in effect, rebuking his son-in-law for being an absentee father. Jethro was telling Moses, “Moses! For all that you’ve been involved in your boys’ lives, they might just as well be ‘her two sons’ because she is basically raising them on her own & that’s not good. Your responsibilities to your nation cannot and do not justify your neglecting your duties as a father.”
This crisis in Moses’ family shows up later, in Numbers & Judges. Judges 18:30 reads: “And the children of Dan set up for themselves the graven image; and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests…” Manasseh in Hebrew is Menashe, which is spelled with 4 letters M-N-SH-E. In the (original) Hebrew, the “N” in Menashe in 18:30 is written in a tiny superscript. Our Sages say that Menashe (i.e. Manasseh) should really be Moshe, i.e. MOSES & that the verse should read: “…Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses” but that when Samuel the prophet (who, as we believe, is the author of the Book of Judges) wrote this verse, he added an extra “N”, transforming “Moshe” into “Menashe”, so as not to embarrass & shame Moses by announcing to the world that his grandson was the priest of an idol-worshipping cult. (Perhaps it was the traumatic experience of not having a full-time Dad, that led Moses’ children & grandchildren to stray so quickly from the path?)
Numbers 16 leads off with Korah’s attempted coup d’etat against his cousins Moses and Aaron. We all know what happened to Korah but, as Numbers 26:11 tells us, “The sons of Korah died not,” i.e. they had the good sense not to follow their father on his ruinous path. I Chronicles 6:18-22 informs us that none other than Samuel the prophet was one of Korah’s direct descendants. There is a charming rabbinical tradition that Korah saw that whereas Moses left something to be desired as a father & that his descendants would be idolatrous priests, one of his, Korah’s, descendants would be a holy prophet, i.e. Samuel. Our Sages thus depict Korah as telling his cousin Moses: “Moses! You can’t even lead your own family & yet you dare think that you can lead the nation??!! What gall! You are not fit, stand aside & let someone who can, lead.” Look at the flip-flop. The wicked man (Korah) had righteous descendants while the righteous man (Moses) had wicked descendants.
There is also a very good lesson for us parents in I Kings 1:6 says:
David never challenged Adonijah, never reproved him or disciplined him. This terribly negligent parenting helped sow the seeds of the discord that was to disrupt David’s family life again & again. (Proverbs 13:24 tells us, “He who spares the rod, hates his son…” I’ve seen this distorted in all kinds of ways by all kinds of people, some of whom cite it to justify systematic corporal punishment. Israel’s former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau notes that the (original) Hebrew word translated as “rod” is shevet, which may also be translated as “sceptre” (as it, in fact, is in Genesis 49:10). He points out that in the Biblical usage, rulers carried rods/sceptres as symbols of their authority; they didn’t beat their subjects with them. Rabbi Lau says that Proverbs 13:24 must be seen in this context, i.e. that a parent must provide authority for, and be (inter alia) an authority-figure to, his/her children; the verse is NOT a wholesale license to beat children, an occasional whack on the tush notwithstanding.)
Howzat?
Be well!
ssv
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dizzy_dave
Guest
Thanks, I can always count on someone helping me out. God bless!
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