Kids as Pawns in the Bible

October 5, 2016

Did you ever notice that, for all we hear about God loving children, kids in the Bible had it pretty tough?

I’m not talking about Pharaoh killing male Israelite infants, or Herod putting out a hit on the two-and-under crowd. I’m not talking about how Sarah forced Hagar to bear Ishmael, and then treated him so disgracefully, or Lot’s willingness to let strangers gang-rape his daughters in order to protect his guests.

I’m talking about things the Lord Himself did, or allowed to happen, to children.

When the firstborn of every Egyptian was killed by the Angel of Death, some were grown, but there had to be some infants and children there. If an Israelite chose not to paint his lintel with blood, his firstborn would die, too.

No young children were spared from the Flood, or in Sodom and Gomorrah.

And it wasn’t just the kids of non-believers who got axed. Even being a child of one of the Faithful was a real crap shoot.

Isaac didn’t actually get sacrificed but, because of the Lord’s mind-game with Abraham, he probably slept with one eye open for years, in case his father went off the deep end again.

The Lord allowed Satan to kill Job’s children, just to prove that Job was loyal to the Lord. Some were grown, but we don’t know that all of them were.

The Lord decreed that David and Bathsheba’s first son would die because of David’s sin; but first the infant suffered for six days. Was it significant that the infant died on the seventh day, instead of on the eighth, when he would have been circumcised and dedicated to the Lord? 

Jephtha made a vow to the Lord that, if he won a battle, he would sacrifice the first thing that came out his front door when he returned home. The Lord didn’t stop Jephtha’s daughter from coming out the door, or prevent Jephtha from keeping his vow.

When Jesus was asked why a man He healed was blind from birth, He answered, “So that the glory of God could be displayed.” Considering the life that the guy must have led, as an adult and as a child, that seems just a bit callous to me. I actually got cross with Jesus when I read that. 

Also: If God could warn the Magi not to go back to Herod, why couldn't He just tell them straight out where the Child lay, instead of having them go to Herod in the first place? Then Herod wouldn't have slaughtered the young children in order to take out his rival, because he wouldn't have known about it in the first place.

I do believe that Jesus loves little children; I just wouldn’t base that assertion on what’s written in the Bible. That would seem to be a foundation built on sand.