A Study of Boys in Scripture
Submitted by J on January 6 2002 07:24:32
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This literary topic has been bouncing around in my head for several months and I thought I would throw out to the board my research to date for some feedback. There are books out there on all the men of the Bible, women of the Bible, apostles of the Bible, angels of the Bible, miracles of the Bible, prayers of the Bible, parables of the Bible – I came back and said to myself, “What about a book about all the boys of the Bible?” The first thing I thought was it would probably be a very short book as there aren’t a whole lot of biblical boys to write about (I think I have changed my mind after researching it a bit more). Most of the narratives that do include boys tend to focus primarily on their parent or guardian – for example: 1. Ishmael and his mother Hagar (Genesis 21:8-20) 2. Isaac and his father Abraham (Genesis 22:3-14) 3. Samuel and his mother Hannah (1 Samuel 1:21-28) 4. Samuel and Eli the priest (1 Samuel 3:1-19) 5. Joash and Jehoiada the priest (2 Kings 11:1-21; 2 Chronicles 22:10-24:1). Aside from Joash (who was seven years old when he became king of Judah) there is Manasseh (who was twelve – cf. 2 Kings 21:1; 2 Chronicles 33:1) and Josiah (who was eight – cf. 2 Kings 22:1; 2 Chronicles 34:1). The Hebrew words for ‘boy’ (na’ar, yeled, elem) aren’t much help most of the time as they can refer to any male from the age of infancy to young adulthood, so we’re left to wonder exactly how old the following people were when they were called ‘boys’: 1. Benjamin (Genesis 43:8) 2. Jether (Judges 8:20) 3. David (1 Samuel 17:33) 4. Solomon (1 Kings 3:7) 5. Hadad (2 Kings 11:17) 6. Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:6-7) Then there are numerous unnamed boys (possibly young men in some instances), such as: 1. the boy who helps out Jonathan in 1 Samuel 20:18-40 2. King Jeroboam’s son (1 Kings 14:1, 12-13, 17-18) 3. the boy that Elijah brings back to life in 1 Kings 17:17-23 4. the boys who taunt Elisha and are mauled by bears in 2 Kings 2:23-24 5. the boys Elisha saves from lives of slavery in 2 Kings 4:1-7 6. the boy that Elisha brings back to life in 2 Kings 4:18-37 7. the boys who scorn Job in Job 19:18 There are several boys mentioned in the prophets, most notably in Isaiah 3:4; 7:14-16; 8:3-4; 11:6; Lamentations 5:13; Joel 3:3 and Zechariah 8:5. My favorite passage where a boy is mentioned would be in the story of Naaman (and I apologize ahead of time to those who may be offended by the slight sexual undertone in my exegesis). Naaman was commander of the Aramean army and had leprosy. He is instructed by the prophet Elisha through a messenger to wash himself seven times in the Jordan. So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. 2 Kings 5:14 The verb ‘became clean’ is a derivative of the Hebrew word tahor, which means ‘clean, pure, flawless, free from impurity, defect or filth’. Many years ago and long before I came across this passage, I came up with a physical attribute analogy between boys and men after reading Jesus’ statement to His disciples to turn around and become like children. Since they were men and had obviously been children and grown up, it was a return to or a restoration of sorts. The analogy I came up with was this: the smooth, hairless skin of a boy represented innocence and perfection, while the rough, hairy skin of a man represented sin and imperfection. A man could try and change his skin back to how it was in his boyhood through various means (shaving, lasers, drugs) but it would never truly be the same and it would always grow back – this represents human attempt at dealing with sin, similar to the pitiful attempt made by Adam and Eve in sewing together fig leaves for a covering (cf. Genesis 3:7). The only way a man’s skin could ever become truly and forever boyish again would be a miracle of God – representing the second birth made possible by Jesus. And then I read the story of Naaman being healed of leprosy and almost fell off my chair when I read that ‘his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy’. Incidentally, the NIV translation is not exactly accurate as the verb ‘to be clean’ is appended to the end of the sentence and the NKJV more properly translates the last clause: “and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean”. The point, however, is that his skin became like that of a boy and this (not a healthy man’s skin) was declared ‘clean’ (the main thrust of the analogy I had come up with years earlier). Turning to the New Testament, the only boy named is Jesus Himself (cf. Luke 2:41-51) when He is twelve years old. References to unnamed boys are few and far between and often fall into the same type of ambiguity as boys in the Old Testament since the main New Testament word for boy (paiV), while usually referring to a boy below the age of puberty, sometimes does not. It can also refer to a youth who is female or even a servant. One other word, much more restrictive and obviously referring to a boy is paidarion (little boy, child). The scarce New Testament references are as follows: 1. the boy who was healed of demon possession (Matthew 17:14-18; Mark 9:17-27; Luke 9:38-42) 2. the boy whom Jesus uses as an example in Matthew 18:1-6; Mark 9:36-37; Luke 9:46-48 3. the official’s son whom Jesus heals (John 4:46-53) 4. the boy with five barley loaves and two fish in John 6:9 The complete absence (relatively speaking) of boys in the New Testament as compared with the Old Testament (the obvious difference in the lengths of the two sections aside) troubles me. I have come to the conclusion that it has to do with the analogy that Paul uses in his letter to the Galatians and his teaching on children in his first letter to the Corinthians, though reconciling this with Jesus’ own teaching in regards to children is troubling me: What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. Galatians 4:1-3 …but when perfection comes, the imperfection disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 1 Corinthians 13:10-11 The above study of boys in Scripture is by no means exhaustive since many passages remain which speak of children in general (boys and girls) which deserve attention, but I have not picked them out of the text yet in my research as I have the others above. I guess in the way of feedback I’m looking for four main things: 1. Any obvious boys in Scripture that I have overlooked. 2. What you (as a BL) would like to see in a book dealing with boys in Scripture 3. Thoughts on reconciling Paul and Jesus’ seemingly contradictory teaching on the nature of children 4. General comments on anything in the post (please be gentle if it is to rake me over the coals for my short exegesis of 2 Kings 5:14) In the absence of any formal feedback, I hope this post has been enjoyable reading for everyone. In Christ, J |
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