And their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jew’s language, but according to the language of each people. Nehemiah 13:24
A brother-in-law invited me to go with him for supper to a little restaurant that was popular with many of the young people in the area. As we were eating our meal, some of the young people from the place where he attended meetings came in for a snack, and sat at the table next to ours. Over the next hour, these young people, along with my brother-in-law, became engaged in a very animated discussion. The topic that these folks – all of whom professed to be Christians – were so deeply engaged in was the movies that they had seen and the various actors and actresses who played in those movies. Normally, I take part in group conversations, but that evening I had to sit in silence. They might as well have been talking a foreign language, because I had no idea what they were talking about, and knew nothing about the movies they were discussing. Those young people were like the children of whom Nehemiah spoke in our text today.
Nehemiah found several problems related to the mixed marriages of Jewish men to Gentile women. Sadly, the children of those marriages had learned only the language of their mother. They did not know the language of the Jews, which means they would know nothing about the greatest topic of the Jews’ language: the worship and service of God in His temple. Although they had Jewish fathers, these children were being raised as Gentiles, losing entirely all of the benefits of a relationship to God and His people. Sadly, many children of Christians around us are losing out on the spiritual blessings available to them because they are not immersed in the spiritual language that their parents profess. To be sure, many Christian families truly raise their children in a home with an open and well-used Bible, with regular prayer and readings, with Bible verse memorization, with attendance at all of the Assembly meetings including Sunday School, and with lively and frequent discussions on Bible topics. Such parents ought to be recognized and applauded, and encouraged. Sadly, their numbers are becoming fewer. Too many children of Christian parents don’t know enough about spiritual matters to discuss them. Their conversation is about school, about the organizations they are involved in, about the technology toys they play with, about the movies and music that they enjoy. Is it any wonder that so few of them take an interest in the Gospel?
If our children’s primary environment is the world and all of its things, that is the language they will speak and understand. How can we expect them to understand and appreciate the things of God? If our children’s primary environment is an open Bible and the things of God, that is the language that they will speak and understand. -Jim MacIntosh