The role and education of children in Old Testament times

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:Children in the Old Testament world, at first glance, seem to playa veryminor role in the make-up of that society but was this really so? Inresearching the role and education there are many questions, which needanswering.Questions that come to mind are: What role did children play in the tribe,clan and family? How did children relate to their fathers, mothers andsiblings? What education and training did children receive? When did theyreceive it? Was it formal or informal? Did the status and education ofchildren change from early Israel through to the beginning of NewTestament times? How could children identify with their religion? What didchildren contribute to their religion? What legal rights did children have?How did their situation compare to the children in other countries in the. Ancient Near East?In investigating these questions in chapter one it was necessary toresearch the social system, which included the complex multigenerationalfamily. It was also important to look at children in the Old Testament worldfrom a sociological anthropological stance. As religion and religiousconcepts were embedded in the fabric of the Old Testament society it wasimportant to see which ones influenced the status of children. There wasalso a need to investigate how children were protected by the law and howthey were affected by the economy as Israelite society was largely anagrarian society.In chapter two when investigating the education of children in the OldTestament world it was necessary to look at parental responsibility as wellas the role of priests, prophets, sages, scribes and teachers. Wisdomliterature in the Old Testament played an important role in the education ofevery child, either formally or informally. Not all of the education was moraleducation; much of the instruction that children received was vocational.The challenge when looking at education is that the evidence is mostlyinferred. In analysing the role of children in the Old Testament world it becomesapparent that children play a far greater role and are of higher socialstatus than it appears at a cursory glance when looking at the patriarchalsociety in which they lived. The education of children took place mostly inthe setting of the home on an informal basis. It was only much later thatformal education was introduced and even then the exact beginning ofschools is difficult to pinpoint.It would be incorrect to attempt to transplant the role of the child in the OldTestament world into contemporary culture without transplanting the wholesociety. It would however be correct to look at the Old Testament childwithin the context of the extended family as far as redemptive history andcreation is concerned.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University