1 Timothy 4:12

Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

Exodus 2:1-2 tells us, Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. From this verse we could imply that Moses was Amram and Jochebed’s first child, but later on we discover that it is their third after Miriam the oldest who was five, and Aaron who was three years old at Moses birth. Why this strange text rendition then?

A Talmudic tradition teaches that after Pharaoh’s decree, Amram felt that it was useless to attempt raising a family so he divorced his wife. Because he stood as a Levite, Amram’s decision created a snowball effect within the Israelite population. Miriam who was very young at the time rebuked her father telling him that he was worse than Pharaoh. Her reasoning was that whereas Pharaoh sought to kill all the Israelite male children, Amram, through his sample threatened to bring the whole nation to genocide. If the Israelites stopped raising families, their population will decrease to possibly come to a standstill and finally disappear. Miriam certainly had the gift of judging actions by their long term effect and she went on to become a great leader of Israel. The teaching tells us that Amram repented, remarried Jochebed, and sired Moses.

One can argue about the veracity of the story but true or not, it gives us a window on the ancient Israelites views on family and tribal dynamics, morality, goals, purposes and methods of judgment. The whole story with Moses who was a foreshadow of the first and second coming of Messiah and through whom was given the foundation stone of mankind’s redemption plan, could have been thwarted because of one act of despair from the older generation. In the mean time a youth with a fresh non-cynical look at life was able to see the calamitous results of such action and rebuked her father for giving up which provoked a reversal of action.

We complain much about youth today but could it be that perhaps they do not feel heard by the cynical so-called wise parental generation? We have our lives behind us but they have theirs in front of them and that without cynicism that often sadly accompanies age and experience.

In preparing for the future, may our children find their place. May we raise them in an atmosphere where they feel at liberty to change and prepare their future by being able to expose our shortcomings. May we have the humility of hearing the voice of conviction in their uncouth and unseasoned tone. What is it the prophet said? “A little child shall lead them (Isaiah 11:6). “