Wisdom: The Biblical Pattern
As we seek God's wisdom in the area of providing for our families and raising sons to provide for their families, let's start by seeking the wisdom of Scripture. We are told in Proverbs 24:27 to "Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house." In other words, young man, get ready to provide (preparing your fields to yield sufficiently to provide) prior to getting married (building a house was synonymous with getting married and starting a family). At first glance, that doesn't seem unusual, but it is unique compared to our typical experiences today when you consider that the young Israelite male typically inherited the land- the income-producing asset.
Land was very important to the Lord and the Israelites. Among the many promises from God regarding the land He was giving them as an inheritance was that it was "flowing with milk and honey" in terms of fruitfulness (and as an extra blessing, the Israelites could walk right into a situation with vineyards that were already planted and houses that were already built). In fact, land was so important that if an Israelite sold any land, he really only sold the number of remaining harvests until the year of Jubilee, and then he got the land back.
Given the land, a Hebrew man needed only to focus on preparing the fields in order to provide adequately. and when also given some animals, he was in an excellent position to take care of his family:
The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of the field. And thou shalt have goats' milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance for thy maidens)-Proverbs 27:26-27
In fact, Proverbs 19:4 likely indicates that he received a home as well: "Houses and riches are the inheritance of fathers..." What an incredible blessing! No wonder we don't have any scriptural examples of men crying out to God to help them find better-paying jobs. They had inherited the assets they needed to provide; they just needed to be diligent to work the land:
Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds-Proverbs 27:23
What Inheritance Are We Leaving?
Even as recently as the early 1900s, sons usually inherited skills by apprenticing with their fathers, and they usually inherited assets (land, tools of the trade, or shops) with which to earn a living. But in our modern predominately wage-earner lifestyles where the fathers rarely pass along assets that produce income, sons are sent off to college where they accumulate staggering debts and are then shackled to the life of an employee without any ownership equity-nothing more than wage slaves.
As is usually the case when we rediscover the Book of the Law, we need to repent and then we need to reform. Obviously we cannot correct this situation overnight. For many of us first-generation Christians who did not inherit any meaningful assets, it will likely take a few generations before we can fully return to the biblical principle of passing along to our sons the ability to provide. Rebuilding family wealth and provision will take diligence, patience, and our dependence upon God's providence.
If we cannot fully equip our sons with assets that will provide, let s at least equip them with the entrepeneurial skills to amass assets during their work lives, rather than put them on the bleak path of a typical wage earner (see "An Educational Framework for Training Entrepeneurs" in the Homeschooling Today March/April 2007 issue). Let us pass on a spiritual legacy that includes the multi-generational faithfulness and fruitfulness, with fathers fully preparing sons for their roles as leaders, protectors, and providers. How wonderful it would be if we fathers could raise up our sons to work along-side us in the family business, mentor them, and then pass it along to them. That's the wisdom of the biblical pattern of the provision.
©2009 Homeschooling Today magazine, Nehemiah Four, LLC