Give Me Children or I Shall Die: Children and Communal Survival in Biblical Literature

Conclusion

5 Conclusion When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel was jealous of her sister, and she said to Jacob, “Give me children; if not I shall die!” –—Gen. 30:1 The necessity of children for communal survival in the ancient world stands in contrast with the compulsory restriction of children’s value to the emotional realm that has come to dominate modern Western culture. Although the place of privilege that permits adults to retain a strict separation between children and the assumedly adult world of labor and suffering is limited to a very select few, the power those few hold has led to the cultural universalization of constructions of childhood innocence and the resultant sacralization of children.1 Western culture continues to export its ideals, leading to a cultural imperialism of childhood and widespread demonization of the global poor for needing or wanting their children to have value beyond the purely emotional.2 Yet the Hebrew Bible, one of the most revered texts within Western culture, contradicts the universality of modern Western cultural constructions of childhood by attesting to the kind of value placed upon ancient children. The sacred value of children in the Hebrew Bible is grounded not in their being set apart from the difficulties of the adult world but in their vital participation therein. 1. Anneke Meyer, “The Moral Rhetoric of Childhood,” Childhood 14, no. 85 (2007): 100. 2. Jo Boyden, “Childhood and the Policy Makers: A Comparative Perspective on the Globalization of Childhood,” in Constructing and Reconstructing Childhood, ed. Allison James and Alan Prout (London: Falmer, 1990), 193. 125 As I have argued, the economic function of the ancient family affects the contextual interpretation of biblical texts, particularly those involving (in)fertility. Because children were valuable laborers in the ancient world, producing offspring would have been necessary for survival. Therefore, where the modern Western cultural norm limiting the valuing of children to the emotional requires that they be dependents, the ancient family would have been far more likely to be interdependent, with each member of the ancient family depending upon the subsistence activities of the others. This familial interdependence lies behind the motivations described in the ancestral and other narratives, as well as the exilic and postexilic rhetoric of (in)fertility. Communal survival extends beyond familial boundaries to the broader cultural community, most particularly in the context of diaspora. Education in the form of enculturation enacted cultural reproduction, setting apart the children of Israel from the surrounding peoples by forming them in a particular social identity. The command to perpetuate the community by instructing future generations is a key element in the non-P, post-D redaction layer that unites the ancestral and Moses traditions. In this way, this command draws together significant cross-biblical themes including obedience, instruction, and divine justice across the generations. Biblical rhetoric of childhood is primarily about survival. The modern dominance of cultural constructions of childhood innocence, in which the understanding that children are inherently virtuous and in need of protection can be assumed for rhetorical purposes, had not yet developed in the ancient world. Rather, ancient authors and audiences would have been far more likely to associate children with communal survival as a result of their necessity in both agriculture and education/enculturation. It is this association, therefore, that interpreters should read into threats posed against children and the mourning of the loss of children in the Hebrew Bible. Child-centered perspectives such as this one expand scholarly knowledge and understanding of ancient texts such as the Hebrew Bible. They correct assumptions of universality, uncovering more accurate details of the ancient world from which such foundational texts arise. They add an additional layer to scholarly knowledge of the social and historical context of the Bible. By being attentive to child characters and the function of children as figures of speech, interpreters can comprehend the ancient authors’ intent with increased nuance. Recognition of the validity of a variety of constructions of childhood can motivate changes in perspective and action toward a valuing of children’s vital contributions to families and communities both globally and locally. Cultural norms dictate the manner in which children participate in the societies they 126 | Give Me Children or I Shall Die inhabit, but each of these forms of participation can be viewed as valuable in the present in addition to potentially value in their future adult lives. Recognition of the multiple...