Unsentimental Sentiment

Children: A Gift?

In a society where children are viewed as a burden, something to be avoided at all costs, it is strange to read in the Old Testament about the ancients actually praying to God for decades that He would allow them to have children. This was the case with Isaac in Genesis 25:19-28. Isaac married at the not-so-young age of forty and then his wife Rebecca was barren until he was sixty; they waited 20 years for the fulfillment of God’s promise that he would award them with children. God heard Isaac’s prayers and granted him twin boys Jacob and Esua, presenting them as if they were some highly anticipated gift.

Now, we live in a world where children are killed by the millions every year, and where governments must bribe people to have children.