Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17; Isaiah 54:11-55:5; John 7: 37-52
This is the third in the series of seven haftaroth of consolation following Tisha B’Av.
All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children. (Isaiah 54:13) This week's Haftarah (selection from the Prophets) looks to a future age and the restoration of the creation. One of the central aspects of these wonderful days is shalom (English: peace). Shalom is a personal and societal condition much deeper than the lack of war and strife. It's a way to describe life in perfect harmony, everything in its place, functioning as it should in right relationship to everything else.
The reference to children here is particularly interesting. The conditions of those days are to result in peace for children. When life is out of sorts, children are greatly impacted. Children suffer when their parents' individual lives or marriage relationship is dysfunctional. Simply observing their parents, not to mention experiencing direct harm, has long-term, potential devastating effects on the young. Similarly, when the society at large is failing, children most often suffer the most.
But one day according to God's promise to ancient Israel, "great shall be the shalom of your children." But notice that their experience of shalom is not just an outcome of general peace upon the adults. It is the direct result of their being taught by God. We shouldn't get distracted by attempting to figure out the details of what the Bible terms, "the age to come." To do so would result in missing the point. What God through the prophet is saying is that the children's peace would be a direct outcome of their being taught by God.
Parents have been mandated by God to be the prime educators of their children. Moses reiterates this at the end of last week's Torah reading: "You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise" (Devarim/Deuteronomy 11:19). The educational content referred to is, of course, God's commandments. But when we understand the broad nature of God's directives in the Scriptures, it becomes obvious that they are designed to be at the core of all education, not just things spiritual, moral, or religious. Exactly how our children's education is done, formally and informally, is a serious task every parent needs to address.
That said, no matter how well-meaning, diligent, or capable a parent may be, we live in a broken world, where things don't work in the way God intends. That doesn't get us off the hook. Whether it's our children's education or anything else in life, we need to do our best. The problem is our best will never be good enough. The taint of sin undermines our efforts to fully meet God's standards. No matter how well we do regarding education, human dysfunctionality will continue to get in the way of lasting peace. But one day, the barriers preventing God's direct access to his people will be completely removed and children will no longer be the victims of their parents' dysfunctions. Instead, the instruction of God himself will be the guiding force for everyone, kids included.
The promised shalom is not only something for a far-off day, however. Through the coming of the Messiah and the gift of the Ruach HaKodesh (English: the Holy Spirit), God has made available to us now the resources of the age to come. This doesn't only apply to children's education, but it's included. Parents who know the God of Israel through faith in Yeshua the Messiah have the opportunity to be conduits of his shalom. The reality of God present in the homes of true believers provides a foretaste of the great shalom to come. The effectiveness of educating our children is not solely due to our experience of God, but that of our children as well.
As our children come to know Yeshua for themselves, the same Spirit directly works in their hearts too, thus making God their ultimate teacher. Our role, then, is to cooperate with what he is doing in their lives as he teaches them. The result? Our children's peace.