I have commented on several notes here on Substack recently. Each of them proports to list the qualities of a Godly man, or somesuch. The lists had some interesting things in them (although many of them seemed to be lacking Scriptural backing) but they frequently left out marriage, left out having children or…
…left out having ‘lots of kids’. (My words). Indeed I received some pushback for adding ‘lots of kids’ in my comments. ‘Children, certainly,” the response seemed to be, ‘but delete the ‘lots of’ part.” Well, I’m not going to. I’ve done it before, but I’m going to write another post about… having lots of kids.
Now, before we get started lets get a couple of things out of the way. It is NOT a denial of a Biblical command if some people are unable to carry it out. The blind person does not negate the existence of Biblical beauty, no more do the infertile destroy the command to be fruitful and multiply. Nor might it be that a few people who are called to celibacy cancel the normative command to marriage. There, I’ve said it.
Kids? Or lot’s of Kids?
Does the Scripture merely suggest that some people should marry and have some kids?
A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.
Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.
Psalm 127
What is is ‘full quiver’? Well, one test might be that you picture yourself standing in a line with a bunch of other archers at the battle of Agincourt and the French knights are plowing through the mud across to you. How many arrows would you like there to be in your (and your fellow archer’s) quiver?
A Song of degrees. Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways.
For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.
Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.
Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the LORD.
The LORD shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.
Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon Israel.
Psalm 128
What is a ‘fruitful vine’? How many olive plants go ‘round’ a table?
And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.
Genesis 24:60
Even keeping in mind that ‘father’ and ‘mother’ in the Scripture include mother, grandmother, great grandmother, etc, etc… thousands of millions is still a pretty good number.
And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem:
And let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the LORD shall give thee of this young woman.
Ruth 4:11-12
It was a common biblical blessing to hope that a family would have lots of kids, not one or two. One expression used is ‘build the house’. A family that has two kids may, or may not, be continuing a house, but they certainly aren’t building it.
Modern Infertility
If you are going to bless a modern family, it seems as if blessing them with infertility would be the thing to do. More and more couples are seeking to have no children, killing the children they do have, and cursing those with children. Even those who have children mostly don’t manage to reproduce themselves.
And our world, the Western World, is about to fall off a cliff. South Korea is committing demographic suicide. Their fertility rate is 0.68… 2.1 is the minimum necessary for a society to reproduce itself. 0.68 is one third of the necessary rate!
Conclusion
I’m not going to take one single step back from my claim that God cares about us getting married and having… lot’s of kids.
Thank you for reading Von’s Substack. I would love it if you commented! I love hearing from readers, especially critical comments. I would love to start more letter exchanges, so if there’s a subject you’re interested in, get writing and tag me!
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Von also writes as ‘Arthur Yeomans’. Under that name he writes children’s, YA, and adult fiction from a Christian perspective. His books include:
The Bobtails meet the Preacher’s Kid
and
Arthur also has a substack, and a website.
Thanks again, God Bless, Soli Deo gloria,
Von
No argument here. The challenge is to convince the prevailing culture, one couple at a time, that life is better than death, that the future is worth building and that wealth has many measures, the least useful of which is money.