CHILD, CHILDREN (child, chil'dren), (Ileb.
The word 'children' is sometimes used in the plural number, when meant to designate only one male issue (comp. I Chron. ii :31 ; 2 Chron. xxiv : 25; xxxiii:6). In such places 'sons' is equivalent to offspring, all of whom had probably died ex cept the last-mentioned in the text. The more children—especially of male children—a person had among the Hebrews the more was he hon ored, it being considered as a mark of Divine favor, while sterile people were, on the contrary, held in contempt (comp. Gen. xi:3o; xxx :1 ; Sam. ii :5; 2 Sam. vi :23; Ps. cxxvii :3, sq.; cxxviii :3 ; Luke i :7; ii :5). That children were often taken as bondsmen by a creditor for debts contracted by the father is evident front 2 Kings iv :1 ; Is. 1 :1 ; Neh. v :5. Among the Hebrews a father had almost unlimited power over his chil dren, nor do we find any law in the Pentateuch re stricting that power to a certain age; it was indeed the parents who even selected wives for their sons (Gen. xxi:2i ; Exod. xxi :9, to. Judg. xiv 5). It would appear, however, that a father's power over his daughters was still greater than that over his sons, since lie might even annul a sacred Vow tnsde by a daughter, but not one made by a son (Num. xxx :4, 16). Children cursing or assaulting their parents were punished by the Mosaieal Law with death (Exod. 17; Lev.
xx :9), a remarkable instance of which is quoted by Christ (Matt. xv :4, 6; Mark via :9). Before the time of Moses a father had the right to choose among his male children and declare one of them (usually the child of his favorite wife) as his firstborn, though he was perhaps only the young est. Properly speaking, the 'firstborn' was he who was first begotten by the father, since polyg amy excluded all regard in that respect to the mother. Thus Jacob had sons by all his four wives, while only one of them was called the first born (Gen. xlix :3) ; we find, however, instances where that name is applied also to the firstborn on the mother's side (1 Chron. ii:5o; comp, v :42 ; Gen. xxii :21). The privileges of the firstborn were considerable, as shown in Bitatticnr.
The firstborn son, if not expressly deprived by the father of his peculiar rights, as was the case with Reuben (Gen. xlix), was at liberty to sell
them ,to a younger brother, as happened in the case of Esau and Jacob (Gen. xxv :31, sq.). Considering the many privileges attached to first birth, we do not wonder that the Apostle called Esau a thoughtless person ( Heb. xii :16). There are some allusions in Scripture to the modes in which children were carried. Several of these allusions seem to import that they were carried bundled on the back; Is. xlix :22 represents them as carried on the shoulder.
On the influence of heredity, G. M. Mackie (Hastings' Bib. Diet.) says : Given a life with little change in its outward conditions, and with a law that controlled every detail of life, it fol lowed that time would lie an intensifier of the parental features. Among the Arabs the epithet 'dog' has for its climax 'son of a dog.' As one of their proverbs states the problem, 'If the father be onion and the mother garlic, how can there be sweet perfume?' When Saul asked the young slayer of Goliath, 'Whose, son art thou, young man?' (I Sam. xvii:58) the answer would not only reveal the family of David, but also account in part for the courage he had shown. Hence the incriminations, '\'e are the children of them that killed the prophets' (Matt. xxiii :31) ; 'If ye were Abraham's children ye would do the works of Abraham' ( John viii :39) ; and the defence, 'I-low can Satan east out Satan?' (Mark iii :23; Ezek. xviii :2; Acts xiii :to). (See AtiornoN ; BIRTH; BIRTHRIGHT; EDUCATION.) Figuratitle. 1. The Jews are compared to a child or infant cast out and forsaken of its mother, or infant lying in its blood ; their origin was base, their condition in Egypt extremely mean. and they were exposed to the most bloody cruelty, but God exalted them into a glorious kingdom ( Ezek. xvi :1-14). They are the "chil dren of the kingdom," who are now cast out to trouble, while the Gentiles are admitted into the church and a state of fellowship with God Glatt. viii :12). They, while cleaving to their burden some ceremonies, as a ground of justification, are the "children of the bond-woman" (Gal. iv :31).