If we ever thought that the world is an unsafe place to bring a child into we must also consider that any and every home has the potential of being an unsafe place to bring a child into. The ominous beginning of the history of Joseph in Genesis 37 brings us face to face with the difficulties of parenting and more specifically the responsibility of fatherhood. Out of the three spheres of social order mentioned in Scripture (civil government, Church government, family government) the family is by far the most acutely tested and strained, and upon this rests the broader government of Church and civil government (I Timothy 3:5).
Ancient Jewish fatherhood had a bond between father and son that was so tightly related to their spiritual relationship that often when it mentions the sin or righteousness of the child it contrasts or compares it with that of the father (e.g. II Kings 24:9 “And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done.”
It was through his father that Joseph learned of God, was taught to trust in those things which are unseen, and eternal. It was this trust in God and a godly influence then that made his father all the more dear to him. Joseph's spiritual condition was so closely related to his father that the two went together.
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Aaron Dunlop, who is originally from Northern Ireland, graduated from the Geneva Reformed Seminary, SC. He pastored for ten years in Victoria, British Columbia and is currently preparing to move to Kenya with his family to work with the FAME Reformed Theological College.
