The story of the Book of Judges is on the whole a dark and sad one. It tells the history of the tribes of Israel after their glorious conquest of the land of Canaan--a story of declension and of progressive failure, defeat upon defeat, oppression by their enemies, relieved by short seasons of Divine intervention which alone saved the people from utter ruin and destruction. The key note of the book of Joshua [336] (which just precedes the book of Judges) is victory; but that of Judges is failure and defeat.

      If we inquire the reason for this melancholy turn of events, we shall find it in the second chapter of the book, particularly in verses 7 to 10: "The people served Jehovah all the days of Joshua, who had seen all the great work of Jehovah which he had wrought for Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun died . . . and also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers"--now mark the next statement: "and there arose another generation after them, that knew not Jehovah, nor yet the work which he had wrought for Israel." (Judg. 2:7-10.) Here is the explanation of all the tragic story that follows throughout the book of Judges: "There arose another generation that knew not Jehovah nor yet the work which he had wrought for Israel." That can mean just one thing: namely, that the older generation had failed to teach their children the word of God.

      The Lord had given explicit commandment and made special provision that the knowledge of His word and truth should be transmitted to the rising generation. He enjoined upon the fathers of Israel to teach their children and their household. "He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel," we read, "which He commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children; that the generation to come might know them, even the children that should be born; who should arise and tell them to their children, that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments . . ." (Ps. 78:5-7.)

      In the very heart of the Law He says, "Hear O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah: and thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." But how could they love Him in whom they had not believed? And how could they have believed in Him of whom they had not heard? And how could any have heard unless they had been taught the faithful words of God? Therefore He goes on to say--"And these words which I command thee this day shall be upon thy heart; and thou shall teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up . . ." (Deut. 6:4-7; compare 11:18-21.) Which is to say that the word which had been given them through Moses should occupy the chief place in their hearts and minds and homes; and that it should be the chief and all-important theme of instruction and education of the young. "For this is your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the peoples, that shall hear all these statutes and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." (Deut. 4:6.) [337]

      Moreover the Lord made provision for the public reading of the Law. "At the end of every seven years, in the set time of the year of release, the feast of tabernacles, when all Israel is come to appear before Jehovah thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Assemble the people, the men and the women, and the little ones, and thy sojourner that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn and fear Jehovah thy God, and observe to do all the words of this law; and that their children, who have not known, may hear, and learn to fear Jehovah your God . . ." (Deut. 31:10-13.)

      It is certain that if these commandments had been obeyed it could never have happened that "there arose another generation that knew not Jehovah." Now it was this new and untaught generation that plunged the nation into ruin. Even as may happen again to us at this day.

      So strangely interlaced are human guilt and human responsibility. A child untaught or mistaught goes down the way of perdition, and as is always the case, carries others with him. The responsibility of the sinner's sin lies upon him--but what of those elders who have criminally neglected the child's soul? The child untutored, unguarded, unrestrained, drifts into juvenile delinquency and crime. Does anyone else share the wrong done? Ah what strange and unexpected angles the judgment of God may not reveal? True, this new generation that knew not Jehovah was guilty; but is there not a further word to be spoken about the older generation which failed to give them the one and only light that could have guided their feet into the path of righteousness? It does not follow that every child rightly taught will go right. But this much is certain, unless given the light of the word of God none will go right. "Show me a place ten miles square anywhere on this earth," said James Russell Lowell, "where there is honor and purity and kindness and faithfulness and marital fealty, where the Bible has not gone, and I will give up the argument."

      Just so. For the knowledge of God and the fear of God must be taught. It does not spring up of itself--it must be sown and implanted. The gospel is not self-propagating. It must be carefully, lovingly instilled in the hearts of the young. The heart left to itself quickly declines into evil. Some years ago a Norwegian infidel willed his estate to the devil. The court was perplexed as to how to execute such a will, and finally decided that the best way to do it would be to put a fence around the property and let it alone. So can parents dedicate their children to the devil by simply letting them go their own way, without teaching or restraint or discipline. For foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child. In every child, said an internationally known psychologist (quoted by G. Campbell Morgan), lies a potential criminal. [338] A neighbor of Samuel Taylor Coleridge remarked to him that he would not teach Christianity to his children till they were old enough and mature enough to judge for themselves and decide whether or not they wanted it. "You gave me an idea," said Coleridge, "I had intended to set out this patch in strawberry-slips. I believe now I'll wait till next summer and see whether my garden really prefers strawberries or whether it would rather have weeds."

      Fallen human nature tends downward to the beast. When men refused to have God in their knowledge and exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and "God gave them up," they sank to the low level so fearfully described in the first chapter of Romans. And so it will go again. The one and only real restraining, remedial and uplifting power humanity has ever known is that old Book. All the good we have has come out of that book. The moral and cultural superiority of one nation as compared with another can be measured by the place the Bible has in that nation.

      It may not be generally known that Charles R. Darwin, father of the Darwinian theory of evolution, in his latter years became a life-long contributor to Christian missions. In his "Voyage of the Beagle" he remarks upon the low, beast-like state of the Patagonian savages, who seemed to him the nearest approach of mankind to the brute creation he had found. When later he learned of the transformation wrought among these savages through the teaching and labor of a devoted missionary, he was utterly amazed. He would not have thought such a change among such a people possible without centuries of preliminary education and civilization. And thenceforth he became a supporter of Christian missions. What other book has thus proved over and over its power to uplift human life from the depths, to heal broken hearts and comfort the sorrowful, and to guide and enlighten souls in darkness and error bound like the Bible? In it the soul finds God and learns of His ways; in its pages walks the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of men. There we find ourselves also, and the way of salvation from ourselves and from final ruin and perdition through God's perfect sacrifice, so freely given for us. In one Book, and in only one, shines this perfect light.

      In the light of such facts the neglect of our youth appears inexcusable. We have heard of "the revolt of modern youth." There is no such thing as "modern youth." Youth today is what it was ages ago. The same tendencies and propensities, the same urgings and aspirations, the same desires and passions that motivates youth today were working in youth when time was young. Human nature has not changed one whit since Adam and Eve. Circumstances have changed from what they were two and three generations back. There is in our day a growing scarcity of godly parents who will teach their children [339] the word of God and bring them up in the way, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The family altar has become almost obsolete. Our Chief of Police just a few days ago speaking of the perilous situation of our youth said, "Mothers and fathers making big money are too busy spending it to look after their children." Yea, too busy making it and spending it; and in the meanwhile they, lose their children. And what shall it profit a man?

      Among the youth of our day there is a marked and growing distaste for the Bible and divine things. Too large a contingent of the youth from the better homes are being emancipated from the restraints of God's commandments. The boasted enlightenment of modern teaching has made them scornful of old-fashioned ways--of the manners and moral standards for which the word of God stands. They scoff at God's judgments; they sneer at "prudishness," and extol the freedom of the lower creation. They get their ideas and 'inspiration from Hollywood, and their views from the godless education which ridicules the Bible and inculcates notions of human descent from primeval scum. Certainly the devil loses no time or chance to capture the hearts and minds of the young.

      What in the meanwhile are Christian parents doing to counteract this current of our times? Is there much home teaching and training? Perhaps they lay the burden upon the church. There is the Sunday school. That is a good work, where it is good; but at best it is pitifully inadequate. A half hour a week in Bible-study (granting that it always is really Bible-study)--26 hours a year. And when the attendance charts register only 50 percent, the average is reduced to 13 hours a year. And that is not taking into account that vast multitude of children who never go to any Sunday-school at all. Build up the Sunday-school by all means--in many cases it is all the instruction little ones and many older ones get. Yet, at the best, it cannot take the place of the God-ordained home-teaching in the Christian household.

      What a godly father teaches them--however poor and halting his words may seem; what they learn at mother's knees--that will likely go with them through life as no other teaching would. The "faith of our fathers" must be inculcated in the minds and hearts of the children. It will not be "living still" if it is not taught to the coming generation. And if there rises up a generation in our land that knows not Jehovah, our country too will sink down in heathenism and degradation. The responsibility lies at the door of the present generation that still knows something of God and His truth, and whom God expects to hand on the light of His knowledge to the children that are born. [340]

[AGTKNJ 336-340.]

      The electronic version of R. H. Boll's "Another Generation That Knew Not Jehovah" has been produced from the 90th Anniversary Issue of The Word and Work, Vol. 92, No. 11 (November-December 1998), pp. 336-340. The essay is reprinted from its earlier appearance in the magazine. Its first appearance as a contribution to a book was in R. H. Boll's Soul-Stirring Sermons (Lousville, KY: The Word and Work, [19--]). Thanks to Alex V. Wilson, Editor of Word and Work, for permission to publish the essay as an electronic text.

      Pagination in the electronic version has been represented by placing the page number in brackets following the last complete word on the printed page. Inconsistencies in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and typography have been retained; however, corrections have been offered for misspellings and other accidental corruptions. Emendations are as follows:

            Printed Text [ Electronic Text
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 p. 336:    key not [ key note
 p. 337:    say. [ say,
 

      The following apparatus details the differences in the text of "Another Generation That Knew Not Jehovah" published as a contribution to a book in Soul-Stirring Sermons, pp. 54-58, and here as a reprinted contribution to a periodical in the 90th Anniversary Issue of The Word and Work Vol. 92, No. 11 (November-December 1998), pp. 336-340.

 SSS   / WW       As Contribution to Book [ As Contribution to Periodical
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
 p. 54 / 336:     enemies, bondage and serfdom, relieved [ enemies,
                     relieved
                  key note [ key not
       / 337:     If we inquire [ ¶ If we inquire
                  Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived
                     Joshua, who [ Joshua, who
                  died . . . . and [ died . . . and
                  In the very heart [ ¶ In the very heart
                  shalt teach [ shall teach
 p. 55 /          (Deut. 6:4-7.) [ (Deut. 6:4-7; compare 11:18-21.)
                  In almost identical words this is repeated in Deut.
                     11. "Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in
                     your heart and in your soul, and ye shall bind them
                     for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for
                     frontlets between your eyes.  And ye shall teach
                     them your children, talking of them when thou
                     sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the
                     way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest
                     up . . . . that your days may be multiplied and the
                     days of your children in the land which Jehovah
                     sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days
                     of the heavens above the earth." (Deut. 11:18-21.)
                     [ Which is to say
                  say. [ say,
       / 338:     God . . . . ." [ God . . ."
                  that played the wild and plunged the nation [ that
                     plunged the nation
                  reveal! [ reveal?
 p. 56 /          Just so. [ ¶ Just so.
                  carefully, sedulously, lovingly [ carefully, lovingly
       / 339:     It may not be [ ¶ It may not be
 p. 57 /          since the day of Adam [ since Adam
       / 340:     money in the war plants are [ money are
                  ¶ The boasted [ The boasted
                  home-teaching [ home teaching
 p. 58 /          good work, [ good work,
                  What a godly [ ¶ What a godly 
 

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
Derry, PA

Created 1 October 2000
Updated 21 June 2003.