Building Daughters

In the book of Nehemiah the words “build,” “rebuild,” and “repaired” occur over fifty times in chapters two, three, and four. “Rebuilding” is a theme that is obviously important to God. It can be traced back as early as the first commandment in the Bible, Genesis 1:28. “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” What I find intriguing about this rebuilding process in Nehemiah is how many of the builders worked together as a family. The one that caught my attention the most however was found in chapter 3:12. “Next to him Shallum the son of Halloshesh, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, repaired, he and his daughters.” The fact that his daughters were helping with the rebuilding suggests at the very least, that these girls had developed some skills in building. Perhaps that it could be said that not all girls are meant to grow up playing with dolls? Following our children’s natural bent, “Train up a child in the way they should go…” would seem to be the better part of wisdom. The same is true with boys; not all boys are meant to hunt or play football. It is essential that we observe and learn our children’s natural design. The word “train” in the passage I quoted earlier comes from a Hebrew word which literal means narrow, or strangle, jaws, or palate, or to put on one’s mouth. You can get the sense that this word carries the idea of restricting or guiding in a certain direction. Chuck Swindoll describes this word through an illustration of the Hebrew midwives. When a Hebrew child was born, the midwives would take crushed dates or grapes and message the juices on the palate of the child, thus creating a sucking reflex. It is this same idea in training and preparing our children for life…creating a desire, a longing to do what they have been designed to do.