As a core part of my specialism in children's ministry this year I have been taking a module in the subject of 'Children at Risk'. It is without a doubt the area I am most passionate about and the area of ministry where I see myself working in the future. We have studied plenty of topics - including the tough ones; the basics of human development, children who have suffered trauma or grief, children of war and military families, children with HIV/Aids, street child, children who are victims of abuse and so on. These are not easy subjects to tackle on a daily basis but they are certainly a vital part of my training and I'm enjoying the opportunity to be more equipped to work in this area of ministry.Sometimes it seems as if 'Children at Risk' is a new concept and something that certainly wasn't around in bible times. My Old and New Testament studies alike have revealed to me the very opposite. When thinking about children at risk in the bible there were plenty. The first few families in the bible are less than welcoming, stable environments for healthy child development (just look at Jacob and Esau or Joseph!). Hebrew children lived under the Egyptian oppression and lived through constant insecurity and instability in the exodus. Countless children lost parents and families in the epic battles and wars of Chronicles and Kings. The infant Jesus was under persecution from Herod. Young children lived in the Greco-Roman societies where cultic abuse was the norm. Children and their families were persecuted for their involvement in the early church - the list is quite endless. 'Children at Risk' is not a new phenomenon.
Perhaps one of the most distinct children at risk in the early Old Testament is Moses. Born a Hebrew boy under the threat of death from the Egyptian Pharaoh, Moses wasn't entitled to the freedom that other children were afforded. His mother kept him hidden for the first three months of his life. When she could hide him no more she put him in a basket of reeds and set him out on the river Nile with a prayer and a hope that he might survive. Health and safety? Don't think so! It is not unlike countless stories I have heard about women in the Middle East today hiding their children by all strange manner of means to avoid persecution, violence and abuse. By some miracle (and I use this word in it's fullest biblical sense) Moses survives and falls into the hands of the Egyptian Pharaoh's daughter. The irony of this story falls in two distinct places. Firstly Pharaoh had ordered that all Hebrew boys were to be killed upon birth by drowning in the river Nile - the very means by which Moses was rescued from death (Exodus 1:22). Secondly, Moses is rescued by the very family who decreed his death. Sometimes stories like this help me to understand a little more of God's sense of humour. Now, safe from imminent death our little Moses is nursed by an Egyptian midwife in the royal palace and grows up in what can only be assumed as luxury accommodation. It is at this point and through Exodus 2:11-13 that my curiosity of his situation really begins. What, if anything, was Moses told about his own circumstances? Did Pharaoh's daughter pretend that he was hers by birth? Did he know his roots and the story of his people? Where did he get his familial identity from? Perhaps if he knew the truth (which I suspect he did but can always only speculate) he would suffer from much of the difficulties faced by children in 21st century social care. It might have troubled him deeply to know that he was separated from his biological family. He may have struggled to trust his 'grandfather' the Pharaoh knowing what he might have suffered at his hand. Biblical narratives are at times a flat and objective and I often so wish that there was a way to find these things out. In Exodus 2:11-13 Moses defends a Hebrew man, 'one of his own people' (NIV). Did he know that his family origins were of Hebrew decent? Is this simply a factual detail from the writer? I'm not sure but I suspect that given the subsequent events he might have known. As a young man exiled to a distant place he marries in to a different family yet again. Did this help him to absolve any struggles he may have had? Did his own experiences impact the way he raised his own children? Undoubtedly. How could they not? When leading the war against Pharaoh in the name of 'his people' I wonder what went on in his mind. It is clear that God had called him to this task (Exodus 3) but did he struggle with family loyalty? He was essentially rebelling against the people who had raised him - his 'mother' and 'grandfather'. Did he struggle with the fact that he considered them his family? Would he feel guilty? Was he appeased by the fact that his loyalty lay with the Hebrews - 'his people'? By this time Moses was 80 years old. How much baggage had he accumulated in his life-time? More than most. When the passover happened and the angel of death wiped out each first-born of Pharaoh's people did he have any remorse for the fact that this would have been his own fate at the command of the Egyptians? Did he feel differently given that it was the command of the Lord? Another ironic turn in the story - Pharaoh's own command is reversed on to his own family. The biblical writers often make the stories sound incredibly factual or somehow easy to grasp but there is a great depth to each character that is often missed out - one which we can only look at with a speculative view.
There are so many questions I'd love to ask of what went on in the mind of Moses. Growing up I often thought of him along with Abraham as one of 'the old beardy guys' who led people on long journeys and failed to see any depth in his character as a human being. Today I'm looking at him through different eyes. I see in Moses a lot of the struggles and questions I've seen in the children I work with - a struggle with personal identity and family relationships. Moses adventure is so beautiful in that he returns to join the Hebrew people and liberate them from oppression, as one who could identity with their struggles.
So what can the bible offer children who's family circumstances are messy, complicated and difficult? I'm slowly learning that it gives us significant insight into the lives people who had similar struggles and the way in which God aided and used them as agents of change. It is easy to glance at the bible and assume that God called and used only the greatest of people with the strongest family history and those were clearly equipped for the tasks He presented. Even a short study of the story of Moses would reveal the opposite. His family situation was messy, complicated, difficult. He faced a real struggle with personal identity. He wasn't even able to speak for himself at critical moments - relying on Aaron who had a greater gift of speech. Many children today who are fostered, adopted, live on the street or have 'complicated' families struggle with their own identity and self worth. It can be difficult for them to believe that God has any purpose or use for them. It seems to them impossible that they are capable of serving in the Kingdom of God. I believe that for many children the story of Moses offers a hope and reassurance that God does not call those who are equipped but he equips those whom he has called. He does not wait for the perfect CV, a tidy family background or people who 'know who they are'. He takes the broken, the weary, the disadvantaged and the complicated, trading their piles of ashes for future glory. This is the God I know.
