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What is a Parent?
A look at Scripture by a seventeen year old

By Nechemyah ben Emunah
C/O Zerubbabel@onetorahforall.com

Devarim [Deuteronomy] 6:4-9
4 Hear, Israel; YHWH our Elohim YHWH is one;
5 and you shall love YHWH your Elohim with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.
6 And these words, which I command you this day, shall be upon your heart;
7 and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.
8 And you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.
9 And you shall write them upon the door-posts of your house, and upon your gates.

Devarim [Deuteronomy] 11:18-20
18 Therefore shall you lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul; and you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.
19 And you shall teach them your children, talking of them, when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.
20 And you shall write them upon the door-posts of your house, and upon your gates;

Our parents are supposed to teach us Torah and guide us in the right direction.

Why was Noach and his family saved from the flood?  They kept Torah while everyone else did whatever they wanted to do.  Did Noach and his wife have parents?  Were they on the ark?

B’reshit [Genesis] 6:18 
But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, and your sons, and your wife, and your sons' wives with you.

Noach and his wife left their parents for Torah.  Except for Noach’s father Lemech, who died before the flood.

B’reshit [Genesis] 5:31 
and all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.

Yeshua’s Words on Parents

The Renewed Covenant tells us some interesting things about families that do not keep Torah.

Matityah [Matthew] 10:21 
“And brother shall deliver up brother to death, and the father his child: and children shall rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death.”

Marqa [Mark] 13:12 
“And brother shall deliver up brother to death, and the father his child; and children shall rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death.”

Luqa [Luke] 18:29-30 
29 And He said to them, “Verily I say to you, there is no man that has left house, or wife, or brothers, or parents, or children, for the kingdom of Elohim's sake,
30 who shall not receive manifold more in this time, and in the world to come eternal life.”

This is a very strong message.  Yeshua is saying that anyone who loves Him and keeps His Torah will have to leave their family if their family does not keep the Torah.

Parents as Torah Teachers

YHWH is our Father, our Parent, and our Guide.  He has set the example of what a parent should be.  He teaches us how to be good parents (i.e., how to keep Torah).

So what is a parent?  According to Scripture a parent is someone who is also teaching us how to be a good parent be showing us how to keep Torah, so we can please YHWH our Father.

Disobedient to Torah Teachers

Romans chapter one verse thirty says,

Romans 1:30 
backbiters, hateful to Elohim, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

What is a parent?  A parent is a teacher of Torah who is continually teaching Torah to their children.  So when it says disobedient to parents, it is talking about rebelling against Torah.

2nd Timothy 3:2-5
2  For men shall be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, revilers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, no lovers of good,
4 traitors, headstrong, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of Elohim;
5 holding a form of righteousness, but having denied the power thereof; from these also turn away.

Scripture commands us to love and honor our parents.  However, it also teaches us to turn away from those who do not teach us the Torah.

If parents want their children to honor them, then they should teach their children the true Torah by walking the true Torah out for their children to see and to emulate.  That way their children do not have to choose between honoring YHWH and honoring them.

Blessed is the child whose parents make it easy for him to honor them by walking out the true Torah in Spirit and in Truth.

In His service,
Nechemyah ben Emunah
C/O zerubbabel@onetorahforall.com
 www.onetorahforall.com

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