My son’s name is Judah. My husband and I gave him this strong Jewish name for several reasons.
In Hebrew, his name is connected to the word for “praise”—Yehudah.
Judah Maccabee was a brave Jewish man who lived during the 2nd century BC. He led a campaign against the Seleucid Empire, reclaimed the Second Temple, cleared it of pagan influence, and built a new altar to God. Hanukkah celebrates this amazing story of triumph.
In the classic novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, the main character, Judah, is falsely accused, seeks revenge, and ultimately finds forgiveness and redemption.
Most importantly, in the Bible, Judah was the son of Jacob and Leah, the grandson of Isaac, and the great-grandson of Abraham. Ultimately, God chose Judah’s line to bring the Messiah to the world.
However, Judah made some very poor choices throughout his life. He spearheaded his brothers’ efforts to sell their brother Joseph into slavery. Later, he had sexual relations with a woman he believed was a prostitute, only to discover that she was Tamar, his widowed daughter-in-law. Judah had wrongfully withheld his younger son from Tamar after his two older sons died. The account is filled with deception, sexual sin, and family disgrace.
Teaching on a Child’s Level
At his age, he isn’t ready to understand the passage’s complexities. That doesn’t mean we will never share it. Instead, it means we will teach him what is true at a level he is ready to carry.
My husband and I have shared many biblical accounts with our son, but we have not yet explained every detail of Judah’s sin. At his age, he isn’t ready to understand the passage’s complexities. That doesn’t mean we will never share it. Instead, it means we will teach him what is true at a level he is ready to carry.
All of us who have taught or raised children have felt this tension when we share a Bible story that just doesn’t seem age-appropriate if we explain it fully. We either gloss over the story or over-explain to the point that everyone is confused. That is why many children’s Bibles omit the more disturbing details of stories like Sodom and Gomorrah and the angels’ visit to Lot. Young children cannot yet understand or process every moral, sexual, or relational complexity in these accounts. But does this mean we skip the hard or difficult passages in God’s Word? Not quite.
Age-appropriate teaching is not dishonest teaching. We don’t need to provide every detail of a passage to tell our children what is true. We can explain that someone rebelled against God, acted wickedly, or harmed another person without giving young children details they are not equipped to process. As children mature, we can return to these passages and help them understand more. We are not hiding the Bible from them. We are laying a foundation that will allow them to understand it more fully as they grow.
We are not hiding the Bible from them. We are laying a foundation that will allow them to understand it more fully as they grow.
God’s Character Woven Through Scripture
We must instill in our children from the youngest age the overarching theme of the Bible: God’s purpose to glorify Himself. God inspired every word of Scripture, which ultimately serves His purposes and glory. Not everything recorded in Scripture is righteous behavior, but every passage truthfully reveals the perfection of God’s character, often using the devastating nature of sin.
God’s Word tells us about Himself. It reveals His perfect character, and every part of His character works in harmony. No one tells Him what to do. He directs the universe:
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, measured heaven with a span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Who has directed the Spirit of the Lᴏʀᴅ, or as His counselor has taught Him? With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of justice? Who taught Him knowledge, and showed Him the way of understanding? (Isaiah 40:12–14).
We must teach our children that God is holy. He is pure and untouched by sin. This helps children understand why God cannot overlook evil: “You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness” (Habakkuk 1:13).
In addition to God’s holiness, we must also teach our children that God is just, so He always judges rightly. He is loving, so He never acts cruelly or with malice. He is truthful, so His Word never deceives. He is all-wise, so He understands every circumstance we cannot see. And He is sovereign, so even human rebellion cannot thwart His plans. These truths do not answer every question children may have, but they give them a firm foundation from which to ask those questions.
Trusting God in the Difficult Details
Deuteronomy 6:6–7 provides a strong example of how to teach our children the truths of God: “These words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.” If we remind and teach our children the character of God in everyday conversation, as we reach the difficult events in Scripture, we can teach not by showing the details, but by pointing to God and reiterating that His ways are like no one else’s. Suddenly, the account of Noah’s ark isn’t a cute Bible story about a man and his family being chosen to preserve animals in a worldwide flood. Instead, we see the devastating spread of human wickedness, the justice of a holy God, and the grace God extended to Noah and his family. God judged sin because He is holy and just, yet He preserved Noah and continued His plan for humanity.
We can teach children that God chose the Jewish people not because they were numerous or righteous, but because He loved them and remained faithful to the promises He made to their fathers (Deuteronomy 7:6–9; 9:4–6). He set Israel apart to belong to Him and to serve His purposes in the world. When God commanded Israel to conquer the Canaanite nations, He was not giving them permission to act out of hatred. He was using Israel as an instrument of judgment against nations whose wickedness had continued for generations. God had been patient, but His patience never meant He would overlook evil forever (Genesis 15:16). His justice was not partial, either. Israel later continued in rebellion after years of prophets warning them of judgment. Finally, God judged and removed the Israelites from their land as well. These accounts show children that God is patient and merciful, but also holy and just.
Christian Holocaust survivor Corrie ten Boom once shared how she asked her father a question about something she was too young to understand. As they traveled together, he asked her to carry his heavy suitcase. When she could not lift it, he explained that some knowledge was also too heavy for her to carry and that, as her father, he would carry it for her until she was older and ready to bear the load. We can approach difficult passages in much the same way. We don’t deny what Scripture says or pretend its difficult stories are not there. We teach our children what is true, give them what they are ready to carry, and continue instilling the truth of God’s character in their hearts. As they grow, we can return to those passages and help them carry more. Until then, they can rest in the truth that their heavenly Father is holy, loving, just, and always worthy of their trust.
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