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Word Study: Train a Child (Chanokh)

By Stanley M. Horton

Does "train a child" mean "discipline a child?" Does Proverbs 22:6, "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it"* mean discipline will keep children from turning away from God and His ways?

According to Hebrews 12:7-10, that kind of "child-training" is necessary and important. The God who loves us and who is our Heavenly Father does discipline us even when we are old. However, Proverbs 22:6 is talking about something even more important than discipline; it is talking about vital spiritual education that brings a child into definite, real, spiritual experience.

The Hebrew word chanokh, translated "train," is used as a verb in only three other passages in the Bible. Deuteronomy 20:5 uses it of dedicating a new house. After a person built a new house, the Law excused him from service in the army. The soldier was to stay home and dedicate his house because he might die in battle and someone else would dedicate it.

The Law also excused a man from the army who had planted a vineyard that had not yet produced fruit. He was excused from military duty until the fruit of his vineyard was ripe and he could enjoy it.

Based on these uses of chanokh, it seems that training a child involves dedicating a child to the Lord and raising that child in such a way that the child will enjoy the house of God and the things of God. Later Hebrew used this same concept concerning encouraging a child to cultivate a taste for the things of God.

Making prayer, family altars, Sunday school, and church something enjoyable is the task of both parents and the church. My parents did this; they never marred our enjoyment by saying a critical word in our presence against any preacher or church member. Instead, they told us about miracles such as the time the Lord told my father to leave San Francisco the day before the 1906 earthquake. The place where he was staying was destroyed and he would have been killed if he had not obeyed. They also told us about healings, the Azusa Street revival, and many answers to prayer. And they encouraged us to expect answers to prayer. When God answered our prayers, they had us kneel wherever we were and join them in praising and thanking God.

My grandparents also let us know how much they enjoyed serving the Lord. Grandma Fisher corresponded with people all over the country. She encouraged so many, people began calling her Doctor Sunshine. When I went to the University of California in Berkeley, she sent me little things to remind me that what's done for Christ will last.

When we were around Grandma Horton's bed as she was dying, she suddenly rose up and said, "Don't you hear them? The angels are singing. They are coming for me." She then fell back on the pillow and died. Children don't forget things like that.

First Kings 8:63 and 2 Chronicles 7:5 use the word chanokh of dedicating the temple of the Lord. Part of this dedication included offering fellowship offerings and consecrating the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple.

Encouraging dedication and consecration is something that needs to be repeated again and again. Dedicating the temple was done in the presence of the Lord and all the people. In a similar way, keeping a child in a church where both the Lord and others encourage their consecration has eternal effects. I might never have received the baptism in the Holy Spirit if it had not been for the scriptural teaching, encouragement, prayers, and patience of older saints.

The dedication in Proverbs 22:6 is to the way (Hebrew derek) the child should go. Derek is often used of God's way, or the behavior that pleases God.

The Bible encourages people to walk or live in "His ways." First Kings 2:3 states, "Walk in His ways...so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go." Psalm 139:23,24 states, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

God commended Abraham and said, "I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him" (Genesis 18:19). God's promise of blessing for all the families and nations of the earth is repeated five times in the Book of Genesis. Training children involves reminding them not only of what is right, just, and fair, but reminding them of the many promises of God.

Jared (Genesis 5:18 ), whose name means "one prostrating himself in prayer," set an example by naming his son Enoch (Hebrew Chanokh, derived from the same verb used in Proverbs 22:6). Enoch's name means "trained one" or "dedicated one." The fact he walked with God shows he was truly well-trained and never lost his dedication. He set an example for us by walking in the closest possible fellowship with the Lord, so close that God took him to heaven without dying (Genesis 5:21,24; Hebrews 11:5).

Enoch was no doubt an example for Methuselah (whose name probably means "man sent" or "messenger"). Methuselah was a witness for the Lord and an example to Noah who also walked with God (Genesis 6:9). Noah showed his training and dedication by obeying God and building the ark to save his family and the animals during the flood. He also became a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5).

I am thankful for my parents who introduced me early to the blessings and power of God. They gave me a taste for spiritual things. Again and again God by His Holy Spirit has renewed in my spirit the training given to me and how my godly father and mother along with other believers encouraged me to dedicate my life to the Lord.

I'll never forget how one mother came to me after the Lord baptized me in the Holy Spirit and said, "Stanley, the Lord has given you a wonderful gift. Don't let a day go by without getting down before Him and letting Him recreate that language as you worship Him."

Thank God, my own children and their spouses have received the same kind of training and encouragement as I received. They have had their ups and downs. But today, now that they are older, they are all saved, baptized in the Spirit, and serving the Lord. Proverbs 22:6 really works.

Stanley M. Horton, Th.D., is project coordinator for the Pentecostal Textbook Project, Springfield, Missouri.