Lousy Fathers I Have Known By Derek Gilbert - June 22, 2010        Tweet

For the record, I had a great dad.  I didn't recognize that fact until I was in my mid-20s, when I noticed that my father was starting to get smarter.  Somehow, I haven't figured out how, Dad managed to keep getting smarter until the day he went home to be with the Lord.

And the older I got, the more I realized just how much he sacrificed for his family.  I'm thankful that I had the opportunity to let him know that I knew before his time on Earth was done.

Fathers are an unappreciated species in America today. Fifty years ago, regardless of whether it reflected reality, the image of the wise, loving father as a fixture in pop culture.  Today, fathers on television and film seem to be nothing but fodder for jokes, the butt of snarky, politically correct humor for an army of wisecracking wives (or, just as often, ex-wives) and kids. Dads are stereotyped as incompetent, inconsiderate, oversized adolescents; self-absorbed bumblers who are anything but the heads of their households.

After a steady diet of that programming during his formative years, what young man in his right mind would give up his X-box for that kind of life?

Not that bad dads are a new concept. Some of the best examples of subpar fathers are found between the covers of the Bible. And they're among some of the most revered and respected figures in Judeo-Christian history.

For example, consider Jacob, progenitor of the twelve tribes of Israel. Besides being a conniving sneak when it served his purposes, he raised up sons who weren't above wholesale murder (the men of Shechem) and selling their brother into slavery.

For that matter, what kind of father was Jacob's dad, Isaac, that his sons resorted to trickery and threats of murder over their father's wealth and blessing?

Then there was Abraham, whose lack of faith in God's ability to deliver a son in his old age led the patriarch to sleep with his wife's maid. Thence came Ishmael, whose descendants have warred with those of his half-brother Isaac for millennia.

And things got worse in the house of Abraham. His great-grandson, Judah, founded the tribe that bears his name by sleeping with his daughter-in-law!  Well, at least he only did it--the writer writes with tongue in cheek--because he thought she was a hooker.

Abraham's nephew, Lot, didn't have any kind of excuse for his incestuous tryst. The Bible records that his daughters got him drunk--which, one assumes, required some cooperation on his part--and had their way with him. From these illicit unions came the Ammonites and Moabites, who also plagued the Israelites for millennia.

David, the greatest of the kings of Israel, subdued all of Israel's enemies--the Philistines, Syrians, and the aforementioned cousins of the Israelites in Edom, Moab, and Ammon--but he couldn't keep a lid on his own household. Amnon, David's eldest son, raped his half-sister, Tamar.  Another of David's sons, Absalom, killed Amnon for his crime and then fled the country.

Well, a few years passed.  David forgave Absalom and restored him to his place at court.  Absalom showed his gratitude by leading a coup.  Thanks a lot, kid.

The son who finally did succeed David, Solomon, found it necessary to secure his position by killing his half-brother Adonijah, who had breached protocol by declaring himself king before David was actually dead. And although Solomon built the Temple, he also constructed places of worship for Ashtoreth, Chemosh, Milcom, and a host of other false gods for his army of foreign wives.

Solomon's kids were apparently no better. Rehoboam was so hated that the ten northern tribes rebelled and set up their own kingdom.

Hezekiah, another king remembered as righteous and good, still managed to raise a son who reversed all of his religious reforms. Manasseh reinstituted pagan practices in the temple. He was a sorcerer who worshiped "all the starry hosts"--fallen angels--and even sacrificed a son to Molech in the Valley of Hinnom.

While he eventually repented and removed the pagan worship he brought into the temple, Manasseh's sins were so detestable that God decreed an end to the kingdom of Judah.

It's tempting to believe that lives of entitlement created by fathers who wanted to give their children all the things they never had were to blame for the bad children of good men. But that's too easy. Hezekiah, Josiah, Asa, and other "good" kings were raised as royalty and still learned to rule justly and serve the Lord. Sometimes kids just choose the wrong path in spite of their raising.

And there are plenty of examples of bad fathers whose faults had nothing to do with spoiling their children. Herod the Great, for example: a great builder, sure, but a father? Not so much. He executed three sons on suspicion of treason, and one of his surviving sons, Herod Antipas, was responsible for the slaughter of the sons of Bethlehem and putting John the Baptist's head onto a platter.

There are two lessons we can draw from the lives of these fallible fathers. First, the record of their faults argues for the historicity of the Bible. Had scripture been rewritten through the years to shed a more favorable light on the faith, as some skeptics assert, it's reasonable to expect that some of the warts of the patriarchs would have been airbrushed out.

Second, and most significant, the Lord used many of these profoundly imperfect dads to bring His plan of salvation to fruition, sometimes in spite of their outright opposition.

In fact, God has known about the flaws, failings, and flat-out rebellion in every last one of us since the very beginning of time--and He chose to make the ultimate sacrifice for us anyway.

Now, there's a father.

Derek P. Gilbert co-hosts a weekly Internet talk show, P.I.D. Radio, with his wife, author Sharon K. Gilbert, and hosts A View From the Bunker, a weekly interview program.  He previously hosted The Drive, the #1-rated afternoon radio talk show in Columbia/Jefferson City, Missouri.  His published novels are Iron Dragons and The God Conspiracy.

Email Derek at derek at peeringintodarkness dot com. His website is www.derekpgilbert.com.