“Changing Values”

Psalm 144: 12: “Let our sons in their youth be a grown-up plants, and our daughters as corner pillars fashioned as for a palace.” When’s the last time you heard someone say, “That’s a fine son you have there, Frank. He’s just like a full-grown okra stalk!” Probably not lately. All the more, when did you last tell your neighbor that his daughter looked like building materials? Perhaps you should hold off on that. But three thousand years ago you would have been understood to mean that his son was bearing much fruit, certainly a good thing, and that his daughter was tall and statuesque. OK, not so bad after all.