“The giant was tied up and put in jail by the Philistines.” Our 2 1/2 year old son, David, told my husband and me at bedtime one night. We marveled that “Philistine” is in his vocabulary, knew he was telling a Bible story, and quickly corrected him. The giant Goliath was the Philistine and he was killed by the Israelite, David. Twenty minutes later I kissed my David and tucked him in.
“I love you mommy.” He said. “And I do know that it was just the boy David who had his five rocks and swung around a sling and killed Goliath. That’s not what I was talking about.”
One hour later the truth finally sank into my sleep-deprived brain. I had just underestimated my son— told him that he didn’t know what he was talking about— and missed out on what would have surely have been a lively story. The next morning he curled up on my lap in the rocking chair, still not fully awake.
“Hey, buddy,” I said, “Last night when you were talking about the giant in the Bible you were trying to remember the name of the strong-man— Samson— right?” He flashed me a huge smile.
“Yeah! That’s what I’m talking about!”
I guess it’s reasonable to put Samson in the “giant” category. After all he’s the guy who is famous for killing a lion with his bare hands, taking out a bunch of guys with a donkey’s jaw bone, and proving almost impossible to capture even in his sleep.
For some reason I have to keep learning the same lesson over and over: my kids are smarter than I think they are. And I’d wager yours are too.
And I’m pretty sure little boys are the group of people most likely to love the most incredibly random parts of the Old Testament.
And I’m sure this is not the last time crazy stories from the Old Testament will be employed in an attempt to delay bedtime.
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