Background picture of Willard Albert Meservy age 21 U. S. Navy picture Great Lakes, Chicago, IL 1965 He lied about his age and joined the U. S. Air Force when he was 16 years of age. They froze rank and he enlisted in the Navy.
Age of Accountability by Frances M. McCrory-Meservy
The Old Testament (Torah) says the age of accountability is twenty. Zero to three years of age is nursery age and three to twenty years of age is a child. A child is supposed to go to church, learn from his parents and help with chores: be it pitching hay, milking the cow or taking out the trash.
God does not expect an offering from anyone under twenty years old. They are supposed to be under their parents supervision and support until they are twenty years old.
He does not expect anyone under twenty to join the military or go to war. He obviously considers anyone under twenty a child. It's the world that expects more. Our children are our most valuable asset and should be protected and not sent into harms way. People under twenty are reckless and daring. They know no fear and do stupid things that will get them killed. They should not be allowed in the military yet. God knew what he was talking about.
The Jewish age of accountability is thirteen. If they have no Biblical reason for that age, then it is a tradition and not what God says. The Jewish age is actually when a child is expected to be in training for a job or a career. That training is essential for all children. That's why we send our children to school for 13 years and then to college or a trade school later. Most children graduate from a 2-4 year school by the time they are twenty or twenty one.
The children of Israel started going to the synagogue when they are 3 years old. They start their religious training at a very young age. We are to teach our children about God and his ways as we walk with them during their growing up years. We should get them involved in church so they can learn more and socialize with other children who have similar beliefs.
Just because God does not hold them accountable until they are 20, does not mean we should not teach them. If we don't teach them how to be Godly, they will be in trouble when they are 20.
Children need hope, nurturing, God's word daily & training all their growing up years. We should never stop teaching them.
Teach Children:
2 Chr 31:15-16 And under him were Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah, his faithful assistants in the cities of the priests, to distribute allotments to their brethren by divisions, to the great as well as the small. Besides those males from three years old and up who were written in the genealogy, they distributed to everyone who entered the house of the LORD his daily portion for the work of his service, by his division,
Prov 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.
Deu 6:7 "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.
Prov 3:3-4
Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on
the tablet of your heart,
Prov 3:4 And so find favor and high esteem In the sight of God and man.
Prov 29:15 The rod and rebuke give wisdom, But a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.
Children do not give an offering:
Exo 30:14 "Everyone included among those who are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering to the LORD.
Exo 38:25-26 And the silver from those who were numbered of the congregation was one hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary: a bekah for each man (that is, half a shekel, according to the shekel of the sanctuary), for everyone included in the numbering from twenty years old and above, for six hundred and three thousand, five hundred and fifty men.
Children do not go to war:
Num 1:2-3 "Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of names, every male individually, "from twenty years old and above; all who are able to go to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall number them by their armies.
Num 26:2 "Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel from twenty years old and above, by their fathers' houses, all who are able to go to war in Israel."
1 Chr 27:23 But David did not take the number of those twenty years old and under, because the LORD had said He would multiply Israel like the stars of the heavens.
2 Chr 25:5 Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together and set over them captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, according to their fathers' houses, throughout all Judah and Benjamin; and he numbered them from twenty years old and above, and found them to be three hundred thousand choice men, able to go to war, who could handle spear and shield.
Children not held accountable:
Num 14:29- 'The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above. 'Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in. 'But your little ones, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised. 'But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness. 'And your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and bear the brunt of your infidelity, until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness.
Num 32:11-12 'Surely none of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and above, shall see the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because they have not wholly followed Me, 'except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the LORD.'
Levites (priests) ages
1 Chr 23:24 These were the sons of Levi by their fathers' houses; the heads of the fathers' houses as they were counted individually by the number of their names, who did the work for the service of the house of the LORD, from the age of twenty years and above.
1 Chr 23:27-28 For by the last words of David the Levites were numbered from twenty years old and above; because their duty was to help the sons of Aaron in the service of the house of the LORD, in the courts and in the chambers, in the purifying of all holy things and the work of the service of the house of God,
2 Chr 31:16-18 Besides those males from three years old and up who were written in the genealogy, they distributed to everyone who entered the house of the LORD his daily portion for the work of his service, by his division, and to the priests who were written in the genealogy according to their father's house, and to the Levites from twenty years old and up according to their work, by their divisions, and to all who were written in the genealogy; their little ones and their wives, their sons and daughters, the whole company of them; for in their faithfulness they sanctified themselves in holiness.
Ezra 3:8
Now in the second month of the second year of their coming to the house of God
at Jerusalem, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and
the rest of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all those who had
come out of the captivity to Jerusalem, began work and appointed the Levites
from twenty years old and above
to oversee the work of the house of the LORD.