Solomon shares this beautiful perspective on parenting:

Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.

A full quiver of kids—how many might that entail? I heard a speaker once share his opinion that a “full quiver” meant 5 children, but he did say that was only an opinion.

Not knowing much about archery, or how ancient archers arrayed for battle, I looked up the number of arrows typically carried in their quivers. My quick search points to about 20 – 60, which makes sense when trying to poke holes in your enemy.

But for kids? Sounds outlandish, but easily within reach for Solomon. With hundreds of wives and concubines, Solomon sired loads of children, filling multiple quivers. Not sure that’s sustainable in the long run.

As for me and my wife, three wonderful children originally filled our quiver. Two are now married, and so we’re added another couple of wonderful young people (I can’t help but think of them as more kids). So, our quiver’s at five.

Which points me away from the trivia of full quivers, and toward the truth of Solomon’s words. Children are a gift, a heritage and a reward from the Lord, and I feel amply rewarded.

Psalm 127 in week twenty-five of reading the Bible cover to cover

Photo by Annie Spratt