An ecobosadi reading of Psalm 127:3-7
 					         
                                                                    Madipoane Masenya (ngwana’ Mphahlele)
					          Department of Old Testament
                                                                    University of South Africa
                                                                    P O Box 2805
                                                                    0700 Pietersburg
                                                                    South Africa

Being born in ancient Israelite and traditional African cultures is tantamount to being born in family cultures, cultures which set great store by big family sizes.  Children, particularly sons in these cultures, are highly valued.  To have many children is to be wealthy.  The expression: sons are a %-(1 heritage from the Lord (cf Psalm 127:3) reminds one of the Northern Sotho proverb: A ba tswalwe ba ate gobane mo-na-le-pelo ga a tsebjwe literally: Let them be born, let them increase, because one who has a (long) heart is not known.  The present article is aimed at re-reading and re-hearing the pericope of Psalm 127:3-5 informed by the author’s experiences as an African-South African woman who is Earth-concious.  I want to investigate whether the Israelite and African world view on procreation and the value placed on children can be empowering for African women if read from an ecobosadi perspective.

As a point of departure, I will make a brief comment on what I have termed an ecobosadi reading.  This will be followed by an analysis of an African (Northern Sotho) and Israelite world view regarding procreation and the value placed on children. I prefer to focus on the Northern Sotho context (a context in the northernmost part of South Africa) because that is my own context.   Psalm 132:3-5 together with some Northern Sotho proverbs will be used as a framework in this analysis.  This analysis is done from an ecobosadi perspective.

A Bosadi Approach

In my thesis (1996), I have proposed a bosadi (womanhood) approach as one of the appropriate ways of reading the Bible informed by one’s experiences as an African-South African woman.  Space does not allow me to give a detailed elaboration of this approach here. A few aspects of this approach are however, listed below.  A definition of the word bosadi will be in order before we consider these aspects. The Northern Sotho word bosadi (womanhood) comes from the word mosadi which means a woman, a wife (Ziervogel & Mokgokong 1979:217). The word mosadi comes from the root -sadi which has to do with womanhood; the word bosadi may be translated as womanhood or private parts of a woman.  

What prompted me to coin a bosadi women’s liberationist perspective was my perception that an African-South African woman’s context cannot be successfully described by “other” frameworks like feminism and womanism to name but two.  In my view, both feminism and womanism are Western (American) frameworks which cannot fully address a different context like mine.  Though the bosadi framework, like these other frameworks makes woman the main hermeneutical focus, what makes it unique is that it addresses a unique context because it is a perspective that is committed to an African-South African woman as the “other” in her  unique context.  This new naming was also prompted by the author’s concern that for so long, Africa and Africans have been defined by others outside our boundaries.

Some aspects of the (eco)bosadi Approach

1. 	The Bosadi approach acknowledges the uniqueness of the context of African-South African  women.  It is a context characterised by sexism in society and in particular, in the  African culture, post-apartheid racism and classism among others. This is a context characterised by hierarchies.  Such a context will shape the way African women interact with the Bible. As a mosadi reader reads the biblical text from an ecobosadi perspective, s(h)e will not only spot the androcentric elements in the text but also the class, race and Earth-demeaning elements.  Such elements  are critiqued in a liberating way for the marginalised, that is, women and Earth in this instance.   The ecobosadi approach then acknowledges that women and Earth, unlike the male members of the earth community have been traditionally relegated to the realm of the inferior.  The approach therefore critiques elements in the Bible that devalue Earth and women (as the following discussion will reveal) and embrace the liberatory traditions.
2.  	The approach acknowledges the common points between the Israelite and an African world views (this will come to light in the following paragraphs  when the two cultures’ world views on procreation are investigated).  If we acknowledge that both the Israelite and Northern Sotho African world views are  holistic, we will agree that such an outlook, if taken seriously in our hermeneutical endeavours can save us from the dualistic Western mentality which has contributed immensely to the historical marginalisation of Earth and women.
3. 	In its analysis of the context of the reader, the Bosadi approach highlights the significance of the element of faith in the life of an African woman in her encounter with the Bible.  Such an analysis is necessary because for many African-South African women, the Bible is not an ordinary book, it is a spiritual resource.  An approach to the Bible that combines an element of faith with an element of critique will help readers to be wary of anthropocentric readings of the Bible, readings which have through the years served to cause harm on Earth , the non-male and the non-human  members of the Earth community. As the mosadi Bible reader interacts with Earth and all its mysteries, an interaction which for her is natural as we will see below (cf aspect 5), her faith in God the Creator is likely to be deepened.
4.	 The Bosadi approach is not only critical of the biblical text, it also criticises the African  culture. The oppressive elements of this culture on Earth and women (for example, the world view which perpetuates large families at all costs, an African hierarchical mentality, etc) are challenged and resisted while the positive elements (cf aspect 5 below) are embraced.  

5. 	For the mosadi reader, both the contexts of the biblical text and that of a  modern (woman) reader are significant.  As part of her context, an African-South African woman cannot exist apart from Earth. This is a woman who has through the years been taught to listen and hear Earth’s voice(s).  A woman who was taught to understand times and seasons not through a calendar but through a mastery of the movements of heavenly bodies like stars, sun and moon. She was taught to have a close interaction with the moon as the latter (its shape, direction and its distance in relation to the ground) were and are still believed to have serious connections with her femininity (monthly cycle, birthing etc).  The following examples will suffice: The Northern Sotho word kgwedi,, is exactly the same word as the word for month.  A woman can simply point to the sky and that will be sufficient information to fellow women that she has “seen the moon”, which means that she is menstruating.  An expectant woman will know when the pregnancy started, not from the days on the calendar, but in relation to the moon’s distance to the ground, its direction and its shape.  In the same way, by interpreting the moon’s movements, she will know when the baby’s delivery day is due.  The traditional Northern Sotho woman therefore has a bond with Earth and can actually hear Earth’s voices more clearer that her male counterpart.  She knows that there are certain taboos to be observed by human beings even as they co-operate with Earth, for example, it is against traditional belief for people to commit “abominations” on the land, eg, throwing a fetus and living it to die in the land or killing certain animals (eg totemic species) that are not supposed to be killed, such actions, it is believed, cannot be left unpunished.  Sometimes if drought is experienced after the violation of such taboos, Earth can retaliate.  In the same way, traditionally, only dead trees, not green ones, could be used as wood.  In certain instances, if people transgressed against these expectations and chopped green trees, the latter could at times “retaliate” by releasing poisonous substances! Habel (2000:52) argues that Earth and its components do not suffer passively from the injustices done on them by people, “but actively resist them in the struggle for justice”. A mosadi woman therefore undertands that she cannot live apart from Earth and that the other side of the coin also holds true.
With the above aspects of the Bosadi perspective in mind, the ecobosadi perspective can be defined as a perspective to the Bible that takes seriously, not only the experiences of an African- South African woman, but also of Earth which, like women, has been marginalised and oppressed for so long.  This approach reads the Bible having taken sides with the oppressed state of Earth and aiming at its liberation.

The African worldview on procreation and the value placed on children

In my Masters dissertation (1989) on the relationship between the theme of parent-child relationships as portrayed in some of the Hebrew proverbs and the Northern Sotho proverbs, it became clear that there are similarities between the Israelite and African(Northern) worldviews.  The latter also included  the value placed on children by these cultures.  Children in the Northern Sotho culture are valued among others, for continuity of the line, the understanding that when the parents grow old, these would take care of their needs (cf the above Northern Sotho proverb in the introductory chapter) and so forth .  An outsider to these cultures may quickly accuse the adherents of their inability to size down their families accordingly as is revealed in the following quotation by Oduyoye in connection to the African culture:
Westerners often see the African woman as a beast of burden walking behind her husband, carrying his children, one inside, one on her back, and many more following in a long procession of children whom she brings forth from puberty to menopause.  She is clearly an inferior creature to the Western woman, a person at the bottom of the human pecking ladder (1995:78).

Even before we criticise these cultures from outside, we will do well to note with Mbiti(1989) and Oduyoye (1994) that child bearing is one of the sacred activities in African culture.  According to Oduyoye (1995:63-64), in the matrilineal Asante culture, if a woman is childless, they assume that the fault is the husband’s (in the patrilineal Northern Sotho culture, the first (if not only) suspect is the woman) and they will not allow their daughter to serve a man who cannot enable her to fulfil her role as the channel by which the ancestors in the spirit-realm return to join the clan in this realm.  Elsewhere Oduyoye argues:
For Africans, every new born is an ancestor returned.  This belief in reincarnating one’s forbears is seen in the principles underlying the naming of new borns.
The belief that parents will be remembered by children after their death is also instrumental in the great store set by children in African cultures.  Hence the high value placed on women as mothers in these cultures.  The following examples will bring this to light with regard to the role of women as mothers in the Northern Sotho culture:

Women as mothers in an African-South African Context

In the Northern Sotho culture, as in many societies, both matrilineal and patrilineal, a woman is basically valued as a mother.  Though there are very few proverbs which deal with women as mothers, this role can be implied from the many proverbs that deal with the care parents (batswadi) should give to their children, the discipline (teaching) they must give to them, and the significance of the parents’ influence in the lives of the children ((cf also the Israelite parents on these issues; Masenya1989).

In everyday Northern Sotho culture, a barren woman caused great concern.  Measures are taken to address her barrenness (cf also the narratives on the barrenness of the matriarchs in the book of Genesis).  The following proverb brings this to light: Teng ga kgomo ga go hlobogwe, literally: Do not give up on the stomache of a cow.  The meaning of this proverb is as follows: If a woman does not bear a child, she must not be designated as barren; she must be taken to traditional doctors to be attended to so that she will be able to have children like other women (Rakoma 1971:219).

In some other African tribes, marriage cannot be considered complete without children (cf Mbiti 1989:107).  Krige (1956:62) notes that among the Zulus, marriage is considered complete only after the birth of a child.  The first child, particularly a boy is very important to this group.  The last point also holds good for the Northern Sotho patrilineal family groups.

Commenting on the conceptions of the functions of the role of women in Ghanaian proverbs, Amoah (1995:5-6) observes that women are basically conceived as life-givers and their motherhood role is emphasised.
The following proverb throws light on the preceding fact:
Ena yie (Motherhood is supreme)

Oduyoye (1995:45) makes an interesting observation about the obsession of the Yoruba people with childbearing: ‘The Yoruba culture, a patrilineal group, is so obsessed with having children that tales even tell of men becoming pregnant’.

The preceding information reveals that Northern Sothos, like their fellow Africans elsewhere, valued children highly as the following proverbs will show:

Go tswala ke go feka maano: To give birth is to devise plans.  Meaning: It is a blessing to have one’s own children for they will take care of one in old age and in other times of need (Rakoma 1971:133).
O kgalemetše Morwa’ Ngwato-a-šiko, mpheng wa robega selepe se tlo šala: congratulations son of Ngwato-a-šiko!  If the handle (of the axe) breaks, the axe will remain, meaning: children carry on the line and take care of parents in old age, hence it is a blessing to have them.

Northern Sotho women also feel the satisfaction of fulfilling the motherhood role as the following proverb reveals:
Mosadi a hlaletša ngwana bolwetši bo a fola: Once a woman rocks a child, her illness gets healed.  Tenor of the proverb:  Once a woman delivers a child, she becomes so excited to the extent of forgetting about her troubles and problems.  Even if she still has problems, she will be able to cope with them for she will be so satisfied with the gift of a child.

A reaction such as this is understandable in a cultural setting where a woman’s status is defined amongst others, by her ability to be a mother.  No room is provided for women who may choose to lead a childless life, neither is room given for women or men who cannot bear children naturally.   Marriage in a typical Northern Sotho context, could not be allowed to continue without children, for example, one would scarcely find a couple who have reached old age without having children: Either the man could opt for polygyny (cf also Oduyoye 1994:169; Mbiti 1989:139) or if it was discovered that a man was infertile, a woman could be encouraged to have sexual relations with somebody outside the marriage, preferably her husband’s next of kin.  Even in cases of the death of a husband, someone from the husband’s lineage would be expected to carry on the line of the husband in this culture.

Large family size and the ecobosadi debate

An important question that we need to ask for the present debate is:  how helpful is this “obsession” with children to the ecological crisis?  Whose interests are being served by such a world view? How may Bible readers like traditional African ones who have such a world view, receive the world view underlying the contents of Psalm 127:3-5?  With regard to the last question, it is obvious that many Africans would identify with the testimony of the psamist that children, or as a matter of fact, sons, are a blessings from YHWH.
One thing for certain is that the African world view (and the Israelite one as reflected in the present psalm) on procreation and the value placed on children is not only anthropocentric, it is basically geared at fulfilling the desires of the male human/anthropos, not only that, the adult male as the following lines with regard to Psalm 127:3-5 will reveal: 

1)The specific (significant?) gender which the psalmist aspires for is the male one (cf 127:3 ).  Though the Hebrew word 0" can also be used in an inclusive way as in .*1"for children of Israel (cf also the observation that in the plural form, the word 931 (.*9&31%;Holladay 1971: 241;cf 127:4b) includes both sexes :Rt 2:21; Jb1:19) and though the 0)v% *9�(the fruit of the womb) which forms a parallel pair with .*1" “sons” in the first stichos can be interpreted to mean children, in my view, the tone and contents of Psalm 127 are heavily if not purely, masculine. Though woman as invisible other can be implied only indirectly through the role she played as mother in ancient Israel and in post-exilic Yehud, she is conspicuous by her invisibility in this psalm.  I therefore will not agree with Efthimiadis (1999:35) that “Psalm127:3 celebrates the joy of motherhood by affirming that ‘children are a heritage of the Lord” though she also notes that such an affirmation may be negative towards women as the psalm may conjure up the converse: that a woman without children is cursed through some fault of her own.  In my view, though the psalm implicitly reflects on the important role women played as mothers in the society of the time, what is celebrated is rather the joy of fatherhood!  Though it is acknowledged that the “sons” are the  the fruit of the womb (0)v% *9�, note however that this expression can also be translated as the “fruit of the body”, an expression which is inclusive), the one who celebrates these fruits is the father, even  the reasons for viewing the children as  blessings serve the interests on the man/father involved: Such a man would not be ashamed when confronting his enemies in the gate:These sons, particularly the sons of his youth, will fight for him in the gate when he is old (Briggs CA & Briggs E M 1969:458; Buttrick 1955:670-671; Keil C F & Delitzsch, F 1986).  The gate of the city was a public sphere of men.  This is the place where the Israelite elders gathered to settle disputes and for other matters pertaining to the welfare of the city dwellers.  It is interesting to note that though in the public sciptures like the Hebrew Bible women are not always foregrounded, it is through their influence in the private sphere of the home that their husbands are praised at the city gates!  The sons who were born and nurtured by the mother in the home, are the ones who will support their father in the gates of the city (cf also the efficiency of the Woman of Worth in running the household of her household, her influence is ultimately felt at the gates of the city because her husband, not herself, is praised there, Pr31:23).

The millitary language used in this text, whether the fight to be waged against the enemies was a physical battle or a battle through words, also sheds some light on the male-orientedness of this pericope.

2)The  line that is perpetuated is the male one (cf also the Northern Sotho culture).

 As noted earlier on, the interest of the adult male are those that are taken care of.  In such a world view, little consideration is given for the possibility that the many children who are born are likely to suffer a poor quality of life due to the poor planning on the part of their parents.  This is understandable within the world view in which it is understood that an elder member of the community (cf parents in this regard) cannot offend a younger  member (cf children in this case). Deist’s comments in this regard are helpful:
The traditional moral codes of Africa are transgressed only when someone with a lower social status offends against someone with a higher status, it is not really possible for parents to offend against children. Therefore the idea that the African idea of an ancestral immortality is harmful to descendants is not readily acceptable (1990:45-46).  
Such a world view, can also be detrimental to a human being’s relationship with Earth.  If the latter is viewed as the lower member of the Earth community, people, motivated by their self-centred motives of being remembered in their offsprings, can have as many children as possible irrespective of the negative effects which this remembrance could have on Earth and the other non-human members of the Earth community. It should also be borne in mind that in these cultures (cf the Northern Sotho culture for example), those who are mostly, if not only remembered, that is, the ancestors, are men. Women’s marginalisation and segregation goes even beyond the grave!
Such a world view, tends to value a woman not basically for who she is, as a complete human being without a man and children, but valued mainly for being instrumental in bearing children, particularly  sons who she can produce as a married wife.  Barren women, in line with the expectation of the time (cf women in the patriarchal biblical period for example) had to provide their husbands with maids for procreation, a situation reminding us of the Northern Sotho one outlined ealier on.

That the unbriddled population explosion is hazardous to Earth and the non-human members of the earth community cannot be disputed.  The South African population size is as follows: 76% Blacks, 13% Whites, 9% Coloured and 2% Asiatic.  South Africa is not a big country, its area is 1,221,037 square kilometres.  The total population size of this small country (according to the 1996 census) was 37 859 000 and the projected figure for the year 2001 was estimated at 48 904 000 which implies a population growth of 10 million plus, in 11 years (World Book Encyclopedia 2000:609).

The more the population explosion, the more the need for a growing economy.  In order to attain the latter, South Africa would have to concentrate on industrial development as one of the measures in this regard.  This Western strategy, prompted by the Western secularistic consumerist world views, is not without its own problems.

In the first instance, the more the population, the more the exploitation of natural resources.  It is an indisputable fact that the resources and arable land are both fixed, therefore, as the population increases the resources and arable land do not, as a result, pressure is being put on Earth.

Industrial development means urbanisation. There has been a projection that by the year 2000, 35,7 million people will leave in South African cities (compared to the 16,2 million in 1985) meaning that some 750 000 South African Blacks would move to cities every year.  At the moment, 57% of the Black population lives in cities while 43% of the Black population lives in rural areas (World Book Encyclopedia 2000:610).

Apart from the fact that  “urban” Earth would be pressured by such a move, industrialisation brings other problems such as environmental and air pollution, the latter leaves Earth sick and depleted:  The beauty of nature becomes history as both humans, Earth and other non-human members of the Earth community are affected negatively by this state of affairs (cf. the effect of the trash on the whole Earth community).  Present instances of some South African Blacks (in the Cape Province and in the Northern Province) whose lives have been destroyed by the pollution from the mine plants which were operated in their neighbourhood without care for what the repercussions of such could be, are good examples.  As we noted earlier on, the Western secularistic and consumerist world view, given its individualistic inclinations, is not without its own problems.  People with such a world view would not have qualms with arrangements such as these, particularly when those who were to suffer later consequences, were not of their own and not even viewed as being as human as they are.  One is referring here to the relationships between Blacks and Whites in apartheid South Africa.  

Some of the trash from the industries end up in rivers and streams affecting many lives which thrive in these systems.
Because of human being’s tendencies to aspire to satisfy  human desires at all costs, because of our preparedness to ever ignore the word of the ancestor: lešaka la pelo ga le tlale, the kraal of the heart is never satisfied, we have done all these atrocities to Earth, even without notice at times!  We have failed to realise that we are part of interconnected systems of the Earth community and that we need to take care of Earth even as it takes care of us. We have opted to listen to the call of our culture to have as many descendants as we possibly can forgetting that not only would these be entrusted to our care, but that the care we would avail to Earth would enable us not only to be responsible parents, but to be responsible members of the Earth community.  
Having said all these, we need however to be reminded that the big family sizes typical of traditional Africa did not have a negative impact on Earth and the non-human members of the Earth community in a pre-colonial African- South African setting. This was the case because apart from the ample land our forefathers and foremothers had  (lands were allocated to individual men by chiefs as the latter are the traditional custodians of the land), they also had flocks of sheep, cattle, goats and other domestic animals.  With the colonial invasions however, the situation became undesirable for Africans in South Africa because of forced removals and land redistribution among others.  The indigenous people of the land were squeezed in infertile areas, some of which were not even good for habitation while the powerful few Whites, had all the good land to themselves.  This situation was exercebated by the fact that in South Africa, the distribution of resources in the new capitalistic Western economy with its demanding life style, was based on one’s race.  One needed to be White in order to benefit from the system.  As a result, African values of family and corporeality were tampered with by this unfortunate new arrangement, while the ecological crisis became heightened.

Having examined the African (Northern Sotho)world view on procreation and the value placed on children, let us now turn to Psalm127.

Psalm 127:3-5: 
Psalm127:3-5 in Psalm 127

Scholars are divided regarding the relationship between the two units constituting this Psalm:
:1-2 and :3-5.  Some scholars view these pieces as two independent units while others view them as a unity.  Arguing for the unity of the two units, Anderson (1983:866) alludes (cf Kraus) to a Sumerian song dedicated to the goddess Nisaba.  The latter is praised as the one without whom no house and no city is built and as the one responsible for growing children.  The collacation of these themes reveal that there is no real reason to doubt the unity of the two (Anderson 1983:866).  I am also of the opinion that due to the relatedness of the subject matter between the two, for example: “building a house” can refer to 1) founding a family (cf Gn16:12 and Gn30:3); and 2) raising up a family  in certain contexts is described as building a house (Ex 1:21, Rt4:11, 1Sam2:35 etc; cf Anderson 1983:866), the word “house” used in the first verse therefore forms a smooth link with the core of :3-5.
Even if the word “house” is understood as an ordinary building, the sons/children mentioned in verses 3-5 are members of this house, with Jerusalem or any city being the city in which this building is located.

In my view, the building of the house (cf verse 1) in view of the contents of verses 3-5 is the founding of the family.  That it is the father’s house ("! ;*") that is being built according to this pericope, cannot be disputed.  Apart from the emphasis on the man/father in verses 3-5, is our observation that in Israel, the father’s house was the fundametal unit of society.  According to verse 1, it is not the father who built the house, it is YHWH who builds it, an expression which in my view, reveals that the man who builds the house was a righteous one, hence, the fact that he is being blessed with sons (cf 3-5).  Such an argument makes sense if we classify this psalm as a wisdom psalm.  It reveals the optimistic world view shared by both Israel and Africa (Masenya 1989): good actions are rewarded and bad ones are punished.  A man who trusts in YHWH to found his family, will be blessed, not only with the nahalah of children, but with the nahalah in a broader sense, that is the land / Earth too.  If we note with Wright (1977:102-105, cf also Camp1985) that the family was understood by the Israelites as the mediator of the covenant between God and the people and that all the other blessings followed pending on a good relationship between the family and God, we may also imply here that the man who is being blessed is a righteous man, as we noted, he is not only blessed with the sons, but probably with the land/Earth too.  It is interesting to note that the word nahalah is mostly used for land as an inheritance from YHWH.  It will therefore not be far fetched to argue that the sons (nahalah) with whom the man is blessed are part of the blessings that righteous man receives on the nahalah/land/Earth, though the latter can only be implied.  

Wright’s view, reminds us of Camp’s (1985) about the resurgence of the family as the locus of authority in the post-exilic period.  A close reading of the passages about Woman Stranger in chapters 1-9 reveals that concern about the “right”or rather “pure” Israelite female marriage partner was linked with the inheritance of the land /Earth (Blekinsopp1991;Washington 1992; Camp 1991).

Just as we can imply (even as we try to retrieve suppressed voices in this text), that the land/Earth played an important role in the life of the post-exilic community, we can also imply the significance of woman as house builder in the present verses 3-5.  Though woman can only be implied in the text, it is possible that it is not only the father who built the house, the mother, might have actually played an even more significant role in this sphere of domesticity, a sphere that traditionally belonged to her, for example, procreation, nurturing, managing the household activities (cf the Woman of Worth in Proverbs 31), a God-fearing woman.  We therefore agree with Meyers that “Because the public record of ancient Israel, like that of traditional societies, is so androcentric, aspects of female power within the Israelite household can rarely be seen.  Yet the relative invisibility of female power does not mean it did not exist, and occasionally it can be glimpsed even in the male-oriented canon”(1991:42).

In the Northern Sotho culture, building a house or founding a family also entails being allocated a land of one’s own.  Like in ancient Israel, a newly married son is usually given a land within the land occupied by the extended family.  As in the case of the Israelites, for Africans, the land is so valuable that the two are inseparable. Take land away from Africans and you have taken away their very eeence.  People in both the Israelite and African cultures understood that if you tampered with their land, you also tampered with their ancestors as the land is viewed as an ancestral heritage.

Though the unity of the two pericopes of the psalm is acknowledged, I have chosen in this paper to focus on :3-5 due to its similarity in world view with the African one, a world view which lends itself to critique if read from an ecobosadi perspective.

Psalm 127

The whole psalm reminds us that in all his/her endeavours, a human being, one of the creatures in the Earth community, cannot hope for any success if the Creator is left out. We are here reminded of the words of Keil & Delitzsch:
The poet proves that everything depends upon the blessing of God from examples taken from the God-ordained life of family and of the state.  The rearing of the house which affords us protection, and the stability of the city in which we securely and peaceably dwell, the acquisition of possessions that maintain and adorn life, the begetting and rearing of sons that may contribute substantial support to the father as he grows old-all these are things which depend upon the blessing of God without natural preliminary conditions being able to guarantee them, well-devised arrangements to ensure them, unwearied labour to obtain them by force, or impatient care and murmuring to get them by defiance (1986:292).
This quotation is a reminder that in most cases, we have failed in our dealing with one another as members of the Earth community.  We have been so committed to the worship of the self that the latter has turned to be our god (dess).We have forgotten our roots.  In our worship of self and in our excluding the Creator in all our endeavours, we have neglected Earth and the non-human members of the earth community.  We have therefore failed to interact with God’s creation in a responsible way.

Psalm127:3-5: Procreation and the value placed on children

As we noted earlier on, underlying the contents of 127:3-5 is the Israelite world view supporting the significance of a big family. Such a world view understandably values women first and foremost as mothers.  In the present psalm, the blessings of children as a heritage from YHWH is said in the context of other blessings: the house that is built by God, meaning a man and woman who trusts God and the city that is guarded by God, a situation revealing the devotedness that an individual Jew was supposed to have towards YHWH.

The value placed on sons as blessings from YHWH is expressed in the Hebrew word:%-(1(cf verse3) which is often used to denote the land of Israel as the gift of YHWH (105:11; 11Sam 20:19;21:3).  As we noted previously, children are a heritage, not in isolation from the land/Earth, the latter, can be implied.  Similarly children, who are a gift of God are a strength of the family (Anderson 1983:868). Though we cannot deny the importance of sons in families and in patriarchal cultures in particular, the foregrounding and overemphasis of one gender over and above the other is problematic.  Through the years, texts like these, and many other androcentric texts in the Hebrew Bible together with the androcentric interpretations of these texts have not done good to the female human members of the Earth Community.  Both sons and daughters should be valued equally as gifts, %-(1, heritage from YHWH.
As we cautioned earlier  about judgements that could be passed by outsiders to an African culture on the great value they placed on children, the same applies even to the Israelite situation.  Two instances in their history which supported the need for big families will suffice:
In the settlement period for example, given the precariousness of the situation:  the fact that their population size as foreigners in Canaan was far too little compared to the inhabitants of the land, the fact that many of their men died in battle, persuade us to agree with Otwell (1977:40) that the role of woman as mother would occupy a central position.

In the post-exilic setting, which is the most likely setting from which the present psalm arose, the elevation of a family, and a big family at that, would also make sense if we consider again, the precarious conditions of post-exilic Yehud.  According to Camp(1985), in the absence of the monarchy, the family regained power as the locus of authority in this period.  It is no wonder that a book like Proverbs, from the same period, is replete with female imagery: both positive and negative.  It is also understandable that in a period such as this, the role of woman as mother of many children, particularly sons, to perpetuate the family line would be foregrounded.

It should also be noted that just like in Africa, early Israelite parents also desired to be remembered by their descendants. Old Testament people attached just as much significance to the family grave  (cf Gn23:19;25:9;50:13) and wanted their graves to be close to their family.  Joseph insisted that his bones be taken along with when the children of Israel left Egypt (Gn50:25).  The worst fate that could befall the deceased was that those who were still living could forget his name (Job 18:17; Ps9:6; 34:17).  According to Deist(1990:44) this explains why:
in the Old Testament, the number of children was a measure of God’s favour (Ps127:3), why a childless person was considered already dead (Gn30:1), why polygyny (Gn4:19-24; 16:1; 22:24; 26:34; 28:9; 2Sam3:2-5; 1Ki11:3, etc) were common and why anyone who refused to raise progeny for someone who died childless was considered despicable(Gn38).

In the light of all these we are bound to agree with Camp(1985:40) that motherhood was a universal role in Israel

Having said all this, a question worth looking at for the present debate is how helpful is such a mentality towards  human beings’ contribution to Earth and the non-human members of the Earth community?  How did the large families in Israel affect Israel’s care for Earth?  The traditions that human beings are given dominion over the earth to fill and subdue it (Gn1:28, Ps 8:5), that humans have been honoured by God with a position closer to that of God (Ps 8:5), that humans have been created in the image of God (Gn1:27), are Israelite traditions which Africans and people of other races have come to embrace as their own.  The danger of misunderstanding and or abusing these traditions have led to centuries of Earth’s abuse by humankind, particularly Christians.  What actually motivates readers like African Bible readers to embrace these traditions sometimes literally, is that they appear in the Bible, a book, which as we have noted, is highly esteemed by many African Bible readers.  The question worth asking is: Which possibilities may a world view portrayed in Psalm 127:3-5 bring if analysed from an ecobosadi perspective?

The high value placed on children and woman as mother:

The high value placed on children by both the Israelites and Africans is an honourable mentality in my view.  Indeed children are a blessing from God.  And more importantly, the observation that a woman as co-creator with God has been given the ablity to bring life is a great honour indeed.  In my view, the goal of motherhood however, should not be persued at all costs.  Its end must not only be viewed in terms of the man/male involved, the descendants, the woman involved and in particular, Earth which has so long been oppressed, should all be taken into the picture in order for all members of the Earth community, to actualise ourselves fully.
Such an outlook will enable patriarchal society to appreciate that marriage can still be successful even if no blood children has been born to it, that if there are no children in marriage, it is not (contrary to the above world views) necessarily an indication that God has not blessed the marriage or a sign of the ancestors’ wrath on the family.  Perhaps it pleases God for such a family to devote full attention to those “outside” members of the Earth community.

The androcentric nature of the pericope with the susequent suppression of the voices of Earth and women can only serve to perpetuate the received stereotypes that other members of the Earth community are more important than others.  Such hierarchies have through the years and today, contributed significantly to the devaluing of Earth and the marginalisation of women. The reading of Psalm127:3-5 from an ecobosadi perspective will hopefully bring healing to those who have been trampled upon for so long. 

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