Shaphan the scribe was an important figure in Judah. During Josiah’s revival, it was Shaphan who read the newly discovered book of the Law to the king (2 Ki. 22:8–10). A few years later, Shaphan’s son Ahikam proved himself to be one of the prophet Jeremiah’s only friends when the people wanted to kill him.

Yet the scene in Ezekiel 8 is much different. About fifteen years after Jeremiah’s experience with Ahikam, Ezekiel received a vision of Jaazaniah, another son of Shaphan. He also stood as a leader among the people. However, his leadership was expressed in a foul ceremony that honored abominable idols drawn on the walls! Arrogantly he declared, “The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land” (Ezek. 8:12).

We have no details about Shaphan’s sons during their childhood, yet we can find several lessons here. First, as parents, let us never assume that one child’s spiritual progress will be conferred on another. Parenting needs constant vigilance! The stubbornness of youth, left uncorrected, has often blossomed into wayward adulthood. If we allow our children to plant the wind, both they and we will reap the whirlwind (Hos. 8:7).

But second, let us not be too quick to blame godly parents for the choices of their adult children. Shaphan’s faithfulness is well attested, and Jaazaniah’s idolatry was his own matter. And third, if we are sons or daughters of godly parents, let us truly embrace their example. It would be better in the day of judgment to have never known the way of righteousness than to know it and turn from it (2 Pet. 2:21). In all our ways, God sees us.