To need to defend means there is an enemy to defend against. The family has three enemies—Satan, the flesh and the world. Failure in defense of the family began with Adam not exercising his place as head and protecting his wife from the first enemy—Satan. Eve failed by not being dependent on her head and opening her mind and heart to the deception of the enemy. The parents, by their sin, introduced the second enemy—the flesh—into the family circle. The result was Cain, the firstborn, murdering his brother Abel. When questioned by the Lord, Cain denies his protective responsibility of this brother, leaves God’s provision for his own protection, goes out from the circle of the family and the presence of the Lord, builds a city, and so forms the third enemy—the world. When there is failure, God requires that the root must be judged; He requires that which is past. In this life, the three enemies are not going to go away. To defend the family against them begins with the father, the father as the head. Any active failure in him must be judged. Then any active failure in the mother must be judged. The father and mother can and must bring the children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. When all is as it should be within the family circle, then a true defensive wall can be built to defend the whole family against their three enemies.