Honoring Parents

Continuing Pastor Mike’s series on God’s Top Ten tonight we will be looking at the fifth commandment. Some people seem to think that honoring their parents is merely getting them gifts or a visit on Mother’s Day or Father’s Day. God has a much deeper take on the subject.

Exodus 20:12  Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 

Often we think of the Ten Commandments as brief statements, but like this one they are actually like chapter headings or the main points of an outline with sub-points to come later. Indeed, the entire Old Testament explains how God meant them to be worked out in the life of His people showing they could not keep them. It also concealed the ultimate answer to the sin problem; Jesus Christ. This was fully revealed in the New Testament.

We are to value or honor our parents and the Hebrew is more like weighty. They should carry great weight or influence in our lives because of their value. Not every person who dies young has dishonored or devalued their parents, but for those who do there is no promise of a long life. In fact, it could bring a judicial death. A person can honor their parents and still make some bad decisions that shorten their life. I found eighteen verses on this subject in the Old Testament, but the list is not exhaustive. It only covers the terms I searched. To have that many verses on one subject indicates that God is very serious about it and wanted to make sure we see some areas covered by the command we may not have considered.

Exodus 21:17  And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death. 

We think of cursing as bad words directed at someone and that is a part of it, but it can also be vilifying them or despising them as well as showing contempt for them or their authority. The passage speaks to a male as it is often the male child that is attempting to assert his own independence and does it negatively if his parents disagree with his decisions or just want him to slow his roll and think something through more carefully. That is not to say that a female cannot do the same. In these days, females can be just as demeaning and rebellious.

Leviticus 20:9  For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him. 

Here we see that one responsible for the rebellious person’s death. They brought it on themselves.

Exodus 21:15  And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death. 

There is no age limit on this. Whether he beats his parents as a rebellious youth or when they are in their old age he is to be put to death. Indeed, his age is not taken into account. You do the deed and you will bleed is how that worked. I personally believe that if you are old enough to do an adult crime you should be tried as an adult and we see more of that these days. It used to be a given anyone underage would be tried as a juvenile and usually get out of jail at 21 in my day and 18 now.

The rate of parricide or parents killed by their children since the 1970s is two to three hundred a year. That is considered a small amount. One in five are committed by people under 18 and many are because of abuse or mental illness of the perpetrator according to an article by Fiona Guy for Crime Traveller.*

Deuteronomy 5:16  Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 

Again, God repeats the promise of long life as well as life will go well in the land, which is a specific issue to to Israel. Israel was conquered many times due to disobedience, especially idolatry, but God brought them back after they repented. He also used famine so life was not well in the land. Ultimately, they sinned against God the Father and if they were rebellious against Him you can imagine that rebellion against their parents was also prevalent. Much like we see in our time.

Deuteronomy 21:18  If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: