Exodus 20:12

THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT, Exodus 20:12.

12. Honour thy father and thy mother This commandment belongs properly to the “first table,” as we have shown above, for it inculcates a form of piety as distinguished from morality . “For a considerable time,” observes Clarke, “parents stand, as it were, in the place of God to their children, and therefore rebellion against their lawful commands has been considered as rebellion against God . ” The death penalty was enjoined for him who smote or reviled his parents . Exodus 21:15; Exodus 21:17. The proverb (in Proverbs 30:17) shows how execrable the dishonouring of parents was considered: “The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it . ” See also the apocryphal book of Ecclesiasticus, Exodus 3:1-16. The filial relation best represents the true relationship of man to God as his author and preserver, and, accordingly, he who disrespects its sacredness exhibits one of the most notable marks of impiety. But loyalty and devotion to parents tend to cultivate reverence for God, and for rulers, ministers, and teachers, who hold positions of responsibility and are set to guard the public weal. It is worthy of note that in Leviticus 19:3, this law and that of the sabbath are united together thus: “Ye shall fear every man his mother and his father, and keep my Sabbaths . ” These two are the only commandments of the decalogue which are expressed in positive form.

That thy days may be long The apostle calls this “the first commandment with promise.” Ephesians 6:2. It is the only one in the decalogue which has a specific promise attached to it .

The land which the Lord thy God giveth thee is here to be understood first of the promised land of Israel, the land of Canaan . Comp . Deuteronomy 4:26; Deuteronomy 4:40; Deuteronomy 30:18; Deuteronomy 32:47. But in the wider scope which this commandment has, as being grounded in the nature of the family, and so alike binding upon all men, it is to be understood of the land or country of any and every individual. “Filial respect,” says Cook, in The Speaker’s Commentary, “is the ground of national permanence. When the Jews were about to be cast out of their land, the rebuke of the prophet was that they had not walked in the old paths, and had not respected the voice of their fathers as the sons of Jonadab had done. Jeremiah 6:16; Jeremiah 35:18-19. And when in later times the land had been restored to them, and they were about to be cast out of it a second time, the great sin of which they were convicted was that they had set aside this fifth commandment for the sake of their own traditions . Matthew 15:4-6; Mark 7:10-11. Every other nation that has a history bears witness to the same truth . Rome owed her strength, as well as the permanence of her influence after she had politically perished, to her steady maintenance of the patria potestas . (Maine, Ancient Law .) China has mainly owed her long duration to the simple way in which she has uniformly acknowledged the authority of her fathers . ”