HONOR THY FATHER AND MOTHER

Proverbs 3:1-2 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: (2) For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.

The father continues his monologue; a monologue inspired by the divine Father, and given by a father. This father reminds his son to not forget the law (Law: Hebrew- torah, instruction) and the commandments, which are key to a long peaceful life. The promise of a long and peaceful life is attached to the sixth commandment: Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. Exodus 20:12

Along with a deep sense of awe and respect for parents, the Hebrew word for ‘honour’ in this text has a very strong inference to financial support. Oh, how life was different in those days; have we really gotten smarter?

Parents lived in their household, with their children and children’s children until the day of their death. They never had to worry about Medicare nor welfare. Grandparents kept the kids while the parents were at work, so they never had to worry about daycare. They trained the young moms into parenthood. In ancient times in Israel, old age was not seen as an age of useless senility; white hair was compared to a crown in the Bible. People looked at old folks as the wise owls who had a more rational perspective on life and whose counsel was very valuable. Their life was cemented with trial sand errors; they had seen, and even in some cases experienced the pains of vanity.

Parents are usually responsible for giving us life. Any responsible parent knows that when we agree to let God give us children, we agree to a lifelong commitment. It never ends; even when children leave home, we parents continue parenting.

God wanted this relationship to go both ways. Parents and children are meant to care for each other until one or the other die. By putting it in the Ten Commandments, its almost like God knew that children would eventually become selfish and not want to care for their parents anymore. He did not have to talk about parents caring for children because that is innate in them. If parents abandon the child or do not care for it, maybe they do not deserve care from their kids, but if parents do their best all their lives to be all they need to be for their children, they have all the right to claim before God that their children take care of them until they die. If they don’t, if these children frustrate God welfare plan for the honored citizens of His kingdom, God will severely reward them with a short life, full of strife and frustration.