Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. Ephesians 6:2-3
The order in which God’s laws were given is not random. Upon the first table of stone, which deals with our obligations towards God, a sequence is clearly observed. If, as per the first commandment, we have no other gods before Jehovah, it follows that we will not bow down to the idols set up against Jehovah. Neither will those who worship Jehovah blaspheme His holy name as per the third commandment. In the fourth commandment, our professions are proven by the glad sacrifice made in remembering the Sabbath day.
In like manner, God has placed a hierarchy in the remaining six commandments. The fifth commandment to ‘honour thy father and thy mother’ was engraved at the head of the second table of stone. While God pronounced a general blessing in the second commandment to ‘them that love me, and keep my commandments’, the commandment to honour thy father and thy mother is the first and only commandment with a specific blessing attached to keeping it.
As a matter of fact, the fifth commandment is the first commandment we are capable of keeping. Before a child can reason that there is an invisible God to serve, before he can hurt his sister or covet her toys, he may learn to obey his father and mother. While implicit obedience to his mother’s will may be confined to childhood and youth, this is only the start of this commandment’s fulfilment. The honour due to our earthly parents is far reaching, and is to last a lifetime, and for eternity.
Upon maturity to manhood, the moral character of a child will reflect upon his parents as an honour or a dishonour. David’s son Absolom, for example, was ‘a son that causeth shame, and bringeth reproach’ (Proverbs 19:26). Accordingly, Absolom did not live long on the earth, but was cut down in the prime of his life. Besides the divine judgment he brought down upon his own head, Absolom’s violent death was the natural result of the murderous life of rebellion he lived. Likewise, the youth who disregards his parents’ admonitions to live a life of industry and honesty and instead lives as a riotous drunkard is far more likely to die in his youth by accident or violence.
How pivotal therefore is the fifth commandment! If a child is trained to obey and reverence his parents in infancy, he will honour them in later life. The son which seeks to honour his mother will keep himself from becoming a robber, or from the heinous crime of murder. Likewise, a daughter who understands her father’s claims over her will keep herself from the shame of sexual sin. Fifth-commandment-keeping sons and daughters will care for and support their parents as they age. In turn, this example will be followed by their own children, who will themselves look after their ageing parents. Thus, by helping our parents to live long and happy lives on the earth, we set ourselves up for the same. As is always the case, there are logical reasons why the blessings of God rest upon those who lay hold of them through obedience.
Christopher Sparks