Exodus 20:12 Honor your father and your mother: that your days may be long on the land which the LORD your God gives you. I. THE RELATIONSHIP in which we stand to our parents, a relationship based upon the fact that we owe our existence to them, that we are made in their image, that for so long a time we depend on them for the actual maintenance of life, and that, as the necessary result of all this, we are completely under their authority during childhood. This relationship is naturally made the highest symbol of our relationship to God Himself. II. Honouring our parents INCLUDES RESPECT, LOVE, AND OBEDIENCE, as long as childhood and youth continue, and the gradual modification and transformation of these affections and duties into higher forms as manhood and womanhood draw on. III. The promise attached to the Commandment is A PROMISE OF PROLONGED NATIONAL STABILITY. St. Paul, slightly changing its form, makes it a promise of long life to individuals. Common experience justifies the change. IV. There is one consideration that may induce us to obey this Commandment which does not belong to the other nine: THE TIME WILL COME WHEN IT WILL BE NO LONGER POSSIBLE FOR US TO OBEY IT. (R. W. Dale, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. |
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