HONOR THY FATHER AND MOTHER

By Noel Serrano

Honoring your father and your mother is a most important commandment. It has been said that the fifth commandment is pivotal, for it is between the commandments teaching us to love our Creator, and those admonishing us to love our fellow man.

A Commandment With a Promise

"Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days
may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee," Exodus 20:12.
"Honor 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," Deuteronomy 5:16. "Ye shall fear every man his
mother, and his father . . . ," Leviticus 19:3.

"Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor thy father and thy mother; which is the first commandment with promise; That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord," Ephesians 6:1-4. "Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged," Colossians 3:20-21.
"My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother," Proverbs 1:8. "A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish man despiseth his mother," Proverbs 15:20. "Children�s children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers," and, "A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him," Proverbs 17:6, 25. "A foolish son is the calamity of his father," and, "He that wasteth his father, and chaseth away his mother, is a son that causeth shame, and bringeth reproach," Proverbs 19:13, 26. "Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old," Proverbs 23:22. "Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul," Proverbs 29:17. "For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth," Hebrews 12:6.

Not a Light Thing to Disobey Parents
"Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen," Deuteronomy 27:16. "And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death, . . . And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death," Exodus 21:15, 17. "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," Leviticus 20:9. "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: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold of him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear," Deuteronomy 21:18-21.
"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," Proverbs 30:17. "Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness," Proverbs 20:20.

Without Family Affection
"Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD," Leviticus 19:32. "There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother," Proverbs 30:11. "And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbor: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honorable . . . . As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them," Isaiah 3:4-5, 12. "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection," II Timothy 3:1-5.
"For God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; And honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition," Matthew 15:4-6 (see also Mark 7:10-13). " . . . what shall I do to inherit eternal life? . . . Thou knowest the commandments, . . . Honor thy father and thy mother," Luke 18:18-20.
" . . . There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God�s sake, Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting," Luke 18:29-30. "If any man come to me, and hate not [love less by comparison] his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple," Luke 14:26.