“Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which Yehovah is giving you. Exodus 20:12
People often say that children no longer honour they parents, certainly not like they did “in the old days.” It is also said that, in western cultures there is far less respect towards one’s elders, as well as one’s own parents than is the case in many middle eastern and eastern cultures. But are these things a modern phenomenon or has it always been the case? When Yehovah gave Moses the 10 Commandments several thousand years ago, He included the command that the Children of Israel must honour their father and mother, promising if they did so their days would be long in the land that Yehovah was giving them. The fact that Yehovah included this commandment in, we could call it, His top 10 list of issues that needed to be addressed, indicates it was a problem back then too. The Apostle Paul widens the subject in Ephesians 6, by commanding children to “obey (their) parents.” He then emphasises the 5th of the 10 Commandments, saying to “Honour your father and mother…that it may be well with thee, and you may live long on the earth.” Paul here, is writing to a Gentile church in Ephesus, widening both the scope and the promise connected to the commandment to include them. This, of course, means Yehovah’s promise to prolong the lives of those of us who obey the commandment and honour one’s father and mother, extends to followers of Yeshua in these days, not only the Children of Israel of past millennia – and Yehovah’s promise that they would dwell in the land of Israel. So, as we see then, Yehovah commands children to obey their parents. However, Yehovah says a man will leave his mother and father and cleave to his wife. In fact, he has to leave his parents to cleave too and become one with his wife. From that point, if not well before, such a man is no longer a child and therefore, is no longer in a position where he must obey his parents. However, nowhere in scripture is the commandment for us to honour our father and mother, removed. If you are a child, you are commanded to obey your parents. If you are an adult, whatever your age, you must continue to honour your father and mother, with the promise that you will live long upon the earth.