1402. The Fifth Commandment

The Fifth Commandment

"Honour thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee" (Exo_20:12).

We now come to the study of the first of the commandments written upon the second table of stone. The four commandments on the first stone, had to do with our relation toward God. The second group of six commandments has to do with our relation toward our fellow-man. The Fifth Commandment emphasizes the relation of the child to its parent.

Our Illustration Is That of Absalom

In all Israel there were none so greatly admired as Absalom, the son of David. He lived in the lap of luxury. He prepared him a chariot and horses and fifty men to run before him.

Absalom soon set his heart to obtain the kingdom. When the people would come to David for judgment, Absalom would kiss them and say, "Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause might come unto me, and I would do him justice!" (2Sa_15:4). Thus Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

It wasn't long before Absalom, under guise of a religious visit to Hebron, gathered an army together in insurrection against his father. When David was apprized of the tyranny of his son, he wept with a loud voice. He passed over the brook Kidron, still weeping as he went. The story is a long one, but suffice it to say that in due time the armies of Absalom and David met in deadly combat, Joab, David's general, was victorious and Absalom was found hanging by his head from the bough of a great oak. There he was slain by the darts of Joab. Then was the king David greatly moved, and he went up to his chamber and wept; and, as he went, thus he said: "O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!" (2Sa_18:33).

Let every one that reads these words know once again that "the wages of sin is death" (Rom_6:23). God is against the son who does not honor and obey his father and his mother.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR