Fifth Commandment – Honor Your Mother and Father

Fifth Commandment – Honor Your Mother and Father

Exodus 20: ¹² “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

 

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GOD spoke to Moses and the children of Israel, giving them the Ten Commandments. The first four were about how to have a healthy relationship with GOD.  HIS next commandment was about having a healthy relationship with parents.

 

My Observations:

• Honor means to hold in the highest esteem.
• GOD seems to be addressing a value system that should include more than self.
• GOD does not leave HIMSELF out; rather, HE mentions longevity in the promised land that HE was about to give them.

 

Up until now, I thought this verse was about long life. That is because I would read the verse and stopped reading at “Your days may be long.” I threw away the part that GOD was concerned with. GOD wants peace.

 

When GOD cursed the earth and destroyed the garden of Eden, humans began to fight one another for territory. Physical and passive fights broke out over the tiniest parcel of land that would produce food. Some people would take their parents land, similarly to the Egyptians stealing their animals. The Egyptian culture of stealing was being addressed by GOD.

 

The promised land seemed to be the closest thing to the garden of Eden. Food would grow in abundance. There would be plenty to eat so no one needed to despise their parents, to inherit their sliver of land. The children of Israel  could have their own part of the promised land.

 

GOD was establishing peace on earth in families so that HE would fulfill HIS prophecy of making Abraham a great nation. Through mothers and fathers, JESUS would eventually be born. GOD wants harmonious families and HE promises longevity in the promised land.

 

Challenge

• Why does GOD remind Moses about the commandment to honor parents?
• What is GOD saying to you about your part in making a harmonious family?
• What purpose is GOD giving you in spreading peace and harmony?

In loving memory of Preston and Susie Washington.

Needed Conversation

Needed Conversation

Genesis 35: ⁹ Then God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Padan Aram, and blessed him. ¹⁰ And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name.” So He called his name Israel. ¹¹ Also God said to him: “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body. ¹² The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants after you I give this land.” ¹³ Then God went up from him in the place where He talked with him. ¹⁴ So Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He talked with him, a pillar of stone; and he poured a drink offering on it, and he poured oil on it. ¹⁵ And Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him, Bethel.

 

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Fleeing the area where Simeon and Levi had murdered all the men of Shechem, Jacob was nervous. To top it off, he did not have his mother to talk to and the closest person to a mother figure had just died. “Then GOD appeared to Jacob again.”

 

My Observations:

• Jacob already birthed the kids who would fulfill the prophesy.
• GOD stepped in and talked “with” Jacob, but Jacob’s words were not written.
• GOD changed Jacob’s name from “Deceiver” to “He who strives with perseverance.”

 

Jacob seemed to struggle with the way he was raised versus the right way he should act. Jacob learned how to deceive, and became good at it. Unfortunately, he had to struggle for many years. He realized that GOD protected him, even though he caused his own problems.

 

Now Jacob was in a larger mess and deception would not be the answer to his problems. He needed a conversation from GOD, who not only changed his name, but gave him assurance that HIS prophecy still stood. GOD would protect Israel and his sons and daughters.

 

Challenge

• Why does GOD tell Moses about HIS conversation and name change of Jacob to Israel?
• Are you in need of a conversation from GOD?
• Will you seek GOD’s comforting words today by reading HIS promises HE has for you?

Dedicated to Susie Washington