Exodus 20:12

THE COMMANDMENTS. -- Exodus 20:12-21.

GOLDEN TEXT. -- Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. -- Matthew 22:39. TIME. --Pentecost, in the year B. C. 1491. PLACE. --At the foot of Mt. Sinai, in Arabia. HELPFUL READINGS. -- Deuteronomy 5:1-21; Matthew 5:21-37; Matthew 15:1-9; Matthew 19:3-9. LESSON ANALYSIS. --1. Honor to Parents; 2. The Shalt Nots; 3. An Awe Struck People.

INTRODUCTION.

When the Ten Commandments were "written and engraved on stone" by the divine finger, they were upon two tables; four supposed to be on the first table, and six on the second. Of these the four considered in the last lesson relate to the duties men owe to God; the second set, those to be considered in this lesson, relate to the duties that. man owes to his fellow-mortals. The first four are summed up in the Golden Text of that lesson; the second table of six in the Golden Text of this lesson.

I. HONOR TO PARENTS.

1. Honor thy father and thy mother.

Let it be noted that both parents are placed on the same footing. Honor is due to both alike. This requires not only outward respect but. cordial obedience to their commandment. No child that speaks lightly of or is ashamed of parents, or is disobedient to their will, keeps this commandment. Filial respect is the ground of national permanence. When the Jews were about to be cast out of their land, the rebuke of the prophet was that they had not walked in the old paths and had not respected the voice of their fathers as the sons of Jonadab had done. Jeremiah 6:16; Jeremiah 35:18-19. And when in later times the land had been restored to them, and they were about to be cast out of it. second time, the great sin of which they were convicted was that they had set aside this fifth commandment for the sake of their own predictions. Matthew 15:4-6; Mark 7:10-11. Every other nation that has. history bears witness to the same truth. Rome owed her strength, as well as the permanence of her influence after she had politically perished, to her steady maintenance of the patræ protestas. Maine "Ancient Law," p. 135. China has mainly owed her long duration to the simple way in which she has uniformly acknowledged the authority of fathers. The divine words were addressed emphatically to Israel, but they set forth. universal principle of national life.-- Canon Cook.

That thy days may be long.

There is. double promise here. So long as the nation rejoiced in the possession of obedient children it was assured of. long life or existence in the land of Canaan; but there is also included the promise of. long life, i. e.,. great age, to individuals, (Comp. Deuteronomy 6:2; Deuteronomy 22:7), just as we find in 1 Kings 3:14. good old age referred to as. special blessing from God.-- Keil. Length of days or inheritance is. law running through the moral government of God, counteracted, no doubt, and modified by the interference of other laws that contribute no less to the ultimate, if not immediate, good of the individual; for if life be shortened to. child of God he only enters the sooner upon. better and higher life. And if the inheritance be shorter than the life, yet he cannot be deprived of that precious and present inheritance that all things, even affliction, work together for his good.-- Murphy. The men who have made their mark as benefactors of the world, have not only had good parents, but have been distinguished by that filial respect and obedience. George Washington is. conspicuous example. It was his respect for his widowed mother's wishes that turned his life into. channel that made him. soldier, the General of the Revolution and the Father of his country. When. boy of sixteen he had. great passion for the sea, and some of his influential friends secured him. berth as midshipman in the British navy. Everything was in readiness. His trunk had been taken on board the boat, and he went to bid his mother farewell, when he saw tears filling her eyes. Seeing her distress, he turned to the servant, and said, "Go and tell them to fetch my trunk back.. will not go away to break my mother's heart." His mother, struck with his decision, said to him, "George, God has promised to bless the children that honor their parents, and. believe be will bless you." This decision kept him in the colonies and turned his life in the direction that schooled him for the great work to which the Lord had undoubtedly called him. It should be noted farther that one who disobeys parents will be disobedient to law, both human and divine.