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

The fifth commandment describes the attitude that children should have towards their parents. One may wonder why there isn’t a commandment pointing the other direction, telling parents how they ought to feel towards their children. Having been both a child and a parent, I would say that the nature of the parent is already to love the child and seek what is best for him. Though the parents may give unwanted advice, they generally only do so with a sincere desire to help. The nature of the child, however, is often one of defiance, with an impulse to disobey for the sole purpose to be contrary. That is the tendency that needs to be reigned in, and so a commandment to spell that out.

It is interesting how this commandment links honoring one’s parents and living long upon the land. It seems to suggest that to not honor one’s parents is likely to result in a premature death. Why is that? One explanation could be that it is a divine promise, an assurance from God that He will intervene in the cause of the honorable child to preserve life. Another explanation might be that it is an observation of the natural trends in humanity. Perhaps when a generation as a whole decides to dishonor the generations that came before they are carving their own foundation out from under themselves, and will inevitably fall back to a more barbaric and violent lifestyle, and that will certainly result in their days being shorter upon the land.