Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 20:12

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.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 20:14-18

14 And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife.

15 And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee.

16 And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved.

17 So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children.

18 For the Lord had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife.

When Pharaoh discovered that Abraham was Sarah’s husband he sent them on their way. Abimelech, on the other hand, shows much more graciousness in his response. He expresses his frustration to Abraham and Sarah, reproves them for their deceit, but then offers them a gift and invites them to dwell in his land wherever they prefer.

One might say that this was just Abimelech trying to enter Abraham’s good graces so that the prophet would intervene for his sake, but the record shows that even after Abraham prayed for Abimelech’s household and everything was returned to normal that the two of them remained honorable towards one another.

We don’t learn too much about this king in the biblical record, but he seems to be a man of great maturity and integrity. When he was offended, he expressed it plainly, but immediately afterwards did his part to repair relationships and establish goodwill.