Week 21 · Day 6: Family and Household
Honour Your Father and Mother
The only commandment attached to a promise.
What the labels mean
- Scripture explicitly says
- This states what the biblical text itself says, in the passage being read.
- Direct quotation or allusion
- One part of Scripture quotes or clearly alludes to another. The citing reference is named so you can check it.
- Canonical theme
- A connection across the whole Bible. The passages develop the same theme; one is not quoting the other.
- Interpretive conclusion
- A conclusion drawn from the text. The reasoning is given so you can weigh it against the passage.
- Application
- A step, prayer or question for the reader. Not a claim about what the passage states.
Today’s verse
Loading Exodus 20:12…
Exodus 20:12
Today’s focus
The truth of the day
This is the fifth command and the hinge of the two tables of the law: the first four concern God directly, and from here the commands concern how people treat one another, beginning at home.
Honour is a wider word than obey. Children are told to obey their parents (Ephesians 6:1), but honour is expected of grown children too, long after obedience is no longer the relationship's shape.
Today’s reminder
Scripture explicitly says- Honour begins in childhood but does not end there.
- This command is the bridge between duty to God and duty to others.
- A promise is attached to it, unlike most of the ten.
Deeper insight
What the passage says in its own setting
Paul notices the unusual feature of this command directly: it is the first commandment with a promise (Ephesians 6:2). Attaching long life in the land to honouring parents ties the health of the family unit to the health of the covenant community as a whole.
Jesus confronts a practice that used religious language to void this command: declaring money set aside as corban, dedicated to God, so it could not be used to support aging parents (Mark 7:9-13). He calls this making the word of God of none effect by tradition, showing that honouring parents cannot be displaced even by something that sounds pious.
Christ connection
Where this leads to Jesus
Canonical themeEven from the cross, Jesus provides for his mother by entrusting her to John's care (John 19:26-27), honouring the very command he taught others to keep.
Reflection
ApplicationWhat would it look like to honour your parents this year in a way that fits your actual season of life?
Today’s action
ApplicationContact a parent or older relative today specifically to honour them, not merely to check in.
Today’s prayer
ApplicationLord, teach me to honour my parents in a way fitting to where I am in life now, whether they are near or far, easy to honour or hard. Amen.