ACD Hebrew Roots Feature

by Brian Knowles

here are three commandments (mitzva’ot) in the Torah that offer the keeper long life – either in the land (eretz Yisrael), or personally. All three involve issues of ethics and kindness. By studying the content of these three commandments, we can learn a lot about what it means to be a just and ethical child of God.

Honoring Parents

The first is found in Exodus 20:12: “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” The land is God’s land, and Israel is to be the designated tenant – but only so long as they keep Covenant with God. God’s people Israel are God’s people to the degree that they behave ethically, with kindness and justice.

            What does it mean to “honor” one’s parents? Among the Jewish sages, there was much discussion about the meaning of this mitzvah. Of the 613 commandments of Torah, it was Positive No. 210, and No. 5 in the Decalogue. The great medieval rabbi, Moses Maimonides, says of this commandment: “What is honouring [one’s parents]? Providing them with food and drink, raiment and warmth, and guiding their footsteps [when they are old and infirm]” (The Commandments, Vol. I  translated from the Hebrew by Rabbi Dr. Charles B. Chavel, p. 226.)

            Maimonides, quoting the sages that had commented before him, points out that this commandment must be performed joyfully “with the finest of foods” and not in a “surly manner” for that would merit punishment. In other words, it should be viewed as an honor and a duty to care for the needs of one’s parents when they are old and unable to care for themselves. It should not be viewed as a resented burden.

            To ignore or resent the needs of one’s parents is to dishonor them; after all, they brought us into the world and nurtured us to adulthood.

            Another rabbinic commentary on this commandment is quite extreme: “To what extent is one obliged to honor his father and mother? If they were to take his purse that was full of gold and throw it into the sea in his presence, he must nevertheless refrain from giving them any manner of offence, neither causing them distress nor taking umbrage at their conduct; he must accept the Scriptural decree and keep his peace” (Mishneh Torah, Shoftim, Hilchoth Mamrim VI, 7).

            By modern, Western, standards, this seems outrageous. Today’s children are accustomed to arguing vigorously with their parents, openly criticizing them, calling them names, and generally rebelling against them. Such conduct would have been anathema in ancient times. Cursing one’s parents was a crime worthy of capital punishment (Leviticus 20:9).

            A word of qualification: The purpose of quoting these commandments is to show how seriously God, and the sages of Israel, took the commandment to honor one’s parents. It is not to suggest that a modern rebellious child should be put to death! The commandments given in Mosaic times were given in the context of a national theocracy in which God was palpably present among his people. We live in what is largely a secular society in which Biblical standards are being summarily rejected or discounted across the board.

            Having said that, let’s return to another comment by a sage: “Rabbi says: the honoring of one’s father and mother is very dear in the sight of Him by whose word the world came into being. For He declared honoring them to be equal to honoring Him, fearing them equal to fearing Him, and cursing them equal to cursing Him” (Ex. XX, 12, Mechilta).

            In Leviticus 19:3 we read: “Each of you must respect his mother and father…” Some translations render the word “respect” as “fear,” others as “revere.” The word means to “stand in awe” of.  It implies “affectionate reverence.”

            Abraham Chill, in his book The Mitzvot, also elaborates on the meaning and application of the fifth commandment:

            “To ‘fear’ one’s parents means not to sit in the seat reserved for him at the table, not to contradict him, not to call him by his first name, etc.

            “To ‘honor’ a parent means to provide him with food, clothing and shelter.

            “The only instance in which a son or daughter may, and indeed must, disobey a parent is when the parent asks him to disobey a precept of the Torah.

            “When the father and the mother each make a request of the son or daughter, the father’s request takes precedence over that of the mother, because both the child and the mother are duty bound to honor the father.

            “’Honoring’ one’s father includes showing respect for one’s stepmother or one’s stepfather, but only as long as the natural parent to whom they are married is alive” (The Mitzvot, pp. 42-43).

            There are many other commentaries on the meaning and application of this commandment. Some seem extreme, others are more moderate. The point of bringing them into this discussion is, as I said, to show the seriousness with which God takes the fourth commandment. How we treat and show reverence to our parents is a possible reflection of how we feel about our heavenly parent, God. One commentator, Hinnukh, wrote: “We should honor our parents out of gratitude to them for having begotten us, and for having sustained and cared for us in our youth. If we take this attitude, we will see even more clearly the debt of gratitude we owe to God, because it was He who gave our parents the means to sustain us, and who gave us a soul which elevates men above the animals. In other words, respect for one’s parents must lead to respect for God” - (The Mitvot, p. 44).

            In his letter to the Ephesians, the apostle Paul reiterates and comments on this commandment as it applies to Gentile Christians: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor your father and mother – which is the first commandment with a promise – that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth” (Ephesians 6:1-3).

            Paul, in addressing Greek Christians far from Israel, changes “the land” (eretz Yisrael) to “the earth.” His point: children who honor their parents may live longer. The way we treat our parents often reflects our attitudes toward God. When we show respect and honor toward our parents, we are honoring God.

            On the other hand, if we are neglectful and disrespectful of, or insulting towards, our parents; God takes it personally. It is not a light thing in the sight of God to rebel against one’s parents – unless the reason is to obey God (cf. Acts 5:29). Was rebellion against our divine parent not the first sin? Did it not incur the penalty of death? Who was behind it all? Was it not Ha Satan – the Adversary?

            Honoring our parents ensures that the family unit is preserved and strengthened. It keeps us close to our greatest social unit of support. It preserves our legacy and posterity. Closely knit families are the backbone of any successful nation. Each family member has a role to play in the strengthening and cohesion of the family unit. Those roles are under girded by other commandments. Immediately after reiterating the fifth commandment for Christian children, the apostle Paul writes: Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). In modern times, with all the peer group pressures, societal and cultural influences, and the advance of secular progressivism, it is almost impossible not to exasperate one’s children. Rearing children in a godly manner is a major challenge in our post-Christian world. Children are drawn to the world with its myriad enticements. Following the training and instruction of the Lord may seem burdensome and unrealistic to young people trying to make it in “the real world.”

            As Christians, we must make the effort to do things in a godly way. In the world, we’ll pay a price for it. With God, we will reap a reward. Families are only as strong as the people that make them up. If family members share high values, they will tend to march to the beat of the same drummer. They will work together for the common good. The strong will support the weak. Paul told the Galatian congregations: “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). To the Romans he wrote: “We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves” (Romans 15:1).

            The greatest opportunities to fulfill these apostolic instructions are often found in families. Parents must teach their children to honor and respect their parents simply because they are their parents. Parents do not always epitomize wisdom, morality, justice, or kindness. Being human, they make mistakes. Who doesn’t? Families ought to be a place to find healing and forgiveness – and the resources to rebuild.

            I know a man whose father is in jail for bank robbery. His son, and his daughter-in-law, regularly visit and honor their father in prison. They take with them their father’s infant grandson. The grandfather beams with pride and yearns for the time when he can hold his son’s son in his arms. His son longs for the day when his father will be released, so that they can welcome him back into his family. It will be a time of joyful rebuilding. The Bible speaks of the “prodigal son” – but there are also prodigal fathers.

The Second Mitzvah for Long Life

The second commandment for which a connection with long life is made is found in Deuteronomy 22:6-7: “If you come across a bird’s nest beside the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with the young. You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go, so that it will go well with you and you may have a long life.”

            Moses Maimonides commented on this commandment as follows: “…The eggs over which the bird sits, and the young that are in need of their mother, are generally unfit for food, and when the mother is sent away she does not see the taking of her young ones, and does not feel any pain. In most cases, however, this Commandment will cause man to leave the whole nest untouched, because [the young or the eggs], which he is allowed to take, are, as a rule, unfit for food. If the Law provides that such grief should not be caused to cattle or birds, how much more careful must we be that we should not cause grief to our fellow man’ (Moreh Nebuchim III, 48).

            If we are sensitive to the vulnerable lives of the creatures over which God has given us dominion (Genesis 1:28), then surely we will have even greater care for the lives of our fellow man, any one of which is of much more value than that the life of a brute beast (Matthew 10:29-31).

            In today’s world, there are animal activists who seem to value the life of animals much more than that of humans. They place animal and human life at least on an equal plane. Jesus, in contrast, placed human life on a higher plane because it alone is created in the image of God.  

            God has an accounting of every creature, no matter how seemingly insignificant. Every hair on our heads is numbered. Every sparrow that falls is accounted for. God has an ongoing micro-accounting of all that goes on in his creation. He notes those who care for life, and seek to preserve and enhance it, and those who produce only death. He sees those of us who generate suffering, and those who seek to end it. Those who care for life are worthy of life. Those who advance death and destruction on the earth are not themselves worthy of life. John, Jesus’ disciple, taught, “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer; and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him” (I John 3:15, KJV).

            Jesus said of himself, “…I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10b, KJV).

            The commandment about birds is really a commandment about life, and the sanctity thereof. Recently, my wife and I were watching an episode of “Survivor.” One of the competitors had climbed a tree and was seeking eggs in a bird’s nest. The mother bird was on the nest at the time. She appeared to be some kind of stork. Rather than checking first on the contents of the nest, the man started whacking at the nest, which then fell to the ground. In it was a newly hatched, featherless baby bird. The mother bird was in deep distress, but she was helpless to rescue her baby. The man and his group were mortified at what they had done.

            Immediately, the guilty party took the nest and the baby bird back up into the tree, from which the mother bird was anxiously watching, and placed it back in the crook of some branches. We don’t know whether or not the baby survived. We do know that the man caused both the mother and the newly hatched chick profound distress. The man had leaped before he looked.

            God wants us to consider the consequences of our actions. Do they promote life, or harm it? Do they enhance it, or make it more painful? Do we care for the creatures over which God has given us dominion? Or are we cavalier about our stewardship of God’s creation?

            In today’s Dante-esque world, we see religious thugs commonly known as “terrorists” destroying life at every opportunity – their own, and anyone else’s they can take. To borrow a line from the prophet Isaiah: “…their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they know not…” (Isaiah 59:6b-8a, KJV).

            In context, Isaiah was referring to the wayward House of Israel that had violated its covenant with God, and had descended into evil. The words could just as easily be applied to any number of evil entities in our day. What was offensive to God in Isaiah’s time is offensive to him in ours. The apostle Paul applied Isaiah’s words to both Jews and gentiles in his day, many centuries later (Romans 3:15 ff.). They are a commentary on the general destructiveness of human nature.

            If we can learn to respect the lives and well-being of small creatures over which God gave us responsibility, perhaps we can learn to better respect the lives of those fellow beings created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27-28). Those who murder men deserve to forfeit their own lives as a result (Genesis 9:5b, 6), for they have taken from the earth a part of the image of God.

Honesty in Business

Honesty in business sounds almost like an oxymoron. Business in our world is a highly competitive affair. I have worked in the business world, and I am familiar with the ruthlessness, the “win at any cost” mentality that drives many businessmen.

            If you’ve ever had contractors do work on your home – anything from plumbing to roofing – you’ll be familiar with broken promises, underestimates to get the job, finding yourself buying new parts you didn’t really need, price gouging, poor workmanship, missed appointments and various forms of deception. Finding reliable help is a life’s work, or so it often seems.

            At the corporate level, we’re all familiar with company chairmen, presidents and officers, and union leaders who abscond with employee pension funds, embezzle money, siphon off profits, price gouge, defraud, and otherwise victimize employees and cheat customers. We know of insurance companies that seek to avoid paying legitimate claims, energy companies that take advantage of any real or managed “crisis” to gouge customers. We know about price-fixing, monopolies, frivolous and “deep pocket” law suits that bankrupt the competition, and other nasty devices of business. In much of the Third World, the bribe is a way of life. Anything can be had for a price. Nothing can be had without one.

            Business, as it is commonly practiced in much of the world, can be a treacherous affair. In his Torah, God provided many safeguards against dishonest business practices. Most of these are ignored in practice today, yet many are reflected in our business laws.

            The third mitzvah that is connected to long life is found in Deuteronomy 25:13-16: “Do not have two differing weights in your bag – one heavy, one light. Do not have two differing measures in your house – one large, one small. You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. For the Lord detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly.”

            The terms “accurate” and “honest” are translated from two Hebrew words which mean “whole” and “right.” A similar expression of business law is found in Leviticus 19:35 which reads: “Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight or quantity. Use honest scales and honest weights, an honest ephah and an honest hin. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt.”

            In ancient times, traders used what by today’s standards would be crude weights and measures. If these were not standardized, then traders could use measures that gave them a slight advantage and put those with whom they were trading at a disadvantage. If one bought lumber by the cubit, but the seller’s “cubit” was less than 18-inches, then the buyer would be getting gypped. That would be like buying, and being charged for, ten 8-foot two-by-fours only to find out that they were 7’ 6” long – too short to get the job done.

            These commandments are about business ethics. When business people are dishonest, trust and confidence break down. Israel was God’s nation and the way the Israelites lived, and treated each other, was a reflection on their God. The covenant people were called to live by very high standards, both internally, and in their relations with the surrounding Gentile nations. God’s standard for business practices was one of absolute integrity. If a person paid for a pound of flour, he should receive no less than a full pound. If someone purchased a gallon of wine, he must receive the full gallon.

            In later times, Israel allowed its business ethics to lapse into corruption and dishonesty. God sent the prophet Amos to rebuke the nation for allowing His standards to deteriorate: “Hear this, you who trample the needy, and do away with the poor of the land, saying, ‘When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat? – skimping the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat” (Amos 8:4-6).

            The hypocrisy of ritualistically religious people anxious to cheat and take advantage of the poor in business is evident here. What does it mean to observe days unless one is also honest, kind and equitable? No one who claims to represent God – whether Israel’s covenant people, or modern day preachers – should ever be accused of dishonest business practices. Yet, to use Paul’s terminology, some have thought that “godliness” – i.e. religion – is a means to gain (I Timothy 6:5). Many have seen religion as an excellent way to make a living, rather than as a way to help people find and build a relationship with God. Some preachers have feathered their own nests while allowing the poor in their congregations to go begging.

In Summary

Whether we are seeking ways to honor a divine or human parent, caring for the smallest, most vulnerable creatures in nature, or simply doing business with each other, God has called us to a life of high ethics and sensitive kindness. He has connected his standards in these areas with longevity of life. If we celebrate life, and seek to enrich it for others – man or beast – God will enrich, and possibly even extend our lives, both now and in the world to come.

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