And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.
Cursing father or mother was to be punished by death, because it was rebellion against parental authority and a grave breach of the duty to honor and respect parents. Striking a parent bore the same capital penalty as an expression of God's judgment on rebellious children. The rule was one of the detailed judgments that applied and guarded the Ten Commandments, setting out in specific terms what Honor thy father and thy mother required. It carries the authority of statutes given by Jesus Christ to Israel, which are to be studied and strictly obeyed and are not of lower order than what is enjoined in this age. It requires children to honor, support, and provide for parents even in great necessity, so the Corban device that withheld help from parents under pretense of devotion to God violated it, and Jesus defended it against human traditions that set aside care for parents.
Meaning and Mosaic Setting
Anyone who cursed father or mother was to be put to death, for such cursing was regarded as rebellion against parental authority serious enough to be a capital crime. It was a grave breach of the duty to honor and respect parents. The same death penalty applied to children who struck their parents, expressing divine judgment upon rebellious children.
The requirement stands among the detailed judgments and additional precepts that illustrate, apply, and amplify the Ten Commandments in specific terms and guard their sacredness, so that the obligations of the Decalogue might be more fully understood and enforced. It applies the commandment concerning parents by a particular rule for conduct toward them, standing joined to Honor thy father and thy mother as part of the fifth commandment.
These explanatory precepts were needed because the minds of the people, blinded and debased by slavery, were not prepared to appreciate fully the far-reaching principles of the ten precepts. Unlike the Decalogue, this law was delivered privately to Moses for him to communicate to the people. It was already an existing command when a man cursed a judge and blasphemed God, a case it did not directly address and which required a separate divine judgment and a law specifically addressing blasphemy. It belongs to the instructions, statutes, and judgments given through Moses to regulate dealings between people, to guard against injustice and to guide how people deal with one another.
Authority and Present Obedience
The statutes and judgments were given to Israel by Jesus Christ, and were to be strictly obeyed by His people, and they are not of a lower order than the statutes given in this age. They belong to the laws enjoining obedience to God's law, and keeping the law in truth and righteousness means obeying every command. They were given through Moses as instructions that people are to study and obey, guarding against injustice and guiding how people deal with one another. Careful reading and obedience to these commandments given to Moses for the children of Israel to regulate their dealings with one another would prevent the condition of things now seen in the world.
The commandment given through Moses that whoever curses father or mother must die the death stands joined to Honor thy father and thy mother as part of the fifth commandment. It requires children to honor, support, and provide for parents even in great necessity, and its death penalty shows that dishonoring and defrauding parents is a grave breach of divine law that cannot be set aside. Man's obligation to present gifts and offerings to God remains undiminished. The Corban device directly violates this command under cover of pretended devotion to God, by which a child pronounced as a gift devoted to God what could have helped father or mother and then kept it for his own use in life, leaving it to the temple after death, while refusing help to parents. Their tradition allowed a person to declare as a gift to God what could have helped his parents, and then to withhold that help, showing the seriousness of cursing father or mother by prescribing death.
Jesus defended this law against human rites and traditions, exposing how strict observance of the elders' traditions nullified the plain duty to honor and care for parents. He declared that those who set aside the fifth commandment while being exact in elders' traditions and teaching temple devotion as more sacred than supporting parents place their own requirements above the divine precepts and set themselves above God. Parents were accountable for failing to govern and control their children, for the verse expresses God's judgment on rebellious children as rebellion serious enough to be a capital crime.
Cursing father or mother was to be punished by death, because it was rebellion against parental authority and a grave breach of the duty to honor and respect parents. Striking a parent bore the same capital penalty as an expression of God's judgment on rebellious children. The rule was one of the detailed judgments that applied and guarded the Ten Commandments, setting out in specific terms what Honor thy father and thy mother required. It carries the authority of statutes given by Jesus Christ to Israel, which are to be studied and strictly obeyed and are not of lower order than what is enjoined in this age. It requires children to honor, support, and provide for parents even in great necessity, so the Corban device that withheld help from parents under pretense of devotion to God violated it, and Jesus defended it against human traditions that set aside care for parents.
Meaning and Mosaic Setting
Anyone who cursed father or mother was to be put to death, for such cursing was regarded as rebellion against parental authority serious enough to be a capital crime. It was a grave breach of the duty to honor and respect parents. The same death penalty applied to children who struck their parents, expressing divine judgment upon rebellious children.
The requirement stands among the detailed judgments and additional precepts that illustrate, apply, and amplify the Ten Commandments in specific terms and guard their sacredness, so that the obligations of the Decalogue might be more fully understood and enforced. It applies the commandment concerning parents by a particular rule for conduct toward them, standing joined to Honor thy father and thy mother as part of the fifth commandment.
These explanatory precepts were needed because the minds of the people, blinded and debased by slavery, were not prepared to appreciate fully the far-reaching principles of the ten precepts. Unlike the Decalogue, this law was delivered privately to Moses for him to communicate to the people. It was already an existing command when a man cursed a judge and blasphemed God, a case it did not directly address and which required a separate divine judgment and a law specifically addressing blasphemy. It belongs to the instructions, statutes, and judgments given through Moses to regulate dealings between people, to guard against injustice and to guide how people deal with one another.
Authority and Present Obedience
The statutes and judgments were given to Israel by Jesus Christ, and were to be strictly obeyed by His people, and they are not of a lower order than the statutes given in this age. They belong to the laws enjoining obedience to God's law, and keeping the law in truth and righteousness means obeying every command. They were given through Moses as instructions that people are to study and obey, guarding against injustice and guiding how people deal with one another. Careful reading and obedience to these commandments given to Moses for the children of Israel to regulate their dealings with one another would prevent the condition of things now seen in the world.
The commandment given through Moses that whoever curses father or mother must die the death stands joined to Honor thy father and thy mother as part of the fifth commandment. It requires children to honor, support, and provide for parents even in great necessity, and its death penalty shows that dishonoring and defrauding parents is a grave breach of divine law that cannot be set aside. Man's obligation to present gifts and offerings to God remains undiminished. The Corban device directly violates this command under cover of pretended devotion to God, by which a child pronounced as a gift devoted to God what could have helped father or mother and then kept it for his own use in life, leaving it to the temple after death, while refusing help to parents. Their tradition allowed a person to declare as a gift to God what could have helped his parents, and then to withhold that help, showing the seriousness of cursing father or mother by prescribing death.
Jesus defended this law against human rites and traditions, exposing how strict observance of the elders' traditions nullified the plain duty to honor and care for parents. He declared that those who set aside the fifth commandment while being exact in elders' traditions and teaching temple devotion as more sacred than supporting parents place their own requirements above the divine precepts and set themselves above God. Parents were accountable for failing to govern and control their children, for the verse expresses God's judgment on rebellious children as rebellion serious enough to be a capital crime.