| Honor your father and your mother God's second greatest commandment to us is to love our neighbor as ourselves. The fifth commandment of the Ten Commandments is to honor your parents. Honor and love are not the same thing, but then the fifth commandment is not a restatement of the second greatest commandment. Honoring our parents, though, is another step we take on the way to being able to love our neighbor. We were born, or created, from our parents and they were created by their parents, and so on, until the first people whom God created in His image. So it makes sense that we should honor our parents as intermediate representations of God. Since we are all descended from the original people made in God's image, we can logically extend our honor of God to honor for our parents, and then honor to others. Practically, our parents are our protectors, providers, and teachers. They have our best interests in mind. That is not to say that there are not poor, or even evil parents, but typically, and certainly ideally, loving parents is the case. As such our parents deserve honor in their own right. Again, practically, by honoring our parents, we are giving them sway in our lives so that their instruction will be more effectual on our lives. In this way, honoring our parents can accelerate our development of knowledge and wisdom, while at the same time continuing to afford us the protection of our parents wisdom and knowledge. In a sense, honoring our parents places us in a wisdom incubator where we can develop and strengthen ourselves. Obviously in poor, or destructive, family environments, not all of the practical benefits can be realized. In such a situation, self protection is paramount, but at the same time such a situation does not mean that we can dishonor our parents. A Biblical punishment for violating this commandment was to kill the offender (Exodus 21:15,17). You shall not murder Murder is the unjust killing of another person. Due to our own mortality, we can usually see that murder is not a good thing. We cannot say though that every death has a net adverse impact on us. The death of somebody attempting to murder us, for instance, would have a net positive impact on a us. The Bible recognizes this situation by allowing an intruder to be killed in the act without punishment of the killer; a killing in self defense (Exodus 22:2). Although all death is regrettable, the net moral effect needs to be considered. As we are all made in God's image, killing a human being is an assault against God's image. God's allows, though, for killing in certain cases, such as in a punishment for violation of certain commandments. The indication is that His image is assaulted more from a person made in His image committing a sin without justice, than in the destruction of that same person. The very fact that we can die at all is due to our violating God's instructions. There is a direct link between morality and life and death. A Biblical punishment for violating this commandment was to kill the offender (Exodus 21:14). You shall not commit adultery God designed and made us as male and female. This commandment tells us that a part of His design is for us to pair together, one male and one female, for life. There are practical reasons for prohibiting adultery; family stability for children, reduced spread of diseases, etc., but we also innately know it is wrong. Just as we can innately determine that murder is not good, we know that we do not like to be on the receiving end of this sin either; none of us innately enjoys our spouse committing adultery. As we have seen throughout God's commandments, ideas and beliefs are important. The underlying concept for this concern is that of spirituality. If sexual relations were strictly a physical activity, there may not have been any commandments regarding it. There is, though, a spiritual aspect to intimate sexual relations. Two people are bonded together spiritually through sexual relations. The effect of adultery is to pull apart people that have been bonded together. Adultery is against God's design, and thus an insult to Him, and it is harmful to us. A Biblical punishment for violating this commandment was to kill the offenders (Leviticus 20:10). You shall not steal Again, just as with the previous couple of commandments, we all know that we do not want to be on the receiving end of this sin. So far the commandments have been personal, this commandment is related to our work and possessions. What this commandment is saying is that there is a connection between us and what we do. Our possessions are a part of what we do. We are given only so much time to live in this life. Every moment is a bit of our life. When we work for our food, home, possessions, etc. we are exchanging a little bit of our life for those things. When somebody takes our things, they are taking a little bit of our lives. Just as God requires that we recognize His work by remembering the sabbath day, He requires that we recognize the work of others by respecting their possessions. A Biblical punishment for violating this commandment was for the offender to make a guilt offering and pay full restitution plus a fifth to the proper owner (Leviticus 6:4,5). For livestock that are stolen and sold or destroyed, a four or five to one restitution is required (Exodus 22:1). You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor Lying is something that God cannot do. Since He is God of the universe and there are no others like Him, there really is no reason for Him to lie. Further since there is no reason for Him to lie, lying would be against Himself. It would seem then, that we too would be against God when we lie. There are though, people in the Bible that were apparently justified in lying. We saw with the sixth commandment that on balance death is usually a bad thing, and murder is always a bad thing. We also saw that there were circumstances where killing was justified. It seems there is a similar situation with lying. Lying for unjust reasons is condemned, but lying is permitted for justifiable reasons. For a false oath, a Biblical punishment for violating this commandment was for the offender to make a guilt offering and pay full restitution plus a fifth to the proper owner (Leviticus 6:5). You shall not covet your neighbor's house, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is your neighbor's Our thoughts and beliefs are considered very important by God. In fact, our salvation is based on believing that Jesus Christ is the son of God and our savior. If our beliefs can have that amount of impact on our eternal state, it should not be a surprise that our thoughts are important in regards to more mundane things. Coveting is the improper desire for something that belongs to somebody else. This commandment affirms the ideas of personal property and ownership, just as the eighth commandment does. It is in one sense a preliminary protection against falling into the sins addressed by the other nine commandments. It is also the main line of defense against living unsatisfied lives due only to our own thoughts. As this is one of God's commandments, violating it would require some punishment, probably a guilt offering. |