Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you



The Book of Exodus states the Fifth Commandment as:

“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” (Ex 20:12)

The Book of Deuteronomy states the Fifth Commandments as:

“Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” (Deut 5:16)

And yet many people today believe that instead of children being accountable to their parents, that parents are accountable to their children.  After all, we have Children’s Aid Societies and not Parents’ Aid Societies.  We have Child Protection Acts and not Parent Protection Acts.  Regrettably, some children are neglected, physically abused, sexually abused, and even murdered.

I came across a 2003 University of Western Ontario report entitled Child Protection Legislation in Ontario: Past, Present and Future?  Its abstract reads, “Ontario has undergone significant shifts in child welfare policy emphasizing different approaches toward promoting the safety and welfare for children.  This article examines shifts in child welfare policy over the past 200 hundred years and the manner in which these shifts reflect changing views of children, of family as a social unit and of society.”

Rest assured that the Bible was nowhere on the list of the report’s references.  We seem to be moving to a society in which parents honour their children rather than one in which children honour their parents.  And the statistics in the report show an increasing number of children in the care of the Children’s Aid Society.

When God revealed the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, honour your father and your mother was the fifth commandment.  Honour your father and your mother comes after the four commandments to honour God and before the commandments to not murder and not commit adultery.

Failing to honour your father and your mother was a serious offence in the theocracy of Ancient Israel.  If you stole money from someone, your could repay four or five times what you stole.  If you testified falsely against someone in court, you could serve the sentence intended for the falsely accused.  But if you failed to honour your father and your mother, the penalty was death.

Imagine you had a Get Out of Jail Free Card – or in the case of Ancient Israel, a Get Out of Stoning Free Card – you could take your pick: you could either murder, commit adultery, or fail to honour your father or your mother.

The Book of Exodus provides specific penalties for failing to honour one’s father and mother:

“Anyone who attacks their father or mother is to be put to death.”
(Ex 21:15)

“Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.”
(Ex 21:17)

The Book of Leviticus gives additional information on this commandment:

Positively:

“Each of you must respect your mother and father, and you must observe my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God.” (Lev 19:3)

And negatively:

“Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.  Because they have cursed their father or mother, their blood will be on their own head.” (Lev 20:9)

Just after Israel crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land, the children of Israel repeated ten curses upon those who violate the Law.  The second curse, right after the curse upon anyone setting up an idol, was:

“Cursed is anyone who dishonors their father or mother.”
(Deut 27:16a)

The Book of Deuteronomy probably provides the most frightening example of what happens to someone who does not obey his father and mother within the theocracy of Ancient Israel.  It reads:

If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town.  They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious.  He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.”  Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death.  You must purge the evil from among you.  All Israel will hear of it and be afraid. (Deut 21:18-21)

The Book of Proverbs, written 500 years after the revelation of the Law, adds:

“If someone curses their father or mother,
their lamp will be snuffed out in pitch darkness.” (Prov 20:20)

1,500 years after the revelation of the Law, the Apostle Paul, who was a Jewish Christian, told non-Jewish 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— “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” (Eph 6:1-3); and,

Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the
Lord.  (Col 3:20)

Because people are always inventing reasons and excuses to avoid following God’s commandments, Jesus Christ criticized people who had invented ceremonies and traditions to prevent the honouring of father and mother.  Jesus says:

“You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!  For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’  But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God) — then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. (Mk 7:9-12, cf. Mt 15:3-8)
 
This thing is certain – honour your father and mother.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

If God Can Humble Nebuchadnezzar, God Can Humble Anybody


Many people have heard of Nebuchadnezzar, the famous King of the Babylonian Empire that ruled the world in 600 BC.  Nebuchadnezzar is famous for his Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Saddam Hussein is rumoured to have considered himself to be a reincarnation of Nebuchadnezzar.  He had the inscription “To King Nebuchadnezzar in the reign of Saddam Hussein” inscribed on the bricks of his reconstruction of the ancient city of Babylon in Iraq, and named one of his Republican Guard divisions after him.

Nebuchadnezzar is also one of the most infamous characters in the Old Testament because of his role in destroying Jerusalem and the Temple and taking the Jews out of Judah and out of Jerusalem hundreds of miles away to Babylon for a 70 year captivity.

Nebuchadnezzar figures prominently in the Book of Daniel.  Daniel was one of the Jewish youths who was caught up in the exile to Babylon.  His captors rename him Belteshazzar, after the name of the god of Babylon, Bel.

After defeating Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream one night, and when his magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers can’t correctly interpret it, he orders the execution of all of Babylon’s wise men.

After Daniel saves the day by correctly interpreting Nebuchadnezzar’s dream:

… King Nebuchadnezzar (falls) prostrate before Daniel and (pays) him honor and (orders) that an offering and incense be presented to him.  The king (says) to Daniel, “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.” (Dan 2:46-47)

Later on, Nebuchadnezzar makes a gigantic gold statue and orders everybody to fall down and worship it or die.  When three Jews, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, refuse to worship the image, they are thrown into a furnace of fire.  When they miraculously survive, Nebuchadnezzar confesses:

“Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants!  They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.  Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way.” (Dan 3:28-29)

After Daniel correctly interprets another dream of Nebuchadnezzar when, once again, the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners cannot interpret it, Nebuchadnezzar confesses to everybody in his empire:

It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me.

How great are his signs,
how mighty his wonders!
His kingdom is an eternal kingdom;
his dominion endures from generation to generation. (Dan 4:2-3)

Nebuchadnezzar eventually becomes so powerful that his heart becomes arrogant and hardened with pride (Dan 5:20).  God decides to greatly humble Nebuchadnezzar by driving him to insanity and taking away his kingdom for seven years.

Daniel explains that:

… he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory.
He was driven away from people and given the mind of an animal;
he lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like the ox;
and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven,
his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the
claws of a bird.  until he acknowledged that the Most High God is
sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and sets over them anyone
he wishes.
(Dan 4:33b, 5:20-21)

After God restores Nebuchadnezzar’s sanity and his throne, Nebuchadnezzar says:

I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity
was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and
glorified him who lives forever.

His dominion is an eternal dominion;
his kingdom endures from generation
to generation.
All the peoples of the earth
are regarded as nothing.
He does as he pleases
with the powers of heaven
and the peoples of the earth.
No one can hold back his hand
or say to him: “What have you done?”

Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just.  And those who walk in pride he is able to humble. (Dan 4:34, 35, 37, 5:20-21)

Before Nebuchadnezzar, the last guy who attempted to destroy Jerusalem was King Sennacherib of Assyria.  He came up against Jerusalem in 700 BC, but God killed off 185,000 of his troops.  King Sennacherib then went home to the temple of his god Nisrok and two of his sons murdered him.  In contrast, one hundred years later in 600 BC, Nebuchadnezzar does succeed in destroying Jerusalem and the Temple; and yet God reveals Himself to him.  In bringing Nebuchadnezzar to repentance, God was very merciful to him.

Douglas F. Kelly compares God's ability to speak light into the dark human soul and make it reborn to God's speaking light into existence.

The Sending Forth of Light The Ancient of Days  ( William Blake , 1794) A third divine action occurred on the first day of creation: &...