Lessons #249 and 250
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual exposition not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GWT = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Children-Parent responsibilities (Eph 6:1-4)
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” 4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
The primary responsibility of children to their parents while they still live at home with them is to obey them. The justification for children obeying their parents is that that is their obligation or responsibility that is in conformity with God’s standard. This reason, we considered in the clause for this is right of Ephesians 6:1. In reality, that is the first of the many reasons the apostle provided to justify the instruction for children to obey their parents while they are under their roof, as we say.
Another reason children should obey their parents is that such action is in keeping with God’s command, as specified in the Ten Commandments. It is this reason that is supplied in the first part of Ephesians 6:2 Honor your father and mother. By the way, some take this as another command issued to children, especially because there is no connective between verses 1 and 2. This is not wrong as there is a sense that it is an additional command to children, as we will note later. Nonetheless, it is better to take it as a second reason for the instruction of the apostle for children to obey their parents since the instruction is a quotation of an existing instruction in the Scripture. Actually, this is a quotation from the Septuagint of either Exodus 20:12 or Deuteronomy 5:16 of the fifth code of the Ten Commandments that we will consider later. But for the moment, we are concerned with the instruction as it appears in Ephesians 6:2. We indicated that the command is a second reason for children to obey their parents. But there is more to this quotation. This is because the apostle simply quoted the passage without any signal to us that he was quoting from the OT Scripture. Furthermore, he did not begin verse 2 with any of the Greek sign posts or words that will help us to recognize that we should consider the quotation as supplying the second reason children should obey their parents, which as we have mentioned is one reason some take it as another command.
The omission of any connectives between Ephesian 6:2 and 6:1 speak volume. In other words, the Holy Spirit directed the apostle to omit the use of any connectives because he wanted what the apostle wrote to be read carefully so that as the reader focuses on the absence of the connectives the Holy Spirit will enable such an individual to harness some facts about the quotation. A first fact, as we have already mentioned, is that the quotation is intended to convey a second reason children should obey their parents. A second fact is that the most justifiable reason to obey any instruction of the Scripture is because it is authoritative considering the fact that it comes from God. The apostle wrote under the Holy Spirit but it is possible that a reader may forget this truth so by quoting from a passage that is clearly recognized as God’s word then the reader is reminded that the instruction of the apostle is not merely an opinion but authoritative since it comes from the same God who gave the Ten Commandments. A third fact is that the quotation serves as an important condition that should exist with every child in order to truly obey the parents. A fourth fact is that the quotation is to serve as a second command that is concerned with the responsibility of children that extends beyond the time they were under their parents. In other words, there is a secondary responsibility of children that would in a sense become a primary responsibility of all children to their parents once they are grown up and independent of their parents in the sense they have left home.
In any event, we contend that the fourth fact for the quotation is that it serves as a second command that will eventually become a primary responsibility of children with respect to their parents when they become independent of them. This being the case, we need to examine the quotation, so we can understand the point we are making. Again, the quotation reads Honor your father and mother. Our concern with the quotation is to understand what the apostle intends to convey if we take the quotation as a second command or responsibility of children towards their parents after they have left home and are grown up. In other words, we need to understand what it means to honor one’s parents if the instruction is going to be implemented. To do this, we need to explore the word “honor” as it is used in the Greek.
The word “honor” is translated from a Greek word (timaō) that may mean to set a price on something or on a person hence “to estimate, to value.” It is this meaning that is used to reflect the price the Jewish leaders were willing to pay and did pay in order for Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus. In effect, they estimated or valued Jesus at the time of His betrayal by Judas as worth thirty shekels of silver, as we read in Matthew 27:9:
Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “They took the thirty silver coins, the price set on him by the people of Israel,
Another meaning of the Greek word is to show a high regard for someone one or to attribute high status to someone by honoring the person and so means “to honor.” The meaning “honor” has several nuances as we can perceive by considering the use of our Greek word in different passages. The word “honor” could mean “to praise” or “to say wonderful things” about a person. This is the meaning of the word in the quotation given in Matthew 15:8:
“‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
When Prophet Isaiah wrote that God said Israel honored Him with their lips, the sense is that Israel was being hypocritical in that the people will praise God or say great things about Him but they would not obey His commands or care for Him as that is what is meant in the phrase far from me. Another meaning of the word “honor” may be “to revere.” This is probably the intended meaning of Greek word when it is translated “honor” in a passage where Jesus asserted His equality with God the Father in John 5:23:
that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
When Jesus states that all will honor Him as the Father, that is really His way of saying to the Jews that their assumption of Him making Himself God is indeed true, for after all, that is what they declared in John 5:18:
For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
Another meaning of our Greek word is “to respect”, as it is used in 1 Peter 2:17:
Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
Some English versions translate the instruction Show proper respect to everyone as honor all people. Still another meaning of our Greek word is to provide aid or financial assistance to someone. This is the sense that the word is used concerning the apostle’s instruction of how the church should treat widows in 1 Timothy 5:3:
Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need.
The instruction Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need is translated in many of our English versions as Honor widows who are truly widows. The word “honor” although could mean to respect and show sympathy for the widows but the context suggests that the Greek word should be understood not merely in the sense of having an attitude of respect for widows but also include caring and providing for their material needs.
The range of meanings we have considered, enables us to answer the question of what it means for children to honor their parents. The answer is twofold. While they are still members of the household of the parents, the primary meaning is that of showing respect to them. This we can understand because without respect there is no way someone can obey another. This point is underscored in verse 33 of the fifth chapter of Ephesians where the apostle summed his teaching of Christian marriage. Instead of the use of the word “submit” as the primary responsibility of the wife, he used the word “respect”, implying that for the wife to obey the husband there must be first respect for the husband. So it is fitting that the apostle after instructing children to obey their parents would follow with a quotation that will indicate that respect is an essential attitude that every child should possess in order to obey the parents. Thus, a child honors the parents when that individual still living at home respects them. Nevertheless, there is a secondary answer of what it means to honor the parents but this is particularly applicable when children leave home and become independent of their parents. But before we state this secondary meaning, we should emphasize that at no time should any child disrespect the parents. By this we mean that while a child may not obey the parents in the strict sense of obedience to them in the sense of doing exactly what they instruct because the child has grown up and has become independent of the parents, it is never permissible at any time or under any circumstance for a child to disrespect the parents. It is this truth that is implied in the instruction of the wise in Proverbs 23:22:
Listen to your father, who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
Not to despise a mother, involves not showing disrespect to her as well as not rejecting the truth she taught the child while still at home. Please note we said the “truth” not her “bias” which will usually not be in keeping with truth of God’s word. Hence, the passage implies that even when parents are old, their children must still respect them. That aside, the second meaning of what is involved in honoring one’s parents is to take care of them when they become old, so to say. Taking care of aging parents is a responsibility God has given to children, especially those who are believers in Christ since they are expected to accept the instruction of the word of God. Of course, a surface reading of the fifth commandment of honoring father and mother may not lead to the understanding we stated but that is an extended interpretation of how to understand that commandment. This, we learn from the fact that that is how Jesus expounded the commandment of honoring parents in His rebuke of the Jews for holding tradition over the word of God, in that they use tradition to keep them from taking care of their parents. His explanation indicates that failure to take care of one’s parents is failure to obey the fifth commandment of honoring one’s parents, as we read in Mark 7:10–13:
10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ 11 But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: ‘Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban’ (that is, a gift devoted to God), 12 then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. 13 Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”
The Lord implies that the fifth commandment should be understood to include taking care of parents so that no tradition that pretends devotion to God should circumvent that responsibility. Failure to take care of one’s parents is included in the instruction of the Holy Spirit of taking care of relatives, of which if a believer does not, he or she is said to be worse than an unbeliever in 1 Timothy 5:8:
If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Anyway, to honor parents involves primarily to respect them, especially when a child lives with the parents but then it moves to the responsibility of caring for them when they are old while never disrespecting them.
We have considered several facts for the quotation of the apostle from Exodus 20:12 or Deuteronomy 5:16 but before he completed his quotation of the passage, he added a quotation of a commentary about the fifth commandment. This commentary is rendered as which is the first commandment with a promise in Ephesians 6:2. The rendering of the NIV is reflected in majority of our English versions with a handful of English versions translating it differently. A question arises as whether the popular English renderings of our English versions as typified in the NIV reflect what the apostle meant to convey. This question is due to two words “first” and “promise” used in the commentary of the apostle. In effect, did the apostle mean that the fifth commandment is indeed the first commandment with promise or not? Several answers have been given by commentators such as, that the apostle in quoting this meant that it is the first commandment to be taught to children or as reflected in most of our English versions, that it is indeed the first commandment with a promise attached to it. This notwithstanding, to answer this question of what the apostle intended to convey in this quotation, we need to begin with understanding of the word “promise.”
The word “promise” is translated from a Greek word (epangelia) with two general meanings. A first meaning is “promise, pledge”, that is, a declaration to do something with implication of obligation to carry out what is stated. It is in this sense that the word is used primarily in the NT with respect to God, as for example, in Romans 4:13:
It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.
A second meaning of our Greek word is “assurance of agreement, consent.” This meaning is reflected in the suggestion given to the Roman commanding officer about the request of Jewish leaders regarding Paul in Acts 23:21:
Don’t give in to them, because more than forty of them are waiting in ambush for him. They have taken an oath not to eat or drink until they have killed him. They are ready now, waiting for your consent to their request.”
The phrase your consent to their request is literally the assurance of agreement from you. In our passage of Ephesians 6:2, it is the meaning “promise” that is appropriate but we have to remember that a promise is a verbal commitment by one person to another agreeing to do or not to do something in the future. Quite often we think of a promise only in a positive term but a promise can also be given in a negative form. For example, God stated He would destroy the world of Noah by flood waters in Genesis 6:17:
I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.
This declaration of God although negative in nature is a promise because it is a verbal commitment to do something that was fulfilled. Take another example, the Lord declared He would punish the Amalekites in 1 Samuel 15:2:
This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt.
Again, this declaration although negative in nature is a promise because it is a verbal commitment on the part of God to do something to the Amalekites that was fulfilled through King Saul. Therefore, we should not think of a promise only in terms of a positive action although in the English we may think of a negative promise as a threat because a threat is a statement of an intention to inflict injury, damage, or other hostile action as retribution. Nonetheless, we should not ignore that a promise is a verbal commitment by one person to another agreeing to do or not to do something in the future. This understanding is important in answering the question of what the apostle meant in the question of the commentary in Ephesians 6:2 that we are considering.
A second word that we need to examine in the commentary of the apostle in Ephesians 6:2 is the word “first” which is translated from a Greek adjective (prōtos) with two general usages. It pertains to being first in a sequence. The sequence can refer to number as, for example, when the word is used to describe the gates through which the angel that freed Peter from prison led him through in Acts 12:10:
They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.
The sequence can refer to time so that the adjective means “first, earlier, earliest.” It is in the sense of time that the apostle used it to indicate the order in creation of both men and women in 1 Timothy 2:13:
For Adam was formed first, then Eve.
The sequence may refer to space as it is used to describe rooms in the Tabernacle in Hebrews 9:2:
A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand, the table and the consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place.
A second category of the use of our Greek adjective pertains to prominence with several nuances. It can pertain to being of a high rank and so means “prominent, leading” as it is used to describe the high ranking or leaders in a city of Pisidian Antioch in Acts 13:50:
But the Jews incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region.
The phrase the leading men of the city is translated the most prominent men of the city in some English versions but literally the Greek reads the first men of the city. The word may
pertain to being superior in value to all other items of the same class hence means “best”, as it is used in Luke 15:22:
“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
The phrase best robe is more literally first robe. On the other hand, under this second general usage, the word can mean “worst”, as it is used in 1 Timothy 1:15:
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.
The clause of whom I am the worst is literally first of whom I am. The use of the meaning “worst” in this passage of 1 Timothy could be misleading since it leads most Christians to think the apostle meant he is the worst of all the sinners in spite of him being a moral individual who was a strict Pharisee that complied to the laws as he understood it. That is not what the apostle meant to say. He meant he is the most prominent of all sinners or even the most notorious of all sinners considering the fact that he persecuted the church. Anyway, our Greek adjective under this second category of usage may mean “most important.” This meaning is most evident in the interaction of Jesus with one of the teachers of the law that posed a question to Him. Mark records this incident in Mark 12:28–31:
28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” 29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
The problem of this passage is not obvious from the translation of the NIV because the translators used the meaning “most important” in translating our Greek adjective. So, to show the problem of the passage, let us consider the question of the teacher of the law in verse 28 that reads: Of all the commandments, which is the most important? Literally, the question reads Which is the first command of all? So far so good. But the problem arises with Jesus response to the question given in verses 29 and 30: The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ Literally, the two verses read: and Jesus answered him— ‘The first of all the commands is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God out of all your heart, and out of your soul, and out of all your understanding, and out of all your strength—this is the first command. If our Greek adjective is taken with the meaning “first” as it is done in the literal translation, we have a problem with Jesus’ answer in that His answer is a quotation from Deuteronomy 6:5:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
This command in Deuteronomy is clearly not the first command since the first command is that given in the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 5:7:
“You shall have no other gods before me.
The implication is that if Jesus indeed meant the first commandment then He contradicts what is recorded in the Scripture. This cannot be since as God He is the giver of the Scripture. However, if our Greek adjective is taken not in the literal sense of “first” but with the meaning “most important” then there is no conflict in that Jesus meant to teach that the most important commandment is to love the Lord. This teaching of our Lord Jesus makes perfect sense because a person who loves the Lord shows that by obedience to His word or commandments, implying that the person will then obey all the other commandments. We are saying that since the best proof of love for God is obedience then the most important of all the commands is to love the Lord and, in that way, the one who so engages will obey every commandment of the Lord that begins with not worshipping anything but Him. Thus, we have seen that the Greek word that literal means “first” does not always have that meaning in every passage.
Our consideration of the words “first” and “promise” enable us to deal with the problem of what the apostle meant to communicate in the Greek of the clause rendered which is the first commandment with a promise in Ephesians 6:2. The issue is how to understand the Greek adjective translated “first” in the NIV. Based on our consideration, it is best to take the Greek adjective to mean “of great importance” or “prominent” in our context. This means that the apostle meant that the fifth commandment is an important or prominent command with a promise attached to it. This interpretation is reflected in at least three English versions. The HCSB (Holman Christian Standard Bible) gives as an alternative reading a preeminent commandment to the phrase first commandment of the NIV while both the GWT and the ISV translate the phrase as important commandment probably following the recommendation of the third edition of the standard Greek-English lexicon of BADG that translates the Greek phrase as a commandment of great importance. The reason this translation is to be preferred is that in truth the fifth command is not the first with a promise attached to it if we carefully examine the Ten Commandments. Consider the second commandment as given in Deuteronomy 5:8–10:
8“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 9 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 10but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
The second commandment has implied with it two promises: one negative and one positive although these could be understood as saying something about God. The negative promise is that of punishing those who violate it while the positive promise is the blessing that will come to those who obey it as well as the rest of the commandments. Likewise, the third commandment also carries with it an implied negative promise of punishment, as we read in Deuteronomy 5:11:
“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
The clause for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name may alternatively be translated for the Lord will not leave unpunished anyone who misuses his name. Hence, there is the implied promise of punishment for violating the third commandment. Therefore, there are promises attached to both the second and third commandments so that it will be incorrect to say that the fifth commandment is the first with a promise attached to it. It is better to understand that the apostle meant that the fifth commandment is an important one or of great importance. Of course, I have to confess that for so long, as most of you have done, I have taken the commentary to be saying the first commandment with a promise but on further study as we have demonstrated, it is clearer that that was not what the apostle meant to say.
There is another problem with the clause which is the first commandment with a promise which is how to translate the Greek phrase rendered with a promise. The problem arises because of the Greek preposition (en) translated “with” in the NIV may also mean “because of.” Thus, the phrase could be understood as providing a reason the fifth commandment is of great importance or it could be telling us in what respect the fifth commandment is of great importance. It is difficult to decide since each interpretation makes good sense in the context. It is probably that the Holy Spirit wants us to understand it as both giving the reason and stating in what respect the fifth commandment is of great importance. In any event, the fifth commandment has a promise associated with it.
A surface reading of what the apostle wrote in Ephesians 6:3 may suggest that there are two promises but a careful consideration indicates that there is one promise instead of two. The reason it appears there are two promises is the first clause of Ephesians 6:3 that it may go well with you. The question is how to interpret this clause. To begin with, the word that or the phrase in order that in some English versions is intended to convey the purpose or result of obedience to parents. That aside, the clause is taken by many as another promise which has to do with prosperity as indicated in the suggestion that the clause should be read that you may prosper. The problem with this interpretation is that it does not keep to the literal reading of the Greek in order that it may be well with you. It is probably better to understand the clause as simply saying that it will be beneficial to a child to obey the parents in this way it is not so much a promise as that which introduces the promise. This is because the adverb well is translated from a Greek word (eu) that basically means “good.” It can mean “good” in the sense of meeting a standard of performance so that it can be translated “well done” as it is used in Jesus’ Parable of the Ten Minas to commend a faithful servant in Luke 19:17:
“‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’
The Greek adverb can mean “good” in the sense of being beneficial in ethical/moral sense. In this sense, the translators of the NIV gave it the meaning “help” in Mark 14:7:
The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me.
The sentence you can help them is more literally you can do good for them. In another passage, the Greek adverb has the sense of rightly or correctly. I am referring to its use in the letter to the Gentile Christians of the decision of the first church council in Jerusalem, as given in Acts 15:29:
You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.
To tell the Gentile Christians that if they avoided the things specified they will do well is simply saying that they will act correctly. It is this interpretation that is supported by the translations of the Vulgate, Armenian, and Coptic of this passage. Anyway, in our passage of Ephesians 6:3, the sense of the Greek adverb is to be beneficial. This means that the clause that it may go well with you simply is stating that obedience to parents will be beneficial to children who do so.
We are arguing that the clause that it may go well with you could not possibly be a promise but an added commentary to the fifth commandment. This is clear from the fact that the version of the fifth commandment given in Exodus does not contain this clause as evident 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 same fifth commandment is given in Deuteronomy 5:16:
“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.
Clearly, the basic fifth commandment of honoring one’s parents is the same both in Exodus version and that of Deuteronomy. The difference between that of the instruction in Exodus and Deuteronomy is that that of Deuteronomy contains more clauses. For example, the clause as the Lord your God has commanded you is not found in Exodus. But this is not a part of the commandment; instead it is a commentary by Moses. The clause and that it may go well with you that is not found in Exodus is certainly an added commentary of what it means to live long in the land. In effect, we are saying that the clause is one that is added by Moses under the directive of the Holy Spirit to indicate that living long in the land is that which is beneficial to Israel. We have to remember that Moses was giving his final farewell speech and so as he rehearsed the Ten Commandments, the Holy Spirit enabled Him to clarify the commandments with additional commentaries. This we can demonstrate by considering another commandment. The fourth commandment that has to do with the keeping of the Sabbath is stated somewhat differently in Exodus and Deuteronomy. The Exodus instruction reads Exodus 20:8:
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
The instruction in Deuteronomy reads in Deuteronomy 5:12:
“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you.
In Exodus, Moses used the word “remember” in the sense of observing the Sabbath day and so in his farewell address he used the word “observe” so there can be no misunderstanding of what he meant in the fourth commandment as recorded in Exodus. In effect, he was mindful of the fact that it is possible that someone may not realize that the commandment has to do with keeping the day as specified and so he used a word that removes any ambiguity. Of course, the clause as the Lord your God has commanded you is simply a commentary that adds nothing to the commandment. Nevertheless, the details of the instruction of the fourth commandment differ in both passages. The details of the commandment associated with the keeping of the Sabbath are given in Exodus 20:10–11:
10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
The details associated with the same commandment are given in Deuteronomy 5:13–15:
13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do. 15Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.
The details given later in Deuteronomy involved commentaries the Holy Spirit put in Moses’ mouth to help clarify any misconception of the fourth commandment. The details in Exodus did not include the fact that Israel is to carry out their labors and work in six days as given in Deuteronomy but that is implied. Also, the details in Exodus did not indicate that one of the reasons for the Sabbath is so that the labor force in Israel will rest as explained in Deuteronomy when Moses stated in the last clause of verse 14 so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do. The details in Exodus involve the reason for the giving of the Sabbath which is that God rested on the seventh day after creation. Instead, in Deuteronomy, Moses explained the reason the people of Israel should obey the fourth commandment, which is that God delivered them from slavery in Egypt. Anyway, we can see that the basic fourth commandment is the same both in Exodus and in Deuteronomy but the details are different primarily because Deuteronomy version contains further elaboration of the original Ten Commandments, being part of the farewell address to Moses. Therefore, he had to add details that are necessary to clarify any misconception that could arise from the original Ten Commandments, as recorded in Exodus 20.
In any case, we have gone through this length simply because we want to show that the clause of Ephesians 6:3 that it may go well with you that is quoted from the Septuagint of Deuteronomy 5:16 is not a second promise associated with the fifth commandment of honoring one’s parents but an explanation that the Holy Spirit added through Moses for purpose of clarification of the fifth commandment. In effect, as we have indicated, the clause is one that says that obeying the fifth commandment is beneficial. The point is that the clause that it may go well with you or its equivalent is one that is intended to indicate that compliance to the word of God is beneficial with often the benefit being stated. So, Moses used it to indicate that if Israel obeyed God it will be beneficial to them in that they will increase in population in the Promised Land, as we read in Deuteronomy 6:3:
Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, promised you.
The clause that it may go well with you is used to indicate that the benefit to Israel of doing what the Lord approves is that they will take hold of the land the Lord promised to their forefathers in Deuteronomy 6:18:
Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land that the Lord promised on oath to your forefathers.
The clause that it may go well with you is used to indicate that not eating blood is the right thing to do and so beneficial without actually specifying how in Deuteronomy 12:25:
Do not eat it, so that it may go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord.
Moses also used the clause so that it may go well with in the instruction of not taking the young bird with its mother in its nest in Deuteronomy 22:7:
You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go, so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life.
Here we find the same clause as given in the fifth commandment and so we are certain that the clause that it may go well with you is not another promise associated with the fifth commandment but one that says that it is beneficial to children to be obedient to their parents. In anyway, we have argued that there is only one promise that is associated with the fifth commandment of honoring one’s parents. What is this promise? We will consider the answer in our next study. But let me leave you to ponder the fact that to honor your parents means to respect them when you live under their roof and to take care of them with respect when you become independent of them.