Meaning of PARENTS

The fifth commandment commands children to honor their parents, and attaches a peculiar blessing to the observance of this duty (Exod. 20:12; Deut. 5:16; Eph. 6:1, 2).

Parents are to raise their children in reverence for God, and not irritate them (Gen. 18:19; Deut. 6:7; Eph. 6:1, 2). The law of Moses ordered the death of anyone who cursed his father or mother (Ex. 21:15, 17; Lev. 20:9; Deut. 27:16).

Extreme cases of rebellion, dissipation or other excesses could be submitted by the parents to the elders, who were then to judge the son and, if he was guilty, he was executed (Deut. 21:18 21).

Thus, the law of Moses limited the power of parents. The Roman law called The Twelve Tables granted the father the right of life and death over his children, which could also be reduced to slavery.

The Mosaic law reserved the exercise of the right of life and death to a judicial body. Among the Israelites, custom allowed a poor man to sell his daughter into slavery, but the law of Moses specified and safeguarded the rights of this daughter (Ex. 21:7-11).

Custom also authorized the creditor to seize the insolvent debtor, his wife, and his children, to reduce them to slavery (2 Kings 4:1; Neh. 5:5; Is. 50: 1; Mt. 18:25).