Matthew 15:4

Mat_15:4

Honour thy father and mother.

The duty of children to honour their parents

I. What is it to honour parents? To obey them in all that is right, when they require it. To do what is right whether they require it or not. To respect their feelings in reference to the choice of companions or of a profession. To act on all occasions so as not to make their parents ashamed of their conduct.

II. Insist on the duty which this commandment enjoins on children. By so doing they will obtain the blessing of God, secure peace of conscience, etc. God requires it-the highest and most solemn of all considerations. (D. Dobie.)

A parents honour

I. The command. Honour comprises filial love, reverence and esteem, obedience and submission, succour and help.

II. The obligation. Natural, social, Divine. (Dr. Lyth.)

Honouring parents

George Washington, when quite young, was about to go to sea as a midshipman. Everything was in readiness. His trunk had been taken on board the boat; but as he bade his mother farewell, he noticed that her eyes were filled with tears and that she was almost overcome by emotion. Seeing her distress, he turned to the servant, and said, Go and tell them to fetch my trunk back. I will not go away to break my mothers heart. His mother, struck with his decision, said to him, George, God has promised to bless the children that honour their parents; and I believe He will bless you.

Working of the law of Corban

The scribes held that these words, even when pronounced in spite and anger against parents who needed succour, excused the son from his natural duty; and, on the other hand, did not oblige him really to devote the sum to the service of God or of the temple. (A. Carr.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 15:4. Ὁ γὰρ Θεὸς, for God) In contrast with ὑμεῖς δὲ, but you, in Mat 15:5.—τίμα, honour) Honour signifies benefits which are due (see Gnomon on 1Ti 5:3), the denial of which is the greatest insult. Thus, in the S. V. of Pro 3:9, τίμα τὸν Κύριον (honour the Lord) occurs with reference to sacrifices. An instance of metonymy of the antecedent for the consequent. In Exo 20:12, S. V., it stands thus:—τίμα τὸν πατέρα σου καὶ τὴν μητέρα σου: honour thy father and thy mother. The second σου (thy) is not expressed in the present passage.—ὁ κακολογῶν, he that curseth) In Exo 21:16: ὁ κακολογῶν πατέρα αὐτοῦ ἢ μητέρα αὐτοῦ θανάτῳ τελευτάτω:[680] he that curseth his father or his mother, let him die[681] the death.—Life is assailed by curses, and children receive their life through their parents.—θανάτῳ, death) Observe this, O youth!

[680] The Vatican MS. reads τελευτήσει θανάτῳ.—(I. B.)

[681] Lit. “Let him die by death.”—(I. B.)

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_15:4. Exo_20:12; Exo_21:17.

τίμα] involves the idea of a practical manifestation of reverence in the form of kind deeds, Mat_15:5.

θανάτῳ τελευτ.] מוֹת יוּמָת, the meaning of which (he shall certainly die, he executed) has not been exactly hit by the LXX. in the phrase θανάτῳ τελ., though it is in conformity, with Greek idiom: He shall end (Mat_2:19) by death (execution, Plat. Rep. p. 492 D, and very frequently in classical writers). See Lobeck, Paral. p. 523; Köster, Erläut. p. 53.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 15:4 . ὁ γὰρ θεὸς : counter charge substantiated. The question being the validity of the tradition and its value, its evil tendency might be illustrated at will in connection with any moral interest. It might have been illustrated directly in connection with moral purity versus ceremonial. The actual selection characteristic of Jesus as humane , and felicitous as exceptionally clear . τίμʼ … τελευτάτω : fifth commandment (Exo 20:12 ), with its penal sanction (Exo 21:17 ).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

By honor is meant all kinds of duties which children owe to their parents.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother-- (Deu 5:16).

and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death-- (Exo 21:17).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 4. Honour thy father and mother] This word was taken in great latitude of meaning among the Jews: it not only meant respect and submission, but also to take care of a person, to nourish and support him, to enrich. See Nu 22:17; Jdg 13:17; 1Ti 5:17. And that this was the sense of the law, as it respected parents, see De 27:16, and See Clarke on Ex 20:12.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(4) God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and thy mother.—At first it might seem as if our Lord Himself, no less than the Pharisees, had taught men to think lightly of the commandment on which He now lays stress. He had called on men to forsake father and mother for the sake of the gospel (Mat_4:18; Mat_4:22), and had excluded from discipleship those who loved father and mother more than they loved Him (Mat_10:37). We need not close our eyes to the difficulty which thus presents itself. But the answer is not far to seek. In our Lord’s teaching, a lower, natural duty was to give way exceptionally to a higher and supernatural one; otherwise it remained in full force. In that of the Pharisees the natural duty, enforced by a direct divine commandment, was made to give way to one which was purely human, arbitrary, and conventional. The two cases were not only not analogous, but stood on an entirely different footing.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4. For God commanded] “For Moses said” (Mark).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For God commanded, saying,.... That he might not be thought to suggest this without any foundation, he gives them an instance, wherein a command of God was transgressed, by the observance of their tradition: the command he refers to, stands in Exo 20:12 and is this;

Honour thy father and mother. This was a plain command of God, written with his own hand, and delivered by Moses to them; it was of a moral nature, and of eternal obligation: and to be understood, not merely of that high esteem parents are to be had in by their children, and of the respectful language and gesture to be used towards them, and of the cheerful obedience to be yielded to them; but also of honouring them with their substance, feeding, clothing, and supplying them with the necessaries of life, when they stand in need thereof; which is but their reasonable service, for all the care, expense, and trouble they have been at, in bringing them up in the world: nor did the Jews deny this to be the duty of children to their parents, and own it to be the sense of the commandment: they say (p), that this is the weightiest commandment among the weighty ones, even this, the honouring of father and mother; and ask,

"What is this honour? To which is replied, he must give him food, drink, and clothing; buckle his shoes, and lead him in, and bring him out.''

They indeed laid down this as a rule, and it seems a very equitable one (q); that,

"when a man's father has any money, or substance, he must be supported out of that; but if he has none, he must support him out of his own.''

But then, as will be seen hereafter, they made void this command of God, and their own explications of it, by some other tradition. Moreover, Christ observes, that it is said, Exo 21:17

And he that curseth father or mother, let him die the death; temporal and eternal: and which is a positive command of God, made as a fence for the former; and is to be understood, not only of giving abusive language to parents, but of slighting, as the Hebrew word signifies, and neglecting them, taking no notice of them, when needy and in distress, to supply their wants. Now these commands of God, Christ shows the Jews transgressed by their tradition, as appears from the following verses.

(p) T. Hieros. Kiddushin, fol. 61. 2. (q) Piske Toseph. ad T. Bab. Kiddushin, art. 61.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

4 For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.

Ver. 4. For God commanded, saying] This is called the first commandment with promise, viz. the first affirmative commandment, or the first in the second table; or the first of all the ten with promise. {a} For that in the second commandment is rather a declaration of God’s justice and mercy, and that to the observers of the whole law; but here is a particular promise made to them that keep this particular commandment.

Honour thy father and mother] Among other good offices, nourish and cherish them, as Joseph did Jacob and his family, Chepi tappam, as a man nourisheth his little ones, lovingly and tenderly, Gen 47:12; be unto them as Obed was to Naomi, "a restorer of her life, and a nourisher of her old age," Rth 4:15. This the apostle commends to us, as a thing not only good before men, but acceptable before God, 1Ti 5:4. This the stork and the mouse teach us, by their singular love to their aged sires, Plin. x. 23. Cornelius was the staff of his father’s age, and thereby merited the honourable name of Scipio among the Romans. Epaminondas rejoiced in nothing more than that he had lived to cheer up the hearts of his aged parents by the reports of his victories. Our parents are our household gods, said Hierocles. {b} Aeneas is surnamed Pius, for his love to his father, whom he bore upon his back out of the fire of Troy. And Aristotle tells how that when from the hill Aetna there ran down a torrent of fire that consumed all the houses thereabouts, in the midst of those fearful flames God’s special care of the godly shined most brightly. For the river of fire parted itself, and made a kind of lane for those who ventured to rescue their aged parents, and pluck them out of the jaws of death. {c}

He that curseth father or mother] That giveth them an ill word (κακολογων), or but an ill look; for vultu saepe laeditur pietas. "The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it." {d} Now they are cursed with a witness, whom the Holy Ghost thus curseth in such emphatic manner, in such exquisite terms.

{a} Eph 6:2. εντολη properly signifieth an affirmative commandment. See Dr Gouge on Dom. Duties.

{b} Οι γονεις ημων Θεοι εφεστιοι.

{c} πλησιον γαρ αυτων γενομενος πυρος ποταμος εξεσχιθη. Arist. de Mundo, cap. 6.

{d} Pro 30:17. Effossos oculos voret atro gutture corvus. Catul.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mark hath much the same, Mar 7:10-13. Mark saith Moses said, which is the same with God commanded: God commanded by Moses. Mark saith, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift. Mark addeth, Mar 7:12, And ye suffer him no more to do aught for his father or mother; which more fully shows their crime, and expounds what Matthew had said more shortly. Mark adds, and many such like things do ye. This is an instance by which our Saviour justifieth his charge upon them, that they had made void the law of God by their traditions. The law he instances in is the fifth commandment, Exo 20:12; Deu 5:16; which the apostle calleth the first commandment with promise, Eph 6:2; which God had fortified with a judicial law, wherein he had commanded, that he who cursed his father and mother should be put to death Exo 21:17; Lev 20:9 he had also further threatened the violaters of this law, Pro 20:20. By the way, our Saviour here also lets us know, that the fifth commandment obliges children to relieve their parents in their necessity, and this is the sense of the term honour in other texts of Scripture: a law of God which hath approved itself to the wisdom almost of all nations. Liberi parentes alant aut vinciantur, Let children relieve their parents or be put into prison, was an old Roman law. Nor did the Pharisees deny this in terms, but they had made an exception from it, which in effect made it of no use, at least such as wicked children easily might, and commonly did, elude it by: they had taught the people to say to their parents, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me: and in that case, though they did not give their poor parents any thing wherewith they might relieve their necessities, yet they should be guiltless as to the fifth commandment. There is a strange variety of interpreters as to this text. Some making the sense this, That which I should relieve you with I have dedicated unto God, and therefore I cannot relieve you. Others thus, I have dedicated my estate to God, and that will be as much good and benefit to you, as if I had given it unto you. Others think that Corban was the form of an oath, from whence they form other senses. But the most free and unconstrained sense seemeth to be this: The Pharisees were a very courteous generation, and had a share in the gifts that were brought unto God for the use of the temple or otherwise; thence they were very zealous and diligent in persuading people to make such oblations. When any pretended the need that their parents stood in of their help, they told them, that if they told their parents it was a gift, that they had vowed such a portion of their estate to a sacred use, that would before God excuse them for not relieving their parents; so as the precept of honouring their parents, and relieving them in their necessities, obliged them not, if they had first given to God the things by which their parents might or ought to have been relieved. Thus he tells them, that by their traditions, under pretence of a more religion, and expounding the Divine law, they had indeed destroyed it, and made it of no effect at all.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

4. God commanded — There are some who deny the authority of the Old Testament, yet admit the New. Our Saviour here sets his seal to the divine mission of Moses, and declares that the decalogue is God’s law. Honour thy father — Our Saviour selects the precept where the law coincides with the plainest dictate of nature, and with the universal conscience and customs of mankind.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Christ proceeds to give an instance of the evacuation of the Law by means of tradition. God commanded. Mark, in the parallel passage, has, "Moses said," which may be taken, in conjunction with our text, as conveying our Lord"s testimony to the Divine origin of the Mosaic code. Christ cites the fifth commandment, because it more especially appealed to the conscience of every one, and was emphasized by the solemn enactment of death as the penalty of its infringement. (Exo_20:12 Exo_21:17) Honour (tima). This term includes the idea of succor and support, as in 1Ti_5:3, "Honour widows that are widows indeed;" and in 1Ti_5:17, where timh means "stipend." In Ecc 38:1, "Honour a physician with the honours due unto him," the expression has reference to his proper fees, the honorarium paid for his services. In God"s view honour to parents is not shown only in outward salutations, obedience, and respect, but also in material assistance, help provided for their needs, alms freely bestowed when necessary. This well known signification makes the tradition next given more inexcusable. Die the death. A Hebraism, equivalent to "shall surely be put to death". (comp. Gen_2:17, margin) If words against parents are thus punished, shall not deeds be visited?

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

honour thy father and mother - Which implies all such relief as they stand in need of. Exod. xx, 12; xxi, 17.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

4. For God said. Exod. 21:17. He that speaketh evil, etc. The Ten Commandments promised long life to those who honored father and mother. Here the Lord quotes the punishment of dishonoring them. On nothing did Moses insist more than respect for parents.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Connecting Statement:

Jesus continues to respond to the Pharisees.

General Information:

In verse 4, Jesus quotes twice from Exodus to show how God expects people to treat their parents.

will surely die

"the people will surely execute him"

But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother "Whatever help you would have received from me is now a gift given to God,"' that person does not need to honor his father

This has a quotation within a quotation. If necessary you can translate them as indirect quotations. AT: "But you teach that a person does not need to honor his parents by giving them something that may help them if the person tells his parents that he has already given it as a gift to God" (See: Quotes Within Quotes and Direct and Indirect Quotations)

But you say

Here "you" is plural and refers to the Pharisees and scribes. (See: Forms of You)

does not need to honor his father

It is implied that "his father" means "his parents." This means the religious leaders taught that a person does not need to show respect to his parents by taking care of them. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

you have made void the word of God for the sake of your traditions

"you have made your traditions more important than God's commands"

translationWords

God

honor

evil

die

gift

word of God

tradition

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

4. ὁ γὰρ θεὸς ἐνετείλατο, answering to τὴν ἐντολὴν τοῦ θεοῦ, as in Mat 15:5, ὑμεῖς λέγετε refers back to διὰ τὴν παράδοσιν ὑμῶν. St Mark has Μωϋσῆς γὰρ εἶπεν (Mat 7:10), an instructive variation.

ὁ κακολογῶν. As a classical word κακολογεῖν or κακῶς λέγειν—the preferable form (Lob. Phryn. 200), means to ‘abuse,’ ‘revile;’ so in LXX. θεοὺς οὐ κακολογήσεις, Exo 22:28. In many passages the Hebrew word represented here by κακολογεῖν is translated by ἀτιμάζειν and means ‘to treat with disrespect,’ ‘to despise.’ In one form, however, of the Hebr. verb the meaning is ‘to curse,’ but the first sense is to be preferred here: ‘whoever makes light of their claims to support,’ &c. See Guillemard, Hebraisms in N.T., ad loc.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4.] θανάτῳ τελ. is a Hebraism, מוֹת יוּמָת: see reff. LXX.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4. For God said, Honour the father and the mother; and, He who curseth father or mother, let him surely die.] Mk. has: “For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, he who curseth father or mother, let him surely die.”—θεός] substituted for Μωυσῆς to heighten the antithesis.—τίμα τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὴν μητέρα] Mk. has σου twice. So LXX. in Deu 5:16. In Exo 20:12, only after πατέρα.—ὁ κακολογῶν, κ.τ.λ.] from Exo 21:17 LXX. has αὐτοῦ twice and τελευτήσει θανάτῳ , but A F Luc θανάτῳ τελευτάτω. For ἤ the Heb. has “and.”

(M)

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Die the death [θανατω τελευτατω] . The Hebrew idiom is, he shall certainly be executed. The Greek is, lit., let him come to his end by death.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.