Season 5 Podcast 5, “From Father to Son.”
The Fifth Commandment is often called ‘the commandment with a promise.’
“Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”
The Ten Commandments, called by James, The Law of Liberty, written in stone by the finger of the Lord, were delivered by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. The Children of Israel had just been led out of Egypt, a land of idol worshipers and totalitarian law. The Lord gave Israel monotheism, a prophet, the Ten Commandments, and wise judges. It was the first liberty they had in 400 years.
The first five commandments establish God as the only true God. He is often introduced as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, reminding the Children of Israel of the Abrahamic covenant. The Abrahamic Covenant promised the House of Israel that they would have eternal land, eternal priesthood, and eternal family. That covenant is why the Lord gave the Fifth Commandment in the order it is in: “Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”
The first five commandment deal with godhood. The last five commandments deal with the fundamental laws necessary for society to survive. It was the perfect combination. At the core of any free government is a strong family. The destruction of the family will destroy any free government, including America.
Commandment five is the link between heaven and earth. The story of Adam and Eve is fundamental to life. The earthly family is patterned after the heavenly family. God is the father of our spirits just as our earthly father is the father of our physical body. The Apostle Paul said, “Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?” There can be no children spiritual or physical without a mother. That is taught in the creation story. The physical body does not have life in itself until the spirit is placed in the body making it a living soul.
In Season 1 Podcast 36, I paid tribute to my mother. In this podcast, in honor of the Fifth Commandment, I want to pay tribute to my father.
My father was a very quiet man. Born in Tennessee, he came with his mother and seven brothers and two sisters to South Carolina when he was nine years old. It was during the depression. Starving, they came to work in the cotton mills. His father, a mountain man, remained behind in Tennessee and wandered the hills the rest of his life, in self-exile, living off the charity of others, lost, alone and homeless.
My father loved the land perhaps more than anyone else I have known. His large garden was always a show piece. I would like to share one incident that marks his honest nature and one which, though I was an adult, reminded me of my childhood. The incident is significant here because my father by example taught the principle of honesty to one of my daughters. It is an example of how virtues (as well as vices I suppose) can travel through families for generations.
My daughter, Natalie, and I were tired, our backs aching after spending three hours sitting on wire baskets, bending over the heavy-laden rows, picking half runners by the handfuls. It was a hot July day in Charlotte, North Carolina. We headed for the shade, but my father, who just turned 77, continued puttering. Natalie exclaimed, "Doesn't grandpa ever run out of energy?"
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