User talk:Maureendepresident/sandbox

5. The Fifth Commandment. Like all of the other commandments in the decalogue, the Fifth Commandment, “honor your father and your mother …” (Exod 20:12; Deut 5:16), was addressed to adults. It was a prescription requiring the able-bodied to provide care and support for the elderly and is to be understood within the context of the extended, rather than the nuclear, family. A variety of legal prescriptions concerning the elderly form the background of this commandment. Casuistic statements such as those found in the Book of the Covenant (e.g., Exod 21:15, 17) are similar to those found in the laws of neighboring cultures. See LAW (BIBLICAL ANDANE). The positive formulation of the commandment summarizes a whole body of legal prescriptions concerning the physical and material support of the elderly. The promise of life, the effective opposite of a curse, pertains to all of the precepts of the decalogue. It was attached to the Fifth Commandment to emphasize this particular precept. This results in an affirmation of reciprocal justice. During the postexilic period the commandment was particularly significant because of the importance of society’s seniors in passing along the traditions of the people. Various wisdom traditions (e.g., Proverbs 1–9; Sir 3:1–16) elaborate on the implications of the commandment. During the Hellenistic period the commandment was used to provide a scriptural warrant for the obedience owed by children to their parents (e.g., Philo Dec 165–67; Eph 6:2).

Collins, R. F. (1992). Ten Commandments. In D. N. Freedman (Ed.), The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (Vol. 6, p. 385). New York: Doubleday. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Maureendepresident (talk • contribs) 19:30, 17 May 2016 (UTC)