Recently, a young man told me he was sure he honored his parents. I asked what he meant by “honor”. He did some rabbinic reasoning and answered my question with a question!

“What do you think that means?”

I was surprised by what came out of my mouth. I knew the biblical Hebrew word for ‘honor’ was ‘kavod’. It means “to be heavy, weighty”. I replied, “Since it means ‘heavy’, or ‘weight’, it follows that it means to give weight to their opinions.”

I continued, “In this way it will go well with you, as this commandment says, ‘Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well with you on the land which the LORD your God gives you.’” (Deut. 5:16)

He was stunned and had no reply! He is part of a generation that devalues the opinion of parents.

Leviticus 19:1-4 gives us an important progression:

“Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying:
‘Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them,’
You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.
‘Every one of you shall reverence his mother and his father,
and you shall keep My sabbaths; I am the LORD your God.

Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods; I am the LORD your God.”

1. Be holy (set apart) as the LORD is holy.
2. Reverence mother and father. The Biblical Hebrew word for ‘reverence’ is very strong. It is ‘yaray’, which means “to fear, be afraid, stand in awe, revere”. Also, notice the order: The LORD put mothers first in this passage!! And, it doesn’t say reverence your mother or father if they are scholars, successful, wealthy, ‘cool’, savvy… There is neither prerequisite nor exception to the command to reverence mother and father! However, obviously if a parent is encouraging wrongdoing, or something that violates God’s Word, then it is clear that that is not wise counsel (to say the least) and does not have to be heeded.
3. Keep the LORD’s sabbaths.
4. Don’t turn to idols.

Clearly, in the past two generations, the irreverence toward God, parents and the ‘weight’ of their opinions, and the virtual disappearance of honoring the Sabbath/Lord’s Day, has opened the door to widespread and multiple forms of idolatry…

Idols are weights choking our souls.
In fact, idolatry and disobedience to parents are two behaviors Scripture declares will be characteristic of the “difficult times in the last days”:

“For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power. ” (2 Timothy 3:1-5 NASB)

There has never been a more critical time for each of us to cut ties to the ‘weights’ in our lives that harm us and others, and honor the LORD and His word by “giving weight” to our parents’ thoughts.

It’s practical. It’s doable.
God promises that it will go well with us.
That’s heavy!