Ephesians 6:3 Commentary and Bible Study

The words of the original commandment are translated from their original Jewish context into a form which applies universally to Jew and Gentile. The commandment given to Moses was, ‘that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you’ (Deuteronomy 5:16), but Paul now re-expresses this as, ‘that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth’. Under inspiration he takes the word of God and changes it to a form which is appropriate. This is not surprising for since the whole world is under the law and since the law given to Israel was given to them in the context of their situation, it would be unsuitable to use it in its original for Gentiles. The promised land given to Israel was a symbol of heaven, where of course God’s people will live, not just for a long time but forever. How is it that Paul can turn this into a picture of mortal life on earth? Does this promise guarantee long physical life as a reward to all believers living in obedience to God? What then of those whose lives are poured out in service to God but are short – men like Robert Murray McCheyne? And what of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour who lived on earth only a little more than thirty years? Promise of long life does not mean we live to a hundred. It is clearly made in the context of the people as a whole, not to an individual but to the whole of society as Deuteronomy 5:16 makes clear. This is about order in society, order and cohesiveness. If they honour their father and mother it will stabilise the community. It they set parents aside, and youngsters rule, they will become an unstable society. There must be respect for experience in the older, even if we have ungodly parents. This is just about the opposite of the pattern of behaviour in society today. But then we may also apply it to the individual as a literal promise. It promises a much more fruitful and more useful life, in which no point in life is wasted. This commandment did not guarantee long life, for our times are in the Lord’s hand, but long life was often counted as a blessing from the Lord and mark of his approval. Jacob said to Pharaoh, ‘The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years; few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and they have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage’ (Genesis 47:9). God’s commandments, according to Proverbs 3:2, add length of days and long life and peace. As John Gill points out, although obedience did not always bring long life, disobedience sometimes terminated it prematurely as in the case of Er and Onan (Genesis 38:7-10), and of Absalom (2 Samuel 18:17). Proverbs 30:17 warns of the providence that will come on those who disobey, and the law of Moses even gave the power to parents to punish their own children with death if they were rebellious, but only after a trial before the elders. This was, of course, in the context of a theocratic society.