Medios de prueba en el derecho procesal laboral

2. The Promise of Life

The fifth commandment carries a significant pledge to the obedient, the promise of life:

Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. (Ex. 20:12)

Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. (Deut. 5:16)

Exodus states, and Deuteronomy, in expanded form, repeats this promise of life. Before analyzing the meaning of this promise, it is necessary to understand the condition, the honoring of parents.

Rylaarsdam’s comment is an amusing example of modernist interpretation. His interpretation of Exodus 20:12 reads:

The Fifth (Fourth) Commandment stands at the point of transition from social to civil law. The honoring of parents is a form of piety, though not a cultic observance. In Deut. 5:16 prosperity is added to the promise of length of daysin the land offered here. Minor children were bound to strict obedience (21:15,17; Lev. 20:9; Prov. 30:17). This commandment most especially refers to the treatment of helpless aged dependents. They are not to be sent abroad to be eaten of beasts or to die of exposure, as was the case in some societies. The possession ofthe land which your God gives (“is giving,” “will give”— as in Deuteronomy the locus is Sinai) depends upon the maintenance of family standards.275

In other words, parents are “honored” if they are not exposed to die! Certainly, the custom of Eskimos was not the custom of the ancient Near East, and this interpretation is in every respect wilfully wrong. The requirement here is, first , a religious honoring of parents, and, second , it

involved a general respect for one’s elders. This is plainly required in Leviticus 19:32: “Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD.” The respect for the aged was marked; according to Proverbs 16:31, “The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.” But, as Leviticus 19:32 made clear, irrespective of the moral character of the older generation, a basic respect and honor is due. Righteousness adds a “crown of glory” to the older generation.

Age commanded respect. Paul could thus appeal to his age as a factor in trying to sway Philemon: “Yet for love’s sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ” (Philem. 9). Love, age, and his imprisonment for Christ all gave Paul moral authority. Because of this required respect for age, it is all the more imperative that with age we grow in wisdom. Thus, Paul counseled, “That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, nor given to much wine, teachers of good things…” (Titus

2:2-3).

This brings us to the first general principle inherent in this law: honor to parents, and to all older than ourselves, is a necessary aspect of the basic law of inheritance. What we inherit from our parents is life itself, and also the wisdom of their faith and experience as they transmit it to us. The continuity of history rests in this honor and inheritance. A revolutionary age breaks with the past and turns on parents with animosity and venom: it disinherits itself. To respect our elders

other than our parents is to respect all that is good in our cultural inheritance. The world certainly is not perfect, nor even law-abiding, but, although we come into the worldnaked , we do not enter an empty world. The houses, orchards, fields, and flocks are all the handiwork of the past, and we are richer for this past and must honor it. Our parents especially, who provide for us and nurture us, are to be honored above all others, for, if we do not do so, we both sin against God and we disinherit ourselves. As we shall see later, there is a close connection between disinheritance in a family estate and the dishonoring of parents, the rejecting of their honor and their cultural heritage. The basic and central inheritance of culture and all that it includes, faith, training, wisdom, wealth, love, common ties, and traditions are severed and denied where parents and elders are not honored. The tragic fact is that many parents refuse to recognize that their children have disinherited themselves.

A second general principle inherent in this law is that of progress rooted in the past , of inheritance as the foundation for progress. The commandment, speaking to adults, calls forhonor , notobedience. For children, the requirement is obedience: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right (Eph. 6:1). “Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is wellpleasing unto the Lord” (Col. 3:20). Hodge’s interpretation of Ephesians 6:1 is excellent:

The nature or character of this obedience is expressed by the words, in the Lord. It should be religious; arising out of the conviction that such obedience is the will of the Lord. This makes it a higher service than if rendered from fear or from mere natural affection. It secures its being prompt, cordial and universal. That Kurios here refers to Christ is plain from the whole context. In the preceding chapter, v. 21, we have the general exhortation under which this special direction to children is included, and the obedience there required is to be rendered in the fear of Christ. In the following verses also Kurios constantly has this reference, and therefore must have it here. The ground of the obligation to filial obedience is expressed in the words, for this is right. It is not because of the personal character of the parent, nor because of his kindness, nor on the ground of expediency, but because it isright ; an obligation arising out of the nature of the relation between parents and children, and which must exist wherever the relation exists.276

Many cultures have had a religious honoring of parents, but this has usually been connected with ancestor worship and has been a stifling, deadening factor in society. China’s long failure to advance was due on the one hand to its relativism, and, on the other, to the social paralysis produced by its family system.

In biblical faith, the family inherits from the past in order to grow firmly into the future. Man and wife become one flesh; they have in their marriage a common physical, sexual tie that makes themone flesh. Hence, Scripture declares, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” (Gen. 2:24). Marriage calls for a move forward by the man and his wife; they break with the old families to create a new one. They remain tied to the old families in that both represent a cultural inheritance from two specific families. They remain tied further by a religious duty to honor their parents. The growth is real,

and the dependence is real: the new clearly and plainly grows out of and realizes the potentiality of the old.

For this reason, the church is readily spoken of as a family in Scripture. St. Paul spoke of himself as the father of the Corinthian believers, “For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you thr ough the gospel” (1 Cor. 4:15). Again, he wrote in Philemon 10, “I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds.” The church is the family of the faithful, and the ties of faith are very close

ones. The ties of the family are all the stronger if the bond is of both blood and faith.

Still another aspect ofhonor will be discussed separately under the title of “The Economics of the Family.” Our concern now is with the latter part of this law-word, the promise of long life and prosperity. Solomon repeated this promise of the law, summarizing it thus, “Hear, O my son, and

receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many” (Prov. 4:10). Indeed, Proverbs 1-5 in their entirety deal with this promise of life.

Hodge, in analyzing this promise, observed:

The promise itself has a theocratical form in the Old Testament. That is, it has specific reference to prosperity and length of days in the land which God had given his people as their inheritance. The apostle generalizes it by leaving out the concluding words, and makes it a promise not confined to one land or people, but to obedient children every where. If it is asked whether obedient children are in fact thus distinguished by long life and prosperity? The answer is, that this, like all other such promises, is a revelation of a general purpose of God, and makes known what will be the usual course of providence. That some obedient children are unfortunate and short lived, is no more inconsistent with this promise, than that some diligent men are poor, is inconsistent with the declaration, “The hand of the diligent maketh rich.” Diligence, as a general rule, does secure riches; and obedient children, as a general rule, are prosperous and happy. The general promise is fulfilled to individuals, just so far “as it shall serve for God’s glory,

The question has been raised as to the application of the promise: is it for the nation, or is the promise for individuals? As Rawlinson noted:

The promise may be understood in two quite different senses. (1) It may be taken as guaranteeing national permanence to the people among whom filial respect and obedience is generally practised; or (2) it may be understood in the simpler and more literal sense of a pledge that obedient children shall, as a general rule, receive for their reward the blessing of a long life. In favour of the former view have been urged the facts of Roman and Chinese permanence, together with the probability that Israel forfeited its possession of Canaan in consequence of persisting in the breach of this commandment. In favour of the latter may be adduced the application of the text by St. Paul (Eph. vi. 3), which is purely personal and not ethnic; and the exegesis of the Son of Sirach (Wisd. iii. 6), which is similar. It is also worthy of note that an Egyptian sage, who wrote long before Moses, declared it as the result of his experience that obedient sons did attain to a good old age in Egypt, and laid down the principle broadly, that “the son who attends to the words of his father will grow old in consequence.”278

The reference to Ben Sirach is to his declaration, “He that honour eth his father shall have a long life; and he that is obedient unto the Lord shall be a comfort to his mother” (Wisdom 3:6). This is not only a repetition of the law, but an observation of fact. The reality of life is that he who loves life, and honors the God who created life, by reverencing His law and his parents under God, lives most truly, happily, and longest as a rule. To despise one’s parents, or to hate them and dishonor them is to despise the immediate source of one’s life; it is a form of self-hate, and it is a wilful contempt for the basic inheritance of life. From pastoral experience, it can be added that those who, when rebuked for their hatred of and dishonoring activity towards parents, arrogantly say, “I didn’t ask to be born,” have a limited life span, or, at best, a miserable one. Their course of action is suicidal. They are saying in effect, “I’m not asking to live.”

This same promise of life for honoring the immediate sources of life appears in Deuteronomy 22:6-7 and Leviticus 22:28:

And whether it be cow or ewe, ye shall not kill it and her young both in one day. (Lev. 22:28)

If a bird’s nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young: But thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days. (Deut. 22:6-7)

A similar law appears in Exodus 23:19: “Thou shalt not boil a kid in its mother’s milk” (RV). The language of the promise plainly connects these with the fifth commandment. Of Deuteronomy 22:6-7, it is noted: “The commandment is placed upon a par with the commandment relating to parents, by the fact that obedience is urged upon the people by the same premise in both instances.”279 _{But it is more than a case of being “placed upon a par”; the fact is clearly indicated}

that one basic law is involved. Again, it will not do to say, as W. L. Alexander did, that “[t]hese precepts are designed to foster humane feelings towards the lower animals.”280 A basic premise is asserted in the fifth commandment; in these laws dealing with the birds, cows, ewes, and kids, this principle is asserted and illustrated in minimal cases to illustrate the maximal reach of the law. The earth is the Lord’s and all life is the handiwork of the Lord. Man cannot on any level treat life except under law, God’s law. The cry of some oppressed Persians of another generation, “We are men, and would have laws!,”281 was a notable one. Man needsGod’s law, and the law of the Lord requires us to honor our inheritance at every level. To lay waste our inheritance, whether in the animal world or on the level of our family, is to deny life. It is playing god; it is assuming that we made ourselves and can remake our world. Paul could command obedience by children to their parents, saying, “It is right,” it is by nature obligatory and proper.

Honoring parents is placed on the same level as sabbath-keeping in Leviticus 19:1-3:

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy. Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.

As Ginsburg pointed out, only twice in the entire law is the expression used, “Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel,” in Exodus 12:3, at the institution of the Passover, and here. Of verse 3, “Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father,” Ginsburg wrote:

The first means to attain to the holiness which is to make the Israelite reflect the holiness of God, is uniformly to reverence his parents. Thus the group of precepts contained in this chapter opens with the fifth commandment in the Decalogue (Exod. xx. 12), or, as the Apostle calls it, the first commandment with promise (Eph. vi. 2). During the second Temple, already the spiritual authorities called attention to the singular fact that this is one of the three instances in the Scriptures where, contrary to the usual practice, the mother is mentioned before the father; the other two being Gen. xliv. 20 and Lev. xxi. 2. As children ordinarily fear the father and love the mother, hence they say precedence is here given to the mother in order to inculcate the duty of fearing them both alike. The expression “fear,” however, they take to include the following: — (1) Not to stand or sit in the place set apart for the parents; (2) not to carp at or oppose their statements; and (3) not to call them by their proper names, but either call them father or mother, or my master, my lady. Whilst the expression “honour” which is used in the parallel passage in Exodus xx. 12, they understand to include (1) to provide them with food and raiment, and (2) to escort them. The parents, they urge, are God’s representatives upon earth; hence as God is both to be “honoured” with our substance (Prov. iii. 9), and as He is to be “feared” (Deut . vi. 13), so our parents are both to be “honoured” (Exod. xx. 12) and “feared” (chap. xix. 3); and as he who blasphemed the name of God is stoned (chap. xxix. 16), so he who curses his father or mother is stoned (chap. xx. 9).282

As Ginsburg pointed out, the blasphemy of God and the cursing of parents are plainly equated in the law. To reflect the holiness of God a man must begin by reverencing his parents.

Ginsburg then noted, of the second clause of Leviticus 19:3, “and keep my sabbaths,”

Joined with this fifth commandment is the fourth of the Decalogue.The education of the children, which at the early stages of the Hebrew commonwealth devolved upon the parents, was more especially carried on by them on Sabbath days.283

At this point, Ginsburg missed the theological sense of the text and resorted to a historical accident. Plainly, God and the parents are associated by the text; both are to be revered, God

absolutely, the parents under God. Blasphemy against God and cursing one’s parents alike merit death. Both are assaults against fundamental authority and order. Moreover, the sabbath as rest and security in God is related to the fifth commandment in that parents provide, however faulty, some kind of rest and security for the child. The child is given life and nurture. The home represents a rest, and the godly home is truly a rest from the world, a security and pledge of victory in the face of it. Both sabbath and parents represent an inheritance from God of rest, peace, and victory. They are therefore closely associated in this law.

In this light, let us return to Deuteronomy 22:6-7, the mother bird and her eggs or young. Very clearly, the same basic principle is applied even to animal life. Man cannot exploit the resources of the earth radically or totally. The very life that is given to him for food must be used under law. But, even if the bird in question is not a bird fit for eating, the same principle applies. The issue at stake is not the preservation of man’s food supply but the reverential use of our inheritance in the