The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 2 — Section 166

within e11sy re11ch. Legisl11tion should alw11ys seek to combine mercy with j11stici,. Drnconinn onnctmonts defent their own purpose, Rinco over-severe li\WR are sure w,t to be cnrriecl out. 'l'he morn! sense revolts againAt them. ThuA, when in our own country forgery wns II cnpit11l offence, juries could not he got to convict of for~cry. L11ws should be in 11ecord11nce with the conscience of the co'!lmnnity, or they will ccaso to comm11nd reaped. Good men will infringe them; and even courts will be slow to enforce obedience when they 11re infringed. Wise legislators will ever aim at emb<•ly- lng in the lo.w the judgments of the more advo.nced conscience, and making it thus an Instrument-for elevating the more.I sentiments of the community. Verses 16-17.-Injuries to parents. The command to honour father o.nd mother (eh. xx. 12), which is enough for the conscience, 11nd which, if obeyed, would render all further laws upon the subject unnecessary, is here reinforced by two important enact- ments, intended to restro.in those who do not scruple to disobey mere moral laws. 'l'he :penalty of death is affixed to two crimes: 1. Smiting a parent; 2. Cursing a parent. I. SMITING A PARENT. When it is considered that our parents represent God to us, that they 11re in a real sense authors of our being, that they protect and sustain us for ye11rs during which we could do nothing for ourselves, and that nature has implanted in our minds an instinctive reverence for them, the punishment of parent-strikers by death will not seem strange or excessive. A son must have become very hardened in guilt, very reckless, very heartless, very brutal, who can bring himself to lift a hand against a father, not to say a mother. There is as much moral guilt in a light blow dealt to one whom we are bound to love, honour, and protect from hurt, as in the utmost violence done to a stranger. However, according to the Talmud, it was not every light blow that was actually punished with death, but only a blow which caused a wound; and, of course, the punishment was only inflicted upon the complaint of the party aggrieved, who would be unlikely to take proceedings, unless the assault was of grave character. Probably the law had very seldom to be enforced. What it did was to invest parents with a sacred and awful character in their children's eyes, and to induce them to submit to chastisement without resistance. II. CuBsmo A PARENT. To curse a parent is almost as unnatural a.s to strike one. ALL cursing is unsuitable to l!llch a being as man-so full of faults himself, so liable to misjudge the character and conduct of others; but to curse those to whom we owe our existence is simply horrible. The sin is akin to blasphemy, and is awarded the same punishment. At the present day, when the Mosaic law is no longer in force, and when on this point no echoes of the Mosaic legislation are to be traced in existing codes, it is specially incumbent on conscientious persons to observe the spirit of the Mosaic enact- ments, and (as it were) make a Christian use of them. (1) "Smite not a parent," said the law, "or die the death." "Grieve not a parent" is the Christian paraphrase. "Grieve him not by disobedience, by idleness, by extrava...,aa.nce, by misconduct of any kind. Do not discredit his bringing up by misbehaviour. Do not stab his .heart by mgratitude. Do not wither up his nature by unkindness." A child may easily, with- out lifting a finger, "bring down the grey hairs" of his father "with sorrow to the grave." He may " smite" him in half-a-dozen ways without touching him. Let Christian men beware of such "smiting" of their parents, and dread the " eternal death" which may follow in the place of Moses' temporal death. (2) "Curse not a parentt said the law again. We do not now, unless we part with religion altogether, curse any one. But we too often break the spirit of this law, notwithstanding. We speak slightingly of our parents; we join in disrespectful co=ents on their manners or behaviour; we use language to them, face to face, which is wanting in reverence and unBuitable. If we would act in the spirit of the law, "curse not a parent," we must avoid all disrespectful words, all disrespectful thoughts towards them or concerning them; we must give them the honour due to parents; we must seriously consider their counsels, and as a oenera! rule follow their advice. As temporal death was awarded to those who "cursed" parents by the Jewish law (Ex. xxi. 17), so eternal death will ba the portiol\ of such as are determinately "disobedieut to parents" under the Christian dispensation. Ver. 16.-The crime ·of man-stealing. To steal the purse of a man is a trivial  174 THE DOOR OF EXODUS. [<111. XXI. 23-25.