Matthew Henry Commentary Exodus 20:12-17

"Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor`s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor`s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor`s." — Exodus 20:12-17 (ASV)

The laws of the Second Table, that is, the last six of the Ten Commandments, state our duty to ourselves and to one another, and explain the great commandment, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself (Luke 10:27). Godliness and honesty must go together. The fifth commandment concerns the duties we owe to our relations. Honour thy father and thy mother includes esteem of them, shown in our conduct; obedience to their lawful commands (come when they call you, go where they send you, do what they bid you, refrain from what they forbid you); and this, as children, cheerfully, and from a principle of love.

This honor also includes submission to their counsels and corrections. It means endeavoring in everything to comfort parents and to make their old age easy, including maintaining them if they need support—a duty our Savior highlights as particularly intended in this commandment (Matthew 15:4–6). Careful observers have noted a peculiar blessing in temporal things on obedient children, and the reverse on disobedient children.

The sixth commandment requires that we regard the life and safety of others as we do our own. Magistrates and their officers, and witnesses testifying the truth, do not break this command.

Self-defense is lawful, but much that is not deemed murder by human laws is murder before God. Furious passions, stirred up by anger or drunkenness, are no excuse. More guilty is murder in duels, which is a horrible effect of a haughty, revengeful spirit. All fighting, whether for wages, for renown, or out of anger and malice, breaks this command, and the bloodshed in it is murder. Tempting people to vice and crimes that shorten life may also be included.

Misconduct that may break the heart or shorten the lives of parents, wives, or other relatives is a breach of this command. This command forbids all envy, malice, hatred, or anger, and all provoking or insulting language. The destruction of our own lives is also forbidden here. This commandment requires a spirit of kindness, longsuffering, and forgiveness.

The seventh commandment concerns chastity.

We should be as much afraid of that which defiles the body as of that which destroys it. Whatever tends to pollute the imagination or to arouse the passions falls under this law, such as impure pictures, books, conversation, or any other similar matters.

The eighth commandment is the law of love as it respects the property of others. The portion of worldly things allotted to us, as far as it is obtained in an honest way, is the bread which God has given us. For that, we should be thankful, be content with it, and, in the use of lawful means, trust Providence for the future.

Imposing upon the ignorance, trusting nature, or necessity of others, and many other things, break God's law, though scarcely blamed in society. Plunderers of kingdoms, though they may be above human justice, will be included in this judgment. Defrauding the public, contracting debts without the prospect of paying them, evading payment of just debts, extravagance, living on charity when not necessary, and squeezing the poor in their wages—these and similar things break this command. This commandment requires industry, frugality, and contentment, and to do to others, regarding worldly property, as we would have them do to us.

The ninth commandment concerns our own and our neighbor's good name.

This commandment forbids speaking falsely on any matter, lying, equivocating, and in any way devising or designing to deceive our neighbor. It also forbids speaking unjustly against our neighbor to hurt his reputation, and bearing false witness against him. In common conversation, it further prohibits slandering, backbiting, and tale-bearing; making what is done amiss worse than it is; and in any way endeavoring to raise our own reputation upon the ruin of our neighbor's. How much this command is broken every day among people of all ranks!

The tenth commandment strikes at the root: Thou shalt not covet. The other commandments forbid all desire of doing what will be an injury to our neighbor; this one forbids all wrong desire of having what will gratify ourselves.