Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.
The Greek root word translated "obey" is υπακουο (Latin: hupakouo) and refers here to surrender of a specific type, namely surrender to the loving arms of parents, including especially the loving arms of mothers. Ultimately, this commandment refers to a secure bond between parent and child. The context tells us how to form a secure bond with children.
Respect for parents was a thing in biblical times. However, this respect came in the form of closeness to parents, not fear of parents. For the first 6 years of childhood, children were in constant closeness to mothers, meaning that wherever mom went, so did her child. For the first 2 years of childhood, children were constantly held by mothers, either in her loving arms, or else on mom's back in a papoose bag when her hands were full. Children aged 2-6 ranged next to mothers constantly, seemingly attached at the hip, following mothers from room to room, morbidly fearing that mom would "go away and never come back". Whenever young children cried, mothers cooed before picking up the child, and from there, she diagnosed the need before meeting it. Maybe the child was tired. Maybe the child was hungry. Maybe the child needed mom's milk. Maybe the child needed mom, period. Whatever the child needed, they got it. Whenever mothers and children under age 6 were out and about, mom wrapped up her child next to her bosom in swaddling blankets, in skin-on-skin closeness. Come nightfall, children co-slept next to mothers, with this co-sleeping usually lasting until puberty. Children then went naked wherever they went, with mothers also going naked within the context of the family home, with this birth nudity setup setting the stage for intense skin-on-skin closeness between mother and child.
Children past age 6 were close to their parents in another way. Parents then did not give lawfully binding orders to children, but instead simply asked things of their children. In return, children asked things of parents. Children usually listened to their parents almost blindly, much akin to goslings to a mother goose. Compliance is an aspect of a secure bond between parent and child. The child worships the ground that mom walks on, and mothers worship the ground that their child walks on.
Respect is earned in life, including in parenting. The key to earn your child's respect is to care for your child during the formative years of their childhood, namely the first 6 years of childhood. From there, children learn to respect parents out of secure trust in parents. When attachment parents grow to be elderly, children care for their aging parents. See Exod. 20:12; Eph. 6:2-3. Honoring parents means caring for your aging parents.
The depraved and entitled parents who punish their children for perceived disrespect will not inherit the Kingdom of God! Let them descend into ever-burning Hell-fire, which is the second death prepared for Satan and his accomplices! Repent!
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