Proverbs 30:17

“The eye that mocks a father, that scorns an aged mother, will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley, will be eaten by vultures.”

This is beyond the spoken word, this is nonverbal. This is the manner in which a grown child ‘looks’ at his father and mother. 

Scorn – open dislike and disrespect often mixed with indignation and contempt. 

Solomon showed the opposite of scorn in the way he treated his mother:

I Kings 2:19

“When Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah, the king stood up to meet her, he bowed down to her and sat down on his throne. He had a throne brought for the king’s mother, and she sat down at his right hand.” 

Solomon was intentional to show honor and esteem to his mother. He didn’t grant the request she had but he sat with her and listened. 

Children honoring their aged parents has always been a big deal to God:

Deuteronomy 5:16 

‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.’

It is more than just not mocking and not scorning parents that is important to God – it is the intentional honoring of parents that He commands and that He also rewards.

Exodus 20:12

“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.”

Prayer. 

Heavenly Father, give me grace to honor my parents and now their memory with both words and with my expressions. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen.