“You shall observe the Feast of Weeks, the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year’s end. Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the LORD God, the God of Israel. For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders; no one shall covet your land, when you go up to appear before the LORD your God three times in the year.”

4.4 Observe Sabbath years

By Sabbath and Jubilee years, God reminded the people of His sovereign ownership and provision, of their need to trust in him, and of their duty to the creation and one another.

Year of Jubilee

The Fifth Commandment

Honor your father and your mother

We are called to observe, respect, and honor the God-ordained order of the cosmos, beginning with honoring our parents, and extend to all properly-constituted authorities and powers, others, and the creation itself.

5.1 Honor your parents

God’s people must hold their parents in high regard and not allow any evil thought or practice to affect this most basic social relationship.

5.2 Honor God’s Prophet and His prophets

Hear and obey those who speak God’s Word in the tradition of Moses, the prophets, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the apostles.

Deuteronomy 25.1-3

“If there is a dispute between men and they come into court and the judges decide between them, acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty, ...

5.5 Honor others

We are to show respect to the elderly, the poor, and all other people, because they are the image-bearers of God.

You shall not murder

God has made men in His image, and He alone is the Lord of life. We may not unlawfully deprive men of the gift of life; rather, we must do everything in our power to protect and preserve the lives and wellbeing of others.

6.2 Pay life for life

Retributive justice, including the death penalty, is required to restore righteousness and peace to the community and to quell inclinations to take revenge.

Numbers 35.16-21

“But if he struck him down with an iron object, so that he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. And if he struck him down with a stone tool that could cause death, and he died, he is a murderer.

Exodus 21.22-25

“When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine.