a promise, not just the first. It may be that “first” should be regarded as “foremost,” and thus the sense would be: “A commandment of primary importance and also accompanied by a promise.” However, there is no compelling reason why Paul cannot be understood as meaning that the commandment to honor parents is the first one with a promise of blessing attached (understanding the second commandment as explained above), even though many later commands in the Mosaic legislation also contained promises.