D21-18: The One Command The Ancient Rabbis Thought So Harsh It Was NEVER Carried Out

“’If a man has a stubborn, rebellious son who will not obey what his father or mother says, and even after they discipline him he still refuses to pay attention to them;  then his father and mother are to take hold of him and bring him out to the leaders of his town, at the gate of that place, and say to the leaders of his town, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, he doesn’t pay attention to us, lives wildly, gets drunk.’  Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death; in this way you will put an end to such wickedness among you, and all Israel will hear about it and be afraid.‘”-Deuteronomy 21:18-21 

From verse 18, we encounter the subject of a rebellious child…

…or to be more specific…

…how exactly to deal with a defiant and disobedient son.

Based on the context of these verses, how should we define a “rebellious son”?

In order to answer that question, I think the key phrase we should focus on here is the part where it says “he doesn’t pay attention to us”.

In other words, we’re dealing with a child who is blatantly disobeying the 4th Commandment which is to “Honor your parents”.

Apparently the mother and father have tried all of the usual ways to discipline their hog wild son but nothing seems to work.

So finally in frustration they turn him over to the civil authorities.

During the trial, if the civil authorities decide this son has no redeeming qualities and is a particularly worthless child (the Hebrew says a “glutton” and a “drunkard”), then he will be sentenced to be stoned to death.

Ouch!

Let me ask all the parents out there.

Doesn’t that seem just a tad bit too harsh?

If you had a rebellious son, would you consider the death penalty a feasible option?

If you said “hell no”, you ain’t alone.

The ancient Rabbis themselves thought this instruction in Torah so severe that they established a ton of legal roadblocks which made it practically impossible to carry out this command.

In fact, historically speaking, it never happened, not even once.

In addition, you won’t find a single case in all of Scripture where a mother and father turned over their rebellious son to be executed.

So what to make of this instruction?

Honestly, I think God gave this command as a way to strike fear into a rebellious punk child who lacked any restraint whatsoever.

Let’s look at a couple of points here.

First, notice that BOTH the mother and father have to agree to the decision to turn their child over to the authorities.

Again, I love how the Law treats the females as equals in so many areas.

This verse demonstrates just how powerful a mother was in an Israelite family (and from what I’ve heard about Jewish mothers today, things haven’t changed at all in this respect).

Second, don’t misunderstand and think that the parents are turning over their defiant son to the authorities to be executed.

The truth is execution was the maximum allowed sentence that could be handed down (obviously, unless we’re talking about a spanking in the afterlife).

Before even considering handing down a death sentence by stoning, the authorities much preferred to attempt any and all other remedies available at the time.

My point is the parents did NOT have the authority to judge the case.

They just brought their son to the court authorities who would then investigate and judge accordingly.

Notice that if a decision is made to stone the child to death, the parents are not asked to be involved.

It is the men of the town who are to do the stoning.

Finally, verse 21 gives us the concluding reason behind the harshness of this command.

“thus you will sweep out evil
from your midst;
all Israel will hear
and be afraid.”

Those of us fortunate enough to not be living in totalitarian societies may not like that verse but the truth is…

…FEAR of the consequences of doing something can be a good and healthy thing.

Actually, from a Biblical perspective, it is considered indispensable.

However, there is one key and fundamental difference between how fear is utilized in a totalitarian society versus the type of fear Scripture is referring to here.

In a Biblical-based society, fear is used to purge the community of evil.

However, in a totalitarian society, fear is used as a negative tool to bring evil upon the community.

That’s a big difference.

The reason God is demanding such harsh consequences for rebellion against Him and His commandments is for the benefit of the rest of the community.

I think this is a principle our so-called modern and “progressive” societies have forgotten.

A perfect example is that in many cases we don’t execute murderers anymore.

Instead the government uses our tax dollars to keep them housed in prisons for their whole natural life spans.

We seemed to have overlooked the reality that evil not eliminated is a cancer that will affect others.

You cannot educate an evil person.

It doesn’t work.

God knows this and that’s why He commands that the evil be removed from our midst.

The takeaway here is simple.

The most effective deterrent to sin in society is that the people BOTH love God and fear Him by keeping His commands.

We need a balance here folks.

“Love minus fear” won’t produce the healthy respect our Father in heaven demands from us.

On the other hand, “fear minus love” results in harsh legalism that produces in us a tendency to want to disobey the Lord.

We need BOTH if we are to achieve a proper balance.