"If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:
Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place;
And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.
And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear."
Deuteronomy 21:18-21
I was listening to this in the car today on the way home from work, and I was really surprised at the death penalty for being stubborn, rebellious, disobedient, gluttonous, and a drunkard. I mean, that is a lot of bad things to be all at once I suppose, but I could also relate to it a little too well, so when they got to the stoning part I was like... um, ... erp.
Luckily, the Law of Moses, which this is a part of, has been fulfilled and we have a new law that might be a little bit more merciful to stubborn and rebellious children. Thank goodness, because I feel like enforcing this would wipe out half the population (although I could be overestimating). However, not enforcing the law doesn't mean that these are good things to do, and perhaps that is where we should focus. In fact, Christ's law is typically *stricter* than Moses' law in terms of self-control, right? Moses said don't commit adultery, and Christ says stop thinking about women that way, or you are already sinning in your heart. So, I think this means that we need to be careful of our rebellion and our disobedience, and all the rest. Not because we are going to be stoned, but because our parents deserve some respect and kindness, and because learning to control ourselves, and to be kind, is part of the gospel.
Today, let's not be the stubborn and rebellious types. Let's learn to get past our pride and our resistance and to love people more, and to love them better. Let's avoid gluttony and drinking and the other obsessions that interfere with obeying both our earthly parents and our God.
Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place;
And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.
And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear."
Deuteronomy 21:18-21
I was listening to this in the car today on the way home from work, and I was really surprised at the death penalty for being stubborn, rebellious, disobedient, gluttonous, and a drunkard. I mean, that is a lot of bad things to be all at once I suppose, but I could also relate to it a little too well, so when they got to the stoning part I was like... um, ... erp.
Luckily, the Law of Moses, which this is a part of, has been fulfilled and we have a new law that might be a little bit more merciful to stubborn and rebellious children. Thank goodness, because I feel like enforcing this would wipe out half the population (although I could be overestimating). However, not enforcing the law doesn't mean that these are good things to do, and perhaps that is where we should focus. In fact, Christ's law is typically *stricter* than Moses' law in terms of self-control, right? Moses said don't commit adultery, and Christ says stop thinking about women that way, or you are already sinning in your heart. So, I think this means that we need to be careful of our rebellion and our disobedience, and all the rest. Not because we are going to be stoned, but because our parents deserve some respect and kindness, and because learning to control ourselves, and to be kind, is part of the gospel.
Today, let's not be the stubborn and rebellious types. Let's learn to get past our pride and our resistance and to love people more, and to love them better. Let's avoid gluttony and drinking and the other obsessions that interfere with obeying both our earthly parents and our God.
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