Rebel Children & The Obedient Son
If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, and they shall say to 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.’ Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.
Deut. 21-18-21 (ESV)
What a strange passage! It seems irrelevant and just plain weird. Does it have any bearing on our lives as New Testament Christians? Of course the answer is: yes! Or why else would I be writing? But surprisingly it has a lot to teach us about the Gospel today.
These verses in question take place in the middle of an explanation of the 6th commandment (you shall not murder), which is in chapters 19:1–22:12. In this passage Moses is speaking to the Israelites and explaining two points. One is that capital punishment is not a violation of the 6th commandment (see 21:22-23 as well). The second is that the violation of the 5th commandment (honouring parents) is serious! As with all of the 10 Commandments, violation of any of them deserves death (and breaking one means breaking all - James 2:10; Deut. 19:9).
We also see that parents’ rights are not absolute. They must bring their stubborn and rebellious son to the elders at the gate for judgment (21:20). In modern terminology the parents must take the child to court to have a ruling on the child’s actions; they can’t execute their son on their own whim. The concern of having truthful witnesses runs throughout Deuteronomy (for example, 19:15-21).
So what does it mean?
So what are these verses all about? Well, for Israel entering the Promised Land it is certainly a reminder of the importance of obeying one’s parents (the 5th commandment). It’s a call to holiness. Just as Israel would respond to adultery (7th commandment; Deut 22:13-30) and murder (6th commandment; Deut 19:11-12) with the death penalty, the response to a violation of the 5th commandment was the same, in order to cleanse Israel of unholiness — so that they will be a holy community.
Capital punishment is not a violation of the 6th commandment, which is probably why this section is found here and not in the exposition of the 5th commandment. It’s worth noting, as John Currid does in his commentary on Deuteronomy, that the Bible actually has no cases of this sentence ever being carried out. (Deuteronomy EP Study Commentary, 319), unlike other commandment violations (think of the violation of the Sabbath; eg. Num. 15:32-36). So as Currid says, ‘it must have been extremely rare for’ this death penalty to be carried out (p. 321).
Approaching the New Testament
What are we, as Christians, to make of these verses? Let me offer a few ways Deuteronomy shows us the Gospel.
1. Parents are gifts from God and should be obeyed. Parents should also strive to teach their children these theological truths (such as the 10 Commandments; see Deut. 6; and my sermon on Deuteronomy 6).
The book of Deuteronomy has been going to great lengths to show the need for positive instruction. The heart of the book is that we should love Yahweh and train the next generation to love him too. This passage should be seen in that context. When that positive instruction fails, these kind of laws come into effect in order to prevent further rebellion. This passage reminds us of the seriousness of parental instruction. Parents are called to teach and train their children, and children should obey. Our best way to guard against rebellious children is to teach them who God is and what he requires (Prov. 22:6).
2. The Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) shows that ultimately we are all rebellious children who deserve death.
Yet the beauty of this parable is clearly about God’s relationship with his wayward children. What do we see in that relationship? We see that the Father displays the love and the grace of the gospel. He is not only watching and waiting for his son to return, but he runs out to embrace him when he does. More than this, he does not even allow his son to finish his pre-rehearsed confession of sin (15:19, 21). His son has returned, and he is unreservedly welcomed home. And this is like our God – when we repent and turn from our sin we find he was always watching and waiting and ready to welcome us home.
The father in that story had every right to take this rebellious and wayward son, who basically behaved as a glutton and drunkard (Deut. 21:20), and have him publicly executed! In fact he had every right punish his son severely, and yet he does the exact opposite of what we would expect.
He runs to the son! He throws a party for his son. He welcomes him back as a son, as if he had been dead and has now come back to life!
3. Only with the call of holiness as seen and expounded in Deuteronomy (showing us God’s holy standard) do we understand grace. It is not God going against his holy character. Rather it is justice being meted out against someone else. God is both merciful and just.
Jesus is the obedient son who obeyed in everything (Phil. 2:8), even death on a cross! Despite his perfect obedience, he dies. What a travesty of justice! The wayward son(s) go free through Jesus’s sacrifice. God had every right to destroy us according to his law and his holiness. Yet like the father in the parable of the prodigal son, he runs to his wayward children and welcomes us into his embrace.
So What Does This Demonstrate?
God is holy. Let us never forget his holiness. God is gracious. Let us never forget the magnitude of his grace in Jesus Christ. He loved us before we loved him. He ran to us, while we were far off. He has clothed us in the righteousness of Christ. We, who were once rebels, gluttons, drunkards, and law-breakers, are now, in Christ, adopted sons and daughters with all the same privileges! That’s good news, and that is one of the ways in which Deuteronomy demonstrates the ultimate Good News - the Gospel - by showing us how holiness and graciousness coexist. If we follow the path set forth in Deuteronomy, it leads us to the New Testament. It leads us to Jesus.
