Text: Deuteronomy 21:18
OT Text Referred to: Exodus 21:17
Subject: rebellious son
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): None
Significance: Exodus 21:17 prescribes death for cursing (מְקַלֵּל, meqallel) one's parents, and Deuteronomy 21:18 addresses the broader pattern of a son who is "stubborn and rebellious" (סוֹרֵר וּמוֹרֶה, sorer umoreh) and "will not obey the voice of his father or mother." Both laws treat attacks on parental authority—whether verbal (cursing) or behavioral (chronic disobedience)—as offenses serious enough to warrant the death penalty. The escalation from a single verbal act (Exodus) to a sustained pattern of defiance (Deuteronomy) suggests that cursing parents is symptomatic of the deeper rebellion Deuteronomy describes, with both texts protecting the family order that undergirds Israel's covenant society.