Text: Deuteronomy 21:18-21
OT Text Referred to: Exodus 21:15
Subject: striking parents and rebellious son law
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): None
Significance: Exodus 21:15 stipulates that "anyone who strikes his father or mother must surely be put to death" (מוֹת יוּמָת, mot yumat), and Deuteronomy 21:18-21 develops the broader case of a persistently rebellious son (בֵּן סוֹרֵר וּמוֹרֶה, ben sorer umoreh) who refuses parental correction. The Deuteronomic law adds procedural safeguards: both parents must agree, the case must go before city elders, and the charge must be substantiated publicly before execution. This development transforms the Exodus law's focus on a single violent act into a broader category of incorrigible filial rebellion, while adding communal judicial process to protect against parental abuse of the death penalty.