Text: Deuteronomy 21:18-21
OT Text Referred to: Leviticus 20:9
Subject: capital punishment for rebellious children
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Echo
Connection Method(s): None
Significance: Leviticus 20:9 declares that "anyone who curses (מְקַלֵּל, meqallel) his father or mother must be put to death," establishing the severity of violating the fifth commandment. Deuteronomy 21:18-21 develops this into a full judicial procedure: both parents must bring the rebellious son (בֵּן סוֹרֵר וּמוֹרֶה, ben sorer umoreh) before the elders, describe his stubbornness, and the community executes him by stoning. The Deuteronomic expansion adds procedural safeguards — both parents must agree, the community judges — and specifies the son's character as a "glutton and a drunkard," preventing arbitrary application. Both texts protect the family structure as foundational to Israelite covenant society, with parental authority treated as a matter of communal survival.