In discussing the passages we’ve come to in our study from Deuteronomy, Chapter 21; so far we have noted several instances of “case laws” that were given by God to Israel in order to tell them what to do if a certain situation arose among the people of the nation.
ANOTHER CASE LAW
For instance; we have already discussed what they were told to do if they went to war (with any nation besides a Canaanite nation;) or what to do if they fell in love with one of the women that they had taken captive in the war; or how to know whose child would inherit more as the first-born son; (the favored wife’s son or the unfavored wife’s son.)
For the newly forming nation called Israel there were a lot of “if” this happens “then do this” situations to consider as they established their new lives. Some of these things were handled through case laws that God gave to them.
IF YOU HAVE A REBELLIOUS SON
Today we will look at the instructions from God when parents were in a specific parental situation. God gave a case law which explains what to do if you have raised a rebellious son. The passage is taken from Deuteronomy 21: 18-21.
Deuteronomy 21:18-21: If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.
Sounds pretty harsh; doesn’t it?
It is a good thing that “case laws” are considered to be temporary and for a certain time and a certain culture.
THEN ALL OF ISRAEL WILL HEAR AND BE AFRAID
How do you think this “case law” would go over in today’s world?
Most parents still love their sons, even if they turn out to be rebellious, disobedient, stubborn, drunk gluttons. Love for a family member, especially “flesh-of-your-flesh” is usually so strong that the bonds of that love cannot be broken no matter the circumstances or the situations.
I’m sure you and I could sit here and name off many of our own family members who have been dishonorable to our family names. Many families and extended-families have those who have shown no respect for the way they were raised and who have made horrible life decisions which have affected and have been bad for the whole family in the long run.
FORGIVING AND FORGETTING
Still; we forgive and try to forget; and we look for ways of coping and loving this irresponsible one through each and every crisis; all the while praying that things will one day get better, that God will open their eyes to His ways and that the love you have shown over the years will make enough of a difference to change their hearts and help them to turn around and walk through life in a totally different way.
HOLDING OUT FOR HOPE
We all like to hold out on hope for our wayward sons.
Some of these sons cannot and will not change though.
It is very sad but true.
The new nation of Israel was now being formed and it was to be held to such high standards that such sons were to be removed from the people by stoning them until they died.
THE DEATH PENALTY
Can you imagine how bad things had to be for a mother and a father to be in total agreement and decide to bring their fallen son before the elders and confess that they have failed in raising him up to be a righteous man?
Don’t you know how horrible it was for them to admit that no matter what they said or did for him; he was not ever going to change or turn from the wicked ways that he enjoyed so much?
I don’t know any mother or father who could turn their own son in to receive the death penalty; no matter how much trouble that he had brought upon them.
Do you?
THE ADVANTAGES OF BEING AN ALL-KNOWING GOD
Perhaps God understood this about a parent’s nature when he presented this particular case law to Israel.
Maybe it was more a law used to persuade the wayward sons with a type of fear for the consequences of their actions than to help the parents to solve their coping problems.
Even many of the elders who would have been present to assist with the stoning might have hesitated; perhaps still remembering how the boy was as he was growing up in the community; thinking of the few moments that he had been good instead of remembering the many moments that he had brought shame and disgrace upon the people of the community.
I wonder how many of the older men had prayed for this younger son as he was growing up, and how many of them had hoped that God would help the son to change?
A JUSTICE BASED LAW
This was a very hard law to implement; even though it was based on justice.
If the son could not be a good contributor to the community; then why should he reap the same benefits as those who had always been responsible and always lived in righteousness and obeyed the law?
Every son of Israel was set aside and destined to be a reflection of Israel to the world looking on.
Israel had an example to set before others.
They were to be a pattern of a perfect and Godly nation.
Justice isn’t about feeling warm and fuzzy; it is about balancing the scales so that the good always manages to outweigh the bad. In true justice, righteousness must prevail every time. If one exception is made; many exceptions follow, and before you know it; there is no justice left in the land.
So; the Israelite parents of grown sons were given this hard case law to follow.
The last part of the passage states that “All of Israel will hear about it and be afraid.”
This was a case law based on fear of death being the factor that would help to keep order within the homes of the communities.
NO REBELLIOUS SONS FOUND IN ISRAEL’S RECORDS
The law eventually came to be known as “the law of the rebellious son.”
How often do you think it was implemented?
In all of the scriptures available to us which reveal the history of Israel; there is not one record recorded of the implementation of this law ever happening.
Tradition and legend state that in Israel there never had been, nor ever would be, a rebellious son.
TRAIN A SON UP IN THE WAY HE SHOULD GO
History seems to say that the law had been pronounced simply for educational purposes, so that parents would strive to bring their children up properly and so they would feel rewarded and respected for doing so.
Here I think of that old scripture that says: “train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old; he will not depart from it.
Though the sons of the new nation were probably often terrible and impossible for their parents to deal with; somehow God’s love found solutions in every single case.
If they did not turn, there was always hope in at least one parent’s heart that they WOULD turn eventually.
This hope was enough to keep the trials of rebellious sons down to zero.
FORGIVENESS PREVAILS
Forgiveness would have to be HUGE in every family that made up such a nation of hopeful and loving parents.
In the case of the rebellious sons; as they grew older it seems that those who could not learn righteousness had at least learned humility and enough humbleness to ask forgiveness; even if it wasn’t real and didn’t last for long. They turned just enough to provide the needed hope that kept justice from being served.
THE TRAIL WENT ALL THE WAY BACK TO ADAM
We can look through the pages of history AFTER the time period of these case laws and see the same rebellious sons repeating the same sins all over again.
Most of the men of Israel, even the greatest of the leaders, were always forgiving of their rebellious sons.
David had six very rebellious sons. Though there were times when he felt the need to separate himself from them; he never quit loving them and he did not ever publicly deny them.
David, like a true King, only humbly looked at and remembered his own sins and realized where the sins of his evil sons had originated.
The trail could be traced all the way back to the days of Adam in the Garden of Eden.
Perhaps David overlooked way too much; but he did so out of the love of a father’s heart.
THE LOVE OF A FATHER’S HEART
If life were a game of Rook cards, love would always be the trump card.
Love always trumps law.
There are many other examples of stories of Israel’s rebellious sons and their fathers; but we will not have time to tell them all today.
We must also look at the word meanings from the time and the culture of which the words were used. The guilty son here is accused of “rebellion” and “stubbornness;” which could easily be translated to mean witchcraft and idolatry.
During those times rebellion was thought of as witchcraft, and stubbornness was thought of as idolatry.
STANDING IN THE PLACE OF JUDGEMENT
If the parents could not correct these terrible traits of the rebellious son on their own; the son was first brought before three judges.
He stood in a place of judgement inside the city gates where the Sanhedrin reigned over the city laws. They were to admonish him and punish him if he was found guilty.
Later, if the son returned home after that judgement and once again became rebellious and stubborn; then he must be brought to stand before the Sanhedrin, where a group of 23 judges reigned. Again, this happened ONLY if both parents were in agreement.
By the time of the third trial, this son certainly meets the definition of a rebellious son. The rebellious son, by LAW was to be stoned to death for his sins.
The law we speak of here was a CASE LAW – which meant this law was good only for a certain time and a certain period of a culture’s history.
THE STORY OF THE LAW FULFILLED
There is a further story though, long after this period of time in Israel’s history. It is a story which takes place in a later time period in which all of the LAW had been fulfilled by the death of One.
This One told the further story to us.
His name was Jesus.
He spoke of a prodigal son who took his inheritance and sinned by leaving home and going to a far country and squandering everything on wine, women and song.
When all was totally wasted a famine came to the far country, and the wayward son found himself hired out as a servant to feed the pigs who ate much better than he.
As he went sadly about his work he remembered that the servants who worked on his father’s farm were treated so much better than the livelihood in which he now existed.
He decided to return home and beg his Father’s forgiveness and request that he give him a job as a hired-worker.
As the son approached his old home his father saw him coming and ran to meet him. He showered him with love and affection and clothed him in splendor. He welcomed him warmly back into his former home and would not even dream of disclaiming him as a son and making him a hired worker.
The happy Father gave a public party and a huge celebration in the boy’s honor, celebrating the fact that he had returned home again.
JESUS MAKES ALL THINGS NEW
How could Jesus tell such a story as this after the giving of this old case law had been done by God?
Because He and He alone was the One who knew the true Father’s heart.
Jesus came to share that everlasting love of God with us and to make a way for the old case law to be abolished and a new stipulation put into its place. Though the rebellious sons of Israel had all sinned and fallen away from the life of God The Father; a way of forgiveness and restoration was provided through Jesus.
This new way was called love.
Love always trumps law.
You can never understand this though; until you have lived under the judgement of the law. Like that prodigal son who had to sleep with the pigs in order to appreciate the amazing life that he had been given all along; the law has helped God’s people to see clearly for generations and generations now.
THE PATTERN WAS LAID THROUGH ISRAEL
It all started with a pattern that God placed within the nations called Israel.
Once we grasped that pattern that used the temporary laws; we began to see more clearly.
Once our eyes were opened; we began to see the light, the truth, the way; which was Jesus Christ.
THE PATTERN WAS COMPLETED WITH CHRIST
Now when our Father looks upon us, His arms are wide open and we are welcomed into our eternal home. It is rich and lavish and there is always plenty.
We owe it all to that storyteller named Jesus.
Once we were lost; but now we are found.
He is the reason that the curse of sin has been reversed for us forever.
It is time to celebrate and start living as sons again!