I got a well-deserved switch a few times as a kid, as did all my friends, but I never heard of anyone facing the punishment prescribed to wayward sons by the Lord in the law given to Moses.

 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.

A rebellious young man, disobedient, constantly drunk and grabbing everything for himself, might find himself dragged by his ear to the city elders to get stoned. Not the Colorado sense of stoned, as in one toke over the line sweet Jesus, but in the hit with rocks until you’re dead sense of stoned.

Harsh justice for the ungrateful child who lived only for himself and flaunted the sacrifices of his parents. Apparently, the punishment turned heads and straightened the spines of a few crappy kids.

I wonder how often this actually happened? What parent pulled one of their offspring through town to carry out this punishment? Hard to believe it ever took place.

But the threat surely shot out of the mouths of exasperated mothers when dealing with wild sons. Straighten up or I’ll drag you to the city gates! Then you’ll get what’s coming to you!

We can be grateful the Lord doesn’t treat us this way, despite our rebellious attitudes and penchant towards over-consuming whatever pleases us. God doesn’t even threaten us. He lets us wander and then guides us back, with only a few rocks underfoot along the way.

Deuteronomy 21 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Thomas Picauly