Tackling Tradition 85: Does the Bible Condone The Stoning Of Non-Adult Children

Deuteronomy 21: 18 - 21

18 If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and motherand will not listen to them when they discipline him, 19 his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. 20 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.”21 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.

Village Skeptics & other critics of the Bible sometimes assert that Deuteronomy 21:18 - 21 supports the stoning of children.   

 

By way of reply…

The Bible draws a distinction between the Moral Law of God (the Decalogue) & the civil code which is based upon it.    In context, Deuteronomy 21: 18 - 20 is part of the civil code, the body of Law based upon the Decalogue. It is therefore an outworking of the Decalogue not part of the Decalogue itself.  

21 If someone is found slain, lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who the killer was, 2 your elders and judges shall go out and measure the distance from the body to the neighboring towns. 3 Then the elders of the town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked and has never worn a yoke 4 and lead it down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and where there is a flowing stream. There in the valley they are to break the heifer’s neck. 5 The Levitical priests shall step forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister and to pronounce blessings in the name of the Lord and to decide all cases of dispute and assault. 6 Then all the elders of the town nearest the body shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, 7 and they shall declare: “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done. 8 Accept this atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, Lord, and do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent person.” Then the bloodshed will be atoned for, 9 and you will have purged from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

Marrying a Captive Woman

10 When you go to war against your enemies and the Lord your God delivers them into your hands and you take captives, 11 if you notice among the captives a beautiful woman and are attracted to her, you may take her as your wife. 12 Bring her into your home and have her shave her head, trim her nails 13 and put aside the clothes she was wearing when captured. After she has lived in your house and mourned her father and mother for a full month, then you may go to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife. 14 If you are not pleased with her, let her go wherever she wishes. You must not sell her or treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her.

The Right of the Firstborn

15 If a man has two wives, and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love, 16 when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love. 17 He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double share of all he has. That son is the first sign of his father’s strength.The right of the firstborn belongs to him.

A Rebellious Son

18 If someone has a stubborn and rebelliousson who does not obey his father and motherand will not listen to them when they discipline him, 19 his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. 20 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.”21 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.

Various Laws

22 If someone guilty of a capital offense is put to death and their body is exposed on a pole,23 you must not leave the body hanging on the pole overnight. Be sure to bury it that same day, because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse. You must not desecrate the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

In context, Deuteronomy 21 is case law that centers on the behavior of adults, not small children. 

21:1-9 

• Who committed the murder?  It could be either an adult or a child.

21:10 - 14

• This isn’t about the marrying of children to adults, nor is it a case of marrying the victim or an attempt to justify or otherwise condone rape.  It’s a deterrent designed to warn a would be rapist that his victim, in this case a war bride, could potentially become a major liability, especially if he took her into his tent/household.
• Also,the rapist/war husband may have stolen the victim her family & might have raped her.  Ergo, under the law, he incurred a debt to himself, his victim, & the victim’s family.   
• Himself because the civil code requires him to replicate & restore.  Marrying his victim requires him to now be as a kinsman protector/husband. 
• His victim because he took her from her family & might have physically &/or sexually abused the victim, resulting any number of loses, both physical & economic.
• The victim’s family because of the laws concerning marriage, bride prices, &tc. 
• In the eyes of a great many the victim is now damaged goods. 
• What the captor did dishonored the victim’s family as well as the rapists own.   Therefore he owes them remuneration. 

21:15 - 17

• This law is about the inheritance rights of people.  While it’s true that this law protects both legal adults & children, the fact of the matter is that inheritances then, as it is in modern day societies, were most often administered by adults until the child came of age. 

21: 18 - 20

• Apropos the surrounding text, the text is describing the maximum penalty for a legal adult’s extraordinarily rebellious behavior.  
• A glutton, because his behavior deprives those around him of justice..
• A drunkard, because he’s so full of himself & his gluttony that he makes asinine decisions, especially if his drunkenness is rooted in idolatry, witchcraft, sorcery, &tc. 

21:21 - 24 

• This one is rightly applied to the death of both children & adults. 
• By burying or entombing the body, the deceased’s family & community recognizes the name of the person crucified or otherwise hung or impaled upon the pole, commemorates the deceased death, & entrusts him to the LORD for His righteousness judgment in anticipation of the Resurrection. 
• It also ties in to 21:1-9.  
• By burying or entombing the body & offering a sacrifice to the LORD, the community the community commemorates the deceased death, & entrusts him to the LORD for His righteousness judgment in anticipation of the Resurrection & look to the LORD Himself to do justice for the victim & pray that no one will have to suffer through this sort of pain ever again. 

O LORD, Hear our prayer(s)!