In this message we will consider some further matters concerning the government among the people.
In 21:18-21 there is a word regarding the judgment on a stubborn and rebellious son.
If a man had a stubborn and rebellious son, who did not listen to the voice of his parents, even though they chastised him, then his parents were to seize him and bring him forth to the elders of their city and to the gate of their place (vv. 18-19). Among the children of Israel in ancient times, the gate was the place of assembling the congregation.
The parents were to say to the elders of their city that their son was stubborn and rebellious and did not listen to them, and that he was a glutton and a drunkard (v. 20).
All the men of the city were then to stone the son to death. This carrying out of the death sentence was a matter of theocracy, not of human opinion. Through the execution of the stubborn and rebellious son, the evil was to be utterly removed from the midst of the children of Israel, and all Israel would hear and would fear (v. 21).
It would have been very difficult for the parents of a stubborn and rebellious son to bring him to the elders of their city and then to see him stoned to death. Nevertheless, the parents of such a son were required to do this. Otherwise, they would have loved their son more than God's people. To allow such an evil one to remain among the people would have been a damage to them. Therefore, the evil had to be utterly removed from among the children of Israel.