The Law is Just (Pt. 3): Does Exodus 21:12-19 Say That One Can Stone Their Own Children for Rebellion?

Yes, actually, it does. Immediately this may seem problematic though, as the punishment does not seem to fit the crime in our ordinary observations of such behavior. In fact, this law is embedded between other laws that do seem to be reasonable in many people's eyes.

“He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death. However, if he did not lie in wait, but God delivered him into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee. But if a man acts with premeditation against his neighbor, to kill him by treachery, you shall take him from My altar, that he may die. And he who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. He who kidnaps a man and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, shall surely be put to death. And he who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. If men contend with each other, and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, and he does not die but is confined to his bed, if he rises again and walks about outside with his staff, then he who struck him shall be acquitted. He shall only pay for the loss of his time, and shall provide for him to be thoroughly healed. (Exodus 21:12-19 NKJV)

As usual I have three principles to keep in mind when reading texts like this.

1) We must recognize that God's covenant to redeem Israel only heightens their moral responsibility. We cannot understand many of the Mosaic laws if we do not recognize that the number one concern of the Torah is how a sinful people can live amidst a holy God. This becomes the primary concern of the text after the Exodus, during the construction of the tabernacle, and in the wilderness wanderings. Redemption, in the case of Israel, makes the law more severe in its stipulations. For example, after the theophany on Mt. Sinai, where God verbally gave his law, stricter penalties can be observed over issues like work during the sabbath. For example, in Exodus 16, the Israelites, probably in large numbers, continued to work on the sabbath and yet God had mercy on them after rebuking them. But after God appears to the congregation, he demands the death penalty for the same crime in Exodus 35, and we see it enforced in Numbers 15. Because of their direct experience of God's mercy previously, and his appearance before them, their rejection of his law became a "high handed sin." This can be observed with other laws as well. We must remember that men are responsible before God, not other men, and justice is primarily about an attribute of God, not about "fairness" or equality before men. Revelation intensifies these realities, especially in light of how God orders his covenant community.

2) Covenant transmission occurs in the Bible primarily through the family unit. Therefore, the parents are entrusted with the covenant and the responsibility to pass it along to their children in the form of signs (IE circumcision/baptism), instructions (Dt. 6:1-4), and example. This also meant that children of the covenant had a heightened responsibility as well; to receive and believe in God as He was given to them in the covenant. In the Old Testament, where church and state were required to be conjoined, this meant that excommunication due to covenant rejection was normally enforced through the death penalty (with some exceptions). The disobedient child subject to the death penalty is not a child who merely displayed regular adolescent foolishness, but one that was particularly wicked and refused to obey God and the parents He placed over them. A rejection of parental authority in the context of the covenant had a heightened severity to it (in line with point 1)). This is why the 5th commandment, to honor one's Father and Mother, is the first commandment pertaining to our duty to man that follows the previous four pertaining to our duty to God. Parents were the horizontal connection to the individual child's vertical relationship with God. Furthermore, to "curse" one's parents is a serious offense, and probably involved a lot more than what us moderners intend when we say "swear words." Deuteronomy 21:20 further describes this child as one who, "will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard." This is a child, who at a certain age of maturity (IE he could drink), had rejected his parents authority (and thus rejected God), and committed his life to squander and wickedness.

3) Again, as I have stated in previous posts, the Old Testament laws present us with maximum penalties, not necessarily required penalties. On top of that, the passage in Deuteronomy 21 clearly implies that a child put to death for such offenses had to have their parents as the accuser. Capital offenses in the Old Testament require two or three witnesses, and since the offense was against the parents, the parents had to be the witnesses. In the ancient near-east, just as today, that would be a very difficult thing for a parent to do regardless of the child's behavior. Familial connections often lead to extraordinary instances of mercy and grace. In fact, out of all of the historical books, we do not have one instance of parents bringing such charges against their children. It probably rarely, if ever occurred.

At first, we may hesitate to confidently state that in this instance, the law is indeed just. That is because we often associate justice, with mere human justice, not divine justice. Justice is an attribute of God, one which all fallen men are opposed to and violate. Therefore, in the covenant community, where God was "birthing" salvation for the world, rebellion against God's commands were treated with more severity as we saw in point 1). Because of the covenantal arrangement of Hebrew life, the parent-child relationship was also intensified according to point 2). However, the parental-child relationship was not completely disregarded, as the parents had the final say in this matter given point 3). So with this law we get a sense of both the severity of God's justice, and the implied tenderness and mercy that comes from familial relations. This law is completely fulfilled by Christ, who as the eternal, beloved Son of God, came into this world, under the law of Moses, to redeem us from the curse of the law. He did that by submitting himself to the death penalty for our childish rebellion against the Most High, even though he was without sin. However, because he was the eternal, beloved Son of God, being without sin, when he had completed that work, he was raised again from the dead and ascended into heaven to return to the "lap" of the Father. Therefore, all those who are in him are given the status as the sons of God, and are justified in their relationship to the law. The law is Just, and Jesus is merciful. Amen.