Treatment of Sons

(Deuteronomy 21:15 - 21:21)
“Take this case: A man has two wives.  He loves one wife, but not the other.  He has sons by both wives, the elder son by the unloved wife.  When the time comes for him to distribute his inheritance, he may not give the younger son, the son of the wife he loves, more than the son of the unloved wife, who is the elder.  He must recognize the son of the unloved wife as his first born and give to him as his inheritance a double share of his possessions, for that son is first fruit of his father’s virility and the rights of the firstborn belong to him.

“A man has a headstrong and rebellious son who will not obey his parents even though they discipline him.  In such a case, the father and mother should then take hold of the son and bring him to see the elders at the town gate.  They will say to them, ‘Our son is headstrong and rebellious.  He will not obey us.  He is a glutton and a drunkard.”  Then all the men of the town should stone the son to death.  In this way they will purge such evil from the community.  All Israel will hear of it and be fearful.”

Notes
1. The Jehovan laws for inheritance cannot be altered to conform to a man’s preference for one wife over another.  The eldest son receives a double portion of his father’s possessions and property regardless of the father’s feelings toward the eldest son’s mother.  Although this may be a serious abrogation of paternal power, there is a certain fairness here: the eldest son cannot be disinherited simply because his mother has a falling out with his father or the father becomes attached to some younger wife who has given him a son.  This system engenders less familial conflict and is probably better for the stability of society.  However, this is an interesting pronouncement considering the fact that Jehovah’s most devoted follower, Jacob (Israel), more or less disinherited his eldest son, favoring his younger children.  (Joseph’s descendants ended up with the greatest legacy.)  The eldest son of Abraham, Ishmael, was disinherited in favor of Isaac, because Abraham preferred his mother Sarah to Ishmael’s mother Hagar.  And Isaac was tricked into giving the blessing of the firstborn to Jacob, instead of to his eldest son Esau.  Moses’ eldest son Gershom had his place taken as his father’s inheritor by Joshua.  This passage clearly illustrates the common disconnect between the laws that Jehovah sets down for his people and the actions of the leaders of his Chosen People.

2. Rebellious sons pay a high price in Israelite society, the death penalty.  The most serious transgression, that is, those mentioned, are gluttony and drunkenness; for these faults a son may be executed.  There is no mention of a son who is a liar, a thief, a wastrel, or of being lazy and good for nothing, but one could presume that if the parents got fed up with him they could take him to see the town elders and persuade them to have the menfolk of the town stone the son to death -- a facile solution to problems of parenting.  No word yet on the fate of rebellious daughters.