- James Jordan, The Law of the Covenant 107 (1984), at http://www.garynorth.com/freebooks/: HTML, DjVu.
9.21.2008
Practically, "repudiating" parents (Exo. 21:17; Deut. 21:18-21; Mark 7:9-13; cf. 1 Tim. 5:3-17) could mean a settled, publicly manifest disposition to reject Godly household rules. It could mean a refusal to care for them in their old age. It could mean reviling and cursing them. For the death penalty to be applied, however, there would have to be evidence that would stand up in court. The small boy who wants to appear tough to the fellows may call his parents "the old man" and the "old lady." He is not guilty of a capital crime, though he is in sin nonetheless. The teenager who is upset with household rules may get mad and yell at his parents, "You don't love me; you've never loved me. I hate you." He has not committed a crime worthy of death either, though he has sinned in the passion of frustration. Those who hate the law of God, and that includes many in the so-called evangelical churches today, like to twist the Old Testament Scriptures to make it appear that small children are commanded to be put to death for minor offenses. That is not, however, what is in view.
