Difficult, But Necessary Decisions

Difficult, but necessary decisions.  What difficult decisions do parents make?  In our reading today, we come across the responsibility of parents whose son is stubborn and rebellious.  You will notice in the relatively short passage of Scripture on the subject, that the parents have tried to discipline their son (Deuteronomy 21:18).  I picture parents who have tried over and over to discipline and, remember, discipline is done because of love.  Also, notice just how bad the son has become.  The son is described as rebellious, not listening to parent, a glutton, and a drunkard (v.20).  This son apparently has no self-control at all.  The instructions were for the parents to take him to the elders at the city gate (what would be considered a trial) and then all the men in the city was to stone this son to death (18-21).  I have read this passage before and knew of these instructions.  However, this morning as I read it, I thought about these parents.  This must have been such a hard decision.  They must have tried everything possible to discipline and help this son.  However, they could not let this son continue in his way.  The verse concluding this section of the chapter states, “You must purge the evil from you, and all Israel will hear and be afraid” (v.21).  That actually is a repeated phrase throughout the chapter.  There would be some good come out of such a difficult decision, others would take notice and be afraid, indicating it would serve as a deterrent to others.