Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Does the Bible approve of capital punishment?The Pentateuchal legal codes prescribe death by stoning, burning, or general execution for an enormous range of offenses: murder (Gen 9:6; Num 35:30), striking…
Deuteronomy 24:7(v16)If a man is found stealing any of his brothers of the children of Israel, and he deals with him as a slave, or sells him, then that thief…
1 Timothy 1:10(v16)for the sexually immoral, for homosexuals, for slave-traders, for liars, for perjurers, and for any other thing contrary to the sound…
Proverbs 20:20(v17)Whoever curses his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in blackness of darkness.
Mark 7:10-11(v17)For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother;’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’ But you say,…
Genesis 37:28(v16)Midianites who were merchants passed by, and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty…
Show all 15 cross-references
Exodus 22:4(v16)If the stolen property is found in his hand alive, whether it is ox, donkey, or sheep, he shall pay double.
Deuteronomy 27:16(v17)‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or his mother.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
Matthew 15:3-6(v17)He answered them, “Why do you also disobey the commandment of God because of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your…
Proverbs 30:11(vv15, 17)There is a generation that curses their father, and doesn’t bless their mother.
Genesis 40:15(v16)For indeed, I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.”
Leviticus 20:9-10(v17)“ ‘For everyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother. His blood shall…
Proverbs 30:17(vv15, 17)“The eye that mocks at his father, and scorns obedience to his mother: the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, the young eagles shall…
Deuteronomy 21:18-21(v15)If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and though they chasten…
Deuteronomy 27:24(v15)‘Cursed is he who secretly kills his neighbor.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
1 Timothy 1:9(v15)as knowing this, that law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and sinners, for the…
15 distinct cross-references across this passage (17 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (14 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv15–17Exo 21:15 And he that smiteth his father, or…
Exo 21:15 And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.
Ver. 15. He that smiteth.] By the law of God, of nature, and of nations, such a man should die. And herein, I think, our laws are defective: albeit, I am not of Carolostadius’s mind, who, if Melancthon misreport him not, held that these judicial laws set down by Moses should be still of force, and these only, in Christian commonwealths, and all other civil and municipal laws abolished. Our English Alfred I cannot but commend for his piety, in that he began his common laws with the ten commandments. {a}
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{a} Lombard.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv15–17He that smiteth; either,
He that smiteth; either,
1. So as is before mentioned, Exo 21:12, so as they die. And to smite sometimes signifies to kill, as Gen 4:15; 2Ki 14:5, compared with 2Ch 25:3. And this may be here added by way of distinction: q.d. That killing of another man which is punished with death, must be done presumptuously; but the killing of parents, though not done presumptuously, is a capital crime. Or,
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2. The mere smiting of them, to wit, wilfully and dangerously. Nor will any think this law too severe, that considers that this is an act full of horrid impiety against God, who hath so expressly and emphatically commanded children to honour their parents; of highest and most unnatural ingratitude, and utterly destructive to human society.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv15–17And he that smiteth his father or his mother,....…
And he that smiteth his father or his mother,.... With his fist, or with a stick, or cane, or such thing, though they died not with the blow, yet it occasioned any wound, or caused a bruise, or the part smitten black and blue, or left any print of the blow; for, as Jarchi says, the party was not guilty, less by smiting there was a bruise, or weal, made, or any mark or scar: but if so it was, then he
shall be surely put to death; the Targum of Jonathan adds, with the suffocation of a napkin; and so Jarchi says with strangling; the manner of which was this, the person was sunk into a dunghill up to his knees, and two persons girt his neck with a napkin or towel until he expired. This crime was made capital, to show the heinousness of it, how detestable it was to God, and in order to deter from it.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv15–16Verse 15. That smiteth his father, or his mother]…
Verse 15. That smiteth his father, or his mother] As such a case argued peculiar depravity, therefore no mercy was to be shown to the culprit.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv15–16Exo 21:15. He that smiteth his father, &c. —…
Exo 21:15. He that smiteth his father, &c. — So sacred and inviolable is that reverence which children owe to their parents, that, by the law of God, it was death not only to strike them, but even to curse or outrageously revile them, Exo 21:17, and Mat 15:4. The reason of this law is, that such crimes are a sign of most audacious wickedness. It appears, however, from Deu 21:18, that children were not to be put to death for the first offence of this kind, but if, after repeated admonitions from their parents, they still persisted in their undutiful carriage, without hope of reformation, then, upon the accusation of their parents, they were to be put to death.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn v15The following offences were to be punished with death:
The following offences were to be punished with death:
Striking a parent, compare Deu 27:16.
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Cursing a parent, compare the marginal references.
Kidnapping, whether with a view to retain the person stolen, or to sell him, compare the marginal references.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv15, 17Striketh, even though death should not ensue. But some…
Striketh, even though death should not ensue. But some require a grevious wound, and that the son should be twice admonished, Deuteronomy xxi. 18. Parricide seemed a crime so shocking and unnatural, that neither Moses nor Solon made any express law against it.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn v1616, 17. Stealeth a man — Note that manstealing…
16, 17. Stealeth a man — Note that manstealing was placed on the same plane with the crime of murder. Cursing a parent was also treated as a capital offence.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv15–1715. Striking a parent. Notice that the mother is…
15. Striking a parent. Notice that the mother is placed on an equality with the father.
smiteth] simply, without killing: the murder of a parent would fall under the general rule of v. 12. The severity of the penalty was in accordance with the high respect paid to both parents in ancient Israel: see Exo_20:12, and cf. Deu_21:18-21. Hạmmurabi (§ 195) ordained that if a son struck his father—no mention is made of his mother—his hands should be cut off. The older Sumerian laws said1[188]: ‘If a son has said to his father, Thou art not my father [i.e. repudiated him], he may brand him, lay fetters upon him, and sell him. If a son has said to his mother, Thou art not my mother, one shall brand his forehead, drive him round the city, and expel him from the house.’ At Athens γονέων κάκωσις (‘maltreatment of parents’) was actionable, and might be punished with ἀτιμία, or loss of civil rights (Andoc. de Myst. § 74, cf. Demosth. adv. Timocr. §§ 103, 105, p. 732 f.); and Plato (Legg. ix. 881 b–d), if any one struck a parent, would have any one who witnessed the act, and failed to interfere, severely punished, and the offender himself condemned to perpetual exile, or death if he ever returned home. Solon (Cic. Rosc. 25) is said to have made no mention of such a crime, on the ground that he considered its occurrence impossible (Kn.).
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[188] Winckler, Gesetze Hamm. (1904), p. 85; Pinches, op cit. [p. 212 n.], p. 190 f.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn v15(15-17) And he that smiteth his father . .…
(15-17) And he that smiteth his father . . .-With homicide are conjoined some other offences, regarded as of a heinous character, and made punishable by death: viz. (1), striking a parent; (2) kidnapping; and (3) cursing a parent. The immediate sequence of these crimes upon murder, and their punishment by the same penalty, marks strongly God’s abhorrence of them. The parent is viewed as God’s representative, and to smite him is to offer God an insult in his person. To curse him implies, if possible, a greater want of reverence; and, since curses can only be effectual as appeals to God, it is an attempt to enlist God on our side against His representative. Kidnapping is a crime against the person only a very little short of murder, since it is to deprive a man of that which gives life its chief value—liberty. Many a man would prefer death to slavery; and to almost all the passing into the slave condition would be a calamity of the most terrible kind, Involving life-long misery. Its suddenness and unexpectedness, when the result of kidnapping, would augment its grievousness, and render it the most crushing of all misfortunes. Joseph’s history shows us how easy it was to sell a free man as a slave, and obtain his immediate removal into a distant country (Gen_37:25-28). The Egyptian annals tell us of bloody wars carried on for kidnapping purposes (Lenormant, Histoire Ancienne, vol. i., pp. 423, 424). In the classical times and countries, the slaves offered for sale in the markets had usually been obtained in this way. The stringent law of the Mosaic code (Exo_21:16) was greatly needed to check an atrocious crime very widely committed.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv15–17Vers. 15-17. Other capital offences. The unsystematic character of…
Vers. 15-17. Other capital offences. The unsystematic character of the arrangement in this chapter is remarkably shown by this interruption of the consideration of different sorts of homicide, in order to introduce offences of quite a different character, and those not very closely allied to each othere.g. ,
1. Striking a parent;
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2. Kidnapping;
3. Cursing a parent.
He that smiteth his father, etc. To "smite" here is simply to "strike to offer the indignity of a blow not to kill, which had already been made capital (ver. 12), not in the case of parents only, but in every case. The severity of the law is very remarkable, and strongly emphasises the dignity and authority of parents. There is no parallel to it in any other known code, though of course the patria potestas of the Roman father gave him the power of punishing a son who had struck him, capitally.
Vers. 15-17. Injuries to parents.
The command to honour father and mother, (Exo_20:12) which is enough for the conscience, and which, if obeyed, would render all further laws upon the subject unnecessary, is here reinforced by two important enactments, intended to restrain those who do not scruple to disobey mere moral laws. The penalty of death is affixed to two crimes:
1. Smiting a parent;
2. Cursing a parent.
I SMITING A PARENT. When it is considered that our parents represent God to us, that they are in a real sense authors of our being, that they protect and sustain us for years during which we could do nothing for ourselves, and that nature has implanted in our minds an instinctive reverence for them, the punishment of parent-strikers by death will not seem strange or excessive. A son must have become very hardened in guilt, very reckless, very heartless, very brutal, who can bring himself to lift a hand against a father, not to say a mother. There is as much moral guilt in a light blow dealt to one whom we are bound to love, honour, and protect from hurt, as in the utmost violence done to a stranger. However, according to the Talmud, it was not every light blow that was actually punished with death, but only a blow which caused a wound; and, of course, the punishment was only inflicted upon the complaint of the party aggrieved, who would be unlikely to take proceedings, unless the assault was of grave character. Probably the law had very seldom to be enforced.
What it did was to invest parents with a sacred and awful character in their children"s eyes, and to induce them to submit to chastisement without resistance.
II CURSING A PARENT. To curse a parent is almost as unnatural as to strike one. ALL cursing is unsuitable to such a being as man so full of faults himself, so liable to misjudge the character and conduct of others; but to curse those to whom we owe our existence is simply horrible. The sin is akin to blasphemy, and is awarded the same punishment. At the present day, when the Mosaic law is no longer in force, and when on this point no echoes of the Mosaic legislation are to be traced in existing codes, it is specially incumbent on conscientious persons to observe the spirit of the Mosaic enactments, and (as it were) make a Christian use of them.
(1) "Smite not a parent," said the law, "or die the death." "Grieve not a parent" is the Christian paraphrase. "Grieve him not by disobedience, by idleness, by extravagance, by misconduct of any kind. Do not discredit his bringing up by misbehaviour. Do not stab his. heart by ingratitude. Do not wither up his nature by unkindness." A child may easily, without lifting a finger, "bring down the grey hairs" of his father "with sorrow to the grave." He may "smite" him in half-a-dozen ways without touching him. Let Christian men beware of such "smiting" of their parents, and dread the "eternal death" which may follow in the place of Moses" temporal death.
(2) "Curse not a parent," said the law again. We do not now, unless we part with religion altogether, curse any one. But we too often break the spirit of this law, notwithstanding. We speak slightingly of our parents; we join in disrespectful comments on their manners or behaviour; we use language to them, face to face, which is wanting in reverence and unsuitable. If we would act in the spirit of the law, "curse not a parent," we must avoid all disrespectful words, all disrespectful thoughts towards them or concerning them; we must give them the honour due to parents; we must seriously consider their counsels, and as a general rule follow their advice. As temporal death was awarded to those who "cursed" parents by the Jewish law, (Exo_21:17) so eternal death will be the portion of such as are determinately "disobedient to parents" under the Christian dispensation.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv15–16He that smiteth his father.
Exo_21:15
He that smiteth his father.
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Gods indignation against the unfilial spirit
I. The unfilial spirit in two aspects.
1. He that smiteth his father or his mother.
(1) A child may smite his parent literally, as in the case of those brutes we read of in the newspapers every week.
(2) A child may smite his parents authority by rebellion in thought, word, or deed; e.g., Absalom.
(3) A child may smite his parents wealth by extravagance or carelessness.
(4) A child may smite his parents character by an incautious revelation of domestic secrets.
(5) A child may smite his parents health, and, by misconduct, bring their grey hairs with sorrow to the grave; e.g., Josephs brethren.
(6) A child may smite his parents heart, and break it by disobedience and wilfulness; e.g., sons of Eli.
2. He that curseth (lit. revileth)
his father or his mother.
(1) A child may revile his parents by an assertion of personal independence.
(2) A child may revile his parents by speaking of them in a careless and irreverent way.
(3) A child may revile his parents by speaking to them in a familiar or impertinent way.
(4) A child may revile his parents by treating their counsels with contempt; and
(5) Alas! a child may revile his parents by cursing them to their face.
II. The uniform punishment of the unfilial spirit. Shall surely be put to death. The letter of this condemnation is now repealed, but its spirit lives on through the ages.
1. An unfilial child dies to the respect of civilised society.
2. An unfilial child is morally dead. If the sign of the moral life is love of the brethren, how dead must he be in whom filial respect and love is extinct!
3. An unfilial child, inasmuch as he breaks a moral law, and a law that partakes of the qualities of both tables and combines them, dies in a more terrible sense. The soul that sinneth it shall die. (J. W. Burn.)
Filial impiety
The books tell us of an old man whose son dragged him, by his hoary locks, to the threshold of his door, when the father said: Now stop, my son, that is as far as I dragged my father by his hair, There is still a God that judgeth in the earth. He makes Himself known by the judgments which He executeth. Who has ever seen any one a loser by filial piety, or a gainer by the want of it? There still lives a man who, in a passion, cursed his own father, and then struck him several times with a horsewhip. Judgment against this evil work was not executed speedily. Time rolled on, but no ingenuous repentance followed. After some time the cruel son was blasting rock in a well. The fuse caught fire, and he was blown up with the loss of both his eyes, and his right hand, with which he had struck his father. Soon after this sad occurrence he was received in the year 1868 as a pauper at the county workhouse. He has habitually been restless and miserable. He is happy nowhere. He has gone to another county and to another workhouse. But he is well known as a very wretched man. By the law of Moses, cursing father or mother was punished with death. No reason for the law is given, but the atrocious nature of the act. What fearful force is in such words as these: Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness. The eye that mocketh at his father, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it (Pro_20:20; Pro_30:17). (W. S. Plumer.)
Cruelty to a mother
A young man, of whom I once heard, was often spoken to and often prayed for by his mother, until he said to her, Mother, if you dont give up that praying for me, I will run away to sea. He ran away. Before he went, his mother packed his box. She put the writing paper at the top, and all she begged of him was, My boy, when you are far away from me, write to me. I will write to you; but send me an answer. He went away; he stayed three years, and never sent a single syllable to that loving mother, who oftentimes was kneeling by her bedside praying for that runaway boy. At last he went back to the old village to see how she was. As he walked down the street his heart misgave him. He walked up the path to the house, he knocked at the door; it was opened by a person whom he did not know. He asked for Mrs. So-and-so. How is she? The woman looked blank at him. He said, Is not she here? Oh, said the woman, you mean the old woman who used to live here. She died eight months ago of a broken heart. She had a bad son, who went away to sea and left her, and she wrote to him, and he never wrote back again. He turned away and went into the village churchyard. He looked at the graves, he found the one he sought, and threw himself down upon it, saying, Oh, mother, I never meant it, I never meant it! But he did it. (Dr. Morgan.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On v15Whoever hits his father or mother must surely be…
Whoever hits his father or mother must surely be put to death
This can be stated in active form. AT: "If anyone hits his father or mother, you must surely put him to death" or "You must surely kill anyone who hits his father or mother" (See: Active or Passive)
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must surely
"must certainly"
in his hand
The hand here is a metonym for the power or control that a person exercises using the hand. AT: "under his control" or "with him"
that kidnapper must be put to death
This can be stated in active form. AT: "you must kill that kidnapper" (See: Active or Passive)
Whoever curses his father or his mother must surely be put to death
This can be stated in active form. AT: "you must surely kill anyone who curses his father or his mother" (See: Active or Passive)
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv15–17 Exo 21:15 And he that smiteth his father, or…
Exo 21:15 And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.
Ver. 15. He that smiteth.] By the law of God, of nature, and of nations, such a man should die. And herein, I think, our laws are defective: albeit, I am not of Carolostadius’s mind, who, if Melancthon misreport him not, held that these judicial laws set down by Moses should be still of force, and these only, in Christian commonwealths, and all other civil and municipal laws abolished. Our English Alfred I cannot but commend for his piety, in that he began his common laws with the ten commandments. {a}
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{a} Lombard.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv15–17 He that smiteth; either,
He that smiteth; either,
1. So as is before mentioned, Exo 21:12, so as they die. And to smite sometimes signifies to kill, as Gen 4:15; 2Ki 14:5, compared with 2Ch 25:3. And this may be here added by way of distinction: q.d. That killing of another man which is punished with death, must be done presumptuously; but the killing of parents, though not done presumptuously, is a capital crime. Or,
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2. The mere smiting of them, to wit, wilfully and dangerously. Nor will any think this law too severe, that considers that this is an act full of horrid impiety against God, who hath so expressly and emphatically commanded children to honour their parents; of highest and most unnatural ingratitude, and utterly destructive to human society.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv15–17 And he that smiteth his father or his mother,....…
And he that smiteth his father or his mother,.... With his fist, or with a stick, or cane, or such thing, though they died not with the blow, yet it occasioned any wound, or caused a bruise, or the part smitten black and blue, or left any print of the blow; for, as Jarchi says, the party was not guilty, less by smiting there was a bruise, or weal, made, or any mark or scar: but if so it was, then he
shall be surely put to death; the Targum of Jonathan adds, with the suffocation of a napkin; and so Jarchi says with strangling; the manner of which was this, the person was sunk into a dunghill up to his knees, and two persons girt his neck with a napkin or towel until he expired. This crime was made capital, to show the heinousness of it, how detestable it was to God, and in order to deter from it.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv15–16 Verse 15. That smiteth his father, or his mother]…
Verse 15. That smiteth his father, or his mother] As such a case argued peculiar depravity, therefore no mercy was to be shown to the culprit.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv15–16 Exo 21:15. He that smiteth his father, &c. —…
Exo 21:15. He that smiteth his father, &c. — So sacred and inviolable is that reverence which children owe to their parents, that, by the law of God, it was death not only to strike them, but even to curse or outrageously revile them, Exo 21:17, and Mat 15:4. The reason of this law is, that such crimes are a sign of most audacious wickedness. It appears, however, from Deu 21:18, that children were not to be put to death for the first offence of this kind, but if, after repeated admonitions from their parents, they still persisted in their undutiful carriage, without hope of reformation, then, upon the accusation of their parents, they were to be put to death.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v15 The following offences were to be punished with death:
The following offences were to be punished with death:
Striking a parent, compare Deu 27:16.
Read full note →
Cursing a parent, compare the marginal references.
Kidnapping, whether with a view to retain the person stolen, or to sell him, compare the marginal references.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv15, 17 Striketh, even though death should not ensue. But some…
Striketh, even though death should not ensue. But some require a grevious wound, and that the son should be twice admonished, Deuteronomy xxi. 18. Parricide seemed a crime so shocking and unnatural, that neither Moses nor Solon made any express law against it.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v16 16, 17. Stealeth a man — Note that manstealing…
16, 17. Stealeth a man — Note that manstealing was placed on the same plane with the crime of murder. Cursing a parent was also treated as a capital offence.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv15–17 15. Striking a parent. Notice that the mother is…
15. Striking a parent. Notice that the mother is placed on an equality with the father.
smiteth] simply, without killing: the murder of a parent would fall under the general rule of v. 12. The severity of the penalty was in accordance with the high respect paid to both parents in ancient Israel: see Exo_20:12, and cf. Deu_21:18-21. Hạmmurabi (§ 195) ordained that if a son struck his father—no mention is made of his mother—his hands should be cut off. The older Sumerian laws said1[188]: ‘If a son has said to his father, Thou art not my father [i.e. repudiated him], he may brand him, lay fetters upon him, and sell him. If a son has said to his mother, Thou art not my mother, one shall brand his forehead, drive him round the city, and expel him from the house.’ At Athens γονέων κάκωσις (‘maltreatment of parents’) was actionable, and might be punished with ἀτιμία, or loss of civil rights (Andoc. de Myst. § 74, cf. Demosth. adv. Timocr. §§ 103, 105, p. 732 f.); and Plato (Legg. ix. 881 b–d), if any one struck a parent, would have any one who witnessed the act, and failed to interfere, severely punished, and the offender himself condemned to perpetual exile, or death if he ever returned home. Solon (Cic. Rosc. 25) is said to have made no mention of such a crime, on the ground that he considered its occurrence impossible (Kn.).
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[188] Winckler, Gesetze Hamm. (1904), p. 85; Pinches, op cit. [p. 212 n.], p. 190 f.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On v15 (15-17) And he that smiteth his father . .…
(15-17) And he that smiteth his father . . .-With homicide are conjoined some other offences, regarded as of a heinous character, and made punishable by death: viz. (1), striking a parent; (2) kidnapping; and (3) cursing a parent. The immediate sequence of these crimes upon murder, and their punishment by the same penalty, marks strongly God’s abhorrence of them. The parent is viewed as God’s representative, and to smite him is to offer God an insult in his person. To curse him implies, if possible, a greater want of reverence; and, since curses can only be effectual as appeals to God, it is an attempt to enlist God on our side against His representative. Kidnapping is a crime against the person only a very little short of murder, since it is to deprive a man of that which gives life its chief value—liberty. Many a man would prefer death to slavery; and to almost all the passing into the slave condition would be a calamity of the most terrible kind, Involving life-long misery. Its suddenness and unexpectedness, when the result of kidnapping, would augment its grievousness, and render it the most crushing of all misfortunes. Joseph’s history shows us how easy it was to sell a free man as a slave, and obtain his immediate removal into a distant country (Gen_37:25-28). The Egyptian annals tell us of bloody wars carried on for kidnapping purposes (Lenormant, Histoire Ancienne, vol. i., pp. 423, 424). In the classical times and countries, the slaves offered for sale in the markets had usually been obtained in this way. The stringent law of the Mosaic code (Exo_21:16) was greatly needed to check an atrocious crime very widely committed.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv15–17 Vers. 15-17. Other capital offences. The unsystematic character of…
Vers. 15-17. Other capital offences. The unsystematic character of the arrangement in this chapter is remarkably shown by this interruption of the consideration of different sorts of homicide, in order to introduce offences of quite a different character, and those not very closely allied to each othere.g. ,
1. Striking a parent;
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2. Kidnapping;
3. Cursing a parent.
He that smiteth his father, etc. To "smite" here is simply to "strike to offer the indignity of a blow not to kill, which had already been made capital (ver. 12), not in the case of parents only, but in every case. The severity of the law is very remarkable, and strongly emphasises the dignity and authority of parents. There is no parallel to it in any other known code, though of course the patria potestas of the Roman father gave him the power of punishing a son who had struck him, capitally.
Vers. 15-17. Injuries to parents.
The command to honour father and mother, (Exo_20:12) which is enough for the conscience, and which, if obeyed, would render all further laws upon the subject unnecessary, is here reinforced by two important enactments, intended to restrain those who do not scruple to disobey mere moral laws. The penalty of death is affixed to two crimes:
1. Smiting a parent;
2. Cursing a parent.
I SMITING A PARENT. When it is considered that our parents represent God to us, that they are in a real sense authors of our being, that they protect and sustain us for years during which we could do nothing for ourselves, and that nature has implanted in our minds an instinctive reverence for them, the punishment of parent-strikers by death will not seem strange or excessive. A son must have become very hardened in guilt, very reckless, very heartless, very brutal, who can bring himself to lift a hand against a father, not to say a mother. There is as much moral guilt in a light blow dealt to one whom we are bound to love, honour, and protect from hurt, as in the utmost violence done to a stranger. However, according to the Talmud, it was not every light blow that was actually punished with death, but only a blow which caused a wound; and, of course, the punishment was only inflicted upon the complaint of the party aggrieved, who would be unlikely to take proceedings, unless the assault was of grave character. Probably the law had very seldom to be enforced.
What it did was to invest parents with a sacred and awful character in their children"s eyes, and to induce them to submit to chastisement without resistance.
II CURSING A PARENT. To curse a parent is almost as unnatural as to strike one. ALL cursing is unsuitable to such a being as man so full of faults himself, so liable to misjudge the character and conduct of others; but to curse those to whom we owe our existence is simply horrible. The sin is akin to blasphemy, and is awarded the same punishment. At the present day, when the Mosaic law is no longer in force, and when on this point no echoes of the Mosaic legislation are to be traced in existing codes, it is specially incumbent on conscientious persons to observe the spirit of the Mosaic enactments, and (as it were) make a Christian use of them.
(1) "Smite not a parent," said the law, "or die the death." "Grieve not a parent" is the Christian paraphrase. "Grieve him not by disobedience, by idleness, by extravagance, by misconduct of any kind. Do not discredit his bringing up by misbehaviour. Do not stab his. heart by ingratitude. Do not wither up his nature by unkindness." A child may easily, without lifting a finger, "bring down the grey hairs" of his father "with sorrow to the grave." He may "smite" him in half-a-dozen ways without touching him. Let Christian men beware of such "smiting" of their parents, and dread the "eternal death" which may follow in the place of Moses" temporal death.
(2) "Curse not a parent," said the law again. We do not now, unless we part with religion altogether, curse any one. But we too often break the spirit of this law, notwithstanding. We speak slightingly of our parents; we join in disrespectful comments on their manners or behaviour; we use language to them, face to face, which is wanting in reverence and unsuitable. If we would act in the spirit of the law, "curse not a parent," we must avoid all disrespectful words, all disrespectful thoughts towards them or concerning them; we must give them the honour due to parents; we must seriously consider their counsels, and as a general rule follow their advice. As temporal death was awarded to those who "cursed" parents by the Jewish law, (Exo_21:17) so eternal death will be the portion of such as are determinately "disobedient to parents" under the Christian dispensation.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv15–16 He that smiteth his father.
Exo_21:15
He that smiteth his father.
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Gods indignation against the unfilial spirit
I. The unfilial spirit in two aspects.
1. He that smiteth his father or his mother.
(1) A child may smite his parent literally, as in the case of those brutes we read of in the newspapers every week.
(2) A child may smite his parents authority by rebellion in thought, word, or deed; e.g., Absalom.
(3) A child may smite his parents wealth by extravagance or carelessness.
(4) A child may smite his parents character by an incautious revelation of domestic secrets.
(5) A child may smite his parents health, and, by misconduct, bring their grey hairs with sorrow to the grave; e.g., Josephs brethren.
(6) A child may smite his parents heart, and break it by disobedience and wilfulness; e.g., sons of Eli.
2. He that curseth (lit. revileth)
his father or his mother.
(1) A child may revile his parents by an assertion of personal independence.
(2) A child may revile his parents by speaking of them in a careless and irreverent way.
(3) A child may revile his parents by speaking to them in a familiar or impertinent way.
(4) A child may revile his parents by treating their counsels with contempt; and
(5) Alas! a child may revile his parents by cursing them to their face.
II. The uniform punishment of the unfilial spirit. Shall surely be put to death. The letter of this condemnation is now repealed, but its spirit lives on through the ages.
1. An unfilial child dies to the respect of civilised society.
2. An unfilial child is morally dead. If the sign of the moral life is love of the brethren, how dead must he be in whom filial respect and love is extinct!
3. An unfilial child, inasmuch as he breaks a moral law, and a law that partakes of the qualities of both tables and combines them, dies in a more terrible sense. The soul that sinneth it shall die. (J. W. Burn.)
Filial impiety
The books tell us of an old man whose son dragged him, by his hoary locks, to the threshold of his door, when the father said: Now stop, my son, that is as far as I dragged my father by his hair, There is still a God that judgeth in the earth. He makes Himself known by the judgments which He executeth. Who has ever seen any one a loser by filial piety, or a gainer by the want of it? There still lives a man who, in a passion, cursed his own father, and then struck him several times with a horsewhip. Judgment against this evil work was not executed speedily. Time rolled on, but no ingenuous repentance followed. After some time the cruel son was blasting rock in a well. The fuse caught fire, and he was blown up with the loss of both his eyes, and his right hand, with which he had struck his father. Soon after this sad occurrence he was received in the year 1868 as a pauper at the county workhouse. He has habitually been restless and miserable. He is happy nowhere. He has gone to another county and to another workhouse. But he is well known as a very wretched man. By the law of Moses, cursing father or mother was punished with death. No reason for the law is given, but the atrocious nature of the act. What fearful force is in such words as these: Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness. The eye that mocketh at his father, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it (Pro_20:20; Pro_30:17). (W. S. Plumer.)
Cruelty to a mother
A young man, of whom I once heard, was often spoken to and often prayed for by his mother, until he said to her, Mother, if you dont give up that praying for me, I will run away to sea. He ran away. Before he went, his mother packed his box. She put the writing paper at the top, and all she begged of him was, My boy, when you are far away from me, write to me. I will write to you; but send me an answer. He went away; he stayed three years, and never sent a single syllable to that loving mother, who oftentimes was kneeling by her bedside praying for that runaway boy. At last he went back to the old village to see how she was. As he walked down the street his heart misgave him. He walked up the path to the house, he knocked at the door; it was opened by a person whom he did not know. He asked for Mrs. So-and-so. How is she? The woman looked blank at him. He said, Is not she here? Oh, said the woman, you mean the old woman who used to live here. She died eight months ago of a broken heart. She had a bad son, who went away to sea and left her, and she wrote to him, and he never wrote back again. He turned away and went into the village churchyard. He looked at the graves, he found the one he sought, and threw himself down upon it, saying, Oh, mother, I never meant it, I never meant it! But he did it. (Dr. Morgan.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v15 Whoever hits his father or mother must surely be…
Whoever hits his father or mother must surely be put to death
This can be stated in active form. AT: "If anyone hits his father or mother, you must surely put him to death" or "You must surely kill anyone who hits his father or mother" (See: Active or Passive)
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must surely
"must certainly"
in his hand
The hand here is a metonym for the power or control that a person exercises using the hand. AT: "under his control" or "with him"
that kidnapper must be put to death
This can be stated in active form. AT: "you must kill that kidnapper" (See: Active or Passive)
Whoever curses his father or his mother must surely be put to death
This can be stated in active form. AT: "you must surely kill anyone who curses his father or his mother" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
curse
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v17 21:17 Anyone who dishonors: See study note on Lev…
21:17 Anyone who dishonors: See study note on Lev 20:9; see also Exod 20:12; Deut 5:16; 21:18-21; Eph 6:1-4.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.