SEV Biblia, Chapter 21:20
y dirán a los ancianos de la ciudad: Este nuestro hijo es contumaz y rebelde, no oye nuestra voz; es glotón y borracho.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 20. And they shall say unto the elders of his city , etc.] In open court, what follows, at the same time, according to the Targum of Jonathan, acknowledging their own sins, for which such a calamity had befallen them, saying, “we have transgressed the decree of the word of the Lord, because is born unto us a son that is stubborn, etc.” (see John 9:2) this our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice ; one of an obstinate disposition, will have his own will and way, is perverse and refractory; honours not, but despises his parents, and is disobedient to their commands, unruly and ungovernable: the Jews gather many things from hence, for which there is little foundation, as that they must be neither dumb, nor blind, nor deaf; though what they further observe is not much amiss, concerning this rebellious child, that the law respects a son and not a daughter, because a daughter generally is more tractable; and less capable of doing mischief than a son; and a son and not a man, for if at man’s estate, and for himself, he is not under the power of his parents; and yet not a child or a little one, for that is not comprehended in the commands; he must be according to them thirteen years of age and one day, and he must be a son and not a father f298 : [he is] a glutton and a drunkard ; which, according to the Misnah f299 , is one that eats half a pound of flesh, and drinks half a log of Italian wine; R. Jose says, a pound of flesh and a log of wine; but the decision was not according to him; the first rule stood: now half a pound of flesh, and half a log of wine, which was about three egg shells, or a quarter of a pint, would be at this day reckoned very little by our grandsons of Bacchus, as Schickard observes f300 ; but in an age of severer discipline, as he says, in the tender candidates of temperance, it was reckoned too much, and was a presage of a future glutton: and it must be further observed to denominate him a rebellious son, what he ate and drank was to be what he stole from his parents, and did not eat and drink it at home, but abroad, and in bad company; so Jarchi remarks on the text, he is not guilty until he steals, and eats half a pound of flesh, and drinks half a log of wine; in which he seems to have respect to the Jewish canon f301 , “if he steals from his father and eats it in a place in his father’s power, or from others and eats it in a place in their power, or from others and eats it in a place in his father’s power; he is not reckoned a stubborn and rebellious son, unless he steals from his father, and eats it in a place in the power of others,” (see Proverbs 23:20), the Jews seem to refer to this when they charged Christ with being a glutton and a winebibber, ( Matthew 11:19) being desirous of having him thought as such an one.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 18-21 - Observe how the criminal is here described. He is a stubborn an rebellious son. No child was to fare the worse for weakness of capacity, slowness, or dulness, but for wilfulness and obstinacy Nothing draws men into all manner of wickedness, and hardens them in i more certainly and fatally, than drunkenness. When men take to drinking, they forget the law of honouring parents. His own father an mother must complain of him to the elders of the city. Children wh forget their duty, must thank themselves, and not blame their parents if they are regarded with less and less affection. He must be publicl stoned to death by the men of his city. Disobedience to a parent' authority must be very evil, when such a punishment was ordered; nor is it less provoking to God now, though it escapes punishment in thi world. But when young people early become slaves to sensual appetites the heart soon grows hard, and the conscience callous; and we can expect nothing but rebellion and destruction.
Original Hebrew
ואמרו 559 אל 413 זקני 2205 עירו 5892 בננו 1121 זה 2088 סורר 5637 ומרה 4784 איננו 369 שׁמע 8085 בקלנו 6963 זולל 2151 וסבא׃ 5435
