Ki Tetze – כי תצא : “When you go”
Torah : Deuteronomy 21:10–25:19
Haftarah : Isaiah 54:1–10
Gospel : Acts 13–15

Thought for the Week:

This commandment, however, reminds us that before God, we are all “stubborn and rebellious” sons and daughters. We are wayward at heart and disobedient to our Father in Heaven. As a result, we have all merited a death sentence before the heavenly court.

Commentary:

One of the troubling laws of the Torah is the commandment of the rebellious son in Deuteronomy 21:18–21. The Torah says that if a son refuses to heed his parents and indulges in a life of lasciviousness, the parents are to bring him to the elders of the city and have him tried and stoned. Obviously, this is an adult son still under the authority of his father’s house—in other words, a teenager. The Torah lists five qualifications. The son must be stubborn, rebellious, disobedient, a glutton and a drunkard.

In Luke 7:34, the Master alludes to this passage when He says, “The Son of M...