ment was the authority which a father assumed over his children. Traces of this primitive rule are found in all ancient nations. Among the early Romans a father had the right of life and death. Much of this spirit lingered among the Hebrews. The parent had not, indeed, absolute disposal of the life of a child. Still his authority was very great. And it is a beautiful feature of the Hebrew law that it made sacred that parental supremacy which nature ordains. It required the young to render to the aged outward marks of reverence: "Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face of the old man."[1] Whoever struck his father or mother, or cursed them, committed a capital crime.[2] And in extreme cases, a son who was utterly ungovernable might be given up to the same punishment.[3] The great lawgiver judged that an incorrigible son was a hopeless member of society, and he was therefore cut off in the beginning of his career to ruin. If under our laws disobedience to parents is made a light offence, it is a question whether that is to be put to the credit of our civilization.
So the Hebrew laws were more strict than ours in protecting female chastity. The nations around the Israelites were sunk in the vices of Sodom. Lest they should
- ↑ Lev. xix. 32.
- ↑ Ex. xxi. 15
- ↑ "If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and that when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them; then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; and they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear and fear." Deut. xxi. 18-21.
