Deuteronomy 21:20

Deu 21:20 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.

Ver. 20. He is a glutton.] The same word is used for a vile person in Jer 15:19. And indeed belly-gods {Php 3:19} are dungy-gods. {Hab 2:18 Eze 4:12-13} A scavenger, whose office is to empty, is to be preferred before him that liveth but to fill, privies.

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.

Deu 21:20. A glutton and a drunkard — Under which two offences others of a like or worse nature are comprehended.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21:20 Calling someone a glutton and a drunkard was probably a proverbial cliché suggesting self-indulgence and laziness. Such a son was a good-for-nothing who rebelled against his parents and thus also against the community and divine authority (see Prov 23:20-21).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

20. elders] Sam. LXX, men.

riotous liver] Better, prodigal, lit. one who lavishes or squanders, Pro_23:20 (with flesh, a glutton) and 21, parallel to drunkard as here; Deu_28:7 : a companion of prodigals shameth his father.

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.

And they shall say unto the elders of his city,.... 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, &c.''see Joh 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 (a) 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 (b):

he is a glutton and a drunkard; which, according to the Misnah (c), 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 (d); 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 (e),"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 Pro 23:20, the Jews seem to refer to this when they charged Christ with being a glutton and a winebibber, Mat 11:19 being desirous of having him thought as such an one.

(a) Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 8. sect. 4. (b) Ut supra, (Misn. Bava Bathra, c. 8.) sect. 1. Maimon. & Bartenora in ib. (c) Ib. sect. 2. (d) Jus Regium Heb. c. 5. Theor. 17. p. 364. (e) Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 8. sect. 3.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

CHAPTER XXI.

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).

Stubborn and rebellious, adds incorrigibleness to all his wickedness.

A glutton and a drunkard; under which two offences others of a like or worse nature are comprehended by a synecdoche.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

He will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. Gluttony and drunkenness were regarded by the Hebrews as highly criminal. The word rendered by "glutton," however (llwOz, from llz to shake, to shake out, to squander), includes other kinds of excess besides eating. It designates one who is prodigal, who wastes his means or wastes his person by indulgence in Pro_23:30, the whole phrase (rcB ylelwOz) is given squanderers of flesh, i.e. wasters of their own body, debauchees in Pro_28:7, the word is translated "riotous men" in the Authorized Version. Disobedience to parents was deemed an offense, which struck at the roots of the whole social institute.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A glutton and a drunkard - Under which two offenses others of a like or worse nature are comprehended.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Here they were to accuse the son as being unmanageable, refractory, disobedient, as "a glutton and a drunkard." These last accusations show the reason for the unmanageableness and refractoriness.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

General Information:

Moses continues speaking to the people of Israel as if they were one man, so all instances of "you" are singular. (See: Forms of You)

This son of ours

"Our son"

he will not obey our voice

Here "voice" is a metonym for what a person says or a synecdoche for the whole person. AT: "he will not do what we tell him to do" or "he will not obey us" (See: Metonymy and Synecdoche)

a glutton

a person who eats and drinks too much

a drunkard

a person who drinks too much alcohol and gets drunk often

stone him to death with stones

"throw stones at him until he dies"

you will remove the evil from among you

The adjective "evil" can be translated as a noun phrase. AT: "you must remove from among the Israelites the person who does this evil thing" or "you must execute this evil person" (See: Nominal Adjectives)

All Israel

The word "Israel" is a metonym for the people of Israel. AT: "All the people of Israel" (See: Metonymy)

will hear of it and fear

The full meaning of this statement can be made explicit. AT: "will hear about what happened to the son and be afraid that the people will punish them also" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

translationWords

stone

die

evil

Israel

fear

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Gluttonous. This means that he is gluttonous with meat, but it also includes anything that a person has a desire for.

And drunken: He drinks too much and gets inebriated. This is like Epicurus, whose only desire in the physical world was to take pleasure in as many kinds of food and drink as possible.

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.