Deuteronomy 21:15-17

Limits on a father’s authority 21:15-17

The first-born son was to receive the traditional double portion of his father’s inheritance. This was to be Israel’s practice even though the first-born may have been the son of the wife her husband loved less than another wife he had (cf. Genesis 25:5-6). [Note: For refutation of the view of Gunkel and Noth that the Hebrew word translated "double" in Deuteronomy 21:17 should be rendered "two-thirds," see Eryl Davies, "The Meaning of Pi Senayim in Deuteronomy XXI 17," Vetus Testamentum 36:3 (July 1986):341-47. See also Barry J. Beitzel, "The Right of the Firstborn (Pi Senayim) in the Old Testament," in A Tribute to Gleason Archer, pp. 179-90.] The father’s authority, therefore, was not absolute in the Israelite home. Ancient Near Easterners regarded the first-born son as the beginning of the father’s strength (cf. Genesis 49:3). Just as men were to treat their wives with consideration (Deuteronomy 21:10-14), so too were fathers to treat their children with consideration (Deuteronomy 21:15-17).