Stoning a rebellious son

If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and [who], when they have chastened him, will not heed them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city. And they shall say to the elders of his city, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.' Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear. Deu 21:18-21 

Does Deuteronomy 21:18 advocate the stoning of children as some would claim? Why was such a harsh law needed? In order to answer these question we need to examine what exactly is being said and in what context. First a couple of points should be made:

• The person in question is a son, daughters seem to be excluded
• One of the charges is drunkenness so he's an adult, not a child
• He's a repeat offender
• He's brought before the elders which suggests a trial (more on that below)
• The law was meant as a deterrent to keep society in order (much like laws today)
• There is no actual account of this law being enacted. 
• The civil portion of the Levitical Laws are similiar to our own laws. We also practice corporal punishment (i.e. the death penalty) and have laws based upon morality (murder, stealing, public decency,etc.).

 One of the commandments from God was to honor your parents:

Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you. Exd 20:12

 The Israelite's agreed keep all of the commandments on several occasions and accepted the consequences if they didn't:

Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient.” Exo 24:7

 So this rebellious son had repeatedly broken God's commandment by not honoring his father and mother. The bible says rebellion is akin to witchcraft and stubbornness to iniquity (bad behavior) and idolatry (1Sa 15:23). It was a very serious charge, but a trial was held first. The parents, acting as plaintiffs, took there case to the Elders. The rules for handling a case are laid out in Deuteronomy 19:15:

• It required two or three witness for a case to be established
• False testimony was not allowed
• Killing an innocent man was prohibited (Exd 23:7)

Punishment was only dealt after testimony was heard against the defendant and he was found guilty. The matter was handled in a just way. The rebellious son knew the consequences of his actions but refused to change his ways and so the consequence was stoning.

While this law seems harsh by today's standards we need to keep in mind these laws were written while the Hebrews were in the desert. There were no jails or police to discourage bad behavior. Corporal punishment as a means for punishment and dissuade bad behavior has been a part of the laws of every society on earth. Christians have never practice the Old Laws which were intended sorely for Israel under the Old Covenant.