DEUT1053 The rabbis often times were forced to find ways of textually revising a biblical standard when it no longer met the standards of their own times. … In the "rebellious son" account of Deuteronomy 21:18-21, for example, the rebellious son is condemned to death by "the elders of the city" and is stoned to death according to the Bible. This law is paralleled in other Ancient Near Eastern accounts, such as the Code of Hammurabi. J.B. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969) pp. 168-169). The implications of this law in both the Bible and Ancient Near Eastern codes seem to be similar. M. Powis-Smith, The Origin and the History of Hebrew Law, (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1931) pp. 50 ff. The right of parents, especially fathers, to have children put to death (infanticide) seems to have existed in limited forms throughout the Roman Empire through the fourth century CE when it was made criminal. Early Tannaitic sources devote tens of pages to explaining, fine-tuning, defining and clearly limiting the possibility of capricious application of this law allowing infanticide in Judaism. Attempts to limit the law until it is almost effectively eliminated seems to be the intention of rabbinic legislation.