The document commentary on Deuteronomy 13 discusses the warning against false prophets and dreamers who attempt to lead the Israelites away from the worship of the true God. It emphasizes that despite possible signs or wonders performed by these impostors, true believers must remain steadfast in their faith and reject any teachings that encourage idolatry. The commentary also highlights the danger of such deceivers within the community and the importance of adhering to the divine law set forth in the scripture.

1. DEUTERONOMY 13 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Worshiping Other Gods
1 [a]If a prophet, or one who foretells by
dreams, appears among you and announces to
you a sign or wonder,
BARNES, "A prophet, or a dreamer of dreams - Compare Num_12:6. The
“prophet” received his revelations by vision or direct oral communication Num_
24:16; 2Sa_7:4; 2Co_12:2; “the dreamer of dreams” through the medium of a dream
1Ki_3:5; Mat_2:13.
CLARKE, "If there arise among you a prophet - Any pretending to have a
Divine influence, so as to be able perfectly to direct others in the way of salvation; or
a dreamer of dreams - one who pretends that some deity has spoken to him in the
night-season; and giveth thee a sign, ‫אות‬ oth, what appears to be a miraculous proof
of his mission; or a wonder, ‫מופת‬ mopheth, some type or representation of what he
wishes to bring you over to: as some have pretended to have received a consecrated
image from heaven; hence the origin of the Palladium, Numa’s Shields, and many of
the deities among the Hindoos. But here the word seems to mean some portentous
sign, such as an eclipse, which he who knew when it would take place might predict
to the people who knew nothing of the matter, and thereby accredit his pretensions.
GILL, "If there arise among you a prophet,.... A false prophet, a lying prophet,
as the Targum of Jonathan; one that pretends to be a true prophet, and to be sent of
God, and to come from him with a message from him, a new revelation or doctrine,
or in his name, to foretell things to come; the former is chiefly meant. Such prophets
did arise in Israel before the time of Christ, and have since arose under the Christian
name; see 2Pe_2:1,
or a dreamer of dreams; the same with the prophet, only to be distinguished by
the different manner of their having the mind and will of God revealed to them,
pretended to; either by vision or by dream, which were the two usual ways in which
the Lord spake to the true prophets, Num_12:6 so that the prophet is one who
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2. pretended he had a vision from the Lord, and the dreamer one that had a dream from
him, or something revealed to him in a dream; and dreams are sometimes used for
false doctrines, vain, deceitful, and illusory; see Jer_23:25. The Targum of Jonathan
calls him"a dreamer of a dream of pride:''such persons are generally prompted by the
pride of their own hearts to take such a method to make themselves famous and
respected among men; and usually bring such doctrines with them which are
agreeable to the pride and vanity of human nature:
and giving thee a sign or a wonder; for the confirmation of his mission and
doctrine; such as Moses wrought before the children of Israel and before Pharaoh.
Signs are expressions or representations of things to come to pass; wonders, such as
either do, or seem to exceed the common course of nature, or be contrary to it.
HENRY 1-2, "Here is, I. A very strange supposition, Deu_13:1, Deu_13:2. 1. It is
strange that there should arise any among themselves, especially any pretending to
vision and prophecy, who should instigate them to go and serve other gods. Was it
possible that any who had so much knowledge of the methods of divine revelation as
to be able to personate a prophet should yet have so little knowledge of the divine
nature and will as to go himself and entice his neighbours after other gods? Could an
Israelite ever be guilty of such impiety? Could a man of sense ever be guilty of such
absurdity? We see it in our own day, and therefore may think it the less strange;
multitudes that profess both learning and religion yet exciting both themselves and
others, not only to worship God by images, but to give divine honour to saints and
angels, which is no better than going after other gods to serve them; such is the
power of strong delusions. 2. It is yet more strange that the sign or wonder given for
the confirmation of this false doctrine should come to pass. Can it be thought that
God himself should give any countenance to such a vile proceeding? Did ever a false
prophet work a true miracle? It is only supposed here for two reasons: - (1.) To
strengthen the caution here given against hearkening to such a one. “Though it were
possible that he should work a true miracle, yet you must not believe him if he tell
you that you must serve other gods, for the divine law against that is certainly
perpetual and unalterable.” The supposition is like that in Gal_1:8, If we, or an angel
from heaven, preach any other gospel to you - which does not prove it possible that
an angel should preach another gospel, but strongly expresses the certainty and
perpetuity of that which we have received. So here, (2.) It is to fortify them against
the danger of impostures and lying wonders (2Th_2:9): “Suppose the credentials he
produces be so artfully counterfeited that you cannot discern the cheat, nor disprove
them, yet, if they are intended to draw you to the service of other gods, that alone is
sufficient to disprove them; no evidence can be admitted against so clear a truth as
that of the unity of the Godhead, and so plain a law as that of worshipping the one
only living and true God.” We cannot suppose that the God of truth should set his
seal of miracles to a lie, to so gross a lie as is supposed in that temptation, Let us go
after other gods. But if it be asked, Why is this false prophet permitted to counterfeit
this broad seal? It is answered here (Deu_13:3): “The Lord you God proveth you. He
suffers you to be set upon by such a temptation to try your constancy, that both those
that are perfect and those that are false and corrupt may be made manifest. It is to
prove you; therefore see that you acquit yourselves well in the trial, and stand your
ground.”
JAMISON,"Deu_13:1-5. Enticers to idolatry to be put to death.
If there arise among you a prophet — The special counsels which follow arose
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3. out of the general precept contained in Deu_12:32; and the purport of them is, that
every attempt to seduce others from the course of duty which that divine standard of
faith and worship prescribes must not only be strenuously resisted, but the seducer
punished by the law of the land. This is exemplified in three cases of enticement to
idolatry.
a prophet — that is, some notable person laying claim to the character and
authority of the prophetic office (Num_12:6; 1Sa_10:6), performing feats of dexterity
or power in support of his pretensions, or even predicting events which occurred as
he foretold; as, for instance, an eclipse which a knowledge of natural science might
enable him to anticipate (or, as Caiaphas, Joh_18:14). Should the aim of such a one
be to seduce the people from the worship of the true God, he is an impostor and must
be put to death. No prodigy, however wonderful, no human authority, however great,
should be allowed to shake their belief in the divine character and truth of a religion
so solemnly taught and so awfully attested (compare Gal_1:8). The modern Jews
appeal to this passage as justifying their rejection of Jesus Christ. But He possessed
all the characteristics of a true prophet, and He was so far from alienating the people
from God and His worship that the grand object of His ministry was to lead to a
purer, more spiritual and perfect observance of the law.
CALVIN, "After having restrained the Israelites from the strange delusions of
the Gentiles, Moses now forbids them from being too credulous if false teachers
should arise from among themselves, and warns them diligently to beware of all
novel inventions, and not to turn aside in the very least degree from the Law, at
the instigation of any one. For there is peril to be apprehended, not only from
professed and manifest enemies, or from foreign superstitions, but Satan plots
also by means of intestine deceits, and abuses the holy name of God in order to
betray us. Therefore it behoves that the faith of the godly should not only be
externally fortified and protected by the ramparts of the word, lest corruption
should creep in from without, but also that it should be garrisoned within by the
same word, lest novel imaginations should secretly insinuate themselves and
destroy the purity of doctrine. Moreover, we gather from this prohibition that
there is such certainty in the divine doctrines as to prevent our faith from being
undermined or shaken, provided it has put forth into them living roots, and is
firmly grounded upon them. For it would be vain for God to warn us against
giving admission to false teachers, unless He, at the same time, shewed the means
by which they were to be guarded against. And assuredly nothing can be more
improbable than that religion should be ambiguous; and since the rule and
definition of it is faithfully prescribed and set forth in the Law, justly does God
require of His people that they should not waver, but constantly persist in the
truth delivered to them. For truly does Isaiah declare respecting the Law, that in
it it has not been said in vain to the seed of Jacob, that they should seek God’s
face. (297) (Isaiah 45:19.) But, in seeking God, it would not be sufficient to teach
what is right, unless men’s minds are established in it; it is requisite, therefore,
that religion should be sure and firm, or it will not be duly ordered. Nor is there
any doubt that what Paul witnesses of the Gospel was true also of the Law, viz.,
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4. that it armed its disciples against all the storms of temptation, that they “should
be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of
doctrine, by the sleight of men,” etc. (Ephesians 4:14.) But the words before us,
when examined more closely and regularly, will shew, with greater clearness, the
aim of the matter.
1.If there arise among you. We already perceive that the question is not
respecting the falsities and errors which Satan had spread throughout the world,
but respecting those which were to appear in the very bosom of the Church, as if
it had been said that the Law was not only given in order to separate the
Israelites from heathen nations, but to keep themselves in the purity and
integrity of the faith; for just as now-a-days Christ betroths the Church to
Himself by the preachers of the Gospel, (2 Corinthians 11:2,) that she may devote
herself as a chaste virgin to His obedience, and not allow herself to be withdrawn
from the simplicity of the faith by any seductions; so of old God espoused His
ancient people to Himself, and bade them close their ears against impostors, who
are, as it were, the seducers of Satan tempting them to violate that sacred and
special bond of marriage whereby God would be united with His people. We
shall speedily see wherefore God would have His Church exposed to this evil.
Meanwhile it is useful to admonish believers of their danger, that they may be
constantly watching against the snares of Satan; for this abomination did not
only prevail in that particular age, but it will have its evil influence even to the
end of the world. We must remember what Peter says, that “as there were false
prophets among” the Jews of old, so also in the kingdom of Christ
“there shall be false teachers who privily shall bring in damnable heresies.” (2
Peter 2:1.)
Moses, however, does not merely speak of domestic enemies, but, of such as shall
assume the title of Prophets in order that they may deceive with greater license
and impunity. From hence we infer that it is not enough to have an honorable
position, or a plausible name, whether pastor, or prophet, or priest, unless it be
allied to sincerity in accordance with our calling; for who are the persons whom
God here commands to be avoided and held in abomination? Just those who
boasted themselves to be Prophets, but who, when carefully inquired into, were
obliged to drop their mask, and driven to confusion. A particular appellation is
subjoined to their general one, since the same individual is spoken of as “a
dreamer of dreams,” because God of old time manifested Himself to the Prophets
sometimes in visions and sometimes in dreams. Either of these, then, was an
honorable pretext for conciliating favor. But the temptation which follows was
still more dangerous, viz., if such an one should have commended himself by a
successful prediction; for who would despise a prophecy authenticated by events,
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5. especially when Isaiah declares this to be the attribute of God alone? (Isaiah
45:21.) And the difficulty here is still increased, because in chap. 18, God appears
to distinguish false Prophets from true ones by this very test. (298) Thus I resolve
the difficulty, God’s claiming to Himself the glory of foretelling events does not
prevent Him from occasionally conferring even on the ministers of Satan the
power of prophecy respecting some particular point. Balaam was worse than any
hireling crier, wishing as he did to frustrate the eternal decrees of God, and yet
we know that his tongue was directed by the divine inspiration of the Spirit so as
to be the proclaimer of that grace which he had been hired to quench. There is,
therefore, no inconsistency in this, that a man should be a perfidious impostor,
and still endowed at the same time with a particular gift of prophecy, not so as
always to deliver true revelations, (as, for instance, Caiaphas, who prophesied
correctly once, was not always veracious,) but in so far as by God’s permission it
shall be given him to foreknow this or that, so that one example of truth-telling
may be the cloak for many falsehoods. Fitly, then, and properly, in the other
passage, does God, by Moses, reprove the vanity of those rash spirits who
promise what is not fulfilled. For we must take into consideration His intention.
Many are there who bring themselves into notice by clandestine acts, and at
length boldly burst forth and boast themselves to be prophets, whilst the people
are in doubt whether they ought so to consider them. But since it most frequently
happens that the folly of such men is betrayed by marks of infamy and disgrace
inflicted upon them from above, so that the world may see that they have spoken
falsely, justly does God declare that the event of their predictions is to be
regarded, lest the Israelites should promiscuously and unreflectingly receive
whatever they may hear. The principle, therefore, is established, that those speak
in God’s name who predict what really comes to pass; for they could not declare
the truth respecting things unknown to man unless God Himself should dictate it
to them. This is the tendency of the answer of Jeremiah to Hananiah, —
“The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old, prophesied both
against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of
pestilence. The prophet which prophesieth of peace, when the word of the
prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the Lord hath
truly sent him.” (Jeremiah 28:8.)
Hananiah promised that the war should end prosperously; but Jeremiah,
knowing that he lied, brings him to an experimental proof of his falsehood, in
case the facts should not correspond with what he had said. Thus far there is no
inconsistency in our statement, that all true prophesies must proceed from God,
and yet that the same Prophet who has predicted the truth may, in other points,
be a deceiver And especiallylet us remark the admonition of Paul, that
“because they (the reprobate) receive not the love of the truth, that they may be
saved; for this cause God sends them strong delusion, that they should believe a
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6. lie; that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure
in unrighteousness.”
(2 Thessalonians 2:10,)
Hence we are taught that not only are the reins of Satan loosed in order that he
may do injury, but that he is armed with power effectively to drag on the
reprobate to final tied struction. Moses here teaches the same thing, for there are
no reasonable grounds for the differences between Hebrew commentators as to
the word sign. (299) It is unquestionable that signs were sometimes used in order
to obtain credit for prophesies, as when Isaiah walked naked, ( Isaiah 20:2,) and
Jeremiah wore a yoke on his neck, ( Jeremiah 18:10;) it is also unquestionable
that Satan often deceives by magical incantations; but I have no doubt that by
the words signifying the sign and the wonder, Moses here means anything
incredible and unexpected, for the purpose of vaticination. The Hebrews use the
word ‫מופתים‬ , mophethim, to express miracles whereby God portends anything
future, as if He spoke from heaven. The word ‫אות‬ , oth, is more general, and is
sometimes used for a banner, or a watchword, or signal, (symbolum.) Both are
here put for extraordinary signs which testify the power of God, as if it were
present; in this sense, Christ warns His disciples to beware of signs and lying
prodigies. ( Matthew 24:11.) But although Satan dazzles the eyes with his
illusions, so as in his false rivalry to win to himself the glory of God, yet have we
shewn from St. Paul, and Moses has before declared, that impostors in their
working of miracles are the ministers of God’s vengeance, in order that the
reprobate may be taken in their snares. Should any object that signs would be
useless, which may be as well dangerous deceptions as confirmations of the truth,
I reply, that such license has never been accorded to the devil, as that the light of
God should not in the end shine forth from the midst of the darkness. It will
happen, therefore, that the true power of God may be obscured for a time, (as we
have seen before in the history of the magicians,) but that it will never be
overwhelmed. Thus in the miracles, whereby the Law was ratified, the glory of
God so shone forth that they might obtain credit without any hesitation from the
godly. Such, without controversy, are the miracles which authenticate the
Gospel, because they present evidences inscribed upon them by God by which all
suspicion of deceit is fully removed. And, indeed, since men’s minds are involved
in dull stupidity, and are blind even to the ordinary course of God’s dealings, so
also they are almost always mistaken with respect to miracles, unless His word
enlightens them to dispel the darkness. In order, therefore, that we may duly
profit by signs, an inseparable connection must be established between them and
doctrine; and Moses rightly teaches that they must be repudiated who shall
endeavor to pervert piety under the pretext of signs, because they impiously and
wickedly divide things which God has joined together, and improperly divert to
a contrary use the signs which only serve as aids to righteous doctrine. But after
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7. the religion of the Jews had been sealed by sure and evident signs, it was wrong
for them to attend to accidental signs, and not altogether without base
ingratitude. We now arrive at the sum of this passage, viz., that they must
persevere in the worship of the one God, so that not even prodigies should have
any force to shake the people’s minds. The clause, therefore, “which thou hast
not known,” must be observed; whereby Moses signifies that the glory of the
God which they serve was so certainly testified that their levity in turning this
way or that would be inexcusable; and thus the knowledge which ought to be
firmly implanted in their hearts, and to abide therein, is opposed to all the
artifices of the devil, which only affect unstable minds.
HAWKER, "This Chapter is a continuation of the same subject as the former.
Particular and special precepts are contained in it to arm against the motives to
idolatry; the persons tempting to it are to be stoned, and even the cities where
this sin is committed, are to be razed to the earth.
Deuteronomy 13:1
To those who know not the deceitfulness of the human heart, or the melancholy
state of blindness and ignorance to which we are fallen, the precept in this verse
may appear strange. But Reader! danger of deception concerning true and false
prophets was not peculiar to the Israelites. Observe what Paul saith of the last
times concerning apostacy, and then pause over the subject, and pray for grace
to resist every temptation of this kind. See 1 Timothy 4:1.
PETT, "Introduction
The Covenant Stipulations, Covenant Making at Shechem, Blessings and
Cursings (Deuteronomy 12:1 to Deuteronomy 29:1).
In this section of Deuteronomy we first have a description of specific
requirements that Yahweh laid down for His people. These make up the second
part of the covenant stipulations for the covenant expressed in Deuteronomy
4:45 to Deuteronomy 29:1 and also for the covenant which makes up the whole
book. They are found in chapters 12-26. As we have seen Deuteronomy 1:1 to
Deuteronomy 4:44 provide the preamble and historical prologue for the overall
covenant, followed by the general stipulations in chapters 5-11. There now,
therefore, in 12-26 follow the detailed stipulations which complete the main body
of the covenant. These also continue the second speech of Moses which began in
Deuteronomy 5:1.
Overall in this speech Moses is concerned to connect with the people. It is to the
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8. people that his words are spoken rather than the priests so that much of the
priestly legislation is simply assumed. Indeed it is remarkably absent in
Deuteronomy except where it directly touches on the people. Anyone who read
Deuteronomy on its own would wonder at the lack of cultic material it contained,
and at how much the people were involved. It concentrates on their interests, and
not those of the priests and Levites, while acknowledging the responsibility that
they had towards both priests and Levites.
And even where the cultic legislation more specifically connects with the people,
necessary detail is not given, simply because he was aware that they already had
it in writing elsewhere. Their knowledge of it is assumed. Deuteronomy is
building on a foundation already laid. In it Moses was more concerned to get
over special aspects of the legislation as it was specifically affected by entry into
the land, with the interests of the people especially in mind. The suggestion that
it was later written in order to bring home a new law connected with the Temple
does not fit in with the facts. Without the remainder of the covenant legislation in
Exodus/Leviticus/Numbers to back it up, its presentation often does not make
sense from a cultic point of view.
This is especially brought home by the fact that when he refers to their approach
to God he speaks of it in terms of where they themselves stood or will stand when
they do approach Him. They stand not on Sinai but in Horeb. They stand not in
the Sanctuary but in ‘the place’, the site of the Sanctuary. That is why he
emphasises Horeb, which included the area before the Mount, and not just Sinai
itself (which he does not mention). And why he speaks of ‘the place’ which
Yahweh chose, which includes where the Tabernacle is sited and where they
gather together around the Tabernacle, and not of the Sanctuary itself. He wants
them to feel that they have their full part in the whole.
These detailed stipulations in chapters 12-26 will then be followed by the details
of the covenant ceremony to take place at the place which Yahweh has chosen at
Shechem (Deuteronomy 27), followed by blessings and cursings to do with the
observance or breach of the covenant (Deuteronomy 28).
I. INSTRUCTION WITH REGARD TO WORSHIP AND RIGHTNESS
BEFORE YAHWEH (Deuteronomy 12:1 to Deuteronomy 16:17).
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9. In this first group of regulations in Deuteronomy 12:1 to Deuteronomy 16:7
emphasis is laid on proper worship and rightness before Yahweh, looked at from
the people’s point of view. They include:
· Regulations with regard to the Central Sanctuary as the one place where
Yahweh is to be officially worshipped with emphasis on the people’s side of
things and their participation. They are to worship there joyfully (Deuteronomy
12).
· Regulations with regard to avoidance of idolatry as it affects the people
lest they lose their cause for joy (Deuteronomy 13).
· Regulations for the people with regard to ritual wholeness and cleanness
so that they might reveal themselves as suited to worship joyfully in the place
which Yahweh would choose (Deuteronomy 14:1-21).
· Regulations for the people with regard to tithing mainly ignoring levitical
aspects (Deuteronomy 14:22-27). Here they were to share their joy with others
who would thus be able to rejoice with them.
· Regulations with regard to poverty as a slur on Yahweh (Deuteronomy
14:28 to Deuteronomy 15:11). This was to be allayed by a special use of the tithe
every third year and a release from debt every seventh year. To allow unrelieved
poverty in the land would prevent their being able to approach Yahweh with joy
and to enjoy His prosperity.
· Regulations with regard to Israelite Habiru bondsmen and bondswomen
and how they were to be their treated (Deuteronomy 15:12-18). Again the
emphasis is on generosity towards those whose need was greatest.
· Regulations with regard to firstlings, who represented their own relief
from bondage, with the emphasis on their being Yahweh’s and thus to be royally
treated, and to be eaten joyfully in the place which Yahweh would choose. The
emphasis is on the people’s participation (Deuteronomy 15:19-23).
· Regulations with regard to the three main feasts, with emphasis on the
fact that they must be eaten at the place which Yahweh will choose and that the
last two of them must be celebrated joyfully, again with the emphasis on the
people’s participation throughout (Deuteronomy 16:1-17).
But central to it all is the Central Sanctuary, the place where Yahweh sets His
name. The place where He meets with His people, and they with Him, and the
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10. need for them to be in the right spirit so as to do so joyfully.
Chapter 13 Warnings Against Idolatry And Guidance On How To Deal With
Those Who Lead Men Astray.
This chapter continues the closing theme in Deuteronomy 12 where emphasis has
been laid on observing the word given by God to Moses. It warns against those
who would seek to lead men astray from that word by various means. The
chapter begins with how to deal with false prophets who come from their midst
with signs and wonders (Deuteronomy 13:1-5), goes on to deal with family
members and close friends who may seek to use their influence to lead their
family astray (Deuteronomy 13:6-11), and finally ends with how to deal with
cities led astray, not by foreigners, but by worthless people ‘in your midst’, that
become bastions of idolatry so that men are led astray by persuasive leaders and
popular opinion (Deuteronomy 13:12-18). These were the three major influences
on their spiritual lives, preachers, family and environment. They must ensure
that they were not led astray by any of them.
The emphasis in all three cases on the fact that this was ‘the enemy within’
explains the harshness of the sentences. They should know better. They were
acting as traitors ‘in the midst’. And in times of emergency, as this would be,
such people could only be dealt with in one way, by death. The purity of Israel
could depend on it.
Such sentiments are regularly found in treaty forms where it is conceived that
men may come among a subject people and seek to lead them to follow others in
rebellion against the overlord. Some treaties even cite prophets and family as
possible sources of this. Others cite cities. All were likely culprits for this kind of
behaviour. Such ideas have been adapted here by Moses. How common in
treaties these ideas were we do not know, for as yet we do not have sufficient
examples of such treaties from wide enough sources.
For the Christian the lesson is that we also must beware lest we be led by such
people or such influences away from ‘the simplicity which is in Christ’ (2
Corinthians 11:3). There is only one test of truth, the words that come from God.
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11. Verses 1-5
Chapter 13 Warnings Against Idolatry And Guidance On How To Deal With
Those Who Lead Men Astray.
This chapter continues the closing theme in Deuteronomy 12 where emphasis has
been laid on observing the word given by God to Moses. It warns against those
who would seek to lead men astray from that word by various means. The
chapter begins with how to deal with false prophets who come from their midst
with signs and wonders (Deuteronomy 13:1-5), goes on to deal with family
members and close friends who may seek to use their influence to lead their
family astray (Deuteronomy 13:6-11), and finally ends with how to deal with
cities led astray, not by foreigners, but by worthless people ‘in your midst’, that
become bastions of idolatry so that men are led astray by persuasive leaders and
popular opinion (Deuteronomy 13:12-18). These were the three major influences
on their spiritual lives, preachers, family and environment. They must ensure
that they were not led astray by any of them.
The emphasis in all three cases on the fact that this was ‘the enemy within’
explains the harshness of the sentences. They should know better. They were
acting as traitors ‘in the midst’. And in times of emergency, as this would be,
such people could only be dealt with in one way, by death. The purity of Israel
could depend on it.
Such sentiments are regularly found in treaty forms where it is conceived that
men may come among a subject people and seek to lead them to follow others in
rebellion against the overlord. Some treaties even cite prophets and family as
possible sources of this. Others cite cities. All were likely culprits for this kind of
behaviour. Such ideas have been adapted here by Moses. How common in
treaties these ideas were we do not know, for as yet we do not have sufficient
examples of such treaties from wide enough sources.
For the Christian the lesson is that we also must beware lest we be led by such
people or such influences away from ‘the simplicity which is in Christ’ (2
Corinthians 11:3). There is only one test of truth, the words that come from God.
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12. Beware of False Prophets (Deuteronomy 13:1-5).
The warning here is against those who come with deceitful words, even showing
signs and wonders, but speak contrary to God’s word. So-called prophets were a
common feature of life in the Ancient Near East. They professed to have contact
with the gods. We have only to consider Balaam to recognise the influence that
they could have, and how they were valued (Numbers 22-24). However, this
prophet would be one who had arisen ‘in the midst’ of them. Thus it would seem
a false prophet of Israel is indicated, even one who cites Yahweh. He comes
claiming extraordinary powers. But signs and wonder are never to be taken as
proof of the genuineness of the wonderworker, nor of the truth of what he says.
Note that this immediately follows Deuteronomy 12:32. What Moses has
commanded must not be laid aside because of some prophet, even one who
claims to come from God. What he says must be tested against Moses’ words.
Today we have a larger ‘word of God’ including the teaching of Jesus Himself. It
is important that we know it well so that we too might not be led astray, and so
that we can help those who are led astray. All prophets must be tested against
His word. In Paul’s words they must be ‘judged’.
For the place that Yahweh has chosen so that He could set His name there will be
countered by all kinds of temptations to turn from Him to other names and other
gods. And in this chapter we are given three examples of such. To follow after
false prophets, or false family, or false fellow-countrymen can only lead to
disaster.
Analysis using Moses words:
a If there arise in the midst of you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and
he give you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come about, of which
he spoke to you, saying, “Let us go after other gods, which you have not known,
and let us serve them (Deuteronomy 13:1-2).
b You shall not listen to the words of that prophet, or to that dreamer of
dreams, for Yahweh your God proves you, to know whether you love Yahweh
your God with all your heart and with all your soul (Deuteronomy 13:3).
c You shall walk after Yahweh your God, and fear Him (Deuteronomy 13:4
12

13. a).
c And keep His commandments, and obey His voice, and you shall serve
Him, and cleave to Him (Deuteronomy 13:4 b).
b And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death,
because he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh your God, who brought you out
of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage
(Deuteronomy 13:5).
a To draw you aside out of the way which Yahweh your God commanded
you to walk in. So shall you put away the evil from the midst of you
(Deuteronomy 13:6).
Note that in ‘a’ the false prophet arises to deceive by signs and wonders and to
lead in the way of false gods, and in the parallel he is seeking to draw them away
from Yahweh their God. In ‘b’ they are not to listen to the prophet or dreamer of
dreams for it is a test of Yahweh their God of their love for Him, while in the
parallel that prophet or dreamer of dreams is to be put to death for speaking
rebellion against Yahweh their God Who is their Deliverer. In ‘c’ they are to
walk after Yahweh their God and fear Him, and in the parallel they are to keep
His commandments, obey Him and cleave to Him.
COFFMAN, "In this chapter three situations are discussed, in each of which,
Israel was ordered to put to death the offender.
(1) First, there is the case of some alleged "prophet" soliciting the people to
idolatry on the basis of some dream, portent, or wonder which he claimed as
proof of his authority (Deuteronomy 13:1-5);
(2) there is the case of solicitation to idolatry by one's close kinsman
(Deuteronomy 13:6-12),
(3) and then there is the case of a whole city that has fallen under the power of
Satan (Deuteronomy 13:13-18).
In every instance, the commandment was to put to death the offenders, and in
the case of a whole city, it was to be placed under the ban and utterly destroyed.
The critical schools once traced what they thought were multiple sources for the
material in this chapter, Davies, for example, naming both "D" and "E" as
having a part in it.[1] It is now known that ONE author, not many, gave us these
instructions, and that a SINGLE purpose is evident throughout:
"In the ancient suzerainty treaties, it was required of the vassal that he must not
connive at evil words spoken against the suzerain, whether they amounted to an
affront or a conspiracy. The vassal must report the insult or the fomenting of a
13

14. revolt. In case of an actual rebellion, he must undertake military operations
against the offenders. Moreover, he must manifest fidelity to his lord in such
cases no matter who the rebel might be, whether prince or nearest relative. All of
this finds its counterpart in Deuteronomy. Stylistically, the chapter is cast in the
casuistic form characteristic of ancient law codes."[2]
"If there arise in the midst of thee a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and he
give thee a sign or a wonder and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he
spoke unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known,
and let us serve them; thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or
unto that dreamer of dreams: for Jehovah your God proveth you, to know
whether ye love Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Ye
shall walk after Jehovah your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments,
and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. And that
prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death, because he hath
spoken rebellion against Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of
Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage, to draw thee aside out of
the way which Jehovah thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put
away the evil from the midst of thee."
The amazing thing here is that the question of whether or not the false prophet
could actually perform such signs or wonders is treated as irrelevant! What if he
did, or could? "What stamped the prophet false in this context is the
doctrine!"[3] The possibility that evil men could indeed do wonders "through the
power of Satan" is allowed in both Old Testament and New Testament. Paul
spoke of the "lying miracles" which would be displayed by the apostate church
(2 Thessalonians 2:9), and it surely is implied in this passage that God Himself
would, on occasions, allow false prophets to display some signs of credibility in
order to "test" the true loyalty of the people.
Adam Clarke gave as an example of how a lying "portent" might be given, the
case of one who, through scientific calculations, knew when an eclipse would
occur, "predicted it" for people who knew nothing of such matters, and, sure
enough, it came to pass![4] The plausible nature of the deception practiced in this
case was enhanced by the fact that dreams indeed were one of the manners in
which God actually communicated to the prophets of old (Numbers 12:6). Also,
"A false prophet's predictions are not always wrong. If they were, no one would
believe him."[5] "God allows some of them their restricted sphere of power to
test the loyalty of His people."[6] In the case of questionable "prophets" or
"teachers," the real issue is not: "Did he perform a miracle? but is he furthering,
promoting, and teaching the will of Christ?"[7] It is not necessary to suppose
that all miracles claimed by false prophets and teachers are deceptions. Some of
them, even many of them could be authentic, because as Christ said, "For there
shall arise false christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and
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15. wonders, so as to lead many astray, if possible, even the elect" (Matthew 24:24).
As Keil said, "Such miracles are wrought in the power of Satan."[8]
Some might suppose that the penalty of death affixed to such offenses as the ones
mentioned here was "very severe," but it should be remembered that, "The
purpose of purging the land of all idolatries also required the removal of any
Israelites who became infected with the same idolatry."[9] "It would have been a
mockery of Divine justice, if Canaanite cities had been destroyed for their
idolatry, and then the idolatrous cities of the Israelites were allowed to
stand."[10]
"So shalt thou put away ..." (Deuteronomy 13:5). "Thou" here is plural, showing
that the whole community "must clear itself of all complicity with the specified
evil."[11]
The stern demand for the death penalty for all such false prophets and teachers
"shows how absurd it is to treat Deuteronomy 5:17 as being in any sense an
argument against capital punishment."[12] The context here as well as parallel
passages in Deuteronomy 17:7 and Leviticus 20:2 indicate that in all such cases,
"There was to be a formal judicial inquiry, and that the manner of execution was
to be by stoning. This would make the whole community a participant in the
execution, thus clearing them of all complicity in the condemned actions."[13]
BENSON "Deuteronomy 13:1. Moses, foreseeing how liable the Israelites, in
after ages, would be to be deluded by false prophets, who, under pretence of
divine revelations, or communications of divine power, while indeed they were
assisted by no other than wicked and infernal spirits, might foretel some future
events, or work some wondrous and unaccountable things as demonstrations of
their false doctrine, and thereby persuade others to join in their idolatrous
worship, here proceeds to show how such false pretenders to divine inspiration
might be known, and lays down a law, according to which they were to be dealt
with. If there arise among you — One of your own nation, for such might both
be seduced, and afterward become seducers of others; a prophet — That is, a
false prophet, one who falsely pretends to have received a divine message. Or a
dreamer of dreams — One that pretends some god has revealed himself to him in
visions or dreams. And giveth thee a sign — Foretels some future and wonderful
events as a sure sign thereof; as the prophets of Jehovah were wont to do, 1
Samuel 10:2-7; 1 Kings 13:3. It must be observed that sign and wonder here
signify the same thing, and comprehend all miracles whatsoever, whether the
foretelling of something that is out of the reach of human knowledge, or the
performing some work that exceeds human power.
WHEDON, "1. A prophet, or a dreamer — Two methods of divine revelation are
here mentioned. Comp. Numbers 12:6 : “If there be a prophet among you, I the
Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a
15

16. dream.” It is taken for granted that what this prophet announced comes to pass,
or that prodigies have been performed, but they are like the signs and lying
wonders of 2 Thessalonians 2:6. If such a prophet taught the people to depart
from Jehovah he was not to be heard. This is in agreement with what Paul, in
Galatians 1:8, says: “Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other
gospel unto you than that we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”
COKE, "Ver. 1-4. If there arise among you a prophet, &c.— The divinity of
their religion, and its peculiar opposition to idolatry, having been fully shewn,
Moses now proceeds to put the strongest case possible; acquainting them, that if
any prophet or dreamer of dreams, any person pretending to supernatural
inspiration, should give them a sign or a wonder, should predict or perform any
thing extraordinary, and make that the ground of drawing them aside from the
worship of their God to that of idols, they should utterly disregard any such sign
or wonder, nor be at all influenced by it to hearken to the words of the deluder;
assured that he could not be commissioned by God, who, being always the same,
can never contradict himself: and in this confidence, though perhaps they might
not be able to discover the mode of his deceit, or the method by which he was
able either to foretel or to perform any thing extraordinary; though they could
not tell whether he did it by mere juggling, or by communications with evil
spirits; yet they were absolutely to put such a person to death, infallibly assured
that no messenger from God could ever attempt to seduce them from the worship
of that God. From the 3rd verse one may be led to believe, that, as the Almighty
sometimes permits other evils for the same end of proving his people, so he
thought fit to allow among the Jews such persons as are here spoken of to
perform things really stupendous and miraculous; and how far he may have
permitted evil spirits to assist such persons is not for us to determine. This,
however, by no means impugns his wisdom or goodness; for as, in the present
case, he gave the Israelites such an infallible criterion whereby to determine, so,
in all cases, we may be assured that he will either vouchsafe to mankind such
criterions, or give to the miracles which real prophets perform such evident
marks of divinity and superiority over those of others, as shall never leave the
human mind in doubt. Indeed, were we not infallibly assured of this from the
very nature of God, we could have no sure foundation whereupon to build our
faith, nor any infallible test whereby to prove the truth of a revelation. This
subject has been completely handled by Dr. Chapman, in his excellent work
called Eusebius, chap. 2. Those, however, who desire to see more and different
opinions, may consult Bishop Stillingfleet's Origines Sacrae, lib. ii. c. 10, where
he speaks of discerning true miracles from false; Wells's Sermons at Boyle's
Lecture, and Bishop Chandler's Defence. Mr. Locke very well observes upon the
subject, that "since God's power is paramount to all, and no opposition can be
made against him with a force equal to his; and since his honour and goodness
16

17. can never be supposed to suffer his messenger and his truth to be borne down by
the appearance of a greater power on the side of an impostor, and in favour of a
lie; whenever there is an opposition, the signs which carry with them the evident
marks of a greater power will always be a certain evidence that the truth and
divine mission are on that side on which they appear. For, though the discovery,
how the lying wonders are or can be produced, be beyond the capacity of the
ignorant, and often beyond the conception of the most knowing spectator, yet he
cannot but know that they are not seals set by God to his truth for the attesting
of it; since they are opposed by miracles, which carry the evident marks of a
greater and superior power, and therefore they cannot at all shake the authority
of one so supported. God can never be thought to suffer that a lie, set up in
opposition to a truth coming from him, should be backed with a greater power
than he will shew for the confirmation and propagation of a doctrine which He
has revealed to the end it might be believed."
And giveth thee a sign or a wonder— Le Clerc thinks, that sign and wonder here
signify nearly the same thing: but Houbigant asserts, that the particle ‫או‬ ou,
rendered or, is disjunctive in the Hebrew; and that, consequently, these two
words denote different things. Accordingly, he thinks that a wonder is something
more than a sign: the latter signifying a miracle subjected to the human sight, the
former such a one as affects man; of which kind were the Egyptian plagues. Both
kinds, however, here mean true miracles, things supernatural; for the original
words are never used in sacred writings for the jugglings and fallacies of
diviners, and therefore the miracles of Moses and Aaron are never expressed by
any other words. In the 2nd verse, there is a transposition very frequent in
Scripture; the two verses may be read together thus: If there arise among you a
prophet, &c. saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, (had
no communication with, or intelligence of,) and let us serve them; and shall give
you a sign or a wonder, which shall come to pass, according to what he spake
unto thee, &c.
K&D 1-3, "The first case. If a prophet, or one who had dreams, should rise up to
summon to the worship of other gods, with signs and wonders which came to pass,
the Israelites were not to hearken to his words, but to put him to death. The
introduction of ‫ּום‬‫ל‬ ֲ‫ח‬ ‫ם‬ ֵ‫ּל‬‫ח‬, “a dreamer of dreams,” along with the prophet, answers the
two media of divine revelation, the vision and the dream, by which, according to
Num_12:6, God made known His will. With regard to the signs and wonders
(mopheth, see at Exo_4:21) with which such a prophet might seek to accredit his
higher mission, it is taken for granted that they come to pass (‫ּוא‬ ); yet for all that, the
Israelites were to give no heed to such a prophet, to walk after other gods. It follows
from this, that the person had not been sent by God, but as a false prophet, and that
the signs and wonders which he gave were not wonders effected by God, but σηµεሏα
καᆳ τέρατα ψεύδους (“lying sings and wonders,” 2Th_2:9); i.e., not merely seeming
miracles, but miracles wrought in the power of the wicked one, Satan, the possibility
17

18. and reality of which even Christ attests (Mat_24:24). - The word ‫ּר‬‫מ‬‫א‬ ֵ‫,ל‬ saying, is
dependent upon the principal verb of the sentence: “if a prophet rise up...saying, We
will go after other gods.”
SBC 1-3, "I. If the text teaches us how the true Jewish prophet would speak to his
people, and in what spirit they would hear him, it teaches us who read him how we
are to receive his words. The real significance of prophecies is felt when they are
viewed in connection with the course of the Divine government. The interpreter is
not to be heard unless he speaks to us first of a present God, of One who is in
covenant with us, as He was with our fathers, who is calling on us every hour to turn
from our idols to Him. If this is not the substance of his teaching, if all his
predictions do not flow out of it, he is not speaking in the spirit of Scripture; for us, at
all events, he is speaking falsely.
II. What I have said of prophecy applies also to miracles. The text does not separate
them, nor can we. We turn to the signs and wonders in the New Testament, as in the
Old, to prove that God was speaking them. Do we not rather need the assurance that
God is speaking to explain the signs and wonders? If we try to ascend from the sign
to God, do we really ever find Him? How meanly we think of the Gospel when we
suppose that it cannot be presented at once to the hearts and consciences of sinful
men, but must be ushered in with a long array of proofs which the great majority of
people find it much harder to receive than that which is proved, nay, which I suspect
they never do receive till they have first embraced that.
F. D. Maurice, The Patriarchs and Lawgivers of the Old Testament, p. 274.
Reference: Deut 13—Parker, vol. iv., p. 229.
BI 1-3, "Ye are the children of the Lord your God.
Israel’s relationship to God
Moses here tells Israel—
I. How God had dignified them, as a peculiar people, with three distinguishable
privileges, which were their honour, and figures of those spiritual blessings in
heavenly things with which God has in Christ blessed us.
1. Here is election. “The Lord hath chosen thee” (Deu_14:2); not for their own
merits, or for any good works foreseen, but because He would magnify the riches
of His power and grace among them. And thus were believers chosen (Eph_1:4).
2. Here is adoption. “Ye are the children of the Lord your God” (Deu_14:1);
formed by Him into a people, owned by Him as His people, nay, His family, a
people near unto Him, nearer than any other. Every “Israelite indeed” is a child of
God; partaker of His nature and favour, His love and blessing.
3. Here is sanctification. “Thou art an holy people” (Deu_14:2); separated and set
apart for God, devoted to His service, designed for His praise, governed by a holy
law, graced by a holy tabernacle and the holy ordinances relating to it.
II. How they ought to distinguish themselves by a sober singularity from all the
nations that were about them.
1. In their mourning. “Ye shall not cut yourselves” (Deu_14:1).
(1) They are forbidden to deform or hurt their own bodies upon any account.
This is like a parent’s charge to his children that are foolish, careless, and
18

19. wilful. The true meaning of such commandments is, do yourselves no harm;
and this is also the design of those providences which most cross us, to
remove from us those things by which we are in danger of doing ourselves
injury. The body is for the Lord, and is to be used accordingly.
(2) They are forbidden to disturb and afflict their own minds with inordinate
grief for the loss of near and dear relations. If your father die, “ye shall not cut
yourselves,” you shall not sorrow more than is meet, for you are not
fatherless, you have a Father who is great, living and permanent, even the
holy, blessed God, whose children ye are.
2. In their meat. Their observance of this law would make them to be taken
notice of in all mixed companies as a separate people, and preserve them from
mingling themselves with their idolatrous neighbours.
(1) It is plain, in the law itself, that these precepts belonged only to the Jews,
and were not moral nor of perpetual use, because not of perpetual obligation
(Deu_14:21).
(2) It is plain, in the Gospel, that they are now antiquated and repealed (1Ti_
4:4). (Matthew Henry, D. D.)
SIMEON, "THE JEWS’ LEADING OBJECTION TO CHRISTIANITY CONSIDERED
Deuteronomy 13:1-3. If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams,
and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass whereof
he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known,
and let us serve them; thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that
dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the
Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
IT has commonly, and with justice, been thought, that the two great pillars on which
a revelation from God must stand, are, miracles, and prophecies. Without these, we
cannot be assured, that any discovery which may have been made to man, is really
divine. The points that are traced to a divine origin may be highly reasonable and
excellent in themselves; yet, before they are clothed with a divine authority, we very
properly ask, What proof is there that they are from God? what evidence do you give
that they are not the offspring of your own mind? If they are from God, I take for
granted that God does not leave you without witness: tell me then, what works do
you perform, which no created power can perform; or what other credentials have
you, whereby your heavenly mission may be known? If you can foretell things to
come, I shall then know that you are from God; because none but God can certainly
foreknow them: or if you can work things above, and contrary to the course of nature,
then I shall know that you have that power from on high; because no created being
can impart it.
This, I say, is the established mode of judging concerning a revelation from God: and,
according as any thing professing to be from God is thus confirmed, or not, we give
to it, or withhold from it, our assent. It is from grounds like these that we judge of the
revelation given to Moses; and from similar grounds must we judge of the truth of
Christianity also.
19

20. We must indeed inspect the matter of the thing revealed, to see whether it be worthy
of him from whom it is said to come; and from its internal evidence our faith will
derive great strength: but still in the first instance we look rather to external proofs,
such as we have before spoken of.
But the Jews imagine that they are precluded from judging of Christianity on such
grounds as these, since Moses, in the passage we have just read, guards them against
any such inferences as we are led to draw from the prophecies and miracles on which
our religion is founded. He concedes that some prophecies may be uttered, and some
miracles be wrought, in favour of a false religion; and that, even if that should be the
case, the Jews are not to regard any evidences arising from those sources, but to hold
fast their religion in opposition to them.
This is an objection commonly urged among the Jews, when we invite them to
embrace the Christian religion. That we may meet it fairly, we will, first, state the
objection in all its force, and then give what we apprehend to be the proper answer to
it.
I. We begin then with stating the objection; and we will do it in such a way as to
give the Jew all possible advantage.
The scope of the passage is to guard the Jews against idolatry. They were, and would
continue to be, surrounded by idolatrous nations, who would strive to the utmost to
draw them from Jehovah to the worship of false gods. And the Jews themselves
having from the earliest period of their existence as a people been accustomed to see
the idolatrous worship of Egypt, were of themselves strongly attached to idolatry; so
that it was necessary to guard them against it by the most awful menaces, and the
most impressive cautions.
The caution here given is certainly most solemn. That we may give it all the force of
which it is capable, we will notice distinctly these three things; The supposition here
made; The injunction given notwithstanding that supposition; and The argument
founded on that injunction.
First, mark the supposition here made, namely, that God may permit miraculous and
prophetic powers to be exercised even in support of a false religion. We are not
indeed to imagine that God himself will work miracles in order to deceive his people,
and lead them astray; nor are we to imagine that he will suffer Satan to work them in
such an unlimited way as to be a counterbalance to the miracles by which God has
confirmed his own religion: but he will, for reasons which we shall presently
consider, permit some to be wrought, and some prophecies to come to pass,
notwithstanding they are designed to uphold an imposture. The magicians of
Pharaoh, we must confess, wrought real miracles. When they changed their rods into
serpents, it was not a deception, but a reality: and when they inflicted plagues upon
Egypt after the example of Moses, it was not a deception, but a reality: but at the
same time that they thus, in appearance, vied with Moses himself, and with Jehovah,
20

21. in whose name he came, there was abundant evidence of their inferiority to Moses,
and of their being under the control of a superior power: for the magicians could not
remove one of the plagues which they themselves had produced; nor could they
continue to imitate Moses in all the exercises of his power (from whence they
themselves were led to confess their own inferiority to him): nor could they avert
from themselves the plagues which Moses inflicted on them in common with the rest
of the Egyptians. They were permitted to do so much as should give Pharaoh an
occasion for hardening his own heart, but not sufficient to shew that they could at all
come in competition with Moses.
In every age there were also false prophets, who endeavoured to draw the people
from their allegiance to God; and in the multitude of prophecies that they would
utter, it must be naturally supposed that some would be verified in the event. Our
blessed Lord has taught us to expect, even under the Christian dispensation, that
some efforts of this kind will be made by “Antichrist, whose coming is after the
working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all
deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish [Note: 2 Thessalonians
2:9-10.].” He has moreover told us that these false prophets should “shew such signs
and wonders as to deceive, if it were possible, the very elect [Note: Matthew 24:24.]:”
nay more, that in the last day some will appeal to him respecting the prophecies they
have uttered, and the miracles they have wrought in his name, and will plead them in
arrest of judgment [Note: Matthew 7:22.]. We may therefore safely concede what is
here supposed, namely, that God may suffer miraculous and prophetic powers to be
exercised to a certain degree even in support of idolatry itself.
Now then, in the next place, let us notice the injunction given to the Jews
notwithstanding this supposition. God commands them “not to give heed to that
prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, even though his predictions should be verified, if
his object be to turn them from him; for that he himself suffers these illusions to be
practised upon them, in order that their fidelity to him may be tried, and their love to
him approved.”
It may seem strange that God should suffer such stumbling-blocks to be cast in the
way of his people: but it is not for us to say what Jehovah may, or may not, do: we are
sure that “he tempteth no man,” so as to lead him into sin [Note: James 1:13.], and
that the “Judge of all the earth will do nothing but what is right.” But it is a fact, that
he thus permitted Job to be tried, in order that he might approve himself a perfect
man: and in like manner he tried Abraham, in order that it might appear, whether his
regard for God’s authority, and his confidence in God’s word, were sufficient to
induce him to sacrifice his Isaac, the child of promise [Note: Genesis 22:1-2; Genesis
22:12.]. It was for similar ends that God permitted his people to be tried for forty
years in the wilderness [Note: Deuteronomy 8:2.]; and in the same way he has tried
his Church in every period of the world. This is the true reason of so many
stumbling-blocks being laid in the way of those who embrace the Christian faith.
Christianity is not revealed in a way to meet with the approbation of proud and
carnal men: it is foolishness to the natural man: yea, even Christ himself is a
stumbling-block to some, as well as a sanctuary to others; and such a stumbling-
block, as to be “a gin and a snare to both the houses of Israel,” amongst whom it was
foretold, “many should stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken
[Note: Isaiah 8:14-15.].” It is God’s express design in the whole constitution of our
religion, to discover the secret bent of men’s minds: and whilst to the humble he has
21

22. given abundant evidence for their conviction, he has left to the proud sufficient
difficulties to call forth their latent animosity, and to justify in their own
apprehensions, their obstinate unbelief [Note: Luke 2:34-35.]. He gave originally to
the Jews, as he has also given to us, sufficient evidence to satisfy any candid mind:
and this is all that we have any right to expect. It was not necessary that our Lord
should give to every man in the Jewish nation the same evidence of his resurrection,
as he gave to Thomas: it was reasonable that there should be scope left for every man
to exercise his own judgment on the evidences that were placed within his reach; as
our Lord said to Thomas, “Because thou hast seen, thou hast believed; but blessed
are they who have not seen, and yet have believed.”
Hence then God enjoined his people not to regard any person who should attempt to
draw them to idolatry, even though he should work a miracle before their eyes, or
foretell an event that should afterwards come to pass. They had had abundant
evidence, that the religion they had embraced was from God: they possessed also in
the very nature of that religion an internal evidence of its excellency: and they had
received from God such demonstrations of his power and goodness, as ought to unite
them to him in the most indissoluble bonds of faith and love. If therefore they should
be induced to renounce their allegiance to him, and to transfer it to dumb idols that
had never done any thing for them, nor ever could do any thing, they would betray a
manifest want of love to him, and must blame themselves only, if they should
ultimately be “given up to a delusion to believe a lie, and be left to perish” in their
iniquity [Note: 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12.]. He would have them therefore upon their
guard in relation to this matter, and resolutely to resist every attempt to draw them
from him, however specious that attempt might be.
The argument founded on this injunction comes now before us with all the force that
can be given to it. A Jew will say, ‘You Christians found your faith on prophecies and
on miracles: and admitting that Jesus did work some miracles, and did foretell some
events which afterwards came to pass, God permitted it only to try us, and to prove
our fidelity to him. He has cautioned us beforehand not to be led astray from him by
any such things as these: he has expressly forbidden us to regard any thing that such
a prophet might either say or do: nay more, he commanded that we should take such
a prophet before the civil magistrate, and have him put to death: and therefore,
however specious your reasonings appear, we dare not listen to them or regard them.
II. Having thus given to the objection all the force that the most hostile Jew can
wish, I now come in the second place to offer, what we hope will prove a satisfactory
answer to it.
It cannot but have struck the attentive reader, that in this objection there are two
things taken for granted; namely, that in calling Jews to Christianity we are calling
them from Jehovah; and that our authority for calling them to Christianity is
founded on such miracles as an impostor might work, and such prophecies as an
impostor might expect to see verified.
But in answer to these two points we declare, first, that we do not call them from
Jehovah, but to him;—next, that our authority is not founded on such miracles and
prophecies as might have issued from an impostor, but such as it was impossible for
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23. an impostor to produce;—and lastly, that, in calling them to Christ, we have the
express command of God himself.
First, we do not call our Jewish brethren from Jehovah, but to him.
We worship the very same God whom the Jews worship: and we maintain his unity
as strongly as any Jew in the universe can maintain it. As for idols of every kind, we
abhor them as much as Moses himself abhorred them. Moreover, we consider the law
which was written on the two tables of stone as binding upon us, precisely as much as
if it were again promulged by an audible voice from heaven. Instead of calling them
from the law, we call them to it: we declare that every man who has transgressed it in
any one particular, is deservedly condemned to everlasting misery [Note:
Deuteronomy 27:26; Galatians 3:10.]: and it is from a consciousness that this
sentence must fall on every human being who has not fled for refuge to the hope set
before him in the Gospel, that we are so anxious to call both Jews and Gentiles to a
belief of the Gospel. We go further, and say, that no human being can be saved, who
has not a perfect obedience to that law as his justifying righteousness. But where
shall we find a perfect obedience to that law? where shall we find a man who can say,
he has fulfilled it in every jot and tittle? Alas! we all have transgressed it times
without number: we are all therefore condemned by it: and being condemned for our
disobedience, we can never be justified by our obedience to it. Would to God, that
this matter were understood by the Jews! we should find no difficulty then in leading
them to Christ. Did they but know what wrath they have merited, they would be glad
to hear of one who has borne it for them: and did they but know how impossible it is
for an imperfect obedience to that law to justify them, they would be glad to hear of
one who has fulfilled it in all its extent, and brought in an everlasting righteousness
for all who believe in him. Yes, my Jewish brethren, know assuredly that the
Christian “does not make void the law, but establishes the law [Note: Romans
3:31.]:” and has no hope of salvation in anyway, but such as “magnifies the law and
makes it honourable [Note: Isaiah 42:21.];” and it is his earnest desire that you
should agree with him in this matter; because he is sure, that, when once you come to
understand your own law, and see how “Christ was the end of the law for
righteousness to every one that believeth,” your difficulties will all vanish as the
morning dew before the rising sun.
With respect to the ceremonial law, we do indeed call you from the observance of
that; and we have good reason so to do; for you yourselves know, that all the essential
part of your religion existed before the ceremonial law was given; and that Abraham,
and Isaac, and Jacob, who lived hundreds of years before the ceremonial law was
given, were saved simply and entirely by faith in that promised “Seed, in whom all
the nations of the earth are blessed.” By faith then in this promised Seed must you be
saved: every child of Abraham must seek for acceptance in the way that Abraham did.
If you ask, Why then was the ceremonial law given? I answer, To shadow forth your
Messiah, and to lead you to him: and when he should come and fulfil it in all its
parts, it was then to cease; and you yourselves know that it was intended by God
himself to cease at that appointed time. Do you not know that your Messiah was to
come out of the loins of David; and that he was also to be a priest for ever after the
order of Melchizedec? But if there was to be a new priesthood after the order of
Melchizedec, the priesthood of Aaron must cease: and if the new priest was to spring
from David, who was of the tribe of Judah, and not from Levi to whose descendants
the priesthood was confined, then it is clear from this also that the Aaronic
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24. priesthood must cease: and if that be changed, then must there of necessity be a
change of the law also [Note: Hebrews 7:11-12.]: so that you yourselves know that the
ceremonial law was never intended to continue any longer than the time fixed for its
completion in the predicted Messiah. If then we call you from the outward
observances of that law, it is not from disrespect to that law, but from a conviction
that it has been fulfilled and abrogated by the Lord Jesus. We call you only from
shadows to the substance. We call you to Christ as uniting in himself all that the
ceremonial law was intended to shadow forth. He is the true tabernacle, in whom
dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. He is the true “Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world,” even that “Lamb of God which, as John the Baptist
testified, taketh away the sins of the world.” He is the great High-Priest, who, having
“through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God,” is now “entered into
the holy place with his own blood,” and there “ever liveth to make intercession for
us;” and is to come forth from thence once more to bless in his Father’s name his
waiting people. I wish then, my Jewish brethren, that you would particularly bear
this in mind. We honour the ceremonial law as admirably calculated to prepare your
minds for the Gospel: not only because it exhibited so fully and so minutely every
part of the mediatorial office which our Lord was to sustain, but because by the
burthensomeness of its rites it tended to break your spirit, and to make you sigh for
deliverance. And methinks, it should be no grievance to you to be called from those
observances, because you neither do, nor can, continue them: the destruction of your
city and temple, and your whole ecclesiastical and civil polity, have rendered
impossible for you to comply with them, and have thus shut you up to the faith of
Abraham, which is the faith of the Gospel.
I am aware that in calling you to worship the Lord Jesus Christ we appear to you to
be transferring to him the honour due to God alone. But if you will look into your
own Scriptures, you will find than the person who was foretold as your Messiah is no
other than God himself. Examine the Psalm before referred to [Note: Psalms 110.],
and see how David speaks of your Messiah: “The Lord said unto my LORD, Sit thou
on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool.” David here calls him
Jehovah: and how could he do that, if that title did not properly belong to him? This
question Jesus put to the Pharisees in his day; and they could not answer him a
word: nor can all the Rabbis upon the face of the earth suggest any satisfactory
answer to it now. The only answer that can be given is, that the same person, who as
man, was David’s son, as Jehovah, was David’s Lord, or, as Isaiah calls him,
“Emmanuel, God with us.” Receive him in the character in which the Prophet Isaiah
foretold his advent, as “the Child born, the Son given, the Wonderful Counsellor, the
Mighty God, the Prince of Peace.” Call him, as another prophet instructs you,
“Jehovah our righteousness:” and know, that, in thus “honouring Christ, you will
honour the Father who sent him.”
This then is my first answer; that in no respect whatever do we call you from God,
but wholly and altogether to him; to Him, as the One true God, in opposition to all
idols; to his law, as fulfilled in Christ, and directing you to him; and to his Gospel, as
the completion and consummation of all the wonders of his love. In as far as we call
you from your present course, it is only from types and shadows to the substance and
reality. You remember that at the moment of our Lord’s death the veil of the temple
was rent in twain, and the most holy place was laid open to the view of all who were
worshipping before it. The way into the holiest being thus opened to you all by God
himself, we invite all to enter in with boldness, and assure you in God’s name that
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25. you shall find acceptance with him.
The next thing which we proposed to shew was, that our authority for calling you
thus to Christ is not founded on such prophecies or miracles as might have issued
from an impostor, but on such as it was impossible for an impostor to produce.
Consider the prophecies: they were not some few dark predictions of mysterious
import and of doubtful issue, uttered by our Lord himself; but a continued series of
prophecies from the very fall of Adam to the time of Christ; of prophecies
comprehending an almost infinite variety of subjects, and those so minute, as to defy
all concert either in those who uttered, or those who fulfilled, them. A great
multitude of them were of such a kind that they could not possibly be fulfilled by any
but the most inveterate enemies. Who but an enemy would have nailed him to the
cross, or pierced him to the heart with a spear, or offered him gall and vinegar to
drink, or mocked and insulted him in the midst of all his agonies? Do not these put
his Messiahship beyond a doubt? I will mention only one prophecy of Christ himself:
but it is such an one as no impostor would utter, and no impostor could fulfil. What
impostor would rest all the credit of his mission on his being put to a cruel,
ignominious, and accursed death, and rising from the dead the third day? Or if an
impostor were foolish enough to utter such a prophecy, how, when he was actually
dead, could he fulfil it? But the whole Scriptures predicted these things of Jesus, as
Jesus also did of himself: and the exact fulfilment of them proves beyond all
reasonable doubt his true Messiahship.
Consider the miracles also: these were beyond all comparison greater and more
numerous than Moses ever wrought. The healing all manner of diseases was the daily
and hourly employment of the Lord Jesus for the three or four last years of his life.
The whole creation, men, devils, fishes, elements, all obeyed his voice; and at his
command the dead arose to life again. But there is one miracle also which in
particular we will mention. Jesus said, “I have power to lay down my life, and I have
power to take it again:” and the former of these he proved by speaking with a loud
voice the very instant he gave up the ghost, shewing thereby, that he did not die in
consequence of his nature being exhausted, but by a voluntary surrender of his life
into his Father’s hands. And at the appointed time he proved the latter also,
notwithstanding all the preparations made to defeat his purpose, all of which proved
in the issue the strongest testimonies to the truth of his word. But would an impostor
have pretended to such a power; or when actually dead, could he have exercised it?
And, when the interval between his death and resurrection was to be so short, would
not the stone, the seal, the watch, have been sufficient to secure the detection of the
imposture? Further, would an impostor have undertaken to send down the Holy
Ghost after his death for the purpose of enabling his followers to speak all manner of
languages, and of working all kinds of miracles; or if he had predicted such things,
could he have fulfilled them? Judge then whether here be not ground enough for that
faith which we call you to exercise towards him? If there be not, how do you prove
the divine authority of your own lawgiver? In point of testimony, great as was that
which proved the divine mission of Moses, it was nothing when compared with that
which substantiated the Messiahship of Jesus. We therefore confidently call you to
believe in him, and to embrace the salvation which he offers you in the Gospel.
But there is one great argument which we have reserved till now, in order that it may
25

26. bear upon you with the greater weight. We declare to you then, in the last place, that,
in calling you to Christ, we have the express command of God himself.
Moses, in chapter 13 of Deuteronomy, bids you, as we have seen, not to listen to any
false prophet: but in chapter 18:18, 19, he most explicitly declares, that a Prophet
should arise, to whom you should attend. Hear his own words: “I will raise them up a
Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his
mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I command him. And it shall come to
pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my
name, I will require it of him.”
Now I ask you, Who is the Prophet here spoken of? Where was there ever, besides
Moses, a prophet that was a Mediator, a Lawgiver, a Ruler, a Deliverer? Was there
ever such an one, except Jesus? And was not Jesus such an one in all respects? Yes;
he has wrought for you not a mere temporal deliverance like Moses, but a spiritual
and eternal deliverance from sin and Satan, death and hell: He has redeemed you,
not by power only, but by price also, even the inestimable price of his own blood.
Having thus bought you with his blood, he ever liveth in heaven itself to make
continual intercession for you. A new law also has he given you, “the law of faith,” in
conformity to which he enjoins you to walk, and by which he will judge you in the last
day. Of this blessed person all your own prophets have spoken; and this very Moses,
in whom you trust, declares to you, that, “if you will not hear and obey this Prophet,
God will require it of you.” When therefore you plead the authority of Moses, we join
issue with you, and say, Be consistent. Renounce false prophets, because he bids you:
but believe in the true Prophet, whom God according to his word has raised up to
you, because he bids you. Let his authority weigh equally with you in both cases: and
then we shall not fear, but that you will embrace the salvation offered you in the
Gospel, and be the spiritual children, as ye already are the natural descendants, of
believing Abraham. “Abraham looked forward with eager expectation to see the day
of Christ, and saw it, and was glad.” May ye also now see it, and rejoice in him as your
Saviour for evermore!
It is for your partiality in this respect that God has punished you now these eighteen
hundred years, and is punishing you at this day. He told you, “he would require of
you” your rejection of this Prophet; and he has required it more severely, than he has
all your other sins ever since you became a nation. O repent of this evil, and turn to
God in his appointed way! so shall his wrath be turned away from you, and “you shall
be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation.”
We cannot conclude our subject without suggesting a suitable improvement of it to
our Christian brethren—
As the Jews were constantly assailed by idolaters who sought to draw them from the
worship of the true God, so are you by infidels, or worldlings, to draw you from the
belief or practice of the Gospel. But do infidels assault you? Ask them whether their
objections, all of which arise from ignorance alone, are sufficient to invalidate all the
evidences which may be adduced in support of our religion? If not, then “hold fast
the profession of your faith without wavering.” Do worldlings tell you that God does
not require you to renounce the world, and to give yourselves up entirely to him? Ask
26

27. them, what proof they can give, that God has authorized them to set aside the
plainest declarations of his word. You may expect at least that they shall be possessed
of miraculous and prophetic powers, or else they have not so much as the semblance
of true prophets. But even if they had these powers and displayed them evidently
before your eyes, yet ought you not to regard their counsels, because they seek to
turn you from God to a poor perishing and worthless idol; from God, who has
redeemed you by the blood of his only dear Son, and given you all things in and with
him, to an idol, that never has done any thing for you, nor ever can. Be firm
therefore, even though your father or your mother, your brother or your sister, or
even the wife of your own bosom, should seek to turn you from the Lord. Your plain
answer to them all is, “Whether it be right to hearken unto you more than unto God,
judge ye.” Whatever temptations they offer, or menaces they employ, let nothing
induce you to draw back from following the Lord fully. “Be faithful unto death; and
he will give you a crown of life.”
PULPIT, "IDOLATERS AND ENTICERS TO IDOLATRY TO BE PUT TO DEATH.
Deuteronomy 13:1-5
The case supposed here is that of one professing to have supernatural intelligence,
who should, by giving a sign or a wonder, endeavor to draw away the people to
idolatry. Such a one was to be put to death.
Deuteronomy 13:1
A prophet (nabhi, ‫ִא‬‫י‬ ָ‫נב‬ ); one who speaks from God, an interpreter to men of what
God reveals or suggests to him (of. for the meaning of the word, Exodus 7:1 with
Exodus 4:16; also Jeremiah 15:19). Dreamer of dreams. Not by visions or immediate
suggestion only, but also by means of dreams, did God communicate with men (cf.
Numbers 12:6). The case supposed here, then, is that of one pretending to have had
revelations from God through those media by which God was pleased to convey his
will to men (cf. Hem; 'Iliad,' h 62—
" α λλ α ́γε δή τινα μάντιν ε ρείομεν ….
η ̀ καὶ ο νειροπόλον καὶ γάρ τ ο ́ναρ ε ́κ διός ε στιν)"
Sign or a wonder. A sign was some event foretold by the prophet, and the occurrence
of which was a token that something else which he announced would happen or
should be done. A wonder was a miracle, the performance of which gave proof of a
Divine commission (cf. Deuteronomy 4:24). These signs, it is assumed, should come
to pass; nevertheless, the people were not to listen to the man who gave them to go
after other gods. The mere fact that he sought to persuade them to forsake the
worship of Jehovah was sufficient to prove him an impostor; for how could one who
sought to seduce the people from God be sent by God? The sign which was given to
authenticate such a message could only be one of those "lying signs and wonders
27

28. after the working of Satan," by which his emissaries try to deceive and mislead; and
was permitted by God only that their fidelity to him might be tested and proved. They
had already received God's message; they had his word; and no teaching which
contravened that, however apparently authenticated, could be from him, or was to he
accepted by them (cf. Jeremiah 29:8; Galatians 1:8, Galatians 1:9; 1 John 3:1, etc.).
Come what might, they were to walk after Jehovah their God, and keep his
commandments, and obey his voice, and serve him; and cleave unto him. The false
prophet, as a public enemy and a suborner of treason against the King of Israel, was
to be put to death; and so the evil would be put away from among them.
PULPIT, "HOMILIES BY J. ORR
Deuteronomy 13:1-6
False prophets.
In viewing the bearings of this passage on the credentials of revelation, two points
should be observed.
1. The case supposed is one in which the prophet contradicts a revelation already
received.
2. The prophet does not dispute the evidence of that earlier revelation. On the
contrary, he admits it. He stands within the lines of it. He professes to speak under
its authority. Yet he asks the people to violate its fundamental laws. This of itself was
sufficient to convict him. His pretensions are disposed of by the simple fact that,
professing to speak in the Name of God, he gives the people a message contradictory
of what he admits God to have previously revealed. No sign and wonder can accredit
contradictions. The prophet is inconsistent with himself, and is not to be listened to.
Nay, his message had been anticipated, and the thing he bids the people do, expressly
forbidden. Notice, then—
I. EXTERNAL MIRACLES DO NOT OF THEMSELVES ACCREDIT A REVELATION
AS FROM GOD. (Deuteronomy 13:1-3.) This prophet gives a sign or wonder—
presumably a predictive word—and it actually comes to pass. The failure of his sign,
according to Deuteronomy 18:21, Deuteronomy 18:22, would have been a proof of
falsity. The converse of this, however, that he speaks God's word because his sign has
not failed, is not immediately to be admitted. There are other tests to be applied. In
this case, the prophet's message is condemned because contradictory of what he
himself allows to have been a true revelation. This raises the question of the value of
miracles as credentials of revelation. That they have a value is not disputed, but not
as mere signs and wonders. This will be best seen by contrasting the sign or wonder
given by this prophet with the evidence of the earlier revelation. If we take the
Scripture account of the founding of the Mosaic dispensation, it is impossible to
question the magnificence and convincingness of the displays of Divine power and
holiness therein contained. In founding his dispensations (Mosaic and Christian),
God has not only given evidence, but an amount and kind of evidence which put the
source of the revelation—admitting the facts to be as stated—beyond all cavil. For
here, it is not merely the fact of miracle which is to be regarded, but the number,
nature, magnitude, variety, spiritual quality of the supernatural events, in connection
28

29. with the self-evidencing divineness of the revelation itself. The difficulty as to
whether the miracle proves the doctrine, or the doctrine the miracle, or in what
proportions the two factors combine, has little place in the actual evidences of
revelation. The two cannot be separated, either in thought or in fact. Grant the
authenticity of the miracles of the Gospels or of the Pentateuch, and it will not be
disputed that they originated with God, not with Beelzebub. To this mass of evidence,
overwhelming in its sublimity and convincingness—evidence- embracing the
wonders of Egypt, the displays of God's power, love, and grace in the events of the
Exodus, the miracles of the desert, the stupendous revelations of Sinai, etc.—the
prophet opposes a few stray signs and wonders. Which were the people to believe?
Plainly, no sign or wonder would have justified an Israelite in believing a prophet
whose teaching contradicted the first principles of his revelation; as no sign or
wonder would justify us in believing teachings contradictory of the first principles of
ours.
II. THE RISE OF FALSE PROPHETS IS TO BE ANTICIPATED. (Deuteronomy 18:1.)
The passage takes it for granted that they will arise. They did arise in Old Testament
times, and they will do so again. Their appearance is predicted in connection with
"the last days" (Matthew 24:11; 1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Peter 2:1). "Signs and wonders" will
not be wanting (Matthew 24:24; 2 Thessalonians 2:9, 2 Thessalonians 2:10). False
teachers are included under the category of false prophets (Matthew 7:15; 2 Peter
2:1). They assert as the truth of God principles and doctrines subversive of the
revelation God has given. The readiness of people to believe them arises from want of
knowledge (Ephesians 4:14); from the itch for novelties (2 Timothy 4:3); from a
diseased craving for the marvelous—witness the credulity displayed in connection
with spiritualism (2 Thessalonians 2:9-13); above all, from the adaptation of their
teachings to the inclinations of depraved hearts (2 Timothy 3:1-8).
III. THE RISE OF FALSE PROPHETS IS PERMITTED FOR THE SIFTING OF THE
CHURCH. (Deuteronomy 18:3.) God has thus much to do with their appearance that
he permits it as a means of proving and sifting the Church. The trial is a searching
and real one. The plausibility of their errors may occasion, even to believers, much
mental conflict, But out of this conflict they come forth strengthened and purified,
with firmer hold upon the truth, and clearer insight into Scripture. Those willing to
be deceived are, on the other hand, led by the spirit of delusion. False prophets shake
all but "the very elect" (Matthew 24:24). The heresies, schisms, controversies, etc;
which have agitated the Church, with the teachings of antichristian philosophy and
science outside of it, have always had this effect of sifting, while in the end they have
subserved the progress of the truth.
IV. THE TEACHING OF FALSE PROPHETS IS TO BE REJECTED.
1. Their doctrine is to be tried by its conformity with the rule of faith (Isaiah 8:20).
John bids us "try the spirits," giving as the reason that "many false prophets are gone
out into the world" (1 John 4:1).
2. Their doctrine, if found contradictory of Scripture, is to be unhesitatingly rejected.
29

30. 3. Of old, the prophet whose teachings struck at the foundations of the theocracy was
to be put to death (verse 5). This rule no longer applies. But it is the duty of the
Church, in the exercise of her judicial functions, to deprive such a teacher of office
and status in her ministry (see also 2 John 1:10, 2 John 1:11.—J.O.
TODAY IN THE WORD
Coins in the United States have the phrase “In God We Trust” stamped upon them.
But to which God does this refer? It is true that many who framed the Constitution
shared common values shaped by their Judeo-Christian heritage, but the American
religious scene is now far more pluralistic than it was when the United States was
founded. While many still acknowledge Jesus Christ as God’s Son and believe that
the Bible is the Word of God, Christians must compete in the marketplace of ideas
along with Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and countless other religious views. The
United States is one of the most religiously diverse countries on earth.
This tradition of religious pluralism offers at least one advantage. It has allowed the
church to worship and proclaim the gospel in freedom. But it also poses a danger.
Because we live in a culture that celebrates religious diversity, we face the temptation
of becoming religious pluralists ourselves. With so many views existing side by side,
how do we protect ourselves from embracing false views of God?
The children of Israel were confronted with a similar problem. Moses warned that
once they settled in the land God had promised to give them, their faith would be
constantly challenged by the pagan beliefs of the surrounding nations. False prophets
would come claiming to have special insights directly from God and demonstrating
the ability to perform miraculous signs. Friends and relatives could be deceived by
their teaching and might tempt others to adopt the same views. Entire towns might
be drawn into false worship.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
In order to “guard the good deposit” of truth that has been entrusted to us, we must
first know the truth. Obtain a copy of your church’s doctrinal statement from your
pastor or a church leader and study it. What does it tell you about the truths your
church believes are essential to the Christian faith? What does it say about Jesus
Christ and His work? The Moody Publishers catalog has many books about Christian
doctrine, such as Basic Theology by Charles Ryrie and Foundational Faith edited by
John Koessler.
2 and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes
place, and the prophet says, “Let us follow other
gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us
30

31. worship them,”
BARNES, "The Lord had said, “Thou shalt have none other gods but Me.” A
prophet is here supposed who invites the people “to go after other gods.” To such a
one no credit is under any circumstances to be given, even should he show signs and
wonders to authenticate his doctrine. The standing rule of faith and practice had
been laid down once for all - that the people were to hold fast. The prophet who
propounded another rule could only be an impostor.
A different case is considered in Deu_18:18, etc.
GILL, "And the sign and wonder come to pass whereof he spake unto
thee,.... The sign he promised to give, or the miracle he proposed to do, to show the
reality of his mission, and the truth of his doctrine, which is performed, or seemingly
performed, by legerdemain, by magic art, or by the help of the devil; which the Lord
sometimes suffered for the trial of the faith and obedience of his people, and for the
hardening of others in their unbelief, and which issues in their destruction; see 2Th_
2:9,
saying, let us go after other gods (which thou hast not known), and let us
serve them; other gods besides the one living and true God, the Creator of all
things; strange gods, the idols of the people, as the Targum of Jonathan; such as they
had never heard of, nor had any knowledge of, nor any benefit from, as they had of
the Lord their God. Now the doctrines of these, and of their worship, are what the
false prophet or dreamer is supposed to come with, and inculcate into the minds of
the people; and for the confirmation of which, and in order to draw them into the
reception of them, and act according to them, he proposed to give a sign or wonder.
PETT, "Deuteronomy 12:32 to Deuteronomy 13:2
‘Whatever thing I command you (ye), that you (ye) shall observe to do. You
(thou) shall not add thereto, nor diminish from it. If there arise in the midst of
you (thee) a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and he give you (thee) a sign or a
wonder, and the sign or the wonder come about, of which he spoke to you,
saying, “Let us go after other gods, which you (thou) have not known, and let us
serve them,” ’
We have repeated Deuteronomy 12:32 here so as to bring out the dual connection
back and forwards. As a group they must observe his commands, and none of
them individually shall add to his words or diminish them, neither shall the
nation as a whole. ‘In the midst of you (thee)’ must refer to the nation as such,
but the remainder of the verse might be seen as more having individuals in mind.
The danger warned against here is that people might come with impressive ‘signs
and wonders’ and pose as prophets, or dreamers of significant dreams which
31

32. they claimed, and even believed, to come from a divine source. They might point
to signs and wonders that were coming, or that they performed (compare
Matthew 24:24). These might for example include eclipses, or interpretations of
weather conditions, or some manufactured situation brought about by conjuring
or ‘magic’ (compare Exodus 7:11; Exodus 7:22; Exodus 8:7; Exodus 8:18). They
may arise through bold claims which are fulfilled by some coincidence, or from
some cleverly manufactured situation, or from some unknown phenomenon
which could be explained given all the facts. Or it may be by means of ‘spiritual
healings’ which were really psychosomatic (the result of the effect of the mind on
the body. The body can be strongly affected by the mind). When Jesus came men
sought similar signs and wonders from Him. But He refused to give them
(Matthew 12:38-39; Matthew 16:1-4). He warned severely against looking at
signs and wonders, (even though they emanated from Him everywhere because
of Who He was). He never tried to use them as ‘proofs’, although to the believing
John He pointed to them as demonstrating that He was the One sent from God as
promised in the Old Testament (Luke 7:22). John was not looking for proof but
for reassurance. But the real test of prophets is simple. Do such people speak
according to God’s word? (Deuteronomy 12:32; see Isaiah 8:20). Signs and
wonders are no proof of truth.
This is very different from the situation in Deuteronomy 18:21-22. There the test
is as to whether the prophet’s central message comes about. It is not there
referring to signs and wonders which are used to support the message as here.
With regard to dreams, there have been a few times when God has through
history spoken through dreams given to certain chosen men, especially when the
dream has left behind a sense of foreboding. But that is far from saying that
dreams generally are revelations from God, although in those days they were
often deemed to be. Such God-given dreams are few and far between, given in
relation to special people and situations (Genesis 20:3; Genesis 31:11; Numbers
12:6; Joel 2:28). Numbers 12:6 tells us that to lesser prophets God does
sometimes reveal things through dreams, but does not see it as a reliable method
of obtaining full truth. There God contrasts those who come with such dreams
who speak in ‘dark speeches’ (in that case Aaron and Miriam) with the one who
came with the direct word of God (Moses). The dreams must be tested out and
must not be given too much emphasis.
Most dreams result from what has been eaten the day before, or arise from
strongly desiring something which cannot be obtained in practise, or through
some vivid event that has affected the inner mind, or from working too hard
(Ecclesiastes 5:3), or simply result from a vivid imagination (Ecclesiastes 5:7). It
would sometimes be nice if we could go to bed and dream away our problems
and difficulties and obtain answers to them. But life is not like that. Many have
been led astray by following dreams. We should beware of laying too much
32

33. emphasis on them and reject them utterly if they go contrary to, or seek to
expand on, the word of God.
The religious ‘importance’ of dreams would be well known from Egypt where
many manuals were written on the interpretation of dreams, and it had become a
‘science’, although not a reliable one. It is therefore interesting that outside
Genesis (pre-Mosaic) and Daniel (post-exilic, and the latter in a foreign country
where dreams were given credence) little credence is laid on dreams in the Old
Testament. And even in Genesis, apart from outsiders (this being God’s purpose
in giving them), dreams appear only to come to immature young men starting
out in life (Genesis 28:12; Genesis 37:5; Genesis 37:9), not for prophetic purposes
but for personal reasons. We can discount Deuteronomy 31:10-11 for that was
for Laban’s consumption. Outside Genesis and Daniel there are occasional
references to dreams (1 Samuel 28:6; Jeremiah 23:25-32; Jeremiah 27:9;
Jeremiah 29:8; Zechariah 10:2) all of which are derogatory. Only Numbers 12:6;
1 Kings 3:5; 1 Kings 3:15; Joel 2:28 are positive references, and even then the
dreamer is at a lower level than Yahweh’s prophets except possibly in the case of
Joel 2:28, but that is referring to a unique time (and interestingly also refers to
young men). Thus on the whole the Bible does not encourage the use of dreams
as a means of discovering truth, although occasionally allowing it. Genuine
dreams, like genuine miracles, appear to have come in rare bursts. If someone
comes to us with a dream we should perhaps suggest that they have heard
‘unspeakable things which it is not lawful for a man to utter’,
In this case these wonderworkers and dreamers would seek to lead people off to
giving credence to strange gods with a view to worshipping and serving them,
which makes quite clear that they could not be trusted. For God’s word on this
matter was particularly clear. ‘No other gods’. Thus they must be rejected and
dealt with severely.
“Which you have not known.” This has a dual aspect to it. Firstly it may indicate
an attempt to arouse interest by introducing something new. They were, said
their proponents, unknown, powerful gods (compare Acts 17:21. While these
were not Greek intellectuals many people who are not intellectuals also cannot
resist novelty). But secondly Moses is pointing out that they had no practical
experience of such gods. They have not ‘known’ them by experiencing what they
can do. How foolish then it would be to trust in them and follow them. On the
other hand they did know through experience what Yahweh could do, for He
had already done it. They knew precisely how powerful He was. Let them
therefore look only to Him. To turn from the One Whom they knew through
long experience, to supposed gods whose credentials were totally unknown,
would be totally inexcusable. This point is made by Moses again and again
(Deuteronomy 12:6; Deuteronomy 12:13; Deuteronomy 11:28; Deuteronomy
33

34. 28:64; Deuteronomy 29:26)
BENSON, "Deuteronomy 13:2-3. And the sign or wonder come to pass — God
permitting Satan or his agents to do what is above the ordinary course of nature
for thy trial. Saying, Let us go after other gods — That is, who, upon the sign’s
coming to pass which he gave thee to confirm his doctrine, would persuade thee
to go after other gods. Thou shalt not hearken unto that prophet — Shalt not
receive his doctrine; but, though the event confirm the prediction, thou shalt look
upon him as a liar, and teacher of false doctrine. For the Lord your God proveth
you — That is, trieth your faith, love, and obedience, and examineth your
sincerity by your constancy in his service, in opposition to all temptations to
desert it. To know — Or make known publicly and openly, namely, that both
you and others may know and see it, in order that the justice of his dispensations
toward you, whether in judgment or mercy, may be evident and glorious. The
reasonableness of what Moses here enjoins is manifest. For the existence and
infinite perfections of the one living and true God, the truth and goodness of his
religion, and the authority of his laws being already so fully demonstrated by
evidences of all kinds, evidences continued, and beyond all exception; and, on the
contrary, the gods of the heathen being so evidently either nonentities or false
pretenders to divinity, and their worship so full of absurdity, folly, and the worst
kinds of wickedness, it was not to be thought that a mere miracle, or a number of
miracles or wonders, for the performance of which, if really performed, they
could not account, or the fulfilling of a prediction, by any opposer of the true
God, was a sufficient reason why they should abandon God’s worship, call in
question the truth of his religion, or go after any other god. Moses properly
teaches them that the true divinity of miracles and wonders ought to be judged of
by the doctrines, designs, and purposes, for the abetting and confirming whereof
they were wrought; that every pretender to miracles, who would seduce men to
false and irrational principles of religion, was to be looked upon as an impostor,
and notwithstanding all he could do or say, they were steadily to adhere to the
service of Him who had given them so many proofs that he, and he alone, was the
true God, and to his religion and worship, which had been so amply confirmed;
concluding that God, by permitting such impostors, intended only to try their
faith and sincerity. Compare 1 Corinthians 12:3; 1 John 4:1-6. We may infer
from hence, that the attempts of the Roman Catholics to prove their peculiar
doctrines by miracles are vain; for they ought first to show them to be agreeable
to reason and religion, before they attempt to prove them by miracles. For so
long as they appear contrary to reason and Scripture, and repugnant to common
sense, it will never be in the power of miracles, how numerous and stupendous
soever, to establish the truth of them. Far less of their pretended miracles, which
are nothing else but mere tricks and impostures.
HAWKER, "Verse 2-3
34

35. But is it not yet more strange, that the LORD should permit the prediction of
false teachers to come to pass? The answer is at hand. GOD hath given the
reason: It is to prove the believer. And what is the believers security but the
SPIRIT's work in the heart? if, my brother, you are taught of GOD the HOLY
GHOST who and what JESUS is, there will never be any danger of going after
other gods. That precious promise which GOD held forth for his glory in the last
days is then fulfilled in your experience, and you need not ask your neighbor to
teach you to know the LORD. Sweet and blessed testimony this of GOD the
HOLY GHOST, and abundantly needful now more than ever, in the present
period of the church. Jeremiah 31:31-34. Compared with Hebrews 8:8-11.
3 you must not listen to the words of that
prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is
testing you to find out whether you love him
with all your heart and with all your soul.
CLARKE, "The Lord your God proveth you - God permits such impostors to
arise to try the faith of his followers, and to put their religious experience to the test;
for he who experimentally knows God cannot be drawn away after idols. He who has
no experimental knowledge of God, may believe any thing. Experience of the truths
contained in the word of God can alone preserve any man from Deism, or a false
religion. They who have not this are a prey to the pretended prophet, and to the
dreamer of dreams.
GILL, "Thou shall not hearken to the words of that prophet, or that
dreamer of dreams,.... Even though he does give the sign, and work the wonder;
for it might be reasonably concluded there must be fallacy in him, and that neither he
nor his miraculous sign could come from God, who would never send a person to
enable him to do signs and wonders, to persuade men to believe and act contrary to a
former declaration of his mind and will; to break a plain law of his, as in Deu_5:7,
this would be to contradict and deny himself; whatever therefore is contrary to a
known law or established doctrine, either of law or Gospel, let it come from whom it
will, or pretend to be confirmed by miracles, is not to be received; see Gal_1:8,
for the Lord your God proveth you, whether you love the Lord your God
with all your heart, and with all your soul; for should they be prevailed upon
by such a prophet to hearken to his doctrine, and embrace it, and act according to it,
35

36. it would be a plain case that they did not cordially love the Lord, since they could so
easily, and by such pretences, be drawn aside from the true worship of him, and serve
other gods; on the other hand, it would be a proof of their sincere affection for God,
and of their close and strict attachment to him, that notwithstanding such specious
pretences made, and such miracles wrought, yet abode by him and his worship, and
could not be wrought upon to forsake him and follow other gods and serve them; see
1Co_11:19.
HENRY, "II. Here is a very necessary charge given in this case,
1. Not to yield to the temptation: “Thou shalt not hearken to the worlds of that
prophet, Deu_13:3. Not only thou shalt not do the thing he tempts thee to, but thou
shalt not so much as patiently hear the temptation, but reject it with the utmost
disdain and detestation. Such a suggestion as this is not to be so much as parleyed
with, but the ear must be stopped against it. Get thee behind me, Satan.” Some
temptations are so grossly vile that they will not bear a debate, nor may we so much
as give them the hearing. What follows (Deu_13:4), You shall walk after the Lord,
may be looked upon, (1.) As prescribing a preservative from the temptation: “Keep
close to your duty, and you keep out of harm's way. God never leaves us till we leave
him.” Or, (2.) As furnishing us with an answer to the temptation; say, “It is written,
Thou shalt walk after the Lord, and cleave unto him; and therefore what have I to do
with idols?”
CALVIN, "3.For the Lord your God proveth you. (Latin, tentat vos.) Whenever
this word, which means to tempt, is applied to God, it is not used in a bad sense,
for “to take by guile,” or, “to lay snares of deceit to entrap the unwary,” but only
for “to prove or examine.” Now, God proves men’s hearts, not that He may learn
what was before unknown, but to lay open what was before concealed. The
expression, “to know,” therefore, refers to experimental knowledge only. The
explanation of Augustine is tame and involved, (300) “That He may know, i.e.,
that He may cause you to know.” But, since it is so very common for human
feelings to be attributed to God, where is the use of twisting words, which signify
no more than that God makes trial, so that what might have been otherwise
doubtful, should be actually displayed? Thus God tempted Abraham, when in an
important matter He made trial of his faith or obedience. (Genesis 22:1.) Nor is
what I have lately touched upon, and which we often read of, at all contradictory
to this, viz., that God uses the instrumentality of Satan and of wicked men, in
order to tempt men; because we must take into consideration the object to which
He directs these trials, whereby it will be manifest that His design is very
different from the malice and wiles of Satan. The reason here given is worthy of
remark, because it removes the difficulty by which weak minds might have been
easily disturbed. For nothing is less probable than that Satan should insult God
and involve heaven and hell in war, or that he should assume to himself with
impunity an attribute of God. Lest, then, such a discussion should trouble and
weary the good, or keep them in perplexity, Moses thus anticipates it, by
reminding them, that God does not meanwhile lie idle or asleep, having
36

37. abandoned the care of His Church; (301) but that He designedly brings the truly
pious to the proof, in order to distinguish them from the hypocrites; and this
takes place, when they constantly persevere in the true faith against the assaults
of their temptations, and do not fall from their standing. The Apostle declares
the same thing also with regard to heresies, that they must needs arise in the
Church, “that they which are approved may be made manifest.” (1 Corinthians
11:19.) Wherefore we must not be impatient, nor murmur against God, if He
chooses that the firmness of our faith, which is more precious than silver or gold,
should be tried in the fiery furnace; but it behoves us humbly to acquiesce in His
justice and wisdom. If any should still object, that, since the weakness of
mankind is only too notorious, God deals with them somewhat unkindly, when
He subjects them to these dangerous temptations, an answer may be readily
given. I acknowledge indeed that, since our carnal sense is tender, this may seem
hard, and inconsistent with the fatherly kindness of God; for, surely, when a
miracle presents itself before our eyes, it is difficult not to submit to it. But, since
the temptation injures none but those whose impiety, which it lays bare, was
already convicted and condemned, whilst the sincere worshippers of God are
preserved free from injury, how unjust would it be to take away from God this
liberty of plucking the mask from treachery and deceit? Whosoever loves God
with a pure heart is armed with the invincible power of the Divine Spirit, that he
should not be ensnared by falsehoods; God thus rewards true and not fictitious
piety, so that whosoever are of a true heart, should be protected by his faithful
guardianship, and never feel the deadly wound. Meanwhile, why should He not
devote to just destruction those who wilfully desire to perish? Nor need we be
surprised at what He elsewhere declares, that it is He who deceives false
prophets, (302) that by them he may inflict just vengeance on the reprobate, who
eagerly go in search of their destructive deceits. Since, then, all the good are sure
to overcome, so that the wiles of Satan are to them nothing but the exercises of
their virtue; why should God be blamed, because the malice of Satan and of the
wicked prepares for them the grounds of their victory and triumph? Only let us
cleave to this axiom, that all, who heartily love and reverence God, will always be
sure and safe under the protection of God. It is true, I confess, that integrity of
heart is a peculiar gift of God and the fruit of His secret election; but, since their
own consciences reproach the reprobate with their contempt of God, their
hypocrisy, pride, or depravity, the blame of the iniquity that dwells in them is
unjustly laid upon God. This, then, is sufficient to refute all carnal and perverse
reasonings and blasphemies, viz., that whosoever are right in heart are guarded
by the aid of the Spirit from the poisonous influence of Satan, and that no one
perishes against his will. And thus we come to the conclusion, that all who,
having once seemed to embrace the doctrines of salvation, afterwards reject and
deny them, had never possessed anything more than the disguise of a false
profession, because, if they sincerely loved God, they would remain firm in heart
in the midst of all things tending to disturb them. It will indeed sometimes
37

38. happen that the pious also will fall into errors, and will be seduced by the
wicked; but it will only be in some respects and for a time; so that they never fall
from the foundation, and presently recover themselves, (resipiscant.) And then, it
must also be observed, they pay the penalty of their negligence, or instability,
because they have not been sufficiently attentive to God’s Word, or have not
sufficiently devoted themselves to religious pursuits. Hence we further gather,
that whilst many turn away professedly from the doctrines of religion, on the
ground of their seeing so many contentions and disputes to distract them, it is a
mere vain excuse to cover their profane neglect or hatred of God. It is true that
there are great discrepancies of opinion, and very warm contentions; but
whosoever in a teachable and gentle spirit shall seek after truth, and shall give
himself over and submit himself as the disciple of God, he will never be without
the spirit of judgment and discretion. But, since some listen disdainfully, some
supremely despise it, some wish that God’s Word were altogether destroyed,
others think lightly of it, the saying of the Prophet holds good, “that that dieth,
let it die;” (Zechariah 11:9;) and what Paul after him declares, “But if any man
be ignorant, let him be ignorant.” (l Corinthians 14:38.) Since it has always been
the case that God’s truth was never hidden from anybody, except him whose
mind the God of this world has blinded. (2 Corinthians 4:4.) And this especially
takes place (303) when light has shone from heaven, which suffers none to go
astray but those who shut their eyes. The remedy, therefore, is immediately
subjoined, “Ye shall walk after the Lord your God;” as if Moses had said, it was
sufficient for their preservation, that they had God to guide them in the right
way, who had already prevented them by His gratuitous bounty. But, since
numbers respond not to God’s call, and regard Him not when He points out the
way to them, the words “and fear him” are added; because “the fear of God is
the beginning of wisdom.” (Psalms 111:10.) Finally, Moses again inculcates that,
if men are only resolved to obey God, they will be sufficiently taught by His voice
what they ought to do. By the word “cleave,” perseverance is denoted, and titus
he indirectly reproves the instability of those who forsake and forget God, and go
astray after empty imaginations.
PETT, "Deuteronomy 13:3
‘You (thou) shall not listen to the words of that prophet, or to that dreamer of
dreams, for Yahweh your God proves you (ye), to know whether you (ye) love
Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul.’
The point is now made that it is important not to listen to those who come with
anything that contradicts what God has said, and especially when what He has
said has been stated plainly, even though they come with signs and wonders and
extraordinary dreams. God does allow such things to happen as He did with
Balaam (although He does not deliberately act to bring them about) in order to
test whether we will follow His word closely. But those who love God with all
38

39. their heart and soul will soon discern truth from falsehood. We are reminded
again that ‘love’ is the true covenant response. The Christian looks not to
outward signs, but to the witness within of the Spirit to His word (1 John 2:20; 1
John 2:27). Those who are true speak what is true (1 John 4:1-2), and those who
are true hear what is true. Some of these wonderworkers will be such that if it
were possible they would even deceive them, but thankfully that is not possible
(Matthew 24:24), for they look to His word (in this case the word of Moses) and
judge all by that.
Deuteronomy 13:3
F. B. Meyer
Our Daily Homily
HOW much happens to us for this reason! God proves us--not that He may learn
aught of us which He did not know before, but that He may reveal us to
ourselves. We need to know ourselves, that we may be prompted to know and use
His infinite resources, and that, in the great consciousness of our frailty and
weakness, we may be led to avail ourselves of His grace.
God proves us by opportunities of Christian service.--We think we are fitted for
some great sphere, and chafe because it is withheld: but the reason is not far to
seek. We have been tested in some very little service, as a class in the Sunday-
school, and have been found careless and unpunctual; is it likely that we shall be
entrusted with the greater?
God proves us by the money with which He entrusts us.--Money resembles the
counters with which children play. It greatly tests us. It is described as the
unrighteous mammon, and as not being our true riches; but it is entrusted to us
that we may be proved, before God entrusts us with the real treasures of His
Kingdom. Be wary how you use money; on this may turn the responsibilities of
the eternal world of which we now know nothing.
God proves us by our actions with regard to doubtful things.--Not in the things
which are clearly right or wrong, but in those which lie in the debatable ground
of the twilight, is our true character tested. What you are in matters which must
be viewed in relation to others is all-important, as the true gauge of character. By
currents of opinion, by winds of doctrine, and by the many voices that are
39

40. speaking in the world, the Lord your God proveth you.
4 It is the Lord your God you must follow, and
him you must revere. Keep his commands and
obey him; serve him and hold fast to him.
GILL, "Ye shall walk after the Lord your God,.... As he has directed, according
to the laws and rules which he has given, both with respect to their moral and civil
conduct, and their religious worship of him; and so the Targum of Jonathan,"ye shall
walk after the worship of the Lord your God:"
and fear him, and keep his commandments; fear to offend him, and so keep
his commandments; or keep his commandments from or through fear; not a servile
but a filial one, a reverential affection for him; this is the whole duty of man, Ecc_
12:13,
and obey his voice; in his word, or by his prophets and ministers: it may very well
be understood of the voice of Christ, the Angel that went before them, whose voice
they were continually to hearken to and obey, Exo_23:21.
and you shall serve him, and cleave unto him; it may respect all religious
worship, both private and public; the Targum of Jonathan restrains it to prayer, but
it not only includes that, but all other acts of piety and devotion, and which are to be
constantly performed and not departed from; for so to do is to cleave to the Lord as a
man to his wife, or a woman to her husband, in which conjugal relation God and his
people Israel were, he was an husband unto them, and to do otherwise is to go a
whoring from him after other gods.
K&D, "God permitted false prophets to rise up with such wonders, to try the
Israelites, whether they loved Him, the Lord their God, with all their heart. (‫ה‬ ָ ִ‫נ‬ as in
Gen_22:1.) ‫ים‬ ִ‫ב‬ ֲ‫ּה‬‫א‬ ‫ם‬ ֶ‫כ‬ ְ‫שׁ‬ִ‫י‬ ֲ‫,ה‬ whether ye are loving, i.e., faithfully maintain your love to
the Lord. It is evident from this, “that however great the importance attached to signs
and wonders, they were not to be regarded among the Israelites, either as the highest
test, or as absolutely decisive, but that there was a certainty in Israel, which was so
much the more certain and firm than any proof from miracles could be, that it might
be most decidedly opposed to it” (Baumgarten). This certainty, however, was not
“the knowledge of Jehovah,” as B. supposes; but as Luther correctly observes, “the
word of God, which had already been received, and confirmed by its own signs,” and
which the Israelites were to preserve and hold fast, without adding or subtracting
anything. “In opposition to such a word, no prophets were to be received, although
40

41. they rained signs and wonders; not even an angel from heaven, as Paul says in Gal_
1:8.” The command to hearken to the prophets whom the Lord would send at a future
time (Deu_18:18.), is not at variance with this: for even their announcements were to
be judged according to the standard of the fixed word of God that had been already
given; and so far as they proclaimed anything new, the fact that what they announced
did not occur was to be the criterion that they had not spoken in the name of the
Lord, but in that of other gods (Deu_18:21-22), so that even there the signs and
wonders of the prophets are not made the criteria of their divine mission.
PETT, "Deuteronomy 13:4
‘You (ye) shall walk after Yahweh your God, and fear him, and keep his
commandments, and obey his voice, and you shall serve him, and cleave to him.’
Note here the contrast with Deuteronomy 13:5. ‘You’ (ye) on the one hand, and
‘that prophet’ on the other. This may be utilising, as an example, treaty
stipulations known to Moses from his past. This is how the believer can keep on
the true path, by wholehearted loyalty. By walking after Yahweh his God, by
fearing Him, by keeping His commandments, by obeying His voice, by serving
Him, by cleaving to Him (see Deuteronomy 5:33; Deuteronomy 8:6;
Deuteronomy 10:12; Deuteronomy 11:22). They are to be like sheep who
diligently follow the shepherd. As Jesus said, ‘My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them, and they follow Me, and I give to them eternal life, and they shall
never perish, and none shall pluck them from My hand’ (John 10:27-28). Such
will never be led astray by false teaching.
The summary is a good description of different aspects of the Christian life.
‘Walk after God.’ Our lives are to be a daily walk with Him as He walks with us
through the day. ‘Fear’ - we could do with a little more of the fear of God. ‘Keep
His commandments.’ We must observe them and do them. ‘Obey His voice.’ We
must ever be open to His prompting, and sensitive to what He requires, a
sensitivity acquired by reading His word and by worship. ‘Serve Him.’ This
includes both worship and doing His will. We must never forget that we are
servants. ‘Cleave to Him.’ This involves true responsive love and not allowing
anything else to come between us and God.
A preacher tells how a student once came to him and told him how he was losing
his faith because of liberal teaching. His response was simply to look back at him
and ask, ‘What have you been doing?’ He knew that the problem was not with
the liberal teaching, which could be coped with, it was with his failure to walk
after God and obey Him and cleave to Him. And the student bowed his head and
admitted that he was right. He had lost touch with God and was craving after the
world. That was his real problem. The other was simply an excuse.
MACLAREN, "WITH, BEFORE, AFTER
41

42. ‘Enoch walked with God,’ Gen_5:22.
‘Walk before Me.’ Gen_17:1.
‘Ye shall walk after the Lord your God.’ Deu_13:4.
You will have anticipated, I suppose, my purpose in doing what I very seldom do-
cutting little snippets out of different verses and putting them together. You see that
these three fragments, in their resemblances and in their differences, are equally
significant and instructive. They concur in regarding life as a walk-a metaphor which
expresses continuity, so that every man’s life is a whole, which expresses progress,
which expresses change, and which implies a goal. They agree in saying that God
must he brought into a life somehow, and in some aspect, if that life is to be anything
else but an aimless wandering, if it is to tend to the point to which every human life
should attain. But then they diverge, and, if we put them together, they say to us that
there are three different ways in which we ought to bring God into our life. We
should ‘walk with Him,’ like Enoch; we should ‘walk before’ Him, as Abraham was
bade to do; and we should ‘walk after’ Him, as the command to do was given to all
Israel. And these three prepositions, with, before, after, attached to the general idea
of life as a walk, give us a triple aspect-which yet is, of course, fundamentally, one-of
the way in which life may be ennobled, dignified, calmed, hallowed, focussed, and
concentrated by the various relations into which we enter with Him. So I take the
three of them.
1. ‘Enoch walked with God.’
That is a sweet, simple, easily intelligible, and yet lofty way of putting the notion
which we bring into a more abstract and less impressive shape when we talk about
communion with God. Two men travelling along a road keep each other company.
‘How can two walk together except they be agreed?’ The companion is at our side all
the same, though the mists may have come down and we cannot see Him. We can
hear His voice, we can grasp His hand, we can catch the echoes of His steps. We
know He is there, and that is enough. Enoch and God walked together, by the simple
exercise of the faith that fills the Invisible with one great, loving Face. By a
continuous, definite effort, as we are going through the bustle of daily life, and amid
all the pettiness and perplexities and monotonies that make up our often weary and
always heavy days, we can realise to ourselves that He is of a truth at our sides, and
by purity of life and heart we can bring Him nearer, and can make ourselves more
conscious of His nearness. For, brethren, the one thing that parts a man from God,
and makes it impossible for a heart to expatiate in the thought of His presence, is the
contrariety to His will in our conduct. The slightest invisible film of mist that comes
across the blue abyss of the mighty sky will blot out the brightest of the stars, and we
may sometimes not be able to see the mist, and only know that it is there because we
do not see the planet. So unconscious sin may steal in between us and God, and we
shall no longer be able to say, ‘I walk with Him.’
The Roman Catholics talk, in their mechanical way, of bringing down all the spiritual
into the material and formal, about the ‘practice of the presence of God.’ It is an ugly
phrase, but it means a great thing, that Christian people ought, very much more than
they do, to aim, day by day, and amidst their daily duties, at realising that most
elementary thought which, like a great many other elementary thoughts, is impotent
because we believe it so utterly, that wherever we are, we may have Him with us. It is
the secret of blessedness, of tranquillity, of power, of everything good and noble.
‘I am a stranger with Thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were,’ said the Psalmist
of old. If he had left out these two little words, ‘with Thee,’ he would have been
uttering a tragic complaint; but when they come in, all that is painful, all that is
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43. solitary, all that is transient, bitterly transient, in the long succession of the
generations that have passed across earth’s scene, and have not been kindred to it, is
cleared away and changed into gladness. Never mind, though you are a stranger, if
you have that companion. Never mind, though you are only a sojourner; if you have
Him with you, whatever passes He will not pass; and though we dwell here in a
system to which we do not belong, and its transiency and our transiency bring with
them many sorrows, when we can say, ‘Lord! Thou hast been our dwelling-place in
all generations,’ we are at home, and that eternal home will never pass.
Enoch ‘walked with God,’ and, of course, ‘God took him,’ There was nothing else for
it, and there could be no other end, for a life of communion with God here has in it
the prophecy and the pledge of a life of eternal union hereafter. So, then, ‘practise the
presence of God.’ An old mystic says: ‘If I can tell how many times to-day I have
thought about God, I have not thought about Him often enough.’ Walk with Him by
faith, by effort, by purity.
2. And now take the other aspect suggested by the other word God spoke
to Abraham: ‘I am the Almighty God, walk before Me and be thou
perfect.’
That suggests, as I suppose I do not need to point out, the idea not only of
communion, which the former phrase brought to our minds, but that of the
inspection of our conduct. ‘As ever in the great Taskmaster’s eye,’ says the stern
Puritan poet, and although one may object to that word ‘Taskmaster,’ yet the idea
conveyed is the correct expansion of the commandment given to Abraham. Observe
how ‘walk before Me’ is dovetailed, as it were, between the revelation ‘I am the
Almighty God’ and the injunction ‘Be thou perfect.’ The realisation of that presence
of the Almighty which is implied in the expression ‘Walk before Me,’ the assurance
that we are in His sight, will lead straight to the fulfilment of the injunction that
bears upon the moral conduct. The same connection of thought underlies Peter’s
injunction, ‘Like as He . . .is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation,’
followed immediately as it is by, ‘If ye call on Him as Father, who without respect of
persons judgeth’-as a present estimate-’according to every mail’s work, pass the time
of your sojourning here in fear’-that reverential awe which will lead you to be ‘holy
even as I am holy.’
This thought that we are in that divine presence, and that there is silently, but most
really, a divine opinion being formed of us, consolidated, as it were, moment by
moment through our lives, is only tolerable if we have been walking with God. If we
are sure, by the power of our communion with Him, of His loving heart as well as of
His righteous judgment, then we can spread ourselves out before Him, as a woman
will lay out her webs of cloth on the green grass for the sun to blaze down upon them,
and bleach the ingrained filth out of them. We must first walk ‘with God’ before the
consciousness that we are walking ‘before’ Him becomes one that we can entertain
and not go mad. When we are sure of the ‘with’ we can bear the ‘before.’
Did you ever see how on a review day, as each successive battalion and company
nears the saluting-point where the General inspecting sits, they straighten
themselves up and dress their ranks, and pull themselves together as they pass
beneath his critical eye. A master’s eye makes diligent servants. If we, in the strength
of God, would only realise, day by day and act by act of our lives, that we are before
Him, what a revolution could be effected on our characters and what a
transformation on all our conduct!
‘Walk before Me’ and you will be perfect. For the Hebrew words on which I am now
commenting may be read, in accordance with the usage of the language, as being not
only a commandment but a promise, or, rather, not as two commandments, but a
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44. commandment with an appended promise, and so as equivalent to ‘If you will walk
before Me you will be perfect.’ And if we realise that we are under ‘the pure eyes and
perfect judgment of’ God, we shall thereby be strongly urged and mightily helped to
be perfect as He is perfect.
3. Lastly, take the other relation, which is suggested by the third of my
texts, where Israel as a whole is commanded to ‘walk after the Lord’ their
God.
In harmony with the very frequent expression of the Old Testament about ‘going
after idols’ so Israel here is to ‘go after God.’ What does that mean? Communion, the
consciousness of being judged by God, will lead on to aspiration and loving, longing
effort to get nearer and nearer to Him. ‘My soul followeth hard after Thee,’ said the
Psalmist, ‘Thy right hand upholdeth me.’ That element of yearning aspiration, of
eager desire to be closer and closer, and liker and liker, to God must be in all true
religion. And unless we have it in some measure, it is useless to talk about being
Christian people. To press onwards, not as though we had already attained, but
following after, if that we may apprehend that for which also we are apprehended, is
the attitude of every true follower of Christ. The very crown of the excellence of the
Christian life is that it never can reach its goal, and therefore an immortal youth of
aspiration and growth is guaranteed to it. Christian people, are you following after
God? Are you any nearer to Him than you were ten years ago? ‘Walk with Me, walk
before Me, walk after Me.’
I need not do more than remind you of another meaning involved in this same
expression. If I walk after God, then I let Him go before me and show me my road.
Do you remember how, when the ark was to cross Jordan, the commandment was
given to the Israelites to let it go well on in front, so that there should be no mistake
about the course, ‘for ye have not passed this way heretofore.’ Do not be in too great a
hurry to press upon the heels of God, if I may so say. Do not let your decisions outrun
His providence. Keep back the impatience that would hurry on, and wait for His
ripening purposes to ripen and His counsels to develop themselves. Walk after God,
and be sure you do not go in front of your Guide, or you will lose both your way and
your Guide.
I need not say more than a word about the highest aspect which this third of our
commandments takes, ‘His sheep follow Him’-’leaving us an example that we should
follow in His steps,’ that is the culmination of the walking ‘with,’ and ‘before,’ and
‘after’ God which these Old Testament saints were partially practising. All is gathered
into the one great word, ‘He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to
walk even as He walked.’
BI, "Ye shall walk after the Lord your God.
With, before, after
(with Gen_5:22; Gen_17:1):—You see that these three fragments, in their
resemblances and in their differences, are equally significant. They concur in
regarding life as a walk—a metaphor which expresses continuity, so that every man’s
life is a whole, which expresses progress, and which implies a goal. They agree in
saying that God must be brought into a life somehow, and in some aspect, if that life
is to be anything else but an aimless wandering, if it is to tend to the point to which
every human life should attain. But then they diverge, and, if we put them together,
they say to us that there are three different ways in which we ought to bring God into
our life. We should “walk with” Him, like Enoch; we should “walk before” Him, as
Abraham was bade to do; and we should “walk after” Him, as the command to do was
44

45. given to all Israel.
I. “Enoch walked with God.” Two men travelling along a road keep each other
company. “How can two walk together except they be agreed?” The Companion is at
our side all the same, though the mists may have come down and we cannot see Him.
Enoch and God walked together, by the simple exercise of the faith that fills the
Invisible with one great, loving face. The one thing that parts a man from God, and
makes it impossible for a heart to expatiate in the thought of His presence, is the
contrariety to His will in our conduct.
II. And now take the other aspect suggested by the other little word God spoke to
Abraham: “I am the Almighty God, walk before Me and be thou perfect.” That
suggests, as I suppose I do not need to point out, the idea not only of communion,
which the former phrase brought to our minds, but that of the inspection of our
conduct. As ever in the great Taskmaster’s eye, says the stern Puritan poet, and
although one may object to that word “Taskmaster,” yet the idea conveyed is the
correct expansion of the commandment given to Abraham. Observe how “walk with
me” is dovetailed, as it were, between the revelation “I am the Almighty God” and the
injunction “be thou perfect.” This thought that we are in that Divine Presence, and
that there is silently, but most really, a Divine opinion being formed of us,
consolidated, as it were, moment by moment through our lives, is only tolerable if we
have been walking with God. We must first walk “with God” before the consciousness
that we are walking “before” Him becomes one that we can entertain and not go mad.
When we are sure of the “with” we can bear the “before.” A master’s eye maketh
diligent servants. “Walk before Me” and you will be perfect. “If you will walk before
Me you will be perfect.”
III. Lastly, take the other relation, which is suggested by the third of my texts, where
Israel as a whole is commanded to “walk after the Lord” their God. In harmony with
the very frequent expression of the Old Testament about “going after idols,” so Israel
here is to “go after God.” What does that mean? Communion, the consciousness of
being judged by God will lead on to aspiration and loving, longing effort to get nearer
and nearer to Him. “My soul followeth hard after Thee,” said the Psalmist, “Thy right
hand upholdeth me.” That element of yearning aspiration, of eager desire to be closer
and closer, and liker and liker, to God must be in all true religion. And I need not do
more than remind you of another meaning involved in this same expression. If I walk
after God, then I let Him go before me and show me my road. Do you remember how,
when the ark was to cross Jordan, the commandment was given to the Israelites to
let it go well on in front, so that there could be no mistake about the course, “for ye
have not passed this way heretofore.” Do not be in too great a hurry to press upon the
heels of God, if I may so say. Do not let your decisions outrun His providence. Keep
back the impatience that would hurry on, and wait for His ripening purposes to ripen
and His counsels to develop themselves. Walk after God, and be sure you do not go in
front of your Guide, or you will lose both your way and your Guide. I need not say
more than a word about the highest aspect which this third of our commandments
takes: “His sheep follow Him, “leaving us an example that we should follow in His
steps.” (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The ladder of attainment
From these words we gather that many expressions were needed to describe the true
disposition and attitude of the mind of Israel toward God. Each expression denotes
something different, and each seems to make a progressive advance.
I. Ye shall walk after the Lord your God. This means follow Him, i.e. go whither He
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46. would have you go. We must follow as the sheep follows the shepherd. But, again, we
are not simply like sheep. When Israel came out of Egypt the trumpets were blown,
and all followed in order behind them. This is of the first importance, that men
should joyfully obey the cry. Follow Him—follow after Jesus!
II. Fear him. Those who resolve to follow Him must so do it that they shall honour
Him and remember that He has power to withstand those who oppose Him. God’s
people must be filled with a sense of His greatness, majesty, and righteousness as
revealed in the Redeemer. Without the sense of this, we lose the attitude of mind in
which we can best honour Him. Those who seek to follow Him without this fear are
likely in time to become rebels in His kingdom.
III. Ye shall keep His commandments. God has given commands “Thou shalt”;
“Thou shalt not.” The fear of God impels to the keeping of these. Not a cringing dread
is this fear. This would make the keeping of the commandments merely a secondary
matter. God must be so feared that what He has commanded shall be our delight to
perform.
IV. Ye shall obey his voice. Even when His way seems enigmatic, and also when He
gives special intimations of His will besides the commands laid down, just as He led
Israel by ways they knew not, etc. On the way of life we must ever be on our guard so
that we may find the right way, so much the more as snares are laid in our way by the
adversary—from which we cannot deliver ourselves, but which we shall be able to
avoid if we listen to the voice of the Spirit, who teaches us to be circumspect, and
points out the way to us.
V. Ye shall serve Him, i.e. we must not be autocrats, but servants of God only. Thus
we learn to please Him in self-denial and in a jealous care for His glory. Then, too, we
shall gladly be found where the honour due to Him is offered with prayer and
adoration.
VI. Ye shall cleave unto him, i.e. ye shall seek His presence with burning desires, and
with deepest love and warmth of heart and spirit. When we have reached thus far,
that we cleave to Him and Then grow up in Him, as the branch in the vine stem, great
shall be our gain I may it be said of us, “Where I am, there shall also My servant be!”
(J. C. Blumhardt.)
It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his
commands and obey him. - Deuteronomy 13:4
TODAY IN THE WORD
When doctors find cancerous cells in their patients, they have only one goal: kill the
cancer! By whatever means possible, cancer must be removed from the body. If this
can be done, the patient might go on to live a long, normal life. So doctors attack the
disease with all the resources they possess: surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation
therapy. These are strong remedies, and in themselves can have serious
consequences and cause great suffering. Then why use them? Because the disease
would do worse. The cancer must be completely eradicated.
It was in this same spirit that Moses cried, “You must purge the evil from among
you” (Dt 13:5; cf. 1Co 5:13). The spiritual disease of idolatry could cripple or kill the
nation--it must be annihilated.
46

47. Purity in worship is serious business. Evil was to be eliminated from the national life
of Israel. False prophets were to be executed. Anyone who tried to drag the people
away from the Lord was to be dealt with ruthlessly. God even warned them to be
ready for tests in this area (v. 3). Israel needed to learn that worship is the highest
priority--higher than friends, family, and even marriage. If a loved one was an
idolator, they were to “show him no pity” (Dt 13:8; cf. Luke 14:26). Compromise in
this area would be spiritually fatal. How would they know such a person? A false
prophet or idolator would ignore what God had done in history, lead them into
disobedience to His Word, and fail to acknowledge His supremacy. The central test--
even against the experience of a prophesied event coming true--was who the object of
worship was. If it was anyone other than the Lord, that person was to be stoned by
the community. Everyone was to take part in enforcing justice and restoring
righteousness.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Here’s a question for self-examination today: Are there any idols displacing God in
your life? Don’t be too quick to answer “no.” This is serious business. Examine your
heart and your actions. What do you spend your time thinking about and on what do
you spend your energy? Do these things show that you’re following God
wholeheartedly, without compromise? Or do they suggest that God is more of a back-
burner presence than you thought? Pray over these difficult and crucial questions.
5 That prophet or dreamer must be put to death
for inciting rebellion against the Lord your God,
who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed
you from the land of slavery. That prophet or
dreamer tried to turn you from the way the
Lord your God commanded you to follow. You
must purge the evil from among you.
BARNES, "The context and parallel passages (compare Deu_17:7; Lev_20:2)
indicate that there was to be a regular judicial procedure, and that the manner of the
execution was to be by stoning. In this the community was to take its part in order to
show its horror at the crime, and to clear itself of complicity therein.
47

48. GILL, "And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to
death,.... Which death, according to the Targum of Jonathan, was to be killed with
the sword:
because he hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God; or
"spoken revolt against the Lord" (l), high treason against him, delivering out doctrine
that tends to cause his subjects to rebel against him, and revolt from him; and
therefore he is justly deserving of death, to draw off a people from him he had been
so good and kind unto; so that to apostasy would be added the sin of ingratitude:
which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the
house of bondage; and so was not only their Lord by creation whom they ought to
serve, but by redemption, which laid them under double obligation to serve him:
to thrust thee out of the way which the Lord thy God commanded thee to
walk in; not by external force, but by the power of persuasion, by enticing words
and arguments:
so shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee; the evil man, by
putting him to death, and the evil of idolatry, by not listening to the words of the false
prophet.
HENRY, "2. Not to spare the tempter, Deu_13:5. That prophet shall be put to
death, both to punish him for the attempt he has made (the seducer must die, though
none were seduced by him - a design upon the crown is treason) and to prevent his
doing further mischief. This is called putting away the evil. There is no way of
removing the guilt but by removing the guilty; if such a criminal be not punished,
those that should punish him make themselves responsible. And thus the mischief
must be put away; the infection must be kept from spreading by cutting off the
gangrened limb, and putting away the mischief-makers. such Dangerous diseases as
these must be taken in time.
K&D, "Israel was to adhere firmly to the Lord its God (cf. Deu_4:4), and to put to
death the prophet who preached apostasy from Jehovah, the Redeemer of Israel out
of the slave-house of Egypt. ָ‫ך‬ ֲ‫יח‬ ִ ַ‫ה‬ ְ‫,ל‬ “to force thee from the way in which Jehovah
hath commanded thee to walk.” The execution of seducers to idolatry is enjoined
upon the people, i.e., the whole community, not upon single individuals, but upon
the authorities who had to maintain and administer justice. “So shalt thou put the
evil away from the midst of thee.” ‫ע‬ ָ‫ר‬ ָ‫ה‬ is neuter, as we may see from Deu_17:7, as
comp. with Deu_13:2. The formula, “so shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of
thee,” which occurs again in Deu_17:7, Deu_17:12; Deu_19:19; Deu_21:21; Deu_
22:21-22, Deu_22:24, and Deu_24:7 (cf. Deu_19:13, and Deu_21:9), belongs to the
hortatory character of Deuteronomy, in accordance with which a reason is given for
all the commandments, and the observance of them is urged upon the congregation
as a holy affair of the heart, which could not be expected in the objective legislation of
the earlier books.
CALVIN, "5.And that prophet. Since the ministers of Satan deceive men by their
plausible exterior, when they vaunt themselves to be the prophets of God, Moses
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49. had already admonished them, that all. teachers were not to be listened to
indifferently, but that the true were to be distinguished from the false, and that,
after judgment had, those should obtain credit who deserved it. He now subjoins
the punishment of such as should creep in under the name of a prophet to draw
away the people into rebellion. For he does not condemn to capital punishment
those who may have spread false doctrine, only on account of some particular or
trifling error, but those who are the authors of apostasy, and so who pluck up
religion by the roots. Observe, again, that the season of this severity would not be
until a positive religion should be established; and, therefore, the grossness of the
impiety is expressly named, “if they should have tried to turn the people away
from the worship of the true God.” Moreover, that all excuse might be obviated,
Moses says that it is sufficiently manifested who God is, and how He is to be
worshipped, both by the wonderful blessing of their redemption, as well as by
the doctrine of the Law. Therefore, in order that God may shew that so heavy a
punishment is justly inflicted upon apostates, He declares the certainty of that
religion which should exist among the Israelites; as much as to say, that no
pardon could be granted to such impious contempt, since God had abundantly
proved the glory of His Godhead by the miracle of their redemption, and had
manifested His will in the Law.
It must then be remembered, that the crime of impiety would not otherwise merit
punishment, unless the religion had not only been received by public consent and
the suffrages of the people, but, being supported also by sure and indisputable
proofs, should place its truth above the reach of doubt. Thus, whilst their
severity is preposterous who defend superstitions with the sword, so also in a
well constituted polity, profane men are by no means to be tolerated, by whom
religion is subverted. (53) Thus they are unable to endure, who desire to be at
liberty to make disturbances with impunity; and therefore they call those
sanguinary who teach that the errors by which religion is undermined and
thence destroyed, should be restrained by public authority. But what will they
gain by openly raving against God? God commands the false prophets to be put
to death, who pluck up the foundations of religion, and are the authors and
leaders of rebellion. Some scoundrel or other gainsays this, and sets himself
against the author of life and death. What insolence is this! (54) As to their denial
that the truth of God stands in need of such support, it is very true; but what is
the meaning of this madness, in imposing a law upon God, that He should not
make use of the obedience of magistrates in this respect? And what avails it to
question about the necessity of this, since so it pleases God? God might, indeed,
do without the assistance of the sword in defending religion; but such is not His
will. And what wonder if God should command magistrates to be the avengers of
His glory, when He neither wills nor suffers that thefts, fornications, and
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50. drunkenness should be exempt from punishment. In minor offenses it shall not
be lawful for the judge to hesitate; and when the worship of God and the whole
of religion is violated, shall so great a crime be fostered by his dissimulation?
Capital punishment shall be decreed against adulterers; but shall the despisers of
God be permitted with impunity to adulterate the doctrines of salvation, and to
draw away wretched souls from the faith? Pardon shall never be extended to
poisoners, by whom the body alone is injured; and shall it be sport to deliver
souls to eternal destruction? Finally, the magistracy, if its own authority be
assailed, shall take severe vengeance upon that contempt; and shall it suffer the
profanation of God’s holy name to be unavenged? What can be more monstrous!
But it is superfluous to contend by argument, when God has once pronounced
what is His will, for we must needs abide by His inviolable decree
But it is questioned whether the law pertains to the kingdom of Christ, which is
spiritual and distinct from all earthly dominion; and there are some men, not
otherwise ill-disposed, to whom it appears that our condition under the Gospel is
different from that of the ancient people under the law; not only because the
kingdom of Christ is not of this world, but because Christ was unwilling that the
beginnings of His kingdom should be aided by the sword. But, when human
judges consecrate their work to the promotion of Christ’s kingdom, I deny that
on that account its nature is changed. For, although it was Christ’s will that His
Gospel should be proclaimed by His disciples in opposition to the power of the
whole world, and He exposed them armed with the Word alone like sheep
amongst wolves, He did not impose on Himself an eternal law that He should
never bring kings under His subjection, nor tame their violence, nor change
them from being cruel persecutors into the patrons and guardians of His
Church. Magistrates at first exercised tyranny against the Church, because the
time had not yet come when they should “kiss the Son” of God, and, laying aside
their violence, should become the nursing fathers of the Church, which they had
assailed according to Isaiah’s prophecy, that undoubtedly refers to the coming of
Christ. (Isaiah 49:6.) Nor was it causelessly that Paul, when he enjoins prayers to
be made for kings and other worldly rulers, added the reason that under them
"we may lead a quiet and peaceable life
in all godliness and honesty.” (1 Timothy 2:2.)
Christ, indeed as He is meek, would also, I confess, have us to be imitators of His
gentleness, but that does not prevent pious magistrates from providing for the
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51. tranquillity and safety of the Church by their defense of godliness; since to
neglect this part of their duty, would be the greatest perfidy and cruelty. And
assuredly nothing can be more base than, when we see wretched souls drawn
away to eternal destruction by reason of the impunity conceded to impious,
wicked, and perverse impostors, to count the salvation of those souls for nothing.
But, if under this pretext the superstitious have dared to shed innocent blood, I
reply that what God has once commanded must not be brought to nought on
account of any abuse or corruption of men. For, if the cause alone abundantly
distinguishes the martyrs of Christ from malefactors, though their punishment
may be identical, so the Papal executioners will not bring it to pass by their
unjust cruelty that the zeal of pious magistrates in punishing false and noxious
teachers should be otherwise than pleasing to God. And this is admirably
expressed in the words of Moses, when he reminds them that judgment must be
passed according to the law of God. I have already said that. this severity must
not be extended to particular errors, but where impiety breaks forth even into
rebellion. When it is added, “to thrust thee out of the way, which the Lord thy
God commanded thee,” we gather from it that none are to be given over to
punishment, but those who shall have been convicted by the plain word of God,
lest men should judge them arbitrarily. Whence it also appears that zeal will err
in hastily drawing the sword, unless a lawful examination shall have been
previously instituted.
PETT, "Deuteronomy 13:5
‘And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death, because he
has spoken rebellion against Yahweh your (of ye) God, who brought you (ye) out
of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you (thee) out of the house of bondage, to
draw you (thee) aside out of the way which Yahweh your (thy) God commanded
you (thee) to walk in. So shall you (thou) put away the evil from the midst of
you.’
But the prophet or dreamer of dreams who seeks to lead them to worship false
gods shall be put to death for urging rebellion against their Overlord. This was
always the sentence on traitors in treaties. The greatness of their offence is
stressed by the reminder of the gratitude that they should have had for their
Overlord. He had brought them out of the land of Egypt (Deuteronomy 1:20;
Deuteronomy 4:20; Deuteronomy 4:37; Deuteronomy 5:6; Deuteronomy 5:15;
Deuteronomy 6:12; Deuteronomy 6:21; Deuteronomy 7:8; Deuteronomy 7:18;
Deuteronomy 8:14; Deuteronomy 9:26; Deuteronomy 16:1; Deuteronomy 20:1;
Deuteronomy 26:8; Deuteronomy 29:25), delivering them by a mighty hand, and
had redeemed them from the house of bondage (Deuteronomy 7:8; Deuteronomy
15:15; Deuteronomy 24:18; see also Deuteronomy 5:6; Deuteronomy 6:12;
Deuteronomy 6:21; Deuteronomy 8:14; Deuteronomy 13:10; Deuteronomy
16:12; Deuteronomy 24:22). How then can they now turn against Him? It can be
51

52. seen how important this motif is in the book. The stress on ‘redemption’
emphasises how He had exercised His power on their behalf. They had much to
be grateful for.
The severity of the punishment reflects the situation. At this new birth of the
nation it was essential that the children of Israel be fully protected, and it was
important that they themselves saw the severity of the offence. There could only
be one penalty. Death. For such teaching led to death.
“So shall you put away the evil from the midst of you.” Compare Deuteronomy
17:7; Deuteronomy 17:12; Deuteronomy 19:19; Deuteronomy 21:21;
Deuteronomy 22:21-22; Deuteronomy 22:24; Deuteronomy 24:7 also see
Deuteronomy 19:13; Deuteronomy 21:9. This was usually, but not always, by
death (see Deuteronomy 19:19). The evils in mind were considered to be so
serious that the death sentence was usually required. Evil was put away by
carrying out Yahweh’s sentence, and Moses wants them to see how important the
putting away of that evil was.
BENSON, "Deuteronomy 13:5. Because he hath spoken — Taught, or persuaded
you. To turn you away from the Lord — To induce you to forsake God and his
worship. This shows that the most certain character of a true prophet is to be
taken from his doctrine, rather than from his miracles. To thrust thee out of the
way — This phrase denotes the great force and power of seducers to corrupt
men’s minds. So shalt thou put the evil away — Thou shalt remove the guilt, by
removing the guilty.
HAWKER, "Here is a line drawn to testify our faithfulness to GOD. To wink at
the daring attempt of anyone that strives to seduce us from our attachment to
JESUS is the greatest of crimes, and is in fact taking part with it. What a
beautiful picture hath the HOLY GHOST given us of the zeal of Phinehas on a
similar occasion, and what a blessed commendation follows it: Numbers 25:7;
Num_25:13. But Reader, when you have looked at the zeal of Phinehas, call to
mind what is said of Him whom Phinehas typified. Isaiah 59:17-18; John 2:17.
6 If your very own brother, or your son or
daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest
friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go
52

53. and worship other gods” (gods that neither you
nor your ancestors have known,
BARNES, "If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or
the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly,
saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy
fathers;
CLARKE, "If thy brother - or thy son - The teacher of idolatry was to be put
to death; and so strict was this order that a man must neither spare nor conceal his
brother, son, daughter, wife, nor friend, because this was the highest offense that
could be committed against God, and the most destructive to society; hence the
severest laws were enacted against it.
GILL, "If thy brother, the son of thy mother,.... A brother by mother's side,
which is generally supposed to be the nearest relation, at least most out of question,
so more liable to be regarded as being beloved:
or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom; most dearly beloved by
him, as indeed each of these relations are by a man, there being none nearer or
dearer to him:
or thy friend, which is as thine own soul; as dear to him as himself, and so
strictly united in friendship, as if one soul dwelt in two bodies; such close friends
were Jonathan and David, 1Sa_18:1. Some Jewish writers think the father is not
mentioned, because of the reverence of him, with which all later dealings with him
obliged to would seem inconsistent; but the reverence of God is to be preferred to the
reverence of parents; and besides, if such near relations that are here mentioned,
than which there are none nearer, are not to be spared if guilty of the sin after
warned against, then not a father, who is in the same transgression:
entice thee secretly; when alone with him, which might be judged the most proper
time to work upon him, there being none to oppose the enticer, or to assist the
enticed; so Satan took the opportunity of Eve being alone when he attacked her with
his temptation, and the same method is taken by his children:
saying, let me go and serve other gods which thou hast not known, thou
nor thy fathers; not even their immediate ancestors, and so the calf was not of
these gods; nor their more remote ancestors, as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who
were no idolaters; nor even Terah, though he was one, yet the gods of the Canaanites
and of the neighbouring nations, which seem to be here meant, at least principally,
were such that he knew not. This circumstance may seem to carry in it an argument
rather why they should not than why they should serve such gods; wherefore the
words of the enticer seem to be only these:
53

54. let us go and serve other gods, and what follows are the words of the Lord,
descriptive of those gods, and so a dissuasive from serving them.
HENRY 6-7, "Further provision is made by this branch of the statute against
receiving the infection of idolatry from those that are near and dear to us.
I. It is the policy of the tempter to send his solicitations by the hand of those whom
we love, whom we least suspect of any ill design upon us, and whom we are desirous
to please and apt to conform ourselves to. The enticement here is supposed to come
from a brother or child that are near by nature, from a wife or friend that are near by
choice, and are to us as our own souls, Deu_13:6. Satan tempted Adam by Eve and
Christ by Peter. We are therefore concerned to stand upon our guard against a bad
proposal when the person that makes it can pretend to an interest in us, that we
many never sin against God in compliment to the best friend we have in the world.
The temptation is supposed to be private: he will entice thee secretly, implying that
idolatry is a work of darkness, which dreads the light and covets to be concealed, and
in which the sinner promises himself, and the tempter promises him, secrecy and
security. Concerning the false gods proposed to be served, 1. The tempter suggests
that the worshipping of these gods was the common practice of the world; and, if
they limited their adorations to an invisible Deity, they were singular, and like
nobody, for these gods were the gods of the people round about them, and indeed of
all the nations of the earth, Deu_13:7. This suggestion draws many away from
religion and godliness, that it is an unfashionable thing; and they make their court to
the world and the flesh because these are the gods of the people that are round about
them. 2. Moses suggests, in opposition to this, that it had not been the practice of
their ancestors; they are gods which thou hast not known, thou nor thy fathers.
Those that are born of godly parents, and have been educated in pious exercises,
when they are enticed to a vain, loose, careless way of living should remember that
those are ways which they have not known, they nor their fathers. And will they thus
degenerate?
JAMISON,"Deu_13:6-18. Without regard to nearness of relation.
If thy brother ... entice thee secretly — This term being applied very loosely
in all Eastern countries (Gen_20:13), other expressions are added to intimate that no
degree of kindred, however intimate, should be allowed to screen an enticer to
idolatry, to conceal his crime, or protect his person. Piety and duty must overcome
affection or compassion, and an accusation must be lodged before a magistrate.
CALVIN, "6If thy brother, the son of thy mother. The punishment which he had
commanded to be inflicted on false teachers, is now extended to each one of the
people. For although it is a lighter offense in a private individual to draw others
with him into error, both because his ignorance is excusable, and the profession
of a teacher does not increase his responsibility, yet a falling away from religion,
from whencesoever it arises, is intolerable to God. Only, those two points, to
which we have already adverted, are to be kept in remembrance, viz., that this
judgment can have no place except where religion is duly constituted; and, also,
that all are not to be put to death indifferently, who may have erred in some
particular, but that this severity is only to be exercised against apostates, who
54

55. pluck up religion by the roots, so that the worship of God is adulterated, or pure
doctrine abolished. Nor indeed does God enjoin that the slipperiness of the
tongue is to be capitally punished, if it shall have inconsiderately let fall
something amiss, but rather (57) the wicked design of altering the true religion,
as the words clearly express the matter. It is worth while remarking with what
particularity God enforces upon us the duty of fostering and upholding religion:
for, because general laws are usually eluded by various exceptions, He expressly
says that neither brother, nor son, nor wife, nor intimate friend is to be spared.
(58) The eye is said to pity, because the very look is of great power in awakening
the affections on both sides; therefore it is not without reason that God requires
(59) such courage as may be moved to pity neither by tears, nor blandishments,
nor the sadness of the spectacle. The phrases, too, are emphatic, “thy brother,
who proceeded from the same womb;” “the wife who sleeps in thy bosom or
embrace;” “the friend whom you love as yourself;” in order that pure zeal, when
it sees God’s sacred name profaned, may not give way to any human affection.
Christ says that no one is worthy to be acknowledged as His disciple, but he who
shall neglect his father, and mother, and children, when necessary. So now God
declares that all our tenderest affections, which are implanted in us by nature,
and in which all the best persons sometimes indulge, are sinful, if they hinder us
from vindicating His glory.
It is pious and praiseworthy to love our wives and children as our own bowels;
nor is there any reason which forbids us from regarding our brother and our
friend with similar love; only let God be preferred to all, for it is too
preposterous to betray His glory for the sake of man. For to plead the love due to
our wives, or anything of the same kind, what is this but to set our affections
against God and His precepts? Wherefore the desire to mitigate that severity to
which He would harden us, betrays an effeminacy which He will not endure.
Now, there are two most just grounds for the heaviness of the punishment; first,
because we are almost all of us slack when we ought to be very zealous in
avenging the insults which God may receive; and, secondly, because more severe
remedies are applied to perilous diseases, so it is right that so noxious, and
altogether deadly pestilence as this should be met with extraordinary means.
And to this refers the expression “secretly. ” For although it might seem cruel to
betray such as have not publicly transgressed, yet, inasmuch as sectaries fly from
the light, and creep in by clandestine and deceitful arts, it is necessary to prevent
them from fraudulently infecting individual houses with their poison, as always
is the case with them. Therefore God would have their insidious endeavors
checked betimes, lest the contagion should spread.
COFFMAN, "Strangely, "father and mother" are not listed here, along with
other close kin, and, from this, Cook supposed that, "This could imply that no
one was obligated to impeach father or mother."[14]
55

56. "The son of thy mother ..." (Deuteronomy 13:6). "These words are probably not
intended to identify the person spoken of here as a half-brother, but for the
purpose of showing the closeness of the relationship."[15] This requirement that
one should not even spare the closest of kin was "also the requirement in ancient
international treaties and suzerainty covenants."[16] Note the piling up of the
terminology in Deuteronomy 13:8, "do not consent, nor hearken, pity not,
neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal ... etc," "This makes the
commandment all the more impressive."[17]
There would appear to be a number of reasons why the form of death in capital
cases was made to be stoning. "This was the only form of capital punishment
recognized in Hebrew law. Perhaps it originated in a desire to avoid the shedding
of blood."[18] Another reason may have been in the requirement that the
condemned person be not touched by another!
WHEDON, "6. If thy brother, etc. — Should the enticement to idolatry come
from the bosom of the family, the head of the household was to see that the law
was administered. The seeming severity of the code is tempered when we
consider the debasing influences of the heathenism of the nations that were in
possession of the land. The great lawgiver guarded zealously the true interests of
his people.
ELLICOTT, "(6) If thy brother.—The substance of this law is that individual
idolaters might be executed in Israel. It justifies Jehu and Jehoiada in destroying
Baal out of Israel and Judah (2 Kings 10:19-27; 2 Kings 11:18). It also accounts
for the covenant made in the time of Asa (2 Chronicles 15:13), that whosoever
would not serve the Lord God of Israel should be put to death whether man or
woman.
The law may seem harsh, but its principle is reproduced in the Gospel: “He that
loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37). “If
any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and
children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my
disciple” (Luke 14:26).
It is impossible to deny or escape the identity of the Lord Jesus with the Jenovah
of the Old Testament He does not always put the execution of His judgments into
human hands, but He is the same for ever.
BENSON, "Deuteronomy 13:6. The son of thy mother — This is added, to
restrain the signification of the word brother, which is often used generally for
one near akin, and to express the nearness of the relation, the mother’s side
being usually the ground of the most fervent affection. Thy daughter — Thy
piety must overcome both thy affection and thy compassion to the weaker sex.
The father and mother are here omitted, because they are sufficiently contained
56

57. in the former examples.
HAWKER, "Verses 6-10
I include these verses within one general observation, to preserve the thread of
the narration unbroken. I beg the Reader to observe with me, the striking
expression made use of in this precept; after, all the tender relations and
charities of life are enumerated, the man of GOD, adds, the friend, which is as a
man's own soul; intimating what our dear LORD taught, that even our own
flesh, the eye, or the right hand; the one must be plucked out and the other cut
off, if either come in competition with our attachment to our covenant GOD in
CHRIST. For who is so near or so dear as he that is a Brother born for
adversity, or the Friend that sticketh closer than a brother? Reader! is JESUS
indeed thus precious to you? If so, no secret or open temptations will be
sufficient to rob you of your happiness, or your GOD of his glory. See those
Scriptures, Proverbs 17:17; Pro_18:24; Matthew 5:29-30; 1 Corinthians 10:13.
BI 6-11, "If thy brother . . . entice thee.
Temptation to idolatry from kindred
I. It is the policy of the tempter to send his solicitations by the hand of those we love,
whom we least suspect of any ill design upon us, and whom we are desirous to please,
and apt to conform ourselves to. Satan tempted Adam by Eve and Christ by Peter. We
are therefore concerned to stand upon our guard against an ill proposal, when the
person that proposeth it can pretend to an interest in us, that we may never sin
against God in compliment to the best friend we have in the world.
2. The temptation is supposed to be private: he will “entice thee secretly”;
implying that idolatry is a work of darkness, which dreads the light and covets to
be concealed; and which the sinner promiseth himself, and the tempter
promiseth him, secrecy and security in.
II. It is our duty to prefer god and religion before the best friends we have in the
world.
1. We must not in compliance to our friends break God’s law (Deu_13:8).
2. We must not in compassion to our friends obstruct the course of God’s justice
(Deu_13:9). Those are certainly our worst enemies that would thrust us from
God, our best friend; and whatever draws us to sin separates between us and
God; it is a design upon our life, and to be resented accordingly. (Matthew
Henry, D. D.)
SIMEON 6-11, "GUILT AND DANGER OF DEPARTING FROM GOD
Deuteronomy 13:6-11. If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy
daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice
thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known,
thou, nor thy fathers; namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you,
nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other
end of the earth; thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither
57

58. shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him; but
thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and
afterwards the hand of all the people, And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he
die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God, which
brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. And all Israel shall
hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you.
THERE is a striking difference between the laws of man and the laws of God: those
which are framed by human legislators, proportion always the sanctions to the
influence which crimes have upon the public welfare: whereas those enacted by our
heavenly Lawgiver, mark with greater severity the evils which more immediately
affect his own honour and glory. If one man robbed or maimed another, his law
required only a four-fold restitution, or the infliction of a punishment precisely
similar to the injury sustained: but if a man, even the dearest relative they had,
should only propose to any of his people to worship another god in preference to
Jehovah, he must instantly be brought before the magistrates, and, on conviction of
the offence, be stoned to death.
It will be proper to consider this ordinance in a two-fold view;
I. As a temporary enactment—
This enactment, or law, appears at first sight to be severe: but we undertake to shew
that it was,
1. Just, as it respected the individual—
[The greatest crimes against any human government are treason, and murder; and,
by the general consent of mankind, the principals who are found guilty of those
crimes are put to death. Now, in the tempting of men to idolatry, both these crimes
were contained: there was treason against the King of kings; and there was murder,
not indeed of the bodies, but of the souls, of men. The person who made the
proposal, did by that very act endeavour to draw men from their allegiance to God,
and to engage them on the side of God’s enemy and rival. And, as far as his
endeavours were attended with success, he eternally destroyed all who complied with
his solicitations. Now compare the crimes, and see whether those committed against
God and the souls of men be not infinitely more heinous than those which reach no
further than to human governments, and the bodily life: and, if they be, the justice of
the punishment annexed to them will admit of no doubt: it will be just, that He
whose throne we would subvert, should inflict upon us the penalty of death; and that
they whom we would ruin for ever, should be made the executioners of that
sentence.]
2. Merciful, as it respected the public—
[The Jews had been nurtured in the midst of an idolatrous nation; and, after their
58

59. settlement in Canaan, they were surrounded with idolaters on every side. Moreover
they were of themselves exceedingly addicted to idolatry. But the consequence of
their departure from God would be, that they would bring his heaviest judgments
upon them, and be reduced to a more calamitous condition than any people under
heaven. But God was graciously pleased to put a barrier in their way, which, it might
be hoped, they should never be able to pass. He not only annexed the penalty of
death to an act of idolatry, but even to a proposal to commit that sin: yea, to prevent
such a proposal from being ever made, he not only authorized, but commanded, the
person to whom it was made, to give immediate information of it to the magistrates,
and to be the first in inflicting the punishment of death. If the person making the
proposal should be ever so dear to him, though it should be his own brother, or son
or daughter, or even the wife of his bosom, or his friend that is as his own soul, he
must make no difference; he must shew no respect of persons whatever: “Thou shalt
not consent unto him, says God, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity
him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him; but thou shalt surely
kill him:” all natural affection must be laid aside, and be swallowed up in a concern
for God’s honour; and the man himself must become the informer, the witness, and
the executioner, even where the delinquent is dearer to him than his own soul. What
child, what wife, what friend, if he had conceived an idolatrous inclination in his
heart, would dare to mention it, when the person to whom he should mention it was
precluded from all exercise of mercy, and was constrained to proceed against him
according to this law? Thus then provision was made to prevent the possibility, as it
should seem, of the nation ever yielding to idolatry, or provoking God to abandon
them according to the threatenings which he had denounced against them. We are
informed in the text that the very execution of this law was designed to produce this
salutary effect [Note: ver. 11.]; and therefore much more must the enactment of it be
an expression of love and mercy to the whole nation.]
This law indeed was only temporary: it was to continue in force only during the
continuance of the Jewish polity: but it is nevertheless most instructive to us,
II. As a lasting admonition—
To the very end of time it will speak loudly to us; it declares to us, in the strongest
terms,
1. The evil of departing from God—
[The annexing of the penalty of death, and of so cruel a death as that of stoning, is of
itself no slight intimation of the evil of idolatry: but the requiring a man to execute
this sentence against the wife of his bosom, or the friend that is as his own soul: the
requiring him to do it even on account of a mere proposal, though the proposal was
never carried into effect; the not suffering him to overlook or conceal the matter, but
constraining him instantly to enforce the law without pity; how was it possible for
God himself to mark the evil of this sin in blacker colours, or to shew his abhorrence
of it in a stronger manner, than by such an enactment as this? The command to
destroy a whole city for idolatry was scarcely a more awful demonstration of his
anger than this [Note: ver. 12–18.].
59

60. But it may be said, “This was idolatry, a sin to which we have no temptation.” It was
idolatry: but permit me to ask, wherein the great evil of idolatry consists? Is it not in
alienating our affections from God, and placing them on some creature? Is it not
justly described by the Apostle as “loving and serving the creature more than the
Creator, who is blessed for evermore?” Is it not in this very view of the subject that
covetousness is called idolatry, and that men are said to make “a god of their belly?”
Is it not in this view that St. John says to all the Christian Church, “Little children,
keep yourselves from idols?” What then does it signify, that we are not bowing down
to stocks and stones, if there be idols enthroned in our hearts? God is equally
provoked to jealousy, whether our idolatry be open and carnal, or secret and
spiritual: and though he does not authorize man to proceed against us, he will take
the matter into his own hand, and inflict upon us the punishment we deserve. It is in
reference to this that St. Paul utters that severe denunciation against all who decline
from their love to Christ; “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be
anathema maran-atha;” that is, His departure from Christ deserves the heaviest
judgments; and though we are not now at liberty to inflict them, God surely and
quickly will.
O that all who have waxed cold in their affections towards God, would lay this to
heart! If God be not seated on the throne of our hearts and sweetly ruling and
reigning there, the creature is: and whether the idol be pleasure, or riches, or honour,
or any thing else, however excellent or however base, we are idolaters; and shall be
made to feel, that “it is an evil and bitter thing to forsake the Lord;” yea, that “it were
better never to have known him, than, after knowing him, to depart from him.”]
2. The danger of being accessory to any one’s departure from him—
[There are a variety of ways in which we may be instrumental in turning others from
God. What if we scoff at religion, and deride the practice of it as folly or enthusiasm;
do we not, in fact, say to those around us, “Come, let us serve other gods?” What if we
exert our influence and authority to deter people from attending where the word is
preached with fidelity and power, or from associating with the despised followers of
Jesus; are we not yet more decidedly guilty of hostility to God? for when we only scoff
at religion, we leave people an alternative; but when we set ourselves to intimidate
men from following after God, we are no longer seducers, but persecutors. But,
supposing we do not take so decided a part against God, yet, if all our fears are
against excess in religion, and none against a defect in it, if all the advice we give is to
shun the cross and avoid the shame of a religious profession, and none at all to
“endure the cross and despise the shame,” whom is it that we serve? Can we with
propriety be called the friends and servants of our God? No: Find us in all the sacred
records one single servant of his that ever shewed such dispositions as these. I forget:
we can find one: we remember Peter’s kind solicitude for his Master, and his
affectionate expression of it too; “Master, spare thyself:” but we remember also the
answer of Jesus to him; “Get thee behind me, Satan; thou art an offence unto me; for
thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.” Let me
then warn friends and relatives of every description how they use their influence;
lest, whilst they think that they are shewing kindness to man, they be found in reality
fighting against God. Let me remind them, that, whether they succeed or not, their
guilt is the same; they have made the proposal, and for that proposal they shall die:
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61. and would to God that the being stoned to death were the worst punishment they
shall endure! but, alas! it were infinitely “better that a millstone were put about their
neck, and that they were cast into the midst of the sea, than that they should offend
one of God’s little ones:” it were better, I say; because they would lose only the bodily
life: but in turning any one from God, they forfeit their own souls, and expose
themselves to everlasting misery in hell. If friends would see what use they should
make of their influence, the prophet will tell them; they should endeavour to draw
one another nearer unto God; and should themselves endeavour to lead the way
[Note: Zechariah 8:21.].]
3. The need we have of firmness and steadfastness in religion—
[No one can tell what temptations he may have to encounter, or from what quarter
they shall spring, or how specious and powerful they may be. Perhaps the children
whom we have fondled with delight, or the wife of our bosom, or the friend that is as
our own soul, may be our tempters to decline from God, or the occasions of our
yielding to temptation. Perhaps the suggestion may be so specious, that it shall
appear to have come from a prophet of the Lord, and to have been confirmed by a
sign from heaven [Note: ver. 1–5; 2 Corinthians 11:13-13.]. But our principles of
religion should be so fixed, as to be incapable of being moved even by an angel from
heaven [Note: Galatians 1:8-9.]; and our practice of it should be so determined, that
no considerations whatsoever should be able to make us swerve for one moment
from the path of duty. The fate of the man of God who listened to the lying prophet,
should teach us this [Note: 1 Kings 13:18-24.]. Our rule is clear, and we should follow
it without turning either to the right hand or the left [Note: ver. 4.].
But it will be asked, How shall I obtain this steadfastness? I answer, Compare the
God whom you serve, with all the gods that are his rivals and competitors. This is the
consideration by which God himself enforces that which might otherwise have
appeared a sanguinary edict: he grounds the severity of his displeasure on the
greatness of the mercies he had bestowed upon them [Note: ver. 10.]. But what were
those mercies in comparison of the blessings he has conferred on you? Think from
what a bondage you are redeemed; think by what means that redemption has been
accomplished for you; think what an inheritance is purchased for you; and then say
whether any thing in this world can have such a claim to your regards as the Lord
Jesus Christ has. Only get your hearts impressed with a sense of his love, and the
vanities of time and sense will be to you no more than the dirt under your feet. Only
commit yourselves to Christ, “and be strong in the grace that is in him,” and you will
find, that “neither angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things
to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate you
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus:” for “he is able to keep you from
falling,” and “will preserve you blameless unto his heavenly kingdom.” Whatever
then your temptations be, or from whatever quarter they may spring, I say to every
one of you, “Hold fast that thou hast, and let no man take thy crown [Note:
Revelation 3:11.].”]
PULPIT, "Deuteronomy 13:6-11
A second case supposed is that of temptation to apostasy proceeding from some near
relative or intimate friend. Not only was this to be resisted, but no consideration of
61

62. affection or bend of friendship was to be allowed to interfere with the stern sentence
which doomed the tempter to death; on the contrary, the person tempted was to be
the first to lay hands on the tempter and put him to death. This was to be done by
stoning, and the person he had tried to seduce was to cast the first stone.
Deuteronomy 13:6
Thy brother, the son of thy mother; thy full brother, allied to thee by the closest
fraternal tie. The wife of thy Bosom; the object of thy tenderest affection, Whom it is
thine to protect and cherish (cf. Deuteronomy 28:54, Deuteronomy 28:56; Micah
7:5). Thy friend, which is as thine own soul; i.e. whom thou lovest as thyself. The
word translated "friend" ( ַ‫ﬠ‬ ֵ‫,ר‬ for ֹ‫ֶה‬‫ﬠ‬ ֵ‫ר‬ ) is from a verb which signifies to delight in, and
conveys primarily the idea not merely of a companion, but of a friend in whom one delights;
and the definition of true friendship is the loving another as one's self (Aristot; 'Eth. Nic.,'
Deuteronomy 9:5). As commonly used, however, the word designates any one with whom
one has any dealing or intercourse; and so our Lord expounds it (Luke 10:29, etc.). Secretly.
If the temptation was in private, and so known only to thyself.
PULPIT, “Deuteronomy 13:6-12
God or our brother.
Terribly stern is the duty here laid on the person enticed to idolatry. The law is adapted to an
age of stern deeds, and to a people living under a stern dispensation. Yet, reflecting on the
nature of the crime, on the constitution of the Jewish state, and on the issues to mankind
which hung on the slender thread of this one nation's fidelity, it is difficult to see how it could
well have been less stern than it is. Its severity was perhaps its mercy. Note, too, that the
criminal could be executed only after formal impeachment, fair trial, and conclusively
established guilt (cf. Deuteronomy 13:14; Deuteronomy 17:2-8; Deuteronomy 19:15-21).
I. GOD ALLOWS NO CLAIM OF NATURAL AFFECTION TO INTERFERE WITH
HIGHER DUTY TO HIMSELF. It is the same stern voice which we hear even in the Gospels
(Matthew 8:21, Matthew 8:22; Matthew 10:37; Luke 14:26). The demands of God on his
people's supreme and undivided allegiance are not now a whit less rigorous than they were of
old.
II. GOD WOULD HAVE US REGARD THOSE WHO DELIBERATELY ATTEMPT TO
SEDUCE US FROM HIM AS OUR WORST FOES. They really are so, whether they think it
or not. No language is strong enough to paint the crime of seeking to seduce a soul from its
allegiance to its God. The guilt of the man who deliberately sets himself to counter-work a
child's affection for its parent, and to produce alienation of heart between them, is trivial in
comparison with it. The crime is that of soul-murder. For in fidelity to God lies the happiness
of life here, and salvation in the world to come. We are not, therefore, to allow any private
affection to blind us to the enormity of this crime. Those whom we cherish as dearest are
only the more guilty if they take advantage of our affection to betray us into deadly sin.
62

63. III. GOD REQUIRES THAT WE DO NOT SPARE THOSE WHO ARE GUILTY OF THIS
CRIME. We are no longer called upon—and we may be thankful for it-to impeach our
seducers, and lead them out to death. Our religion requires that we return good for evil, that
we pray for those who injure us, that we seek their conversion and salvation. But it does not
require of us that we do not abhor their conduct, and severely reprobate and denounce it. We
fail in duty if there is not placed on all attempts at spiritual seduction the immediate brand of
our strongest condemnation.—J.O.
7 gods of the peoples around you, whether near
or far, from one end of the land to the other),
GILL, "Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you,.... As
of the Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, and Phoenicians:
nigh unto thee; as the above were, being on the borders of their land: the Targum
of Jonathan interprets this of the idols of the seven nations, that is, of the land of
Canaan: or
far off from thee; as the Babylonians, Persians, and others:
from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; which
includes all the idols in the world, worshipped by whatsoever nation, and which were
forbidden; and which shows the universality of idolatry in those times, and that that
is an insufficient argument in its favour. Jarchi interprets this of the sun and moon,
and the host of heaven, who go from one end of the world to the other; and this
seems to have been the first and most common idolatry of the Gentile world, and
which were worshipped in the several deities they set up.
K&D, "The second case was when the temptation to idolatry proceeded from the
nearest blood-relations and friends. The clause, “son of thy mother,” is not intended
to describe the brother as a step-brother, but simply to bring out the closeness of the
fraternal relation; like the description of the wife as the wife of thy bosom, who lies in
thy bosom, rests upon thy breast (as in Deu_28:54; Mic_7:5), and of the friend as
“thy friend which is as thine own soul,” i.e., whom thou lovest as much as thy life (cf.
1Sa_18:1, 1Sa_18:3). ‫ר‬ ֶ‫ת‬ ֵ ַ belongs to ‫ית‬ ִ‫ס‬ָ‫:י‬ if the temptation occurred in secret, and
therefore the fact might be hidden from others. The power of love and relationship,
which flesh and blood find it hard to resist, is placed here in contrast with the
supposed higher or divine authority of the seducers. As the persuasion was already
very seductive, from the fact that it proceeded from the nearest blood-relations and
most intimate friends, and was offered in secret, it might become still more so from
the fact that it recommended the worship of a deity that had nothing in common with
the forbidden idols of Canaan, and the worship of which, therefore, might appear of
less consequence, or commend itself by the charm of peculiarity and novelty. To
63

64. prevent this deceptive influence of sin, it is expressly added in Deu_13:8 (7), “of the
gods nigh unto thee or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the
other end of the earth,” i.e., whatever gods there might be upon the whole circuit of
the earth.
CALVIN, "7Namely, of the gods of the people. The sum of the matter is to this
effect, that we should so acquiesce in the known truth, as that our ears may be
closed to all the falsehoods by which it is opposed. Men’s neighborhood to each
other commonly produces, by their intercommunication, a conformity of habits.
Thus errors pass from one to the other; (60) and since we are generally prone to
evil, the worse pervert the better. Since, then, the people of Israel were
everywhere surrounded by idolaters, they might have easily been enticed to
imitate them, unless measures were taken to prevent it. But the expression
“round about” is used, because a pretext for yielding might have been taken
from the fact, that the Israelites differed in religion not from a single nation only,
but from all who surrounded them on every side. For to whatever quarter they
looked, examples presented themselves to their eyes, whereby they were attracted
to a new and strange form of religion. He afterwards amplifies this, by adding,
even if those nations “be far off from thee;” for the Israelites were not divided
from their neighbors only, but severed also from the whole human race. But this
was no slight temptation, that they found no companions in the whole world, nor
any nation, which agreed with them. Besides, distance itself sometimes causes us
to have respect for those who are unknown to us; since the curiosity of men is
volatile, and traverses in its levity sea and land, in order to procure for itself
pestiferous monsters for the sake of their novelty. Meanwhile, God exalts the
faith which is founded on His Word, in comparison with the manners,
institutions, rites, and customs of all nations; for none has made any true
proficiency in religion unless he abominates whatever is opposed to it.
8 do not yield to them or listen to them. Show
them no pity. Do not spare them or shield them.
GILL, "Thou shall not consent unto him,.... To commit the idolatry enticed
unto, or join with him in it:
nor hearken to him; not so much as patiently to hear him, but at once express an
64

65. abhorrence of and indignation at what he recommends:
neither shall thine eye pity him; pitied he might be for his ignorance, stupidity,
and wickedness, and on account of the miserable estate and condition he was in, and
of those dreadful consequences which would follow upon it, if not converted from it;
but no mercy was to be shown him on account of nearness of relation:
neither shall thou spare; to reprove him sharply and to expose him to public
vengeance:
neither shall thou conceal him; neither him nor his sin, but make both public,
acquaint others with it, and endeavour to bring him before the civil magistrate to be
examined, tried, and judged; so far should they be from hiding his offence from
others, or excusing and extenuating it, or from harbouring his person privately when
sought for upon information.
HENRY 8-11, "II. It is our duty to prefer God and religion before the best friends
we have in the world. 1. We must not, in complaisance to our friends, break God's law
(Deu_13:8): “Thou shalt not consent to him. nor go with him to his idolatrous
worship, no, not for company, or curiosity, or to gain a better interest in is
affections.” It is a general rule, If sinners entice thee, consent thou not, Pro_1:10. 2.
We must not, in compassion to our friends, obstruct the course of God's justice. He
that attempts such a thing must not only be looked upon as an enemy, or dangerous
person, whom one should be afraid of, and swear the peace against, but as a criminal
or traitor, whom, in zeal for our sovereign Lord, his crown and dignity, we are bound
to inform against, and cannot conceal without incurring the guilt of a great
misprision (Deu_13:9): Thou shalt surely kill him. By this law the persons enticed
were bound to the seducer, and to give evidence against him before the proper
judges, that he might suffer the penalty of the law, and that without delay, which the
Jews say is here intended in that phrase, as it is in the Hebrew, killing thou shalt kill
him. Neither the prosecution nor the execution must be deferred; and he that was
first in the former must be first in the latter, to show that he stood to his testimony:
“Thy hand shall be first upon him, to mark him out as an anathema, and then the
hands of all the people, to put him away as an accursed thing.” The death he must die
was that which was looked upon among the Jews as the severest of all deaths. He
must be stoned: and his accusation written is that he has sought to thrust thee away,
by a kind of violence, from the Lord they God, Deu_13:10. Those are certainly our
worst enemies that would thrust us from God, our best friend; and whatever draws
us to sin, separates between us and God, is a design upon our life, and to be resented
accordingly, And, lastly, here is the good effect of this necessary execution (Deu_
13:11): All Israel shall hear and fear. They ought to hear and fear; for the
punishment of crimes committed is designed in terrorem - to terrify, and so to
prevent their repetition. And it is to be hoped they will hear and fear, and by the
severity of the punishment, especially when it is at the prosecution of a father, a
brother, or a friend, will be made to conceive a horror of the sin, as exceedingly
sinful, and to be afraid of incurring the like punishment themselves. Smite the
scorner that sins presumptuously, and the simple, that is in danger of sinning
carelessly, will beware.
BENSON, "Deuteronomy 13:8. Neither shall thine eye pity him — The reason of
the thing shows that two circumstances are implied: one is, that the seducer
65

66. should be convicted by two sufficient witnesses before he should be put to death;
the other, that the offender obstinately persisted in the defence of idolatry in
spite of admonition; for who can doubt but a father, for instance, might save the
life of his son, in case he brought him to timely repentance? Neither shalt thou
conceal him — That is, smother his fault, hide or protect his person; but shalt
accuse him to the magistrate, and demand justice upon him.
9 You must certainly put them to death. Your
hand must be the first in putting them to death,
and then the hands of all the people.
GILL, "But thou shalt surely kill him,.... Not privately and secretly, when and
where he entices, nor the enticed himself by his own authority, but after being
examined, judged, and condemned by the civil magistrate; and none might judge a
false prophet but the sanhedrim at Jerusalem, the sanhedrim of seventy one (m); see
Luk_13:33, but the difficulty is how such an one could be convicted, since the affair
was transacted secretly, Deu_13:6 and there were none present to be witnesses, none
but the enticer and the enticed; so that either the enticer must be brought to a
confession of his guilt, or the testimony of the enticed alone must be taken. The
Jewish doctors say (n), that they laid in wait for the enticer, which they never did for
any other person, and the method they took was this; the enticed brought two
persons, and put them behind a hedge, so that they might see the enticer, and hear
his words, and he not see them; and he said to the enticer, say what thou hast said to
me privately; which said, the enticed answered to him, how shall we leave our God
which is in heaven, and go and serve wood and stone? if he returned (from his evil)
hereby, or was silent, he was free; but if he said unto him, so we are obliged, and thus
it is comely for us; they that stood afar off, behind the hedge (or in a dark room),
brought him to the sanhedrim, and stoned him, that is, after examination, trial,
judgment, and condemnation:
thine hand shall be first upon him, to put him to death; he was to throw the
first stone at him, partly to show his indignation against the sin he had enticed him
to, and that it had not at all affected him so as to incline him unto it; and partly to
show that he had bore a true testimony, of which a suspicion might have been
created in the minds of some, had he been backward to the execution of him:
and afterwards the hand of all the people; who then could proceed with more
certainty and satisfaction: this shows that the person enticed had not a right to kill
the enticer, without a judicial process, and the order of the civil magistrate.
66

67. JAMISON,"thou shalt surely kill him — not hastily, or in a private manner,
but after trial and conviction; and his relative, as informer, was to cast the first stone
(see on Deu_17:2; see on Act_7:58). It is manifest that what was done in secret could
not be legally proved by a single informer; and hence Jewish writers say that spies
were set in some private part of the house, to hear the conversation and watch the
conduct of a person suspected of idolatrous tendencies.
CALVIN, "9But thou shalt surely kill him. He would not that every one should
privately execute vengeance without a public trial; but he referred to the
ordinary custom, that the witnesses should throw the first stone at condemned
criminals, as we shall see elsewhere. For it was an admirable provision, that God
would have those who had denounced the crime, to be the executors of its
punishment, in order that they should be more cautious and moderate in giving
their testimony. The reason, which is added at the end, “because he hath sought
to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God, who brought thee out, ” etc., again
exaggerates the crime on the score of its ingratitude; which was detestable in
proportion to the inestimable blessing of their deliverance. It was an act of gross
wickedness to rebel against God after they had known Him; but it was still more
gross to undervalue their Deliverer. Finally, the advantage and fruit of this
severity is subjoined; for, whilst punishment was inflicted on one man’s crime,
all others were inspired with terror; and thus the death of one is a wholesome
discipline for all, in the way of example.
ELLICOTT, "(9) Thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death.—A
law tending to prevent false accusation. Where the witness is obliged to carry out
himself, or to aid in carrying out, the sentence he demands, secret accusation is
impossible; and it is far less easy to pervert the law in order to prosecute a
private quarrel.
BENSON, "Deuteronomy 13:9-11. Thou shalt surely kill him — Not privately, a
permission to do which, under pretence of the party’s being guilty of the crime in
question, would have opened the door to innumerable murders; but by
procuring his death through the sentence of the magistrate. Thy hand shall be
first upon him — As the witness of his crime; for he was to be stoned to death,
and the accuser was to throw the first stone, together with the witnesses,
Deuteronomy 17:7. This law, at first sight, may appear too great a trial to
humanity; but it is indeed no more than requiring a compliance with that plain
principle of religion and morality, to sacrifice all private considerations to the
glory of God and good of mankind. All Israel shall hear and fear — The law,
though severe, yet was just and necessary, and calculated to preserve the body of
the people from the contagion of idolatry.
K&D, "To such persuasion Israel was not to yield, nor were they to spare the
67

68. tempters. The accumulation of synonyms (pity, spare, conceal) serves to make the
passage more emphatic. ‫ה‬ ָ ִⅴ, to cover, i.e., to keep secret, conceal. They were to put
him to death without pity, viz., to stone him (cf. Lev_20:2). That the execution even
in this case was to be carried out by the regular authorities, is evident from the
words, “thy hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and the hand of all
the people afterwards,” which presuppose the judicial procedure prescribed in Deu_
17:7, that the witnesses were to cast the first stones at the person condemned.
10 Stone them to death, because they tried to
turn you away from the Lord your God, who
brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of
slavery.
GILL, "And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die,.... It was not
sufficient to answer the end of the law to cast a few stones at him, but he was to be
stoned to death:
because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God; to
compel by force of argument, or the dint of persuasion, to relinquish the profession
of the true God, faith in him, and the worship of him:
which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;
which aggravated the sin of the enticer, and would have made the sin of the enticed
the more heinous had he fallen into it.
HENRY 10-11, "The death he must die was that which was looked upon among
the Jews as the severest of all deaths. He must be stoned: and his accusation written
is that he has sought to thrust thee away, by a kind of violence, from the Lord they
God, Deu_13:10. Those are certainly our worst enemies that would thrust us from
God, our best friend; and whatever draws us to sin, separates between us and God, is
a design upon our life, and to be resented accordingly, And, lastly, here is the good
effect of this necessary execution (Deu_13:11): All Israel shall hear and fear. They
ought to hear and fear; for the punishment of crimes committed is designed in
terrorem - to terrify, and so to prevent their repetition. And it is to be hoped they will
hear and fear, and by the severity of the punishment, especially when it is at the
prosecution of a father, a brother, or a friend, will be made to conceive a horror of the
sin, as exceedingly sinful, and to be afraid of incurring the like punishment
themselves. Smite the scorner that sins presumptuously, and the simple, that is in
danger of sinning carelessly, will beware.
PARKER, “"Thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die" (Deuteronomy 13:10).—
The mode of capital punishment which constitutes a material element in the character
68

69. of any law, was probably as humane as the circumstances of Moses admitted. It was
probably restricted to lapidation or stoning, which, by skilful management, might
produce instantaneous death. It was an Egyptian custom (Exodus 8:26). The public
effusion of blood by decapitation cannot be proved to have been a Mosaic
punishment, nor even an Egyptian; for in the instance of Pharaoh's chief baker
(Genesis 40:19), "Pharaoh shall lift up thine head from off thee," the marginal
rendering seems preferable—"shall reckon thee and take thine office from thee." He is
said to have been "hanged" (Genesis 41:13); which may possibly mean posthumous
exposure, though no independent evidence appears of this custom in ancient Egypt.
The appearance of decapitation, "slaying by the sword," in later times (2Samuel 4:8;
2Samuel 20:21-22; 2Kings 10:6-8) has no more relation to the Mosaic law than the
decapitation of John the Baptist by Herod (Matthew 14:8-12); or than the hewing to
pieces of Agag before the Lord by Samuel, as a punishment in kind (1Samuel 15:33);
or than the office of the Cherethites, ‫כרחי‬ (2Samuel 8:18; 2Samuel 15:18; 2Samuel
20:7-23), or headsmen, as Gesenius understands by the word, from ‫כרח‬ "to chop off"
or hew down (executioners belonging to the bodyguard of the king); whereas
execution was ordered by Moses, probably adopting an ancient custom, to be begun
first by the witnesses, a regulation which constituted a tremendous appeal to their
moral feelings, and afterwards to be completed by the people (Deuteronomy 13:10;
Deuteronomy 17:7; Joshua 7:25; John 8:7). It was a later innovation that immediate
execution should be done by some personal attendant, by whom the office was
probably considered as an honour (2Samuel 1:15; 2Samuel 4:12). Stoning, therefore,
was probably the only capital punishment ordered by Moses. It is observable that
neither this nor any other punishment was, according to his law, attended with insult
or torture. Nor did his laws admit of those horrible mutilations practised by other
nations. For instance, he prescribed stoning for adulterers (comp. Leviticus 20:10;
Ezekiel 23:25; Ezekiel 16:38-40; John 8:5); but the Chaldeans cut off the noses of
such offenders. Mutilation of such a nature amounts to a perpetual condemnation to
infamy and crime. Moses seems to have understood the true end of punishment, which
is not to gratify the antipathy of society against crime, nor moral vengeance, which
belongs to God alone, but prevention. "All the people shall hear and fear, and do no
more so presumptuously."
11 Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and
no one among you will do such an evil thing
again.
GILL, "And all Israel shall hear, and fear,.... Shall hear of the death the enticer
was put unto, and shall fear to act such a part he did, and be upon their guard against
any such person, and be cautious that they are not drawn into sin by him:
69

70. and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you; either to
entice unto idolatry or commit it; which is a piece of wickedness against the first
table of the law, and a very heinous one, and exceeding offensive and provoking to
God, being so directly against his being, perfections, and glory.
12 If you hear it said about one of the towns the
Lord your God is giving you to live in
BARNES, "City was to keep jealous watch over city, as man over man. The clause
“which the Lord thy God hath given thee to dwell in” significantly reminds them that
the real ownership of their dwellings rested in the Lord (compare Lev_25:23), and
that they, the mere tenants, must not allow His property to become a center of
rebellion against His just authority.
GILL, "If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities,.... A report concerning them,
anyone of them:
which the Lord thy God had given thee to dwell there; which he had not only
given them, but had put them into the possession of, and it was become their
dwelling place, or was inhabited by Israelites; otherwise they were already given unto
them, but did not inherit and inhabit them, and it might be possible that there might
be some city or cities, at least for a time, which, though given them, were not
inhabited by them, but by the Canaanites, and such cities this law did not concern:
saying; as follows.
HENRY 12-13, "Here the case is put of a city revolting from its allegiance to the
God of Israel, and serving other gods.
I. The crime is supposed to be committed, 1. By one of the cities of Israel, that lay
within the jurisdiction of their courts. The church then judged those only that were
within, 1Co_5:12, 1Co_5:13. And, even when they were ordered to preserve their
religion in the first principles of it by fire and sword to propagate it. Those that are
born within the allegiance of a prince, if they take up arms against him, are dealt with
as traitors, but foreign invaders are not so. The city that is here supposed to have
become idolatrous is one that formerly worshipped the true God, but had now
withdrawn to other gods, which intimates how great the crime is, and how sore the
punishment will be, of those that, after they have known the way of righteousness,
turn aside from it, 2Pe_2:21. 2. It is supposed to be committed by the generality of
the inhabitants of the city, for we may conclude that, if a considerable number did
retain their integrity, those only that were guilty were to be destroyed, and the city
was to be spared for the sake of the righteous in it; for will not the Judge of all the
70

71. earth do right? No doubt he will. 3. They are supposed to be drawn to idolatry by
certain men, the children of Belial, men that would endure no yoke (so it signifies),
that neither fear God nor regard man, but shake off all restraints of law and
conscience, and are perfectly lost to all manner of virtue; these are those that say,
“Let us serve other gods,” that will not only allow, but will countenance and
encourage, our immoralities. Belial is put for the devil (2Co_6:15), and the children
of Belial are his children. These withdraw the inhabitants of the city; for a little of this
old leaven, when it is entertained, soon leavens the whole lump.
JAMISON,"Certain men, the children of Belial — lawless, designing
demagogues (Jdg_19:22; 1Sa_1:16; 1Sa_25:25), who abused their influence to
withdraw the inhabitants of the city to idol-worship.
K&D, "This was to be done, and all Israel was to hear it and fear, that no such
wickedness should be performed any more in the congregation. The fear of
punishment, which is given here as the ultimate end of the punishment itself, is not
to be regarded as the principle lying at the foundation of the law, but simply, as
Calvin expresses it, as “the utility and fruit of severity,” one reason for carrying out
the law, which is not to be confounded with the so-called deterrent theory, i.e., the
attempt to deter from crime by the mode of punishing (see my Archäologie, ii. p.
262).
CALVIN, "12.If thou shalt hear say. If impiety and rebellion should more widely
prevail, Moses declares that whole cities, together with their inhabitants, should
rather be destroyed, than that so great a crime should remain unpunished.
Hence we may better infer how unholy is the tenderness of those who would have
no punishment inflicted for the violation of the religion of God. If any sedition
may have arisen in an army or nation, and the contagion may have spread
through the whole multitude, the severity of a just and moderate ruler does not
usually proceed further than to punish the ringleaders; when, therefore, God
commands all without exception to be destroyed, the great atrocity of the crime is
made apparent. Hence, too, we are admonished, that zeal for God’s glory is but
cold among us, unless true religion is held to be of more value than the
preservation of a single city or people. But if so many together are to be dragged
to death in crowds, their impudence is more than detestable, and their pity
cruelty itself, who would take no account of God’s injured majesty, so that one
man may be spared. And since we are created to no other end, and live for no
other cause than that God may be glorified in us, it is better that the whole world
should perish, than that men should enjoy the fruits of the earth in order that
they may contaminate it with their blasphemies. If those who first professed
Christ’s name had been inspired with such zeal as this, true religion would never
have been overwhelmed, and almost extinguished by so many corruptions. But
we must always bear in mind what I have already said, that this severity must
not be resorted to except when the religion is suffering, which is not only
received by public authority and general opinion, but which is proved on solid
71

72. grounds to be true; so that it may clearly appear that we are the avengers of God
against the wicked.
PETT, "Judgment On The City That Rebels (Deuteronomy 13:12-17).
The same was to be true for any city in Israel that turned after idolatry. It must
not be tolerated. But note the extensiveness of the enquiry that should be made
first. This was no place for hasty judgments. ‘Enquire -- search -- ask diligently.’
It must not be done on the basis of a rumour, but only after intensive
investigation. The same principle no doubt applied to the previous examples.
And no gain was to be made by anyone from it. All that was in that city must be
devoted to Yahweh, and destroyed, and the city itself made a ruin never to be
rebuilt because it was tainted with blasphemy. The offence was so great that all
that was connected with it must be destroyed.
The general principle behind these words should be noted, that no judgment
must be passed without a fair hearing. To judge someone summarily and without
fair consideration is to follow the Evil One, and sadly too many Christians, and
even ministers, do it.
Analysis using Moses’ words:
a If you shall hear tell concerning one of your cities, which Yahweh your
God gives you to dwell there, saying, “Certain base fellows (‘worthless people’)
are gone out from the midst of you, and have drawn away the inhabitants of
their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which you have not known”
(Deuteronomy 13:13).
b Then shall you enquire, and make search, and ask diligently, and, behold,
if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in the
midst of you (Deuteronomy 13:14).
c You shall surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the
sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is in it and its cattle, with the edge of the
sword (Deuteronomy 13:15).
c And you shall gather all the spoil of it into the midst of its street, and shall
burn with fire the city, and all its spoil every whit, to Yahweh your God, and it
shall be a heap for ever. It shall not be built again (Deuteronomy 13:16).
b And there shall cleave nothing of the devoted thing to your hand, that
Yahweh may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and show you mercy, and
have compassion on you (Deuteronomy 13:17).
a And multiply you, as He has sworn to your fathers, when you shall listen
to the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep all His commandments which I
72

73. command you this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of Yahweh your God
(Deuteronomy 13:18).
In ‘a’ reference is made to certain unworthy people who live in a city which
Yahweh their God has given His people to dwell in, a great boon for which they
owe Him their allegiance and yet they have turned away from Him (and will thus
be under His anger), and in the parallel is the blessing that will come to those are
not base and Who cleave to Yahweh their God doing what is right in His eyes. In
‘b’ diligent enquiry is to be made into the situation in order to eradicate any evil
or abomination, and in the parallel nothing that is abominable and fitted to
devotion to destruction is to cleave to His righteous people so that the anger of
Yahweh may be turned away and they at least be spared through His
compassion. In ‘c’ the sentence on the wayward city is described and in the
parallel this is expanded on.
Deuteronomy 13:12-14
‘If you shall hear tell concerning one of your cities, which Yahweh your God
gives you to dwell there, saying, “Certain base fellows (‘worthless people’) are
gone out from the midst of you, and have drawn away the inhabitants of their
city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which you have not known, then
shall you enquire, and make search, and ask diligently, and, behold, if it be truth,
and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in the midst of you,’
If news came of the defection of a city, given to them by Yahweh, to other gods,
(it is Yahweh’s city and they are handing it over to the enemy), brought about by
‘worthless people’, (an expression of extreme contempt), then a full official
investigation of the matter must be made. All Israel must be involved (accusing
or taking a city was no simple matter). But they must only carry out the sentence
when they know that the thing is certain. That this was taken seriously comes out
in Judges 19-21, although the sin was of a different kind.
Note the word ‘abomination’ which is regularly used of idolatry. It is that which
cannot be excused under any circumstances. It is totally displeasing to God and
to be avoided at all costs. It is despicable.
But what an important general principle is established here for us. If you ‘hear
tell’ you must not do anything without a thorough investigation. That is one
difference between gossip and truth. Gossip is mischievously passing on
rumours. Truth is something not spoken about until full enquiry has been made.
The amount of harm which would have been prevented if only Christians and
Christian leaders and others had taken this to heart is inestimable.
COFFMAN, "Alexander states that the words here rendered "hear tell"
sometimes have the meaning of "overhearing," as in Genesis 27:5;[19] but
73

74. nothing like that is meant here. It is merely a reference to the common gossip
about a town that reaches to another town. In the event of such an evil report
coming in about some sister city, the report was to be carefully sifted, diligently
researched, and after all doubt of the truth of the report was removed, then, and
not before then, the town was to be devoted, that means, "It was to be placed
under the ban in its most destructive phase."[20] Notice here that no punishment
was to be inflicted until the fullest possible investigation had been completed.
"Many of the principles of British common law can be traced to these Mosaic
enactments."[21]
One of the most significant things in these early books of the Bible is found in
Joshua 22, where is given a historical example of how Israel honored this law in
the instances of an event which, according to the gossip of the day, indicated that
the trans-Jordanian tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh had erected an altar
contrary to the law of God and were, in fact, defecting from the holy religion of
Israel. The other tribes sent a delegation to make inquiry, headed by Phinehas,
who was still living, and the result was so satisfactory in clearing up the false
report that Phinehas even pronounced a benediction upon the builders of the
monument (falsely reported as an unauthorized altar). Joshua 22 contradicts
everything connected with the false allegations of critics trying to date
Deuteronomy in the 9th century B.C. As McGarvey put it:
"Now, whoever wrote this account, and whatever date may be assigned to the
Book of Joshua, if this account is true, all debate about the Mosaic authorship of
Deuteronomy ought to terminate right here."[22]
All such witnesses against the evil theories, however, are shouted out of the Bible
altogether by its enemies, who, without any evidence to sustain them, without the
slightest excuse, and without even the semblance of any reason, declare of all
such passages: "They don't belong ... they are not historical ... they are a gloss ...
they are interpolations, etc. etc." It is far past time that any such criticism should
receive any attention whatever from Christians. They do not derive from
intelligence, or scholarship, or any kind of investigation whatever, but are pure
and simply the children of unbelief!
Some have professed horror at what they call "these bloody laws" in
Deuteronomy, but, as Jamieson said, "These laws were in accordance with the
national constitution of Israel. God was their King, and idolatry was therefore
treason and justly deserved the penalties of rebellion."[23]
Note the word "abomination" in Deuteronomy 13:14. Wright observed that,
"This is the strongest word that the O.T. possesses for that which is impure,
unclean, and lacking in holiness."[24]
"Smite the inhabitants of that city ... (Deuteronomy 13:15)." By adopting the
74

75. paganism of the doomed cities of Canaan, any city of the Israelites would by such
an adoption have made themselves the same kind of an abomination that
pertained to the doomed cities of Canaan, and it would not have been just for
Almighty God to have spared any Israelite city so defiled from the punishment
meted out against the condemned cities of Canaan. "Note too that the Divine
Suzerain, like the common lords in their ancient treaties, imposed strict
regulations upon the disposal of the spoil that resulted from the destruction of
any rebellious city."[25] God's law differed in this respect, that the spoil was in
no sense whatever expected to enrich the persons inflicting the penalty of
destruction. It was to be burnt up, made a part of the holocaust that should bring
the death of the doomed city. This was an important distinction, because it meant
that no monetary rewards would accrue to the people inflicting the punishment.
Such a role would have effectively prevented any hasty destruction on the basis
of improper or insufficient evidence. Any city incurring such a penalty "was to
be made a ruin, never to be rebuilt; and thus was to be treated the same as a
heathen idolatrous city."[26]
It was especially important that no Israelite allow any of the spoil of the doomed
city to "cleave to his hand" (Deuteronomy 13:17). Keil pointed out that, "An
example of how such property placed under the ban, if appropriated by an
Israelite, would bring the wrath of God upon the whole people is seen in the case
of Achan (Joshua 7)."[27] Speaking of how God's law that forbade the taking of
spoil from the doomed cities was designed to restrain the greed of men, Adam
Clarke questioned, "How few religious wars there would have been in the world,
if they had been regulated by the principle: `Thou shalt neither extend thy
territory, nor take any spoils?'"[28]
ELLICOTT, "(12) If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities.—The only case of
this kind is the case of Gibeah. We may fairly assume the abominations done
there to have been connected with idolatry, from the allusions in Hosea 9:9;
Hosea 10:9. But the outrage rather than the idolatry seems to have excited the
indignation of Israel (see Judges 20, 21). It is noticeable that in the remonstrance
with the Benjamites at Gibeah—(Judges 20:13): “Now therefore deliver us the
men, the children of Belial, which are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death,
and put away evil from Israel”—there seems to be an allusion to the language of
this chapter in Deuteronomy 13:5; Deuteronomy 13:11.
HAWKER, "Verses 12-18
The sacred writer rises by a gradation from the sin of individuals to that of a
whole city, and here in this instance, like as in the case of Sodom, GOD is so
jealous of his honor, that rather than his glory shall be tarnished, all shall be
swept away with the besom of destruction. Reader, pause over this solemn
account, call to remembrance your own apostacy, unbelief, denials of GOD and
75

76. the like, and then look up to JESUS, as the only means whereby thou art
preserved to this day, amidst all the idols which you have set up at various times
in the heart. Oh, how precious is it to behold that LAMB of GOD, which hath
taken away the sins of his people. John 1:29.
PULPIT, “Deuteronomy 13:12-18
A city under ban.
The case here supposed is even more appalling than the former one, for it is the
inhabitants of a whole city who, with all that they have, are to be destroyed. Yet,
as it is certain that godly persons, dreading the execution of this sentence, would
leave this city as soon as they found out what was going on—being very possibly
the bearers of the tidings to others—the curse would practically take effect only
on those who were in league with the idolaters. Searching investigation was to
precede the infliction of doom (Deuteronomy 13:14).
I. EVIL-DISPOSED PERSONS CAN DO MUCH HARM. A few
men—"children of Belial"—perhaps, at first, but one or two, succeed in
seducing, and ultimately in destroying, a whole city. Their cancerous influence
speedily infected the mass. Like fire breaking out in a little corner of a building,
it soon involved the whole place in ruin. "One sinner destroyeth, much good"
(Ecclesiastes 9:18). "Evil communications corrupt good manners (1 Corinthians
15:33). Evil is not to be thought lightly of, because at first confined to a few
individuals, and circumscribed in its range of operations. It will spread faster
than good.
II. THE SPIRITUAL CONDITION OF EACH CITY IS OF INTEREST TO
THE WHOLE COMMUNITY. Disease in one part of the social organism will
speedily communicate itself to the other parts.
III. IMMEDIATE ACTION SHOULD BE TAKEN TO REDUCE EVIL IN ITS
CHOSEN SEATS. No longer, indeed, with carnal weapons. We have no warrant
to proceed by fire and sword. A better way is open to us of reducing evil than by
judicial slaughter. The wickedness of a city is doubtless a token of God's wrath
resting upon it. If it repent not, his judgments will fall upon it with all the old
severity. But it does not lie with us to give effect to these judgments; God keeps
76

77. them in his own hand. Our work, meanwhile, is the happier one of seeking the
reduction of evil by spiritual means—by reasoning, by persuasion, by preaching
of the truth, by substituting good influences for bad ones. These weapons are
adequate to the work for which they are given, and ought to be plied to the
utmost. Places differ in spiritual character. There are those of which it may be
said—as of Pergamos, "where Satan's seat is" (Revelation 2:13)—that in them
evil has a kind of stronghold. Against these, by preference, the assaults of God's
servants should be directed. The apostles chose for their attacks the leading
centers of pagan influence. One stronghold gained is worth a dozen outposts,—
J.O.
13 that troublemakers have arisen among you
and have led the people of their town astray,
saying, “Let us go and worship other gods”
(gods you have not known),
BARNES, "In Deu_15:9 and in Nah_1:11 the word “Belial” is rendered in our
translation by the adjective “wicked.” The word means “worthlessness.”
(from Barnes’ Notes)
CLARKE, "Children of Belial - ‫,בליעל‬ from ‫בל‬ bal, not, and ‫יעל‬ yaal, profit; -
Sept. ανδρες παρανοµοι, lawless men; - persons good for nothing to themselves or
others, and capable of nothing but mischief.
GILL, "Certain men, the children of Belial,.... Which signify either persons
without a yoke, who have thrown off the yoke of God's law, and will not submit to it,
or unprofitable ones, as wicked men be, both to God, themselves, and others:
are gone out from among you; not locally, but with respect to their religious
sentiments and practices, having separated themselves from the people of God, and
from the service of the sanctuary, the true worship of God, and a profession of it, and
given into the worship of idols:
and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city; withdrawn them by the
force of persuasion from the worship of the true God, and drawn them into idolatry:
77

78. saying, let us go and serve other gods; unite as one man in the worship of the
gods of the Gentiles:
which ye have not known; this was not said by the children of Belial, but is added
by the Lord by way of explanation, showing what gods they were that these men
advised them to serve, and confirms the observation made on Deu_13:6.
K&D, "The third case is that of a town that had been led away to idolatry. “If thou
shalt hear in one of thy cities.” ‫ת‬ ַ‫ח‬ፍ ְ , not de una, of one, which ‫ע‬ ַ‫מ‬ ָ‫שׁ‬ with ְ never can
mean, and does not mean even in Job_26:14. The thought is not that they would hear
in one city about another, as though one city had the oversight over another; but
there is an inversion in the sentence, “if thou hear, that in one of thy
cities...worthless men have risen up, and led the inhabitants astray to serve strange
gods.” ‫ּר‬‫מ‬‫א‬ ֵ‫ל‬ introduces the substance of what is heard, which follows in Deu_13:14.
‫א‬ ָ‫צ‬ָ‫י‬ merely signifies to rise up, to go forth. ָ‫ך‬ ְ ְ‫ר‬ ִ ִ‫,מ‬ out of the midst of the people.
CALVIN, "13.Certain men, the children of Belial. Moses puts a case, which very
often is wont to occur. For all do not break forth into impiety together at the
same moment, but Satan stirs up some who are like fans to excite others; and by
their instigations the multitude is led to imitate them. Moses calls such as these
“children of Belial;” (61) by which word some think that rebellious (proefractos )
men are pointed out, and expound it “without yoke.” Their opinion, however,
seems to be more correct, who interpret it “men of nothing,” men in whom
nothing good or praiseworthy is found; and literally translate it “those who are
worthless.” (62) This expression is invariably applied to the wicked (sceleratis,
improbis, et nequam ;) and therefore Paul, contrasting Christ with Belial,
designates by it Satan the chief of all the wicked. (2 Corinthians 6:15.) He uses
the words “gone out,” as if they had dared to come forward, and openly to
parade their impiety. But, though the evil may have originated with a few
authors, he does not mean that punishment should stop with them; as if the
instigation of others availed as an excuse for the multitude. And he enjoins
diligent inquiry to be made, for two reasons: viz., lest they should connive at the
iniquity, and be lax, and careless about it, or lest they should be too hasty and
precipitate in their judgment; because, on the one hand, whilst we are never
equitable, nor decide rightly in precipitation and anger, so on the other it betrays
base indifference, and something like disloyalty, to overlook so great a crime.
Thus both activity and moderation are commended, so that the judge may
neither be lax, nor make any decision until the matter shall be carefully inquired
into.
BENSON, "Deuteronomy 13:13. Certain men, children of Belial — So the most
profligate and worthless are called in Scripture. The expression properly
78

79. signifies persons without yoke, lawless, and rebellious, that will suffer no
restraint, that neither fear God nor reverence man. Are gone out from you —
Have separated themselves from you in point of religion, and carry themselves
stubbornly and presumptuously herein.
PULPIT, "Deuteronomy 13:13
Men, the children of Belial; the sons of worthlessness, utterly worthless persons.
Beli ya‛al (a compound of ‫י‬ִ‫ל‬ ְ‫,ב‬ not, and ‫ל‬ָ‫,ﬠ‬ to ascend, to have worth, to profit)
means primarily that which is low, hence worthlessness, naughtiness,
wickedness. In Deuteronomy 15:9, Belial is rendered in the Authorized Version
as an adjective, "wicked," and also in Nehemiah 1:11 . In Psalms 18:4, it is
rendered by "ungodly men." Most commonly it is treated as a proper name. But
in all places the proper meaning of the word might be retained. The Hebrews
described an object, of which any quality was predominantly characteristic, as
the son of that quality. Are gone out from among you; have gone forth from the
midst of you, i.e. have risen up among yourselves. Withdraw. The verb here is
the same as that rendered by "thrust," in Psalms 18:5 and Psalms 18:10. It
conveys the idea of drawing away with some degree of force, not mere easy
seduction, but impulsion by strong persuasion.
14 then you must inquire, probe and investigate
it thoroughly. And if it is true and it has been
proved that this detestable thing has been done
among you,
GILL, "Then shalt thou inquire, make search, and ask diligently,.... That is,
of the witnesses, as the Targum of Jonathan; and this is a case that is only taken into
consideration and judged of by the great sanhedrim, or that of seventy one, at
Jerusalem (o); and the method they took was this, when it fell under their
cognizance: the great sanhedrim send and inquire and search till they know clearly
that the whole city, or the greater part of it, are thrust away, and are turned to
idolatry; after that they send two disciples of the wise men to admonish them and
bring them back; if they return and repent, it is well, but if they continue in their
folly, the sanhedrim order all Israel to go up against them to war, and they besiege
them, and set themselves in battle array against them, until the city be broken up;
and when it is broken up, immediately they set up many courts of judicature, and
79

80. they judge them; and against whomsoever two witnesses come that he served idols,
after they have admonished him they separate him; if all the worshippers be the
fewest, they stone them, and the rest of the city are delivered; if they are found the
greater number, they bring them to the great sanhedrim, and finish their judgment
there, and they slay all those that have served with the sword:
and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain; that such wicked men have
risen and have prevailed upon the inhabitants of the city where they live, to leave the
worship of the true God, and go into idolatry, when there is full proof of this, and it is
past all question that
such abomination is wrought among you; as idolatry is, which is an
abomination to God, and ought to be so to all mankind, and especially to a people
that profess his name.
HENRY, "II. The cause is ordered to be tried with a great deal of care (Deu_
13:14): Thou shalt enquire and make search. They must not proceed upon common
fame, or take the information by hearsay, but must examine the proofs, and not give
judgment against them unless the evidence was clear and the charge fully made out.
God himself, before he destroyed Sodom, is said to have come down to see whether
its crimes were according to the clamour, Gen_18:21. In judicial processes it is
requisite that time, and care, and pains, be taken to find out the truth, and that
search be made without any passion, prejudice, or partiality. The Jewish writers say
that, though particular persons who were idolaters might be judged by the inferior
courts, the defection of a city was to be tried by the great Sanhedrim; and, if it
appeared that they were thrust away to idolatry, two learned men were sent to them
to admonish and reclaim them. If they repented, all would be well; if not, then all
Israel must go up to war against them, to testify their indignation against idolatry
and to stop the spreading of the contagion.
JAMISON,"Then shalt thou inquire — that is, the magistrate, to whom it
officially belonged to make the necessary investigation. In the event of the report
proving true, the most summary proceedings were to be commenced against the
apostate inhabitants. The law in this chapter has been represented as stern and
sanguinary, but it was in accordance with the national constitution of Israel. God
being their King, idolatry was treason, and a city turned to idols put itself into a state,
and incurred the punishment, of rebellion.
BENSON, "Deuteronomy 13:1. Then thou shalt inquire — This is meant of the
magistrate, to whose office this properly belonged, and of whom he continues to
speak in the same manner, thou, Deuteronomy 13:15 and Deuteronomy 13:16.
The Jewish writers say, the defection of a city was to be tried by the great
sanhedrim. If it appeared that they were thrust away to idolatry, they were to
send two learned men to admonish them. If they repented, all was well; if not, all
Israel was to go up and execute this sentence. Though we do not find this law put
in execution, in all the history of the Jewish Church, yet, for neglecting the
execution of it on inferior cities, God himself, by the army of the Chaldeans,
80

81. executed it on Jerusalem, the head city, which was utterly destroyed, and lay in
ruins for seventy years.
PULPIT, "Deuteronomy 13:14, Deuteronomy 13:15
After due inquiry, if it was found that such a thing had really been done in any
of their cities, the extreme penalty was to be inflicted on the city and all its
inhabitants—all were to be destroyed. Smite … with the edge of the sword;
literally, with the mouth of the sword, as biting and devouring like a ravenous
beast—a phrase for utter destruction.
15 you must certainly put to the sword all who
live in that town. You must destroy it
completely,[b] both its people and its livestock.
CLARKE, "Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants - If one city were
permitted to practice idolatry, the evil would soon spread, therefore the contagion
must be destroyed in its birth.
GILL, "Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge
of the sword,.... This could not be the work of a single person, nor of the whole
sanhedrim, but was what the whole nation was to join in, according to the above
note:
destroying it utterly; pulling down the houses, and demolishing its walls and
fortifications, or burning it, as afterwards explained:
and all that is therein; men, women, and children:
and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword; this severity was used to
show the Lord's indignation against the sin of idolatry, and to deter persons from it,
both individuals and bodies of men.
K&D, "Upon this report the people as a whole, of course through their rulers,
were to examine closely into the affair (‫ב‬ ֵ‫יט‬ ֵ‫,ה‬ an adverb, as in Deu_9:21), whether the
word was established as truth, i.e., the thing was founded in truth (cf. Deu_17:4;
Deu_22:20); and if it really were so, they were to smite the inhabitants of that town
with the edge of the sword (cf. Gen_34:26), putting the town and all that was in it
under the ban. “All that is in it” relates to men, cattle, and the material property of
81

82. the town, and not to men alone (Schultz). The clause from “destroying” to “therein” is
a more minute definition of the punishment introduced as a parenthesis; for “the
cattle thereof,” which follows, is also governed by “thou shalt smite.” The ban was to
be executed in all its severity as upon an idolatrous city: man and beast were to be
put to death without reserves; and its booty, i.e., whatever was to be found in it as
booty-all material goods, therefore - were to be heaped together in the market, and
burned along with the city itself. ‫ה‬ָ‫ּו‬‫ה‬‫י‬ ַ‫ל‬ ‫יל‬ ִ‫ל‬ ָⅴ (Eng. Ver. “every whit, for the Lord thy
God”) signifies “as a whole offering for the Lord” (see Lev_6:15-16), i.e., it was to be
sanctified to Him entirely by being destroyed. The town was to continue an eternal
hill (or heap of ruins), never to be built up again.
CALVIN, "15Thou shalt surely smite. Lest the severity of the punishment should
occasion surprise, let us first observe that the error was unpardonable, because
its authors, being educated in the doctrines of the Law, could not be deceived
involuntarily, nor unless they had grown weary of religion, and set their hearts
on the impostures of the devil. On this account God, in the Book of Jeremiah, in
order to inveigh more heavily against the inconstancy of the Jews, refers them to
distant isles and nations: “Passover (He says) and consider,” etc., “Hath a nation
changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their
glory for that which doth not profit. Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, ” etc.
(Jeremiah 2:10.) For justly must their instability be accounted monstrous, that
they should have voluntarily forsaken the fountain of life, and have been carried
away to vanity by their preposterous love of novelty. If any should object that the
little children at least were innocent, I reply that, since all are condemned by the
judgment of God from the least to the greatest, we contend against Him in vain,
even though He should destroy the very infants as yet in their mothers’ womb.
When Sodom and the neighboring cities were swallowed up, we doubt not but
that in the mighty multitude many infants and pregnant women also perished;
and whilst our reason struggles against this, it is better rather to look up
reverently to the Divine tribunal, than to subject it to our own laws. The same
may be said of the destruction of Babylon; for when the Prophet exclaims:
“Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones,” he
assuredly eulogizes the just vengeance of God. (Psalms 137:9.) So also in this
passage, if it does not appear to us agreeable to reason that the whole race of
evil-doers should be exterminated, let us understand that God is defrauded of
His rights, whensoever we measure His infinite greatness, which the angels
themselves admiringly adore, by our own feelings. Although we must recollect
that God would never have suffered any infants to be destroyed, except those
which He had already reprobated and condemned to eternal death. But if we
admit God’s right to deprive of the hope of salvation whomsoever He sees fit,
why should the temporal punishment, which is much lighter, be found fault
with? Rather let us learn from the severity of this Law, how detestable is the
crime of setting up false and spurious modes of worship, since it contaminates
82

83. not only the infants, whose age prevents them from being conscious of it, (63) but
even the cattle and flocks, and the very houses and walls. For he proceeds
immediately afterwards to say,
PETT, "Deuteronomy 13:15-16
‘You shall surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword,
destroying it utterly, and all that is in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword.
And you shall gather all the spoil of it into the midst of its street, and shall burn
with fire the city, and all its spoil every whit, to Yahweh your God, and it shall be
a heap for ever. It shall not be built again.’
But once the thing was proved the sentence must be carried out. The
contamination was so great that the guilty were to be slain, their cattle destroyed,
their goods burned with fire. All had been defiled. It was as though they had the
plague. It was to be given back to Yahweh in the most devastating way. It was to
be handed over to Him. It was to be ‘devoted’. Nothing must be saved from it. It
was for ever to be a heap of testimony to what had been done.
BENSON, "Deuteronomy 13:15. The inhabitants — Namely, all that were guilty,
not the innocent part, such as disowned this apostacy, who doubtless by choice,
at least upon warning, would come out of so wicked a place. Utterly — The very
same punishment which was inflicted upon the cities of the cursed Canaanites, to
whom, having made themselves equal in sin, it was but just God should equal
them in punishment.
16 You are to gather all the plunder of the town
into the middle of the public square and
completely burn the town and all its plunder as
a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God.
That town is to remain a ruin forever, never to
be rebuilt,
BARNES, "Every whit, for the Lord thy God - Some prefer: “as a whole
offering to the Lord thy God.”
83

84. GILL, "And thou shall gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street
thereof,.... All the wealth and substance of the inhabitants, their household goods,
shop goods, merchandise, utensils in trade and business, and everything that can be
named. The Jews say (p), if there is no street, they make one (or a marketplace); if
that is without it, they bring them into the midst of it:
and shall burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit; be it
what it may, or let it be whose property it will; and all this shall be done for the Lord
thy God; as by his appointment and command, and in obedience to him, so for his
honour and glory, and the vindication of his righteous law:
and it shall be an heap for ever, it shall not be built again; but lie a waste as
Jericho, though not an entire waste; for according to the Jewish writers, though it
might not be built as it was before, it might be made into gardens and orchards (q).
HENRY 15-16, "III. If the crime were proved, and the criminals were incorrigible,
the city was to be wholly destroyed. If there were a few righteous men in it, no doubt
they would remove themselves and their families out of such a dangerous place, and
then all the inhabitants, men, women, and children, must be put to the sword (Deu_
13:15), all the spoil of the city, both shop-goods and the furniture of houses, must be
brought into the marketplace and burned, and the city itself must be laid in ashes
and never built again, Deu_13:16. The soldiers are forbidden, upon pain of death, to
convert any of the plunder to their own use, Deu_13:17. It was a devoted thing, and
dangerous to meddle with, as we find in the case of Achan. Now, 1. God enjoins this
severity of show what a jealous God he is in the matters of his worship, and how great
a crime it is to serve other gods. Let men know that God will not give his glory to
another, nor his praise to graven images. 2. He expects that magistrates, having their
honour and power from him, should be concerned for his honour, and use their
power for terror to evil doers, else they bear the sword in vain. 3. The faithful
worshippers of the true God must take all occasions to show their just indignation
against idolatry, much more against atheism, infidelity, and irreligion
JAMISON,"it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again — Its
ruins shall be a permanent monument of the divine justice, and a beacon for the
warning and terror of posterity.
CALVIN, "16.And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it. They are commanded to
burn all the furniture, and whatever is found in the city; and the reason is
subjoined, because it is accursed (anathema) If any city was taken in war, all that
God here commands to be burnt was to be counted as spoil, for the Jews would
pollute themselves by its very touch. It might be indeed that God’s intention was
to obviate covetousness, lest the Jews should mix up their zeal with rapine; but
the principal reason was that which Moses expresses, that the people might be
more accustomed to detest the crime, which they saw to be so cruelly punished
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85. by God. The word ‫,חרם‬ cherem, which the Greeks have translated anathema, (64)
properly means destruction, or abolition; but that which God would have
annihilated, because He cannot bear the sight of it, is called ‫,חרם‬ before Him.
Therefore it is said, “Thou shalt burn it to the Lord thy God;” for the translation
which some give, “for(propter ) the Lord,” is not quite literal. The sum is to this
effect, that if they fear God’s vengeance for themselves, and desire to propitiate
His favor, they must hold in execration the houses and property of those who
have rebelled against the Law. Moreover, it is implied by the words “mercy” and
“compassion,” that if God should deal with absolute justice, the wickedness of
one city would suffice to destroy a whole country. Whence we gather, that a kind
of expiation is demanded to propitiate God, when they are commanded utterly to
destroy the city, and to cast every remnant of it into the fire.
BENSON, "Deuteronomy 13:16-17. For the Lord — For the satisfaction of God’s
justice, the maintenance of his honour and authority, and the pacification of his
offended majesty. It shall not be built — It shall be an eternal monument of
God’s justice and terror to after ages. Multiply thee — So thou shalt have no loss
of thy numbers by cutting off so many people.
PULPIT, "All the spoil thereof every whir, for the Lord thy God; rather, all the
spoil [booty] thereof as a whole offering unto Jehovah thy God; it was to be
wholly devoted to God, and as such to be consumed by fire. "It was a
destruction, and not properly an offering. Hence the author selects neither ‫ָה‬‫ל‬‫ו‬ֹ‫ע‬
nor ‫את‬ ָ‫טּ‬ַ‫,ח‬ but ‫ל‬ִ‫לי‬ָ‫כּ‬, whole, whole offering (Deuteronomy 33:10 ; Le Deuteronomy
6:15 (22)), which word, in the law concerning offering, is no technical
designation of any particular kind of offering. The rendering omnino is
untenable" (Knobel). The city was to be made a ruin, never to be rebuilt; and
thus was to be treated the same as a heathen, idolatrous city might be (cf.
Numbers 21:3).
17 and none of the condemned things[c] are to
be found in your hands. Then the Lord will turn
from his fierce anger, will show you mercy, and
will have compassion on you. He will increase
your numbers, as he promised on oath to your
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86. ancestors—
CLARKE, "And there shall cleave naught of the cursed thing - As God did
not permit them to take the spoils of these idolatrous cities, they could be under no
temptation to make war upon them. It could only be done through a merely religious
motive, in obedience to the command of God, as they could have no profit by the
subversion of such places. How few religious wars would there ever have been in the
world had they been regulated by this principle: “Thou shalt neither extend thy
territory, nor take any spoils!”
GILL, "And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine hand,....
That is, they might not take anything whatever to their own use; for all being devoted
to destruction, was cursed, and brought a curse upon the man that should make it his
own property, as Achan did, when Jericho was destroyed:
that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his anger; stirred up by the
idolatry of the city:
and show thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee; who, seeing wrath
gone forth, might dread the consequences, lest it should spread itself further:
and multiply thee, as he hath sworn to thy fathers; Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob; this is observed to encourage them to execute his orders punctually in the
destruction of the idolatrous city; since God could and would multiply them, as he
had promised their fathers, with an oath, so that they should not be the fewer by such
an instance of his severity.
HENRY 17-18, ". It is here intimated that the best expedient for the turning away
of God's anger from a land is to execute justice upon the wicked of the land (Deu_
13:17), that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his anger, which was ready to
break out against the whole nation, for the wickedness of that one apostate city. It is
promised that, if they would thus root wickedness out of their land, God would
multiply them. They might think it impolitic, and against the interest of their nation,
to ruin a whole city for a crime relating purely to religion, and that they should be
more sparing of the blood of Israelites: “Fear not the” (says Moses), “God will
multiply you the more; the body of your nation will lose nothing by the letting out of
this corrupt blood.” Lastly, Though we do not find this law put in execution in all the
history of the Jewish church (Gibeah was destroyed, not for idolatry, but
immorality), yet for the neglect of the execution of it upon the inferior cities that
served idols God himself, by the army of the Chaldeans, put it in execution upon
Jerusalem, the head city, which, for is apostasy from God, was utterly destroyed and
laid waste, and lay in ruins seventy years. Though idolaters may escape punishment
from men (nor is this law in the letter of it binding now, under the gospel), yet the
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87. Lord our God will not suffer them to escape his righteous judgements. The New
Testament speaks of communion with idolaters as a sin which, above any other,
provokes the Lord to jealousy, and dares him as if we were stronger than he, 1Co_
10:21, 1Co_10:22.
JAMISON,"there shall cleave naught of the cursed thing to thine
hand — No spoil shall be taken from a city thus solemnly devoted to destruction.
Every living creature must be put to the sword - everything belonging to it reduced to
ashes - that nothing but its infamy may remain.
K&D, "To enforce this command still more strongly, it is expressly stated, that of
all that was burned, nothing whatever was to cleave or remain hanging to the hand of
Israel, that the Lord might turn from His wrath and have compassion upon the
nation, i.e., not punish the sin of one town upon the nation as a whole, but have
mercy upon it and multiply it, - make up the diminution consequent upon the
destruction of the inhabitants of that town, and so fulfil the promise given to the
fathers of the multiplication of their seed.
PETT, "Deuteronomy 13:17-18
‘And there shall cleave nothing of the devoted thing to your hand, that Yahweh
may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and show you mercy, and have
compassion on you, and multiply you, as he has sworn to your fathers, when you
shall listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep all his commandments
which I command you this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of Yahweh
your God.’
Not a single thing must be saved from the destruction, and above all no one must
be tempted to take anything for themselves (compare Joshua 7). They must not
let anything cleave to them. All was tainted. It must be devoted to Yahweh in
order to cleanse the land. Then Yahweh would not need to come and exact
justice on a rebellious and tainted land. The picture is very much that of an
Overlord against whom a city has rebelled, but with others taking His side
against His enemies (otherwise they would be seen as sharing their guilt).
Compare what happened to Gibeah for their abomination (Judges 20:42-48).
“That Yahweh may turn from the fierceness of his anger.” This was no minor
misdemeanour, and Yahweh’s anger was directed towards the whole land for
allowing this in their midst. We are to recognise that we are as much guilty for
sin that we allow, as for sin that we commit. Unless we have done what we could
to be rid of it we are equally guilty.
And by their obedience the people will obtain mercy. Note the threefold ‘show
you mercy, have compassion on you, multiply you’, indicating complete
vindication. They will not share in the guilt of the city. And they will find that
their Overlord is as gracious to them as He was before. He will neither punish
the innocent nor clear the guilty. He will continue to fulfil His covenant, having
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88. compassion on them and multiplying them as He swore to their fathers.
“When you shall listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep all his
commandments which I command you this day, to do that which is right in the
eyes of Yahweh your God.” And this would be because they had listened to the
voice of Yahweh their God, and were keeping His commandments, and doing
what was right in His eyes (another triad). The lesson is clear. Response and
obedience will bring blessing, disobedience will bring judgment.
The whole chapter emphasises the words of the second commandment, that
Yahweh is jealous over the purity of His people, and will visit iniquity on the
guilty and have compassion on the thousands Who love Him and keep His
commandments (Deuteronomy 5:9-10; Exodus 20:5-6).
ELLICOTT, "(17) We seem to hear an echo of this verse in the close of the story
of Achan (Joshua 7:26): “And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned
them with fire after they had stoned them with stones, and they raised over him a
great heap of stones unto this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his
anger”
BI, "There shall cleave nought of the cursed thing.
Destroy the cursed thing
Israel must conquer idolatrous cities, and destroy all the spoil, regarding all that had
been polluted by idolatry as an accursed thing to be burned with fire. Now, sin of all
sorts must be treated by Christians in the same manner. We must not allow a single
evil habit to remain. It is now war to the knife with sins of all sorts and sizes, whether
of the body, the mind, or the spirit. We do not look upon this giving up of evil as
deserving mercy, but we regard it as a fruit of the grace of God, which we would on
no account miss. When God causes us to have no mercy on our sins, then He has
great mercy on us. When we are angry with evil, God is no more angry with us. When
we multiply our efforts against iniquity, the Lord multiplies our blessings. (C. H.
Spurgeon.)
18 because you obey the Lord your God by
keeping all his commands that I am giving you
today and doing what is right in his eyes.
GILL, "When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God,.... Not
only in this case, but in all others:
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89. to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day: the
repetition of which he made unto them, and enjoined the observance of them in the
name of the Lord:
to do that which is right in the eyes of the Lord thy God; which they would
do, if they kept the commandments of the Lord, which are holy, just, and good, and
must be right in his sight because commanded by him.
K&D, "Jehovah would do this if Israel hearkened to His voice, to do what was
right in His eyes. In what way the appropriation of property laid under the ban
brought the wrath of God upon the whole congregation, is shown by the example of
Achan (Josh 7).
CALVIN, "18.When thou shalt hearken. Although this sentence depends on
something else, (as may be seen by referring to it,) yet is it general, and extends
to the commendation of the whole Law. Moses teaches first, that the rule of a
holy life must be sought from the mouth of God; and then adds that He must be
obeyed not partially, but universally. He confirms also what I have said
respecting obedience, for men only please God when they listen to His voice.
Moreover, the expression is worth our notice, wherein Moses only assumes for
himself the character of a minister, and claims power for God alone; for he says
that he commands, but expressly explains that the commandments which he sets
before them are God’s.
HAWKER, "Verse 18
REFLECTIONS
MY soul! behold to what temptations thou art exposed, not only from false
prophets and false teachers, but also from false friends and relations. How hath
the GOD of this word blinded the minds of men and brought them over to his
interests! How doth that prince of the power of the air, as he is called by the
apostle, still work in the children of disobedience! And how doth he govern them,
direct them, and influence them, by his secret insinuations, to dishonour GOD
themselves, and prompt others by their counsel and example! Are not evil spirits
and evil men of every description and character his ministers? And what are all
those acts of men which we behold going on in life, in drunken clubs, riotous
pastimes, revels, banquetings, interpreters of dreams, fortune-telling, and the
like, but so many sabbaths of his, and festivals to draw souls aside from the
LORD GOD of their fathers. "My Soul! come not thou into their secret; unto
their assembly, mine honor be not thou united." But dearest LORD! arm me
with thy grace, and the power of thy HOLY SPIRIT, that I may flee from
idolatry, and be found among the number of the faithful, in cleaving to thee, O
LORD, with full purpose of heart.
89