Deuteronomy 13:6

The son of thy mother: this is added to restrain the signification of the word brother, which is oft used generally for one near akin, and to express the nearness of the relation, the mother's side being the surest, and usually the ground of the truest and most fervent affection. See Genesis 20:12. Or thy daughter; thy piety must overcome both thy affection to thy nearest relation, and thy compassion to the weaker sex. The wife of thy bosom; either,

1. That is near to thy heart, that hath thy dearest love. Or rather, 2. That lieth in thy bosom, as it is expressed, Micah 7:5. Compare Genesis 16:5 Proverbs 5:20 Deuteronomy 28:54. So we read of the husband of her bosom, Deuteronomy 28:56. As thine own soul; as dear to thee as thyself. The father and mother are here omitted, not, as some fancy, because children might not in this nor in any case accuse their parents, for certainly they owe more reverence and duty to God, who is injured in this case, than to their parents, and Levi is commended for neglecting his father and mother in this case; but because they are sufficiently contained in the former examples; for since men's love doth usually descend more strongly than it ascends, and thee relation of a with is and ought to be nearer and dearer than of a parent, that favour which is denied to wives and children cannot be thought fit to be allowed to parents. Entice thee, though it be without success, because the very attempt of such all abominable crime deserved death, as it is judged in case of treason. Other gods; unknown and obscure and new gods; which greatly aggravates the crime, to forsake a God whom thou and thy fathers have long known, and had great and good experience of, for such upstarts.