Deuteronomy 13:1-18
1 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,
2 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;
3 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.
4 Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.
5 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turna you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.
6 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;
7 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;
8 Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:
9 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.
10 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.b
11 And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you.
12 If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the LORD thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying,
13 Certain men, the childrenc of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known;
14 Then shalt thou enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you;
15 Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword.
16 And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the LORD thy God: and it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again.
17 And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine hand: that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers;
18 When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the LORD thy God.
Deuteronomy 13:6. If the son of thy mother entice thee. Brother and brethren being often vague words, in this case of spiritual wickedness, the culprit must be identified. Seduction to idolatry was a sin of total ruin.
Deuteronomy 13:7. One end of the earth, should be translated, one end of the land.
Deuteronomy 13:13. Children of Belial. Benii Belijahal, most wicked men, who know not the Lord. Νους παρανομων, children of the transgressors of the law; and elsewhere, “children of the devil.”
Deuteronomy 13:16. Burn with fire the city. Oh Rome! Oh Rome! Here is thy sentence also, while worshipping a wafer god. “The kings shall burn thy flesh with fire.” Revelation 17:16. Let the protestant also beware of the latent idols in his heart.
REFLECTIONS.
Having in the preseding chapter prohibited every altar, except the one consecrated by the holy fire, Moses proceeds now to pass sentence of death on any man who should dare to seduce their friends or their country to idolatry. And surely he deserved to die, who should induce Israel to forfeit their covenant, and incur the most signal vengeance of heaven.
The first and most dangerous character in the church of God is the false and fanatical prophet. Israel having received a new edition of the patriarchal or old religion from heaven, would hardly be induced to follow another without some pretended revelation. This character, despising reason, for visions from heaven and superior illumination, whom no reason or argument could reclaim, was to be tried at the bar of reason, and his own predictions admitted in evidence against him; a most impartial mode of trial. Of this test the true prophets were not afraid; for they never assumed that high office till compelled by a divine impetus. In the present age, the true religion has not less cause of fear from visionary prophets than in the age of Moses. If we cautiously review the conduct and consequences of the German, the French, and British prophets, we shall cordially subscribe to what is here asserted. Yet we must not limit the Most High, or diminish the riches of spiritual gifts at any time shed down on holy men. None can deny but the Holy Spirit, or our guardian angel may, on many occasions, suggest a thought, or inspire a dream for a man's safety; yet we may safely affirm that our prophets, so called, are more or less afflicted with religious melancholy. Pride prompts them to pry into futurity; and a heated imagination takes its own reveries for converse with angels, and visions from on high. Yea, Satan himself, taking advantage of their affliction, is not wanting to exalt their fame, and delude the weak and wondering crowd. And what are the consequences? When all their predictions prove untrue, the affrighted populace become indignant, the infidels triumph, and real faith in God's word is derided as credulity. But what is most distressing is, a multitude of singular people in every age, who instead of seeking purity of heart and righteousness of life, suffer themselves to be led away with empty visions and lying wonders. And as arguments have no effect in reclaiming the infatuated, all the world being either blind or accursed but themselves, let us neither hear them speak, nor read their books.
Sentence is next denounced against the near kinsman or bosom friend, who should attempt to seduce an Israelite from his God. Brother must not conceal the sin of brother, nor must any treason against God and his covenant be concealed in Israel. The crime must be immediately communicated to the magistrate. God is nearer to us than father or mother, brother or sister. Whoever tempts us to wickedness, attempts to murder our soul by alienating it from God. Let us expose the designs of that man to our friends, that by mutual counsel and comfort we may reject the temptation with indignation.
The city also which should suffer itself to be seduced to idolatry by the lawless sons of Belial was to be accursed, and treated as Jericho. But before the armed tribes inflicted the tremendous vengeance, the rabbins say that two elders were sent to expostulate with them, and draw them if possible to repentance. Is our country crowded with the sons of Belial, who blaspheme the name of God, who despise marriage, and indulge in every crime? Are we in danger like Israel, in these sad cases, of forfeiting the covenant of God's protecting mercy by supineness towards the delinquents because of their number, or of becoming partakers of their sin by a base connivance? Then without delay, those alehouses should be regulated, and the haunts of infamy made desolate as houses accursed of God and man. Then would our country have confidence towards heaven, and claim all the promises of divine protection.