5 And that prophet or that dreamer of dreams is to be put to death; for his words were said with the purpose of turning you away from the Lord your God, who took you out of the land of Egypt and made you free from the prison-house; and of forcing you out of the way in which the Lord your God has given you orders to go. So you are to put away the evil from among you.
6 If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife of your heart, or the friend who is as dear to you as your life, working on you secretly says to you, Let us go and give worship to other gods, strange to you and to your fathers;
7 Gods of the peoples round about you, near or far, from one end of the earth to the other;
8 Do not be guided by him or give attention to him; have no pity on him or mercy, and give him no cover;
9 But put him to death without question; let your hand be the first stretched out against him to put him to death, and then the hands of all the people.
10 Let him be stoned with stones till he is dead; because it was his purpose to make you false to the Lord your God, who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the prison-house.
11 And all Israel, hearing of it, will be full of fear, and no one will again do such evil as this among you.
12 And if word comes to you, in one of the towns which the Lord your God is giving you for your resting-place,
13 That good-for-nothing persons have gone out from among you, turning the people of their town from the right way and saying, Let us go and give worship to other gods, of whom you have no knowledge;
14 Then let a full search be made, and let questions be put with care; and if it is true and certain that such a disgusting thing has been done among you;
15 Then take up arms against the people of that town and give it up to the curse, with all its cattle and everything in it.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Deuteronomy 13
Commentary on Deuteronomy 13 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 13
Moses is still upon that necessary subject concerning the peril of idolatry. In the close of the foregoing chapter he had cautioned them against the peril that might arise from their predecessors the Canaanites. In this chapter he cautions them against the rise of idolatry from among themselves; they must take heed lest any should draw them to idolatry,
Deu 13:1-5
Here is,
Deu 13:6-11
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.
Deu 13:12-18
Here the case is put of a city revolting from its allegiance to the God of Israel, and serving other gods.
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 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, 1 Co. 10:21, 22.