5 And that prophet, H5030 or that dreamer H2492 of dreams, H2472 shall be put to death; H4191 because he hath spoken H1696 to turn H5627 you away from the LORD H3068 your God, H430 which brought you out H3318 of the land H776 of Egypt, H4714 and redeemed H6299 you out of the house H1004 of bondage, H5650 to thrust H5080 thee out of the way H1870 which the LORD H3068 thy God H430 commanded H6680 thee to walk in. H3212 So shalt thou put H1197 the evil H7451 away H1197 from the midst H7130 of thee.
Follow G1377 peace G1515 with G3326 all G3956 men, and G2532 holiness, G38 without G5565 which G3739 no man G3762 shall see G3700 the Lord: G2962 Looking diligently G1983 lest G3361 any man G5100 fail G5302 of G575 the grace G5485 of God; G2316 lest G3361 any G5100 root G4491 of bitterness G4088 springing G5453 up G507 trouble G1776 you, and G2532 thereby G1223 G5026 many G4183 be defiled; G3392
And G2532 they shall turn away G3303 G654 their ears G189 from G575 the truth, G225 and G1161 shall be turned G1624 unto G1909 fables. G3454 But G1161 watch G3525 thou G4771 in G1722 all things, G3956 endure afflictions, G2553 do G4160 the work G2041 of an evangelist, G2099 make full proof G4135 of thy G4675 ministry. G1248
Thus saith H559 the LORD H3068 of hosts, H6635 the God H430 of Israel, H3478 of Ahab H256 the son H1121 of Kolaiah, H6964 and of Zedekiah H6667 the son H1121 of Maaseiah, H4641 which prophesy H5012 a lie H8267 unto you in my name; H8034 Behold, I will deliver H5414 them into the hand H3027 of Nebuchadrezzar H5019 king H4428 of Babylon; H894 and he shall slay H5221 them before your eyes; H5869 And of them shall be taken up H3947 a curse H7045 by all the captivity H1546 of Judah H3063 which are in Babylon, H894 saying, H559 The LORD H3068 make H7760 thee like Zedekiah H6667 and like Ahab, H256 whom the king H4428 of Babylon H894 roasted H7033 in the fire; H784
Then said H559 the prophet H5030 Jeremiah H3414 unto Hananiah H2608 the prophet, H5030 Hear H8085 now, Hananiah; H2608 The LORD H3068 hath not sent H7971 thee; but thou makest this people H5971 to trust H982 in a lie. H8267 Therefore thus saith H559 the LORD; H3068 Behold, I will cast H7971 thee from off the face H6440 of the earth: H127 this year H8141 thou shalt die, H4191 because thou hast taught H1696 rebellion H5627 against the LORD. H3068 So Hananiah H2608 the prophet H5030 died H4191 the same year H8141 in the seventh H7637 month. H2320
Judgment H4941 also will I lay H7760 to the line, H6957 and righteousness H6666 to the plummet: H4949 and the hail H1259 shall sweep away H3261 the refuge H4268 of lies, H3577 and the waters H4325 shall overflow H7857 the hiding place. H5643 And your covenant H1285 with death H4194 shall be disannulled, H3722 and your agreement H2380 with hell H7585 shall not stand; H6965 when the overflowing H7857 scourge H7752 shall pass through, H5674 then ye shall be trodden down H4823 by it.
Therefore the LORD H3068 will cut off H3772 from Israel H3478 head H7218 and tail, H2180 branch H3712 and rush, H100 in one H259 day. H3117 The ancient H2205 and honourable, H6440 H5375 he H1931 is the head; H7218 and the prophet H5030 that teacheth H3384 lies, H8267 he is the tail. H2180
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Deuteronomy 13
Commentary on Deuteronomy 13 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
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 חלום חלם , “ a dreamer of dreams ,” along with the prophet, answers the two media of divine revelation, the vision and the dream, by which, according to Numbers 12:6, God made known His will. With regard to the signs and wonders ( mopheth , see at Exodus 4:21) with which such a prophet might seek to accredit his higher mission, it is taken for granted that they come to pass ( בּוא ); 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 σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα ψεύδους (“lying sings and wonders,” 2 Thessalonians 2:9); i.e., not merely seeming miracles, but miracles wrought in the power of the wicked one, Satan, the possibility and reality of which even Christ attests (Matthew 24:24). - The word לאמר , saying , is dependent upon the principal verb of the sentence: “if a prophet rise up...saying, We will go after other gods.”
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. ( נסּה as in Genesis 22:1.) אהבים הישׁכם , 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 they rained signs and wonders; not even an angel from heaven, as Paul says in Galatians 1:8.” The command to hearken to the prophets whom the Lord would send at a future time (Deuteronomy 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 (Deuteronomy 18:21-22), so that even there the signs and wonders of the prophets are not made the criteria of their divine mission.
Israel was to adhere firmly to the Lord its God (cf. Deuteronomy 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. להדּיחך , “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 .” הרע is neuter, as we may see from Deuteronomy 17:7, as comp. with Deuteronomy 13:2. The formula, “so shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee,” which occurs again in Deuteronomy 17:7, Deuteronomy 17:12; Deuteronomy 19:19; Deuteronomy 21:21; Deuteronomy 22:21-22, Deuteronomy 22:24, and Deuteronomy 24:7 (cf. Deuteronomy 19:13, and Deuteronomy 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.
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 Deuteronomy 28:54; Micah 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. 1 Samuel 18:1, 1 Samuel 18:3). בּסּתר belongs to יסית : 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 prevent this deceptive influence of sin, it is expressly added in Deuteronomy 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.
To such persuasion Israel was not to yield, nor were they to spare the tempters. The accumulation of synonyms (pity, spare, conceal) serves to make the passage more emphatic. כּסּה , to cover, i.e., to keep secret, conceal. They were to put him to death without pity, viz., to stone him (cf. Leviticus 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 Deuteronomy 17:7, that the witnesses were to cast the first stones at the person condemned.
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 Archהologie, ii. p. 262).
The third case is that of a town that had been led away to idolatry. “ If thou shalt hear in one of thy cities .” בּאחת , not de una , of one, which שׁמע with בּ 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 .” לאמר introduces the substance of what is heard, which follows in Deuteronomy 13:14. יצא merely signifies to rise up, to go forth. מקּרבּך , out of the midst of the people.
Upon this report the people as a whole, of course through their rulers, were to examine closely into the affair ( היטב , an adverb, as in Deuteronomy 9:21), whether the word was established as truth, i.e., the thing was founded in truth (cf. Deuteronomy 17:4; Deuteronomy 22:20); and if it really were so, they were to smite the inhabitants of that town with the edge of the sword (cf. Genesis 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 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. ליהוה כּליל ( Eng. Ver . “every whit, for the Lord thy God”) signifies “ as a whole offering for the Lord ” (see Leviticus 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.
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.
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).