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Deuteronomy Chapter
Thirteen
Deuteronomy 13
Chapter Contents
Enticers to idolatry to be put to death. (1-5) Relations
who entice to idolatry not to be spared. (6-11) Idolatrous cities not to be
spared. (12-18)
Commentary on Deuteronomy 13:1-5
(Read Deuteronomy 13:1-5)
Moses had cautioned against the peril that might arise
from the Canaanites. Here he cautions against the rise of idolatry among
themselves. It is needful for us to be well acquainted with the truths and
precepts of the Bible; for we may expect to be proved by temptations of evil under
the appearance of good, of error in the guise of truth; nor can any thing
rightly oppose such temptations, but the plain, express testimony of God's word
to the contrary. And it would be a proof of sincere affection for God, that,
notwithstanding specious pretences, they should not be wrought upon the forsake
God, and follow other gods to serve them.
Commentary on Deuteronomy 13:6-11
(Read Deuteronomy 13:6-11)
It is the policy of Satan to try to lead us to evil by
those whom we love, whom we least suspect of any ill design, and whom we are
desirous to please, and apt to conform to. The enticement here is supposed to
come from a brother or child, who are near by nature; from a wife or friend,
who are near by choice, and are to us as our souls. But it is our duty to
prefer God and religion, before the nearest and dearest friends we have in the
world. We must not, to please our friends, break God's law. Thou shalt not
consent to him, nor go with him, not for company, or curiosity, not to gain his
affections. It is a general rule, If sinners entice thee, consent thou not, Proverbs 1:10. And we must not hinder the course
of God's justice.
Commentary on Deuteronomy 13:12-18
(Read Deuteronomy 13:12-18)
Here is the case of a city revolting from the God of
Israel, and serving other gods. The crime is supposed to be committed by one of
the cities of Israel. Even when they were ordered to preserve their religion by
force, yet they were not allowed to bring others to it by fire and sword.
Spiritual judgments under the Christian dispensation are more terrible than the
execution of criminals; we have not less cause than the Israelites had, to fear
the Divine wrath. Let us then fear the spiritual idolatry of covetousness, and
the love of worldly pleasure; and be careful not to countenance them in our
families, by our example or by the education of our children. May the Lord
write his law and truth in our hearts, there set up his throne, and shed abroad
his love!
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Deuteronomy》
Deuteronomy 13
Verse 1
[1] If
there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign
or a wonder,
A dreamer of dreams —
One that pretends God hath revealed himself to him by visions or dreams.
Giveth a sign or wonder — That is, shall foretell some strange and wonderful thing.
Verse 3
[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.
Thou shalt not hearken to that prophet — Not receive his doctrine, though the sign come to pass. For although
when such a sign or wonder foretold did not follow or come to pass, it was a
sign of a false prophet, yet when it did come to pass, it was no sufficient
sign of a true one, especially, in such a case. There are many things, which
may be wrought by evil spirits, God so permitting it for wise and just reasons,
not only for the trial of the good, but also for the punishment of ungodly men.
Proveth you —
That is, trieth your faith and love and obedience.
To know —
Namely, judicially, or in a publick manner, so as both you and others may know
and see it, that so the justice of his judgments upon you may be more evident
and glorious.
Verse 5
[5] And
that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath
spoken to turn 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.
To thrust —
This phrase notes 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.
Verse 6
[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;
The son of thy mother — This is added, to restrain the signification of the word brother, which
is often used generally for one near a-kin, 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 in the former examples.
Verse 8
[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:
Conceal him —
That is, smother his fault, hide or protect his person, but shalt accuse him to
the magistrate, and demand justice upon him.
Verse 9
[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.
Thou shalt kill him —
Not privately, which pretence would have opened the door to innumerable
murders, but by procuring his death by the sentence of the magistrate. Thou
shalt cast the first stone at him, as the witness was to do.
Verse 13
[13]
Certain men, the children 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;
Children of Belial — It
signifies properly persons without yoke, vile and wretched miscreants, lawless
and rebellious, that will suffer no restraint, that neither fear God, nor
reverence man.
From among you —
That is, from your church and religion. It notes a separation from them, not in
place (as appears by their partnership with their fellow citizens both in the
sin and punishment) but in heart, doctrine and worship.
Verse 14
[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;
Enquire —
This is, meant of the magistrate, to whose office this properly belongs, and of
whom he continues to speak in the same manner, thou, Deuteronomy 13:15,16. The Jewish writers say,
the defection of a city is to be tried by the great sanhedrim. If it appear,
that they are thrust away to idolatry, they send two learned men, to admonish
them. If they repent, all is well: is not, all Israel must go up and execute
this sentence. Tho' 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, executed it on
Jerusalem, the head city, which was utterly destroyed, and lay in ruins for
seventy years.
Verse 15
[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.
The inhabitants —
Namely, all that are 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 is but just God
should equal them in punishment.
Verse 16
[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.
For the Lord —
For the satisfaction of God's justice, the maintainance 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.
Verse 17
[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;
Multiply thee — So
thou shalt have no loss of thy numbers by cutting off so many people.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Deuteronomy》
13 Chapter 13
Verses 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” (Deuteronomy 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 (Ephesians 1:4).
2. Here is adoption. “Ye are the children of the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 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” (Deuteronomy 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” (Deuteronomy 14:1).
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.
Verse 4
Ye shall walk after the Lord your God.
With, before, after
(with Genesis 5:22; Genesis 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 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 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.)
Verses 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 (Deuteronomy 13:8).
2. We must not in compassion to our friends obstruct the course of
God’s justice (Deuteronomy 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.)
Verse 17
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.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》