Deuteronomy 13
That prophet, or dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death, because he has spoken rebellion against YAHWEH your God
Moses now instructs the people to not listen to anyone who encourages the people to worship other gods. If there is anyone like that found in Israel, the community should put them to death. They should even burn down cities where idolatry has taken root there.
Bible Passage:
13:1 If there arises in the midst of you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, and ‘let us serve them;’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet, or to that dreamer of dreams. For YAHWEH your God is trying you, to know whether you love YAHWEH your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after YAHWEH your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and you shall serve him, and cleave to him. 5 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death, because he has spoken rebellion against YAHWEH your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to draw you aside out of the way which YAHWEH your God commanded you to walk in. So you shall put away the evil from the midst of you.
6 If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend, that is as close as your own soul, entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, you, nor your fathers; 7 of the gods of the peoples that are round about you, near to you, or far off from you, from the one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth; 8 you shall not consent to him, nor listen to him. Neither shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare, or shall conceal him. 9 But you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. 10 You shall stone him to death with stones, because he has sought to draw you away from YAHWEH your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 11 And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall no more do any such wickedness as this is in the midst of you.
12 If you shall hear concerning one of your cities, which YAHWEH your God gives you to dwell there, saying, 13 ‘Certain worthless fellows have gone out from the midst of you, and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods,”’ which you have not known; 14 then you shall inquire, and search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it is truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is worked in the midst of you, 15 you shall surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is in it and the cattle of it, with the edge of the sword. 16 You shall gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street there, and shall burn the city and all the spoil of it with fire to YAHWEH your God. It shall be a heap forever; it shall not be built again. 17 And none of the devoted thing shall cleave to your hand; that YAHWEH may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and show you mercy, and have compassion upon you, and multiply you, as he has sworn to your fathers, 18 if you shall listen to the voice of YAHWEH your God, to keep all his commandments which I command you this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of YAHWEH your God.
Reflection:
It is clear from this chapter that we no longer look at idolatry with the same sense of seriousness. We can argue about whether it would even be right to maintain this level of seriousness in this age, in the age of salvation which Christ inaugurated. God wants all people, including pagan Gentiles to be saved, so killing everyone who worships another god is probably not the right way forward, but what I said originally is inarguable. Idolatry was something serious in a way that we don’t really even consider today. YAHWEH was telling the people to be prepared to kill their own friends, their own spouse, their own children if they enticed people to worship other gods. They talked about burning down whole cities and never letting them be rebuilt if they were enticing the people to no longer worship YAHWEH. This is a severity we have never known here.
Questions and Answers:
Verse 4: What does it mean to fear God? [Elisha, 8]
The meaning of fearing God is twofold. First, it means exactly what we would think when we hear the word “fear” in English. It means to be afraid of God. There is a healthy fear to be had of YAHWEH. You don’t fear him because he is cruel, or vindictive, or any of the reasons you might fear another human. You fear him because you recognize his position and status as God and Judge. Knowing the power that YAHWEH has to “destroy both body and soul in hell” should cause us to fear him, as Jesus says in Matthew 10.
The second related meaning of fear, which is derivative from the first, is the respect and reverence we have for God. We should revere God and marvel at how amazing and majestic he is. We should show him the proper honor he is due because he is the Creator and Savior and Judge of humanity.
Verse 5: Is there any prophets in the Bible that were put to death under this law? [Monique, 33]
It’s possible that there were false prophets put to death under this law, but I can only speak as to what is recorded in the Scriptures. Scripturally, no one is put to death for being a false prophet under this law about leading people away from YAHWEH. Elijah and the prophets of Baal is the closest we get to this and that is because the people saw the power of YAHWEH so they respond to Elijah’s command to kill the prophets of Baal. But they had been operating with impunity for a long time before Elijah showed up to oppose them.
The reality of the prophet after Moses is different, probably even more so after Elijah and Elisha. You find a sad inversion of what is said here. True prophets in Israel are most often despised, mistreated, and often martyred. Their words are not received, in their lifetime at least, and no one believes that their prophecies are true. This is in contrast to false prophets, who become exalted and revered because they say whatever the king and the people want to hear. As the two kingdoms’ moral character continues to deteriorate, the false prophets have more and more influence, while the true prophets are more and more maligned. The reason I said things change after Elijah and Elisha is primarily because they had miracles of judgment and healing that attested to their prophetic ministry. When the latter prophets typically have just the word of the LORD to either be listened to or rejected, they are consistently rejected.
There is an ancient Greek myth about a prophetess named Cassandra who is blessed by the gods to always utter true prophecies, but cursed because they will never be believed. That story, regardless of its historical veracity, explains what it is like to have great wisdom, perception, or a prophetic gift. That was certainly the reality for the writing prophets of the Old Testament.
Jeremiah is a great case study. He spends his entire life as a prophet, and everyone hates him because he prophesies about the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem. Everyone, including all the false prophets the king has, say there is no way that God would destroy his own temple and that it will never happen. This is God’s city. Jeremiah says that God is through with the evil that happens there and he is going to finally judge it. No one believes Jeremiah, but once Babylon shows up and destroys everything, including the temple, you can’t deny Jeremiah’s word anymore. So when his life is almost over, he is forced by a group of Israelites to escape into Egypt with them. Tradition says he was martyred in Egypt. After all of that, then his word becomes revered by the people, because it was proven true.
This is why Jesus in Matthew 23 says “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling.” Jesus speaks for the Father here saying that everyone he sent to them to correct them or help them or convict them to return to YAHWEH and his ways, the people of Israel murdered. That is the unfortunate lot of the prophet who tries to call people back to covenant.
Recording of the Passage:
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