In the last chapter (ch. 12), we began a section of Devarim that
consists of “statutes and decrees” (Heb. Chukim
v’Mishpatim), which regulate our relationship with our neighbor.
In this chapter, we will see a very serious topic: the danger of bad
influences which drive us to idolatry. We had already seen the forbiddance of
having other idols (Deut. 5:7-8; 7:4; 8:19-20), but now it says what should be
done with someone who wants to drive others to fall into such a sin…
The warnings relate to three groups:
1. Prophets
2. Family members
3. Cities
1. First warning: Concerning people
with a prophetic gift.
(Deut. 13:1-3) If a prophet or
a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, (2)
and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘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 that dreamer of dreams.
For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love
the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Many people get too impressed by the prophets. It
certainly is an amazing gift, but prophets are still human beings and they can
be wrong. Even when a person is a real prophet, we must not get carried away by
“anything” he or she says. On the contrary, we must discern what is being
prophesied, always testing it and putting it under the light of the Scriptures.
If we must obey someone, it is God and not the prophet.
(Deut. 13:4) You shall walk
after the LORD your God and fear him and keep his commandments and
obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him.
Encouraging others into idolatry has some serious
consequences…
(Deut. 13:5) But that
prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught
rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land
of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the
way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall
purge the evil from your midst.
Idolatry is taken very seriously in the Bible,
since its results imply turning the people and getting them away from God. That
is why the punishment for this sin is so harsh.
The warning is not only against the prophetic
leaders, but also against the people closest to us, who have our attention at
all times…
2. Second
warning: Against the close family members who want to make us stumble.
(Deut. 13:6-7) If your
brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife you
embrace or your friend who is as your own soul entices you secretly,
saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers
have known, (7) some of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether
near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other…
Note that this invitation to idolatry is done
“secretly”, in the context of the intimacy of a home. No one else would know
about it, but God would.
What must our reaction be to such a proposal by a
close family member?
(Deut. 13:8) you shall not
yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare
him, nor shall you conceal him.
But it is not enough to “ignore him”. The Bible
says that this person must be eliminated from among the people because of the
threat it poses to the community.
(Deut. 13:9-11) But
you shall kill him. Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death,
and afterward the hand of all the people. (10) You shall stone him to
death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from
the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of
the house of slavery. (11) And all Israel shall hear and fear and never
again do any such wickedness as this among you.
It sounds too drastic, but that is because the
threat is very serious. Idolatry is a threat that leads to destruction, so it
must be eliminated from the root, in such a way as cancer would be eliminated
from a body. Cancer cannot remain in a body because it runs the real risk of
having this sickness extending to the healthy organs. Just like cancer should
be eradicated, so idolatry should be removed from among the people of God, as
should the person who provokes others into this sin.
Previously, we saw that God forbade the Israelites
from getting together with the idolatrous people of Canaan. He forbade them
from making any alliances with them, including matrimony, not because the
Israelites were “better people”, but because there was a danger that the
Israelites could fall into idolatry because of their association with these
pagan nations (Deut. 7:1-6). If the Israelites behaved like the idolatrous
Canaanites, they would have the same ending…
(Deut. 8:19) And if you
forget the LORD your God and go after other gods and serve them and
worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish.
We must understand that God does not desire for
anyone’s death…
(Ezekiel 18:32) For
I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn,
and live.
In the end, the decision is for each one to make
(Deut. 30:15-20). If others choose death, that is their problem; but we must
choose life, and this includes keeping the community clean from any idolatry.
In this chapter (Devarim 13), the Lord invites the Israelites to join His plan
of keeping Israel pure.
3. Third
warning: Concerning entire cities which have fallen into idolatry…
(Deut. 13:12-13) If
you hear in one of your cities, which the LORD your God is giving you
to dwell there, (13) that certain worthless fellows have gone out among
you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let us go and
serve other gods,’ which you have not known…
The text refers to some individuals whom are
described as “worthless fellows”. In Hebrew that is: Bnei Belial, which literally means “sons of Belial”. Belial is traduced as someone who is
evil, “good for nothing”. The Septuagint translates it as “men without law”.
The Bible defines it as: men who don’t really know God (1 Samuel 2:12).
Paul makes a reference to the concept of Belial in
his letter to the Corinthians:
(2 Corinthians 6:14-18) Do
not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness
with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? (15) What accord
has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an
unbeliever? (16) What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are
the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them
and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (17)
Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord,
and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, (18) and I will be a
father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord
Almighty.”
Here Paul talks about the principle of being
separate from the “sons of Belial”, those who have rejected God and do not want
to submit to Him. We have to separate ourselves from them.
But in the Promised Land, God asks for a higher
standard, which is not only in a spiritual sense, but also in a literal sense. If
there are “worthless men” in a city, and they are inciting the people to serve
other gods, then God instructs to do the following:
(Deut. 13:14-15) …then
you shall inquire and make search and ask diligently. And behold, if it be true
and certain that such an abomination has been done among you, (15) you
shall surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, devoting it to destruction, all
who are in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword.
This commandment sounds too drastic, but seeing it
against the light of the Bible, it is completely necessary. If an entire city
did not eliminate the idolaters among them, it is because they were hiding
them, or because they themselves were doing the same thing. When idolatry is
able to propagate in a city, it is because that spiritual cancer has already
contaminated the whole community. Therefore, God ordains that all evil be
eliminated. It is necessary to highlight that in order to reach this
conclusion, first there has to be an exhaustive investigation and it must have
gone through all the legal instances. The decree to kill someone has to come
only from the courts of justice, never from an individual or from “popular demand”.
YOU SHALL
KEEP NOTHING
The punishment for idolatry in a city does not imply
only the death of its inhabitants, but also the destruction of everything.
(Deut. 13:16) You shall
gather all its spoil into the midst of its open square and burn the city and
all its spoil with fire, as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your
God. It shall be a heap forever. It shall not be built again.
The Israelites were not supposed to keep ANYTHING
from the idolatrous city, to avoid being contaminated.
(Deut. 13:17-18) None
of the devoted things shall stick to your hand, that the LORD may
turn from the fierceness of his anger and show you mercy and have compassion on
you and multiply you, as he swore to your fathers, (18) if you obey the
voice of the LORD your God, keeping all his commandments that I am
commanding you today, and doing what is right in the sight of
the LORD your God.
TODAY’S
APPLICATION
How can this be applied today? The apostle Paul
teaches us a way to apply this principle for today. After talking about a case
that happened in a congregation in Corinth (1 Cor. 5:1-8), Paul explained the
following:
(1 Corinthians 5:9-13) I
wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— (10)
not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and
swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the
world. (11) But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who
bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is
an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a
one. (12) For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those
inside the church whom you are to judge? (13) God judges those
outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
It is definitely not up to us to “eliminate” every
idolater of the world; but what we do need to be careful of is to keep our
homes and churches free from idolatry and bad influences. If anyone in church
is doing something wrong or that could contaminate the congregation, then he
needs to be confronted (following the order that Jesus taught in Mathew
18:15-17). In case he does not want to repent, then he must be expelled from
the congregation, and we must turn away from that individual.
(2 Thessalonians 3:6) Now
we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep
away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the
tradition that you received from us.
So as in the times of Moses and as in the days of
Paul, the principle is the same, just as it is today: let us destroy all idolatry
among us, and let us turn away from all bad influences which could drive us to
sin against God.
More lessons
on Deuteronomy: DEVARIM (Deut.)
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