Deuteronomy 13
PATVer. I. JLF there arise among you. In future times. A prophet.] One that pretends to have a message from God delivered to him in a vision, or by the word of the Lord: for there was a constant succession of prophets (to whom God revealed his mind several ways) among the Jews, to preserve them in the true worship of God, and instruct them in their law, and admonish them on some occasions of things to come; which was. the more necessary, because there were such kind of persons among the gentiles. Or a dreamer of dreams,.] Who pretended God had appeared to him in a dream, (as he did unto Jacob, Gen, xxviii. 11.) and revealed his mind to him. Such there were in Jeremiah s time, (Jer. xxix. 8.) % And give thee a sign.] Foretell something. Or a wonder.’] By what follows one would think this.belongs to the foregoing words, which are to bo understood,as if he had said, If he foretell some wonderful -thing, which: shall shortly come to pass. Or,it maybe interpreted, shall ■work a miracle; unto which the heathen did not so much pretend, as they did to predictions, which were common among them. Entice thee secretly,,] In the foregoing verses he speaks of an open seducer, and here of a secret one; there of one that came with authority, and here of one of the ordinary people. Saying, Let us go and serve other gods.] The Jews think this is meant of one who invited others to idolatry, but did not press them with reasons, as in the former case. Which is not likely; for all men pretend some reason or other for such a great alteration as that to a new religion.. Which thou Itast not known, thou nor thy fathers.] This aggravates the crime; to entice them to forsake God, who was known to have done such wonders for their fathers, and was so good to them, and go to serve gods with whom they had no acquaintance. Saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not knoivn.] Strange gods, as they are often called in Scripture, which the nations round about them worshipped, (vcr. 7.) but were always abhorred by true Israelites.
Deuteronomy 13:2
And the sign or the wonder come to pass whereof • he spake unto thee. The event confirms the prediction; so that he seem a true prophet. Saying, Let us go after other gods which thou hast not known, and let us serve them.’] And, consequently, he.persuade you to worship other gods, which he pretends is demonstrated to be lawful, by the fulfilling of his sign and wonder.
Deuteronomy 13:3
Thou sJialt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or dreamer of dreams. Notwithstanding, look, upon him as a liar; and not as a true prophet: for God cannot contradict himself, nor do any thiug to persuade men % to forsake him, and give his worship to another. This shews that he still pursues his intention (in this chapter, as well as all the foregoing), to establish them in the belief and worship of one God, according to the first commandment, from which nothing was more likely to seduce them, than false prophets, who were the great instruments of establishing the foulest idolatry in Israel; as appears from 1 Kings xviii. 19. where we read of no less -than four hundred prophets of Baal, and four hundred and fifty prophets of the groves, that is, of other false gods, particularly Astarte, as Mr. Selden conjectures, in his Syntagma ii. de.Diis Syris, cap. 2., And there could not be a greater demonstration that a man was a false prophet, than if he endeavoured to draw them to the worship of other gods, or if he pretended to speak in the name of any other god, (Deut. xviii. 20.) or if he commanded them to offer such sacrifices as Gpd abhorred. Thus Aristander (as David Chytrseus notes) discovered himself to be a false prophet, though he foretold the destruction of Babylon; for he required human sacrifices to be offered: as Tiresias also predicted victory to the Thebans, provided Creon’s daughter was offered up in sacrifice; and Chalcas at the time of the siege of Troy, hut together therewith commanded the sacrifice of Iphi- • genia. These, and such-like things, plainly discovered they were not inspired by God, who is the lover of mankind, and cannot delight in their blood. For the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether yon love the Ix>rd your God ivith all your heart, and with all your soul.] That there might be an open and public discovery made, whether they sincerely loved God or not, or were steadfast in their religion. So Maimonides in his More Nevochim, par. Hi.’ cap. 24. “God would make known to the nations of the world the measure of your faith, in the truth of his law, and of the approbation wherewith you apprehend it/’ &c. For it had been a great weak- I ness to suffer even a miracle to shako their faith, after it had been confirmed by so many miracles.
Deuteronomy 13:4
Ye shall walk after the Lord your God. Follow the will of God (as Maimonides interprets it), declared by himself, (Moro Nevochim, par. i. cap. 38.) Which is a plainer and more genuine interpretation than that of the Gemara of Sota, cap. 1. sect. 52. where It. Chama expounds it of imitating God, in clothing the naked, visiting the sick, burying the dead, &c. for € f beneficence is the beginning and, the end of the Divino law,” Which is a pious sense, but not here intended. And fear him.] Worship him alone, (vi. 2.) And keep his commandments.’] The greatest of which is this, (xi. 13.) And obey his voice.] Which you heard from Mount Sinai, saying, " Thou shalt have no other gods but me." And ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.] Steadfastly adhere unto his service, and not be drawn from it by any persuasion.
Deuteronomy 13:5
And that prophet, or dreamer of dreams. These two signify persons who pretended to different sorts of revelations, by visions or by dreams., • Shall be put to death.] This the Jews interpret to signify strangulation, unto which, upon good proof of the fact, he was to be sentenced by the great Sanhedrin: for that was a received maxim among them, that " a lying prophet was to be judged no w r here but by the council of seventy." (See Selden, lib. iii. de Synedriis, cap. G. n. 1,) Because he hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God, wlto broughUyou out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage.] Persuaded you to forsake your God and his service, to whom you owe your liberty, and all your possessions in the land of Canaan. To thrust thee out of the way which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk in.] These words express how zealous such impostors were in their importunities, and how restless in their endeavours to draw men to idolatry, pressing them so earnestly, as if they would force them to it. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.] i. e. The danger of idolatry; by taking away the life of him that would have seduced others unto it. Ver. G. If thy brother, the son of thy mother.] Who lay in the same womb with him. Or thy son, or thy daughter.] Who were dearer than a brother. Or the wife of thy bosom.] Who was still dearer, sleeping in the samo bed with him, as the Jerusalem Targum expounds it.,.,-*’ Or thy friend, wliich is as thine own soul] Whom thou lovest as thou dost thy life. He puts a friend in the chief place, (as the son of Sirach also doth, Eccles. xxxiii. 19.) which their wives, by the ill choice they made of them, had nof always in their affection. Here is no-mention of father or mother, because a child, as the Hebrews fancy, >was to have more reverence for them, than to accuse them of any crime whatsoever. As if a greater regard was to be had to them than to God himself. The true reason is, because there was no need to name them; for, if their piety to God was to overcome their love to all those relations beforementioned, it could not be supposed that respect to parents was to come into competition with it.
Deuteronomy 13:7
Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee. Wheresoever they were (for several nations had several gods), whether in the neighbouring countries, or in remote parts; it made no difference at all, if they were strange gods. From one end of the earth, even unto the other end of the earth.] The cnticer might possibly suggest the universality of the worship to which he invited him, as an argument to embrace it.
Deuteronomy 13:8
Thou shalt not consent unto him. As many words as there are in this verse, the Jews think there are so many precepts. The first of which is this, not to be led by affection and kindness to yield unto his motion. So they interpret these words, thou shalt not Jove him. Nor hearken unto him.] I do not see how this differs from the former; but Ihey interpret it, that they ought to hate him, as well,as his motion. So Maimonides, in his book of the Worship of the Planets, (cap. 5. sect. G, 7.) Neither shall thine eye pity him.] This they fancy signifies, that, if he were in danger of death, they should not help him, but let him perish. - Neither shalt thou spare.] When he was brought before the judge, they were not to intercede for him,, nor say any thing in his favour, nor assist hiin to defend himself. Neither shalt thou conceal him.] Dissemble any thing that might make against him. And, no doubt, God intended by all these words to signify, that he ought to be looked upon as his greatest enemy; upon whom therefore they were to have no mercy, but to prosecute him unto death, as guilty of the highest treason against the Divine Majesty.
Deuteronomy 13:9
But thou shalt surely kill him. Not privately, as he enticed others, but by a legal process against him in a court of judgment. And that not tho highest, but in the court of twenty-three, who might proceed against him, as Mr. Selden observes, lib. iii. de Synedr. cap. 6. The only difficulty was, how to prove him guilty who enticed another secretly (as the text saith), and not before witnesses. To which the Jews answer,, That he who was enticed was to dispose some persons as secretly near to the place of their next meeting, who might hear all he said, and testify it in court. Thy hand shall be first upon him to put him to deaths] He was to be stoned to death, and the accuser was to throw the first stone at him, together with the witnesses, (xvii. 7.) For it would have weakened the credit of his accusation if he had not been the foremost in the execution. (See xvii. 7.) And afterward the hand of all the people.] Who were to assist in the execution of this sentence. The first words of this verse, which we translate, Thou shalt surely kill him, the Vulgar Latin translates, Thou shalt forthwith kill him. And so the Jews understand the Hebrew phrase, Killing thou shalt kill him; i. e. immediately have him before the court of judgment. As the LXX. understood it, avayyiXXwv avayytkttg 7repi avrov, informing thou shalt inform against him, that is, without delay. And accordingly the Jews add, that, after he was condemned, he was immediately also put to death. Whereas in other crimes the execution was respited, after the sentence was pronounced, for a day and a night, that the man might have" time to clear his innocence, if he were able, by any new proofs. Such severity was but needful among a people prone to idolatry, and encompassed on all sides with idolatrous nations.
Deuteronomy 13:10
And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die. But if, upon admonition, he desisted from his enticement, and repented of what he had said to his neighbour, and resolved himself not to worship other gods, he was not bound to inform against him. Because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, &c] See ver. 5. The very attempt of this was criminal, though he did not prevail in his seducement.
Deuteronomy 13:11
And all Israel shall hear and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this among yen. The end of this severity was to preserve the body of the people from the contagion of idolatry. Nothing being more apt to deter men from crimes than such exemplary punishments of them. So Callimachus, in his hymn to Ceres, (ver. 23.) makes this the design of the punishment she inflicted on Erysichthon, tva Ktd rig virtpftaciac aXcjjrat* tliat others might shim the like transgression.
Deuteronomy 13:12
Andif thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God hath given thee to dwell in, saying. If the infection was spread into a city, or a considerable part of it, there was still more danger, and greater severity was to be used, to prevent the whole country about if from being drawn away from their allegiance to the Divine Majesty. And therefore, upon such an information as follows in the next Yerse (which is here meant by thou shalt hear say), given to the great Sanhedrin, they were to do as is directed ver. 14. > Ver* 13* Certain men, the children of Belial.] So the most profligate wretches are called in Scripture, (Judg. xix. 22. 1 Sam. i. 16. x. 27. xxv. 17. 25.) signifying lawless persons, who had no regard either to God or men.’ Are gone out from among you.] Left the worship of Gocl at the tabernacle: for it doth not signify their forsaking the city (in which they continued to seduce men from their religion), but forsaking their communion in Divine, service. By which many have well observed that place in St. John may be interpreted, 1 John ii.19. And have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city.] The Hebrew word which, we here translate withdraw, is twice before (ver. 5. 10.) translated thrust away; signifying only earnest endeavours to seduce men from their religion. But here it seems to signify also the effect of those endeavours^ whereby they had prevailed with men to forsake the God of Israel, or to worship other gods with him.
Deuteronomy 13:14
Tlien shalt thou inquire, and make search, and ask diligently. The great Sanhcdrin, who only could take Cognizance of this crime, were, upon this information, to send some, on whose fidelity they could rely, to examine the truth of the report which was spread abroad, concerning the defection of a city to the worship of other gods. Who were to use their utmost care and diligence in this inquisition, and, by all possible means, endeavour to “find whether or not the information was true. For itwas a matter of great concernment, that neither the innocent should suffer, nor apostates go unpunished. But the punishment being so dreadful, there was the greater exactness used to bo certain of the crime; and there were likewise a great many temperaments (as Mr. Sclden calls them) found by the Jewish lawyers (partly from the nicest interpretation of every syllable in these two verses, and partly from the pretended tradition of their elders), whereby they mitigated the sharpness of this law. For they would not proceed upon it to destroy a city, though they found them idolaters, unless the seducers were two, or more; and those also men, not women; because the law here speaks in the plural number, of certain men, children of Belial. As if their forsaking God was not a crime, whether they were persuaded to it or not by others. They say, also, it was not to be a mere town, or village, but a city; because the words here are in one of thy cities, in which there were more than a hundred houses: if there were fewer, it was no city in their account, and so escaped. They who seduced a city also w r ereto be of the same city; because it is said here, These men of Belial are gone out/ro?n among you. All which are mere quirks’, which have no solid reason in them. They arc all mentioned together in the title Sanhedrin, set forth by J. Coch. cap. 11. sect. 4. and by Maimonidcs more largely, in his Avoda Zara, and our Selden, lib. iii. de Synedr. cap. 5. n. 2. But there arc other temperaments of this law, which have better foundation in reason. As, first, that a city was not to bo destroyed, unless the major part of the inhabitants were fallen off to serve other* gods. And, secondly, that the law speaks only of lesser cities, not of those which were so large that the greatest part of a tribe lived in it; for God would not have a whole tribe cut off by the senate. Thirdly, they might not destroy any of the six cities of refuge, because they were none of theirs, biit’God’s: and the words of the law are, " In one of thy cities, which the Lord hath given thee to dwell in;” whereas these were given for a further purpose. And, fourthly, some add, not a frontier (own; because it is said, in the midst of thee (so the words arc in the Hebrew, which we translate among you), to which they subjoin a better reason, because the whole country might have been exposed to be overrun with the gentiles. And, lastly, they except Jerusalem from this law, because it was God’s scat; and (as Maimonidcs will have it) it was not distributed to any particular tribe. Which, how it is to be understood, sec Sclden in the place abovenamed, sect. 3, 4. where he touches upon all these. But, if Jerusalem was to be excepted from the judgment of men, God took care to have this sentence executed upon it by his own judgment; for he sent Nebuchadnezzar against it, whose soldiers burnt with fire both the house of the Lord, and the house of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem, (Jcr. Iii. 13.) And, behold, if it be truth, and the thing be certain, that such an abomination is wrought among you.] If the inquisitors found, upon due examinations, that there was a plain and evident proof of their guilt, they were to make their report to the great Sanhcdrin; who, being satisfied that either the whole city, or the greater part of them, were fallen to idolatry, sent to them two men of extraordinary wisdom (who were candidates for the senatorial dignity) to admonish them, and, by arguments and persuasions, to endeavour to reduce them to the worship of the Lord God of Israel. And if they prevailed, they were pardoned, and no further proceedings against them: but if they continued obstinate, then the Sanhedrin commanded the people of Israel to raise an army, and besiege the place, and enter it by force, if they could not othcrways. And when the city was taken, several courts were appointed to try and condemn all that were guilty. Thus Maimonidcs, in the forenamed treatise, reports the method of proceeding, out of their ancient authors. (See Selden, sect. G.) Vcr. 15. Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword.] The same author there saith, that, in the hearing of their cause, every one who was found guilty of idolatry, after admonition, by two witnesses, was set aside: and if they proved to be the lesser part of the city, they were stoned (according to the law of single apostates), the rest being freed from punishment: but if they were the greater part of it, they were sent to the great Sanhedrin, who adjudged them to be cut off by the sword, together with their wives and children. And thus the whole city was, to be punished if there was an universal defection. Destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sivord.] In the Hebrew the word is, Thou shalt make it a cherem, or an accursed tlting* Andso the LXX.‘AvaSt/mn avaOzfiarurt avri]v, where the Vulgar translates it as we do, Thou shalt utterly destroy it; which is consonant to the notion of the Hebrew word. (See Selden, lib. i. de Synedr. cap. 7. p. 131.) So that if any righteous man had any thing therein at that time, itwas to be destroyed, as the very words are in the title Sanhedrin, cap. 1J. sect. 5. But it is to be supposed, that all who feared God would remove their effects, together with themselves, from so wicked a place, before sentence was pronounced against them. On the contrary, they say, the goods of the idolaters, wheresoever they were found, whether within the city or without, were to be burnt. Ver.lG. And thou shalt gatlier all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof] Into the market-place, as the Jews interpret it. Or, if it had none, they were to make a spacious place, into which all the spoil and the householdstuff was to be brought, and fire set to it, to consume it, as an anathema, or cursed thing. What temperaments, as they called them, there were to mitigate the severity of this sentence, see Mr. Sclden, in the place forcnaraed, sect. 7. And shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every ivhit,for the Lord thy God.] For the vindication of God’s honour, and preserving men in their allegiance to him. R. Simeon, in the title Sanhedrin, interprets it in this