If
prophets or those who divine by dreams appear among you and promise
you omens or portents, and the omens or the portents declared by them
take place,1
and they say, ‘Let us follow other gods’2
(whom you have not known) ‘and let us serve them’, you must not
heed the words of those prophets or those who divine by dreams;3
for the Lord
your God is testing you,4
to know whether you indeed love the Lord
your God with all your heart and soul. The Lord
your God you shall follow, him alone you shall fear, his commandments
you shall keep,5
his voice you shall obey, him you shall serve, and to him you shall
hold fast. But those prophets or those who divine by dreams shall be
put to death for having spoken treason against the Lord
your God6—who
brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house
of slavery7—to
turn you from the way in which the Lord
your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil8
from your midst.
If anyone secretly entices you—even if it is your brother, your father’s son or your mother’s son, or your own son or daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your most intimate friend9—saying, ‘Let us go and worship other gods’, whom neither you nor your ancestors have known, any of the gods of the peoples that are around you, whether near you or far away from you, from one end of the earth to the other, you must not yield to or heed any such persons. Show them no pity or compassion and do not shield them.10 But you shall surely kill them;11 your own hand shall be first against them to execute them,12 and afterwards the hand of all the people. Stone them to death13 for trying to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.14 Then all Israel shall hear and be afraid, and never again do any such wickedness.15
If you hear it said about one of the towns that the Lord your God is giving you to live in, that scoundrels16 from among you have gone out and led the inhabitants of the town astray, saying, ‘Let us go and worship other gods’,17 whom you have not known, then you shall inquire and make a thorough investigation.18 If the charge is established that such an abhorrent thing has been done among you, you shall put the inhabitants of that town to the sword, utterly destroying it and everything in it—even putting its livestock to the sword.19 All of its spoil you shall gather into its public square; then burn the town and all its spoil with fire,20 as a whole burnt-offering to the Lord your God. It shall remain a perpetual ruin, never to be rebuilt.21 Do not let anything devoted to destruction22 stick to your hand, so that the Lord may turn from his fierce anger and show you compassion,23 and in his compassion multiply you, as he swore to your ancestors, if you obey the voice of theLord your God by keeping all his commandments that I am commanding you today,24 doing what is right in the sight of the Lord your God.
1 Interesting – in this case, even those people not of God can forecast omens/portents. Perhaps it is acknowledging that human psychology allows false but clever “prophets” to manipulate others easily?
If anyone secretly entices you—even if it is your brother, your father’s son or your mother’s son, or your own son or daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your most intimate friend9—saying, ‘Let us go and worship other gods’, whom neither you nor your ancestors have known, any of the gods of the peoples that are around you, whether near you or far away from you, from one end of the earth to the other, you must not yield to or heed any such persons. Show them no pity or compassion and do not shield them.10 But you shall surely kill them;11 your own hand shall be first against them to execute them,12 and afterwards the hand of all the people. Stone them to death13 for trying to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.14 Then all Israel shall hear and be afraid, and never again do any such wickedness.15
If you hear it said about one of the towns that the Lord your God is giving you to live in, that scoundrels16 from among you have gone out and led the inhabitants of the town astray, saying, ‘Let us go and worship other gods’,17 whom you have not known, then you shall inquire and make a thorough investigation.18 If the charge is established that such an abhorrent thing has been done among you, you shall put the inhabitants of that town to the sword, utterly destroying it and everything in it—even putting its livestock to the sword.19 All of its spoil you shall gather into its public square; then burn the town and all its spoil with fire,20 as a whole burnt-offering to the Lord your God. It shall remain a perpetual ruin, never to be rebuilt.21 Do not let anything devoted to destruction22 stick to your hand, so that the Lord may turn from his fierce anger and show you compassion,23 and in his compassion multiply you, as he swore to your ancestors, if you obey the voice of theLord your God by keeping all his commandments that I am commanding you today,24 doing what is right in the sight of the Lord your God.
1 Interesting – in this case, even those people not of God can forecast omens/portents. Perhaps it is acknowledging that human psychology allows false but clever “prophets” to manipulate others easily?
2
Here's the crux – these prophet/diviners are telling people to
follow other gods.
3
Obviously, the Israelites are not to follow such people.
4
Why would God test them in such a way?
5
Only God is to be followed, and once again this is made synonymous
with obeying his commandments.
6
Death is the penalty for calling for allegiance to anyone other than
YHWH.
7
The need to follow God alone is emphasized by pointing out that He
was the one who had saved them.
8
Killing such people is “purging evil”.
9
Really cuts to the heart by intimately describing family and
friends.
10
No pity. No compassion. Do not shield. Very strong language that
seems to remove love from the equation entirely.
11
This command is not practiced by Christians today.
12
Your own hand against your family. Brutal.
13
The brutality of the killing made even more explicit.
14
For the second time, God's deliverance of them from slavery is a
major reason to continue to follow YHWH alone.
15
The point of killing your family members is to frighten the rest of
Israel into obedience.
16
“scoundrels” is an interesting word.
17
Third iteration of “let us go and worship other gods”
18
This action, which involves destroying an entire population, is not
to be done rashly but only after careful investigation.
19
The entire town destroyed, even livestock? Sounds more symbolic
than something to actually be done in practice.
20
So did the investigation determine that ALL were astray, even
children? At what age are the children responsible for the beliefs
of their parents? That appears to not be relevant here – their
deaths would be to purge the evil, whether or not they were
personally responsible for it.
21
Crazy language of total destruction. I imagine it unlikely that
the Israelites ever did this to own of their own towns in history.
22
There is a lot of symbolism here built around obedience to God –
these actions are to be complete, without any spoil being taken, to
ensure there was nothing self-serving about the carrying out of the
command but that it is done solely to protect exclusive worship of
YHWH.
23
God's fierce anger relieved by killing, compassion brought by the
full sacrifice of the tainted items.
24
Again, the passage ends with the constantly repeated edict to keep
the commandments.
Take-home: Devotion to YHWH is so important that prophets, family members, and entire towns must be destroyed if they tell others to turn away.
Take-home: Devotion to YHWH is so important that prophets, family members, and entire towns must be destroyed if they tell others to turn away.
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