Deuteronomy 13 Study Notes

13:9 Being the first to undertake retribution would likely deter someone from making false accusation and would also underscore the seriousness of the offense. Silence in the face of such egregious violation of covenant would in and of itself suggest implication on the part of the one who refused to testify. Sometimes the cost of loving the Lord might be a willingness to forfeit family in pursuit of a higher good.

13:10-11 The deterrent effect of stoning a covenant traitor to death was to make all Israel . . . afraid so that they would no longer do such evil. If not immediately and consistently applied, such measures are unlikely to have any good effect.

13:12-13 Unpunished individual apostasy is likely to spread near and far like a disease. If wicked men lead the inhabitants of their city astray, other individuals or households will become contaminated. Though Israel was God’s elect covenant nation, the salvation of a chosen people is no guarantee of the salvation of all its members. As Paul put it, “Because not all who are descended from Israel are Israel . . . That is, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but the children of the promise are considered to be the offspring” (Rm 9:6,8).

13:14-16 An Israelite city that tolerated apostasy must be burned to the ground like a pagan city (cp. 3:6; 7:2). The point is that rebellion against the Lord is rebellion, no matter its source. To be the chosen nation did not exempt Israel from God’s judgment should they violate his covenant requirements. The same was true of a single individual or a family (cp. 13:6-11) such as in the case of Achan, who stole goods from the ruins of Jericho that should have been devoted to the Lord (Jos 7). Furthermore, a city once destroyed as an effect of the ban was under a curse and often was never to be rebuilt. This was true of Jericho (Jos 6:26) and Ai (Jos 8:28).

13:17-18 The use of the word commands in v. 18 echoes “command” in 12:32, forming an enveloping device that spans the whole unit.