Deuteronomy 13:6

6 si tibi voluerit persuadere frater tuus filius matris tuae aut filius tuus vel filia sive uxor quae est in sinu tuo aut amicus quem diligis ut animam tuam clam dicens eamus et serviamus diis alienis quos ignoras tu et patres tui

Deuteronomy 13:6 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 13:6

If thy brother, the son of thy mother
A brother by mother's side, which is generally supposed to be the nearest relation, at least most out of question, so more liable to be regarded as being beloved:

or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom;
most dearly beloved by him, as indeed each of these relations are by a man, there being none nearer or dearer to him:

or thy friend, which [is] as thine own soul;
as dear to him as himself, and so strictly united in friendship, as if one soul dwelt in two bodies; such close friends were Jonathan and David, ( 1 Samuel 18:1 ) . Some Jewish writers think the father is not mentioned, because of the reverence of him, with which all later dealings with him obliged to would seem inconsistent; but the reverence of God is to be preferred to the reverence of parents; and besides, if such near relations that are here mentioned, than which there are none nearer, are not to be spared if guilty of the sin after warned against, then not a father, who is in the same transgression:

entice thee secretly;
when alone with him, which might be judged the most proper time to work upon him, there being none to oppose the enticer, or to assist the enticed; so Satan took the opportunity of Eve being alone when he attacked her with his temptation, and the same method is taken by his children:

saying, let me go and serve other gods which thou hast not known, thou
nor thy fathers;
not even their immediate ancestors, and so the calf was not of these gods; nor their more remote ancestors, as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who were no idolaters; nor even Terah, though he was one, yet the gods of the Canaanites and of the neighbouring nations, which seem to be here meant, at least principally, were such that he knew not. This circumstance may seem to carry in it an argument rather why they should not than why they should serve such gods; wherefore the words of the enticer seem to be only these,

let us go and serve other gods,
and what follows are the words of the Lord, descriptive of those gods, and so a dissuasive from serving them.

Deuteronomy 13:6 In-Context

4 Dominum Deum vestrum sequimini et ipsum timete mandata illius custodite et audite vocem eius ipsi servietis et ipsi adherebitis

5 propheta autem ille aut fictor somniorum interficietur quia locutus est ut vos averteret a Domino Deo vestro qui eduxit vos de terra Aegypti et redemit de domo servitutis ut errare te faceret de via quam tibi praecepit Dominus Deus tuus et auferes malum de medio tui

6 si tibi voluerit persuadere frater tuus filius matris tuae aut filius tuus vel filia sive uxor quae est in sinu tuo aut amicus quem diligis ut animam tuam clam dicens eamus et serviamus diis alienis quos ignoras tu et patres tui

7 cunctarum in circuitu gentium quae iuxta vel procul sunt ab initio usque ad finem terrae

8 non adquiescas ei nec audias neque parcat ei oculus tuus ut miserearis et occultes eum