Deuteronomy 13 explained: Loyalty Above Every Other Voice

When a prophet's sign comes true (vv. 1-4)

Even if someone predicts something and it happens, Israel must not follow them if their message is to worship other gods. The text calls this a test of whether the people love the LORD with their whole heart, and tells them to hold tightly to him.

The prophet's punishment (v. 5)

Such a prophet was to be executed, because urging other gods counted as rebellion against the God who freed Israel from slavery in Egypt. Israel saw the LORD as its king, so this was treated like treason, much as ancient Assyrian loyalty oaths demanded death for disloyalty to the king.

When a loved one tempts (vv. 6-11)

Even a brother, child, spouse or closest friend who quietly urged worship of other gods was to be reported and stoned, with the accuser throwing the first stone. Deuteronomy elsewhere requires two or three witnesses for a death sentence (17:6), and the stated aim here is to make all Israel afraid to try it.

A town that turns away (vv. 12-16)

If a careful investigation proved a whole town had gone over to other gods, all its people and animals were to be killed and the town burned as an offering to the LORD, never to be rebuilt. The text is blunt about this total destruction, though later Jewish teachers added so many conditions that some said it never actually happened.

Nothing kept, mercy promised (vv. 17-18)

No one could take anything from the town, because everything in it was set apart for God through destruction. Only then, the text says, would the LORD turn from his anger and bless Israel as he had promised its ancestors.

Key verse: Deuteronomy 13:3

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on what verse 3 means when it says God is testing the people, some reading it as God actively sending such tests and others as God allowing deceptive signs that he does not cause.

Something to think about

When loyalty to a belief or cause pulls against the people you love most, how do you decide which one wins?