Deuteronomium 13:5 Kommentar

Moses is still upon that necessary subject concerning the peril of idolatry. In the close of the foregoing chapter he had cautioned them against the peril that might arise from their predecessors the Canaanites. In this chapter he cautions them against the rise of idolatry from among themselves; they must take heed lest any should draw them to idolatry, 1. By the pretence of prophecy (Deu 13:1-5). II. By the pretence of friendship and relation (Deu 13:6-11). III. By the pretence of numbers (Deu 13:12-18). But in all these cases the temptation must be resolutely resisted and the tempters punished and cut off.

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 13 In this chapter the Israelites are taught how to discern a false prophet, shun and punish him, Deu 13:1, what to do with enticers to idolatry, not only not to consent to them, but, without favour and affection to them, endeavour to bring them to just punishment, and be the first that should inflict it on them, Deu 13:6 and how to behave towards a city drawn into idolatry, as to inquire the truth of it; then make war against it; destroy all in it, men, women, children, and cattle; and burn the spoil of it, and suffer not anything at all belonging to it to cleave unto them, Deu 13:12.

And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death,.... Which death, according to the Targum of Jonathan, was to be killed with the sword: because he hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God; or "spoken revolt against the Lord" (l), high treason against him, delivering out doctrine that tends to cause his subjects to rebel against him, and revolt from him; and therefore he is justly deserving of death, to draw off a people from him he had been so good and kind unto; so that to apostasy would be added the sin of ingratitude: which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage; and so was not only their Lord by creation whom they ought to serve, but by redemption, which laid them under double obligation to serve him: to thrust thee out of the way which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk in; not by external force, but by the power of persuasion, by enticing words and arguments: so shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee; the evil man, by putting him to death, and the evil of idolatry, by not listening to the words of the false prophet. (l) "apostasiam", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "defectionem", Tigurine version.

ENTICERS TO IDOLATRY TO BE PUT TO DEATH. (Deu 13:1-5) If there arise among you a prophet--The special counsels which follow arose out of the general precept contained in Deu 12:32; and the purport of them is, that every attempt to seduce others from the course of duty which that divine standard of faith and worship prescribes must not only be strenuously resisted, but the seducer punished by the law of the land. This is exemplified in three cases of enticement to idolatry. a prophet--that is, some notable person laying claim to the character and authority of the prophetic office (Num 12:6; Sa1 10:6), performing feats of dexterity or power in support of his pretensions, or even predicting events which occurred as he foretold; as, for instance, an eclipse which a knowledge of natural science might enable him to anticipate (or, as Caiaphas, Joh 18:14). Should the aim of such a one be to seduce the people from the worship of the true God, he is an impostor and must be put to death. No prodigy, however wonderful, no human authority, however great, should be allowed to shake their belief in the divine character and truth of a religion so solemnly taught and so awfully attested (compare Gal 1:8). The modern Jews appeal to this passage as justifying their rejection of Jesus Christ. But He possessed all the characteristics of a true prophet, and He was so far from alienating the people from God and His worship that the grand object of His ministry was to lead to a purer, more spiritual and perfect observance of the law.

The first case. If a prophet, or one who had dreams, should rise up to summon to the worship of other gods, with signs and wonders which came to pass, the Israelites were not to hearken to his words, but to put him to death. The introduction of חלום חלם, "a dreamer of dreams," along with the prophet, answers the two media of divine revelation, the vision and the dream, by which, according to Num 12:6, God made known His will. With regard to the signs and wonders (mopheth, see at Exo 4:21) with which such a prophet might seek to accredit his higher mission, it is taken for granted that they come to pass (בּוא); yet for all that, the Israelites were to give no heed to such a prophet, to walk after other gods. It follows from this, that the person had not been sent by God, but as a false prophet, and that the signs and wonders which he gave were not wonders effected by God, but σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα ψεύδους ("lying sings and wonders," Th2 2:9); i.e., not merely seeming miracles, but miracles wrought in the power of the wicked one, Satan, the possibility and reality of which even Christ attests (Mat 24:24). - The word לאמר, saying, is dependent upon the principal verb of the sentence: "if a prophet rise up...saying, We will go after other gods."

Israel was to adhere firmly to the Lord its God (cf. Deu 4:4), and to put to death the prophet who preached apostasy from Jehovah, the Redeemer of Israel out of the slave-house of Egypt. להדּיחך, "to force thee from the way in which Jehovah hath commanded thee to walk." The execution of seducers to idolatry is enjoined upon the people, i.e., the whole community, not upon single individuals, but upon the authorities who had to maintain and administer justice. "So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee." הרע is neuter, as we may see from Deu 17:7, as comp. with Deu 13:2. The formula, "so shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee," which occurs again in Deu 17:7, Deu 17:12; Deu 19:19; Deu 21:21; Deu 22:21-22, Deu 22:24, and Deu 24:7 (cf. Deu 19:13, and Deu 21:9), belongs to the hortatory character of Deuteronomy, in accordance with which a reason is given for all the commandments, and the observance of them is urged upon the congregation as a holy affair of the heart, which could not be expected in the objective legislation of the earlier books.