Deuteronomy 13
McGeeCHAPTER 13THEME: Warning against and test of false prophetsThis is a very important chapter because it deals with false prophets and false gods. When we get to chapter 18 of Deuteronomy, we will find the test which would identify a false prophet. Israel had no problem in detecting the false prophets because they had a biblical, God-given test that surely would ferret them out. However, the chapter before us deals with the action that was to be taken against anyone who attempted to lead God’s people away from Him by introducing false religions.
Deuteronomy 13:1
This is pertinent for today. People ask me how I explain the fact that some of the false prophets today are accurate part of the time. Or they ask me to explain how some people seem to be healed in certain meetings. Well, I don’t explain it. To begin with, I think there would probably be a natural explanation in many instances, but even if there is something supernatural, God has warned that this can be accomplished through false prophets. It is well for us to mark that. God says that when a false prophet comes along and performs signs which come to pass, we are not to believe him if he denies the great truths of the Christian faith. That is the great principle which is put down here, and that is very important.
Deuteronomy 13:5
Notice that any false prophet who attempted to take the people into some false cult or false religion was to be stoned to death. Does that sound extreme? Does that sound severe? Such a false prophet is like a cancer, and a cancer must be cut out as soon as possibleI know that from personal experience. God here is the Great Physician and He says the cancer must be cut out from among His people. This reveals the mind of God concerning false prophets who lead the people to false gods and false religion. I can remember when I was a boy that the reading of the Bible in the schoolroom was a normal procedure. I don’t think it was particularly meaningful to me at that time, yet I understood it was the Word of God and that impressed me. Today we have let the unbeliever come in, the cults, and those who oppose Christianity and the Bible, and they have taken over so that Bible reading and prayer are no longer permitted in public schools. God laid down these rules to prevent this from happening in Israel. If one appeared in Israel who was attempting to take God’s people away from the worship of God, that person was to be put to death. Some soft-hearted and soft-headed folk will say this is too extreme. God understood how terrible it would be if false prophets were permitted to multiply and to lead Israel into idolatry. History reveals that Israel did not obey God and they did permit this to happen. If you want to know how bad it was for God’s people in that day, read the story of Ahab and Jezebel who plunged God’s people into idolatry. This brought the judgment of God upon them so that eventually the northern kingdom was carried into captivity. That is how serious it is.
Deuteronomy 13:6
This is extreme. This is radical. This sounds like a foreign language to the soft and affluent society in which we live. It is a serious matter for a man to be the first one to throw a stone in the execution that would stone his own brother to death. That seems very severe, but ultimately it would save many lives. When the northern kingdom went into idolatry, what happened? Literally thousands of them were slain, and most of the survivors were taken as slaves to the brutal nation of Assyria. Wouldn’t it have been better if they had stoned the false prophets who led them into idolatry instead of a whole multitude being slain? We see the same kind of thing in our nation today. We have so many soft-hearted and soft-headed judges who have no Christian background whatsoever. They do not think of our laws in the Christian context in which they were originally formulatedthat is, obedience to law and a penalty exacted for disobedience. Our judges turn criminals loose to again prey on society. Right here in my town, a known criminal attacked seven women in one night. Several were killed, one was raped, others were hospitalized with severe injuries.
Now wouldn’t it be wiser for the criminal to be given the utmost penalty than for many innocent people to be murdered? God’s way is the way that will save lives and protect a host of people. I am afraid that we have become so shortsighted that capital punishment sounds extreme to us today.
Deuteronomy 13:10
God exacts the death penalty. Today we feel that the death penalty is uncivilized. I guess the crowd who feels that way would call God uncivilized. I would like to ask that crowd where they got the little civilization and the little culture which they do have. All of it came from the Word of God, friends. Now we are moving away from the Word of God and folk think that is being more civilized.
It is more dangerous to walk on the streets of the cities in the United States than it is to walk on the jungle trails of Africa. Why? Because we think the death penalty is uncivilized and so we have abolished it. Some time ago as I was walking by night on a jungle trail in the mountain regions of Venezuela, I felt safer than I do in Los Angeles, although they said there might be a few boa constrictors around. And I noticed that nobody locked their doors. I wondered whether they should send missionaries to us instead of our sending missionaries to them.
Deuteronomy 13:11
They were not to depart from the living and true God. As long as they would obey Him, there would be blessing. However, they failed to obey Him, and the judgments did come upon themthat is their story.
Deuteronomy 13:12
They were not to do anything rashly. A thorough investigation must be made and truth arrived at before any action was to be taken.
Deuteronomy 13:15
Again, this is severe. A city, an entire city, would be destroyed. Suppose there was someone in that city who hadn’t gone into idolatry. Had they protested? Had they just sat by and done nothing? If they had done nothing about it, they were to be judged along with the rest. There are too many Christians today who think that it is Christian to be silent. There are so many Christians who do not take a stand on important issues even when truth is at stake. You hear the old cliché, “Silence is golden.” Friends, sometimes it is yellownot goldento remain silent and not to take a stand. The minority is to protest that which is wrong. Everything in such a city was to be completely destroyed.