A Skeptics Journey through the Bible

Deuteronomy 13

Summary: God commands that if a prophet entices the Israelites away from God, they must be put to death. If a town has turned away it must also be destroyed.

13:1 If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder,

13:2 and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,”

13:3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.

13:4 It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him.

13:5 That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he preached rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way the LORD your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you. 

Here at the beginning of chapter 13, we find that God himself sends miracle-working false prophets into the midst of Israel to test the Israelites. This means that if a prophet, like one named Jesus, were to do miracles like give sight to the blind, you shouldn’t listen to him if he suggests not following God’s laws.

Learning this implies a few things: God sends the false prophets to “test” the Israelites to see if they “love him.” Why would God need to “test” the Israelites when he “knows the hearts of all men?” (Acts 1:24).

God is involved here in a form of lying, deception, to his chosen people. He purposefully gives power to these false prophets so that they can perform miracles. Sending these false prophets into their midst is indirectly encouraging them to sin. Why would he want to tempt them in such a way – again since he is all knowing?

In order for God to “send” another human being, he would have to override the free will of that person into making them a false prophet. Knowing that he would command that these individuals be killed makes the whole process rather cruel: he is forcing a person to act as a false prophet to test his people, knowing that this person would be killed for God’s own curiosity.

13:6 If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods that neither you nor your fathers have known,

13:7 gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other),

13:8 do not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him.

13:9 You must certainly put him to death. Your hand must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people.

13:10 Stone him to death, because he tried to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

13:11 Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and no one among you will do such an evil thing again.

God then commands that if anyone, even the closest people to you suggest that you should worship another god, that person must be stoned to death and you must be the first one to throw a stone, followed by the community.

13:12 If you hear it said about one of the towns the LORD your God is giving you to live in

13:13 that wicked men have arisen among you and have led the people of their town astray, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods you have not known),

13:14 then you must inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly. And if it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done among you,

13:15 you must certainly put to the sword all who live in that town. Destroy it completely, both its people and its livestock.

13:16 Gather all the plunder of the town into the middle of the public square and completely burn the town and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. It is to remain a ruin forever, never to be rebuilt.

13:17 None of those condemned things shall be found in your hands, so that the LORD will turn from his fierce anger; he will show you mercy, have compassion on you, and increase your numbers, as he promised on oath to your forefathers,

13:18 because you obey the LORD your God, keeping all his commands that I am giving you today and doing what is right in his eyes.

Finally, God commands that if they know of a town, which is not worshipping God in the Promised Land, they are to slaughter every living thing in that town, including babies, followed by burning the entire town, which is never to be rebuilt. We learn that God will bless you for doing this because, you are “doing what is right in his eyes.” Why wouldn’t God, in his alleged compassion, want the Israelites to send ambassadors to the towns to try and win the people over to him instead of immediately resorting to killing everyone and everything?

Final Thoughts on Chapter 13:

It is popular imagination that the Bible is the most moral and conservative of any book ever written. But there is a reason we don’t see the laws commanded here being carried about by most Christian’s: these passages aren’t the kinds they are talking about when they quote the Bible’s “family values.”