Study notes

Deuteronomy 13

Introducing DeuteronomyWho wrote it, when, why, and what to look for as you read

12:1–14:26 Section

The Israelites were to worship only God. They weren’t allowed to worship the false gods of the Canaanites.

The Israelites had to destroy everything that had to do with those false gods. They also had to destroy anyone who encouraged them to worship the false gods. This included prophets, people in their own families and people in any town in Israel.

The Israelites were free to kill and eat clean animals that weren’t sacrifices. They were free to do this wherever they lived.

All their sacrifices had to be brought to one place. This included the tenth of their crops and the first male animals born to their livestock. Sacrifices were to be brought to the place where God chose to put his name. This means that it was the place where he made his presence known.

That place was the holy tent. Later God chose the temple as the special place for his name. That happened after the Israelites had lived in Canaan for many years.

13:1

God performed signs and miracles to inspire wonder and faith in those who saw them (see 6:22). False prophets and magicians could imitate these acts to some extent, sometimes misleading God's people (see Exodus 7:11, 22; 8:7).

13:1–18

Prophets who tried to lead Israel away from the one true God committed treason, which was punishable by death. No other religion demanded exclusive worship of their national gods. As a result, such severe penalties for worshiping other gods were unknown in the ancient Near East.

13:5

  • dreamer: Literally dreamer of dreams. It refers to someone who claims to receive messages through dreams.

  • purge (literally you must burn): God commanded that false prophets be removed completely so that their harmful influence would not remain. See also 17:12; 19:13.

13:6

The Israelites had heard about these false gods before. However, they had not worshiped them.

If they began to worship them, they would break the first two commandments. These commandments express the main meaning of the covenant.

13:9

Your hand must be the first against him: Because the guilty person could be someone from your own family, this command was very difficult. It tested how deeply a person was committed to worship the Lord alone (13:6).

God required his people to love and obey him above all else. Their love for God had to come before their love for family members and friends (Matthew 10:34–39).

13:13

wicked men (literally sons of Belial): In Hebrew, the phrase son or sons of often shows that a person belongs to a group or shares certain qualities. So sons of Belial refers to people who share evil or worthless behavior.

Wicked men were people who deceived others and led them away from what is right (Proverbs 6:12; 16:27; 19:28; Nahum 1:11).

13:14

An abomination is any action or even thought that is offensive to God (see study notes on 7:25–26; 12:31).

Verse notes: Adapted by Mission Mutual (Aquifer Open Study Notes) from Tyndale Open Study Notes © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers. CC BY-SA 4.0. Section notes: Biblica Study Notes © 2023 Biblica, Inc. CC BY-SA 4.0, via BibleAquifer. About the sources