Today we begin Deuteronomy Chapter 13.
For the Complete Jewish Bible, click here.
For the King James version, click here.
“Everything I am commanding you, you are to take care to do. Do not add to it or subtract from it.”-Deuteronomy 13:1
Deuteronomy Chapter 13 is simply a natural extension of Deuteronomy Chapter 12.
Deuteronomy Chapter 12 was all about the Lord’s instructions to Israel to uproot and annihilate every last trace of the Canaanite mystery religions.
In doing so, Israel was to give the Canaanites no quarter.
There would be no comprises or treaties allowed.
If the resident Canaanites didn’t cease with their worship of their false gods, they only had two options: be driven out of the land or put to death.
Why was the Lord so firm in this matter?
There were two main reasons.
FIRST, these false practices were an abomination to God and stood as a false witness against the fact that the Lord was the only one true God in the universe.
SECOND, these perverted worship practices were dangerous for Israel because they might be tempted to participate in these heathen celebrations and thus invite severe retribution from God that in some cases could result in one being permanently cut off from HASHEM.
In verse 1 of Chapter 13 God underscores what He just ordered in Chapter 12 by making it clear that Israel is to never even think of abolishing even one tiny bit of His instructions nor add anything to what He has commanded.
The Lord has established the proper and acceptable ways Israel is to worship Him and they are to be followed.
Period.
If the Israelites decided to add even a tiny amount of some of the Canaanite worship rituals to their worship of HASHEM, the Lord would view it as gross disobedience, plain and simple.
Let me say that again because it’s something I think believers in our day and age also need to take seriously.
If the Israelites were to add even one tiny itty bit of the pagan Canaanite worship practices to their worship of the Lord, it wouldn’t be any different than adding a drop of poison to a glass of milk.
The results would be lethal and the Israelites would be guilty of both unfaithfulness and idolatry.
Chapter 13 gives us three examples of how deception leading to idolatry could occur.
The first one is when a man claiming to be from the Lord publicly proclaims he has received a vision or a word from God and is even able to back up his claims with a prophesy that seemingly comes true.
The second one is a situation whereby a family member or a close friend secretly and in private entices other family members to accept forbidden gods.
The third example is where a man falsely prophesies something in the name of the Lord and then is able to get the members of a whole village or city to adopt some pagan worship practices into their worship of HASHEM.
Of course, these three examples are by no means exhaustive.
There are an infinite number of ways one can be led astray from the true and pure worship of God.
However, these ways are listed here because they were considered to be the more typical everyday means whereby the large population of Hebrews surrounded by several Canaanite nations would be negatively influenced by their heathen neighbors.
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