Deuteronomy 13:10, commentary and pictures

The verse commands that one who tries to thrust another away from the Lord who brought Israel out of Egypt, by enticing to other gods and idolatry in breach of the first and second commandments, be put to death by stoning without pity. To thrust away is to apostatize in rebellion and turning from God, and the offense was treated as treason against God as King that endangered souls, so witnesses in loyalty to God were not to conceal it. It gives the test of Deuteronomy 13 by which to try prophets, that even one who works signs and wonders is false if he would lead away from the law of God. The stoning belonged to Israel as a nation governed directly by God, when the Ten Commandments were incorporated into its civil code to be inflicted by the magistrate, and its civil infliction ceased when the Jewish polity ceased. The penalty foreshadowed the final retribution to be inflicted by God himself at the judgment to restrain evil and warn others, but it gave Christians no authority over another's conscience, whose duty remains Thou shalt not kill.

Context and Command

The verse belongs to Moses' second address, his review of the law for Israel's new generation after forty years of wandering in the wilderness, given before crossing the Jordan into the promised land. It is part of the repetition and rehearsal of the wonderful things God had done for His people and of some of the chief laws connected with Israel, to bring to remembrance the lessons God had taught them and to remind them of His deliverance from Egypt as a reason for obedience. It was meant to impress the sacred import of God's holy law and the necessity of keeping it, as one constant appeal to serve the Lord and to turn away from the sins which wrecked the other nations, in which lay Israel's greatness and continuance, showing the wonderful working and superiority of the laws God gave amid the conditions surrounding them.

The command was given in B.C. 1451 as a safeguard against the universal idolatrous worship of the sun at that time, warning Israel against sun-worship under penalty of death by stoning for seeking to thrust them away from the Lord. It belongs to the added law given by the hand of Moses and written in a book, distinct from the law of God written on tables of stone, prescribing temporal punishment by stoning to death for transgression of the law of God. The stoning was commanded against one who seeks to thrust another away from the Lord who brought Israel out of Egypt from slavery, by enticing to other gods and idolatry in breach of the first and second commandments. Such a person was to be pitied and spared not, but stoned with stones till dead for saying let us go and serve other gods and for worshiping a strange god in breach of the first commandment.

To thrust away means to apostatize, which is rebellion, withdrawal, turning away from God, despising Him, and proving untrue like a false-hearted companion breaking a solemn lifelong union. The offense was treated as especially harmful to the people, as treason against God as King that endangered souls, so in loyalty to God witnesses were required not to conceal the evidence out of group loyalty. Stoning was reserved for particular crimes and not imposed on every wrong, yet death by stoning was the same punishment appointed for murder, smiting parents, blasphemy, Sabbath-breaking, idolatry, disobedience to parents, covetousness and theft, and the passage groups the penalty for idolatry with the Mosaic penalty for Sabbath-breaking. Penal laws of God take hold only of presumptuous sinners and not of sins of ignorance, and no punishment is to be thought inflicted for breach until the duty is universally acknowledged, and even then execution belongs to the true magistrate and not to every saint, whose part is to seek the sinner's repentance, for if God has annexed death to breaking His law it is just and does not make owning the commandment dangerous nor set the commandment aside.

The verse is part of the good test in Deuteronomy 13 by which to try prophets, warning against false prophets even when they work signs and wonders, and giving the law of God as the standard so that any prophet who would lead away from that law is false. The law laid down directions to put to death by stoning those who work wonders to thrust people away from the Lord, including conviction of sorcery. The Jewish leaders in Acts 4 tried to apply it to Peter and John after the healing of the lame man, hoping to convict them of sorcery because they could not deny the miracle with the healed man standing alive before them, but Peter's answer dictated by the Holy Spirit left the Sanhedrin with nothing to say.

Civil Penalty and Principle

The stoning for enticing another away from the Lord belonged to Israel as a nation governed directly by God, when the Ten Commandments were for the time incorporated into the civil code of the Hebrew commonwealth and nation. It was the penalty inflicted by the magistrate and imposed by Jewish magistrates for breaking the law of the commonwealth, and it applied to Israel's civil government. Loyalty to God as King required witnesses not to conceal the evidence, because such an enticer was a traitor who endangered souls. That civil infliction ceased when the Jewish polity ceased, and the Saviour suspended its enforcement by human magistrates. This does not determine the continuing force of the Ten Commandments or the blessings and curses God attaches to obedience and disobedience to them, nor did suspension remove sin's true penalty or weaken the violated precept.

The civil penalty represented the final retribution of the ungodly to be inflicted by God himself at his bar. Those penalties foreshadowed final punishment at the judgment. The penalty was meant to restrain evil, prevent the corruption and destruction of the nation, and warn others away from such practices. Being stoned did not pay the full penalty so as to leave the law with no further claim and secure salvation in the resurrection. Escaping detection by man did not leave the offender free from punishment by God, but the offender would still answer to God for the crime at the judgment.

Death by stoning was commanded for breaking commandments other than the Sabbath, proving it was common to all the rest of the Decalogue and not peculiar to the Sabbath. It was the same punishment appointed for murder, smiting parents, blasphemy, Sabbath-breaking, idolatry, disobedience to parents, covetousness and theft, so sameness of penalty does not prove the Sabbath to be merely ceremonial or positive. The passage groups this penalty for idolatry with the Mosaic penalty for Sabbath-breaking. The stoning penalty belonged to the commands against idolatry and false worship, not to the Sabbath alone, for enticing others away from the Lord to other gods in violation of the first and second commandments brought death by stoning. Turning someone away from the Lord who brought Israel out of Egypt is a breach of the first two commandments that brings the transgressor under the law's curse. If a stoning penalty makes a command bondage, the first and second commandments were bondage in the same way as the fourth.

The penalty did not give Christians authority over other people's consciences or their relationship to God. The command applied to Israel's civil government, while the individual's duty remained, Thou shalt not kill. The death penalty does not make owning the commandment dangerous and does not set the commandment aside. Penal laws of God take hold only of presumptuous sinners, not of sins of ignorance, and no punishment is to be thought inflicted for breach until the duty is universally acknowledged. Even then execution belongs to the true magistrate, not to every saint, whose part is to seek the sinner's repentance, and if God has annexed death to breaking His law it is just.