Deuteronomy 13:14, commentary and pictures

Moses spoke it before Israel entered the promised land to recall God's dealings in the wilderness and to impress the need to keep His law. It requires thorough investigation of a reported evil among the people, enquiring and searching and asking diligently until the report is proved true and certain before acting on it. It sets the law of God as the test of prophets, so that even a worker of signs and wonders is false if he leads away from that law. It stands as a rule for present questions, calling for close examination instead of accepting claims without scrutiny and for careful study of Scripture. That diligent inquiry means asking honest, direct and pointed questions one clear point at a time, avoiding foolish questions and questions from mere curiosity, and searching the Scriptures for oneself.

Words and Historical Setting

Deuteronomy 13:14 belongs to the repetition of the law, rehearsing the wonderful things God had done for His people and some of the chief laws connected with Israel. It was spoken by Moses before the Israelites crossed the Jordan River into the promised land, to bring to their remembrance the lessons God had taught them during forty years of wilderness wandering and to impress upon them the sacred import of God's holy law and the necessity of keeping it. Within that repetition it falls in Moses' fourth discourse, which spans Deuteronomy 13:1-26.

The verse commands thorough investigation of a reported abomination among the people, requiring enquiring and making search and asking diligently. Only after such careful inquiry, searching, and diligent questioning is the report to be treated as established, when it is found to be truth and the thing certain. That diligent investigation after truth includes asking honest, direct, pointed questions and seeking a clear answer. The same words serve as a rule and motto for examining present questions rather than accepting claims without scrutiny.

The verse supplied the procedure the Jewish leaders hoped to use to investigate the apostles and condemn them for sorcery. The undeniable miracle before them and Peter's Spirit-directed answer left the Sanhedrin unable to make their case.

Teaching and Present Application

The verse gives a good test by which to try prophets, warning against false prophets and setting the law of God as the standard by which they are to be tested. Even one who works signs and wonders is false if he leads away from that law. Appreciating the conditions surrounding Israel shows the wonderful working and superiority of the laws God gave to Israel.

The surrounding chapter records the curse that follows wilful transgression of God's law, specifically the breaking of its first two precepts. The wider passage shows that death at the hand of the civil magistrate was affixed to violation of the Sabbath, as to most of the precepts of the moral law. This was because the moral law embracing the Sabbath formed part of the civil code of the Hebrew nation, and the Law-giver annexed penalties to be inflicted by the magistrate that shadow forth the final retribution of the ungodly. Such civil penalties were suspended by the Saviour's decision that those without sin should cast the first stone. Punishment will still be inflicted by a sinless Being when the hailstones of His wrath desolate the earth, for Christ did not set aside the real penalty of the law which is the wages of sin nor weaken the precept that was violated.

The verse calls for careful investigation — to enquire, search, and ask diligently before deciding whether an abomination has truly been committed and the report is certain. It is therefore a rule for examining questions rather than accepting claims without inquiry or scrutiny. Its words are also used as a motto urging readers to examine questions carefully. They serve as a general call to examine matters closely and to study Scripture carefully.

Diligent investigation after truth includes asking honest, direct, pointed questions and seeking a clear answer. It calls for candid, well-supported questions. Diligent inquiry means asking only questions of general interest and information, presenting one clear point at a time rather than asking for many scriptures to be explained together. It means giving full name and address as evidence of good faith, avoiding foolish and unlearned questions and questions asked from mere curiosity, and studying the Scriptures for oneself.