Deuteronomy 17:4
And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel: And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel:
When word comes that covenant-breaking wickedness has been done, it must be heard and searched out with diligent and careful investigation, and counted as established and true and certain only when the proof makes it so before the offender is brought to judgment and punishment. The abomination in Israel is serving and worshiping other gods, worshiping anything besides the true God, including the sun and moon and stars and heavenly bodies which He had not commanded. Worship that God has not commanded, when offered to Him as service, is a wicked thing and an abomination, especially when it also breaks a plain and express command. Sunday-keeping, set against the commanded seventh-day Sabbath, is such unauthorized worship, while those who acted honestly in ignorance are allowed for, and knowledge of the truth changes their responsibility. One who practices or teaches idolatry and leads the people after other gods was to be put to death by stoning, the same penalty laid upon Sabbath-breaking, murder, blasphemy, and other offenses, and a report of Sabbath violation likewise had to be carefully investigated and proved true before the penalty could fall, for the civil penalties joined to the moral law foreshadow the final punishment of the ungodly.
Diligent Inquiry and Judgment
When it is told and heard that covenant-breaking wickedness has been done, there must be diligent inquiry and careful investigation, and only when the evidence makes it so may the matter be treated as established, true, certain and proven before the offender is brought to judgment and punishment. The reported offense to be so examined is serving and worshiping other gods, or the sun and moon and stars and heavenly host, which had not been commanded. Worship not commanded by God, when offered to Him as service, is a wicked thing and an abomination, especially when it also violates a plain and express command. Knowledge of the truth changes responsibility, so that those who acted honestly in ignorance are allowed for, while continued unauthorized worship after light has come, such as Sunday-keeping in contrast with the commanded seventh-day Sabbath, stands under that condemnation.
The verse stands in Moses' repetition of the law, rehearsing the wonderful things God had done for His people and the chief laws connected with Israel. It was given before crossing the Jordan into the promised land, to bring to remembrance the lessons of forty years of wandering in the wilderness and to impress the sacred import of God's holy law and the necessity of keeping it. The law belongs to Israel's theocracy, in which priests acted as judges, witnesses testified, and the people carried out the prescribed penalty. It thus illustrates a death penalty administered then, in contrast with the present delay of judgment until God repays.
The same requirement of diligent inquiry secures a fair trial for a slayer, for the sheltered public gate of the city of refuge is where the judges sit and where men attend night and day to receive fugitives. The decision of the elders there only admits him, while the regular trial comes later before a higher court when witnesses have been summoned and the accusers have had time to appear. This is the passage alluded to where it is said that one who despised Moses' law died on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Moses' law there includes the Ten Commandments within it.
Abomination, Punishment, and Sabbath
The abomination wrought in Israel is serving and worshiping other gods, worshiping anything other than the true God, including the sun and moon and stars and heavenly bodies, which God had not commanded. Worship God has not commanded, when offered to Him as service, is a wicked thing and an abomination, especially when it also violates a plain and express command. Sunday-keeping, in contrast with the commanded seventh-day Sabbath, is such unauthorized worship, while those who acted honestly in ignorance are allowed for, and knowledge of the truth changes their responsibility.
One who practices or teaches idolatry and leads the people after other gods was to suffer capital punishment by stoning, the same penalty applied to Sabbath-breaking, murder, blasphemy, and other offenses, and a shared death penalty does not make the Sabbath law merely ceremonial. As part of the civil code given to Israel, a report of Sabbath violation had to be carefully investigated and established as true before the prescribed penalty could be imposed. The civil penalties attached to the moral law, including the Sabbath commandment, foreshadow the final punishment of the ungodly, and the decision that the sinless should cast the first stone suspended their enforcement by civil magistrates but did not remove sin's ultimate penalty or weaken the violated commandment.
The command Thou shalt not kill still binds every individual soul, while as governor of Israel God ordered governments to protect the lives and property of subjects by putting to death the taker of life and one who commits a crime tending to utterly subvert the government and destroy many. This was because if such crimes continued the whole nation would be destroyed by the influence of evil-doers, and despising and transgressing the Sabbath leads into idolatry, while idolatry means the eternal destruction of many, so it is better that the one who subverts the whole nation perish than that the nation be destroyed. The execution was meant to restrain evil-doers and stand as an example to the young to turn from demoralizing practices, and when the command became a dead letter the people went into idolatry with crimes of every kind, including destruction in idolatrous ceremonies themselves sacrificing to the sun-god and to Moloch.