Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
God forbids a false prophet, and a friend who persuades to the worship of a foreign god, to be killed and stoned; but a city that cultivated idolatry, He commands, verse 13, to be utterly destroyed down to the livestock, and all its goods to be burned together with the city.
Vulgate Text: Deuteronomy 13:1-18
1. If there arise in the midst of you a prophet, or one who says he has seen a dream, and he foretells a sign and a portent, 2. and that which he spoke comes to pass, and he says to you: Let us go and follow other gods whom you do not know, and let us serve them; 3. you shall not hear the words of that prophet or dreamer, because the Lord your God is testing you, that it may be made known whether you love Him or not, with all your heart and with all your soul. 4. Follow the Lord your God, and fear Him, and keep His commandments, and hear His voice: Him you shall serve, and to Him you shall cleave. 5. But that prophet or maker of dreams shall be put to death; because he spoke to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of slavery: to make you go astray from the way which the Lord your God commanded you; and you shall take away the evil from your midst. 6. If your brother the son of your mother, or your son or daughter, or the wife who is in your bosom, or a friend whom you love as your own soul, tries to persuade you, saying secretly: Let us go and serve other gods which you do not know, neither you nor your fathers, 7. of all the surrounding nations, whether near or far, from one end of the earth to the other, 8. do not agree with him, nor listen to him, nor let your eye spare him, to have pity or to hide him, 9. but you shall immediately kill him; let your hand be first upon him, and afterwards let all the people cast their hand. 10. He shall be stoned to death: because he wished to draw you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery; 11. so that all Israel hearing may fear, and never again do anything like this. 12. If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God will give you to dwell in, that some say: 13. Sons of Belial have gone out from your midst, and have turned away the inhabitants of their city, and have said: Let us go and serve other gods, which you do not know: 14. inquire carefully and diligently; and if, having examined the truth of the matter, you find that what is said is certain, and that this abomination has been carried out in deed, 15. you shall immediately strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, and destroy it, and all that is in it, down to the livestock; 16. whatever goods there are, you shall gather in the middle of its streets, and burn them together with the city, so that you consume all for the Lord your God, and it shall be a perpetual mound: it shall not be built again, 17. and nothing of that accursed thing shall cling to your hand: so that the Lord may turn from the fury of His anger, and have mercy on you, and multiply you as He swore to your fathers, 18. when you have heard the voice of the Lord your God, you shall keep all His commandments which I command you today, so that you may do what is pleasing in the sight of the Lord your God.
Verse 2: Let Us Follow Other Gods
2. LET US FOLLOW OTHER GODS WHOM YOU DO NOT KNOW -- namely, know to be gods, because they have not shown you those signs of divinity and providence which I showed in Egypt and in the desert.
Verse 3: The Lord Tests You
3. THE LORD TESTS (that is, permits you to be tested) YOU. -- For, as St. James says, chapter 1, 13, God properly tempts no one; but God permits you to be tempted, so that through this it may shine forth and be evident to all whether you love God or not.
Moral Application: Three Ways God Tests Us
Morally, St. Gregory, Moralia XXVIII, chapter VII: "In three ways, he says, our Creator is accustomed to question us. First, when He strikes with the severity of the scourge, and shows how much patience is in us or is lacking." Thus He questioned St. Job. Secondly, when He commands what we are already unwilling to do, and makes known to us our obedience or disobedience. Thus He questioned Abraham, commanding him to sacrifice his son, Genesis XXII. So also here it is said: "The Lord your God tests you, that He may know whether you love Him. For the testing of God is to question us with great commands. His knowing, also, is to make us know our own obedience. Thirdly, when He opens to us some hidden things, and conceals others, and makes known to us the measure of our humility." So He did with St. Paul, when he exclaimed: "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!"
That It May Be Made Known
THAT IT MAY BE MADE KNOWN. -- In Hebrew and Greek it reads, that He may know; namely, God through experience and through the outcome, what He foreknew by prescience from eternity. Otherwise, St. Augustine, book I of On Genesis Against the Manichees, chapter XXII: That He may know, he says, that is, that He may make us know how much we have advanced in His solid love. Let the faithful think the same, and arm themselves with this thought when heresies arise, as Vincent of Lerins beautifully teaches in his book Against Heresies, where he presses this passage from Deuteronomy.
Verse 5: To Make You Go Astray from the Way
5. TO MAKE YOU GO ASTRAY FROM THE WAY WHICH THE LORD COMMANDED YOU. -- "From the way," that is, from the manner of living and serving God. For the Hebrew word derech, that is, way, means manner of living, conduct, institution, tenor of life.
Verse 9: You Shall Immediately Kill Him
9. BUT YOU SHALL IMMEDIATELY KILL HIM (that is, you shall accuse him, so that he may be immediately killed; for it follows) LET YOUR HAND BE FIRST UPON HIM, that is, you first cast a stone at him, then all the people; which cannot be understood except of one who has been publicly condemned through accusers and judges.
Verse 13: Sons of Belial
13. SONS OF BELIAL HAVE GONE OUT, AND HAVE TURNED AWAY -- that is, the apostates began to turn people away. For to rise up and go out often signifies in Scripture to begin and to undertake some matter, as I said above.
Sons of Belial are rebellious and wicked men, who cast off the yoke of the law and of God, namely sons of the devil: for the devil was the first Belial; that is, the first apostate. The Septuagint translates, paranomoi, that is, lawless ones. See what was said on II Corinthians VI.
The Enallage of Person
LET US SERVE OTHER GODS, WHOM YOU DO NOT KNOW. -- This is an enallage of person; for "let us serve" is the voice of the apostates, but "whom you do not know" is the voice of God; for the apostates would have said: Whom you know to be famous and celebrated among the nations.
Verse 15: You Shall Immediately Strike
15. YOU SHALL IMMEDIATELY STRIKE. -- For this slaughter, all Israel was gathered together, as was done against the Reubenites, Joshua XXII, 12.
Verse 16: You Shall Consume for the Lord
16. YOU SHALL CONSUME FOR THE LORD YOUR GOD -- namely, in honor of your God; for it was a great act of worship of God, and as it were a kind of sacrifice, to destroy and punish those men, so injurious to God, blasphemous and sacrilegious, together with all their possessions, and to establish the anathema, as an example to others: hence Tertullian in the Scorpiace, chapter II, calls these anathemas "devotamenta" (things devoted to destruction).