Holy

Monday 11^th August

Read Deuteronomy 13

“If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, ² and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, ‘Let us follow other gods’ (gods you have not known) ‘and let us worship them,’ ³ you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴ It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. ⁵ That prophet or dreamer must be put to death for inciting rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. That prophet or dreamer tried to turn you from the way the Lord your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.

⁶ If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and worship other gods’ (gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, ⁷ gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), ⁸ do not yield to them or listen to them. Show them no pity. Do not spare them or shield them. ⁹ You must certainly put them to death. Your hand must be the first in putting them to death, and then the hands of all the people. ¹⁰ Stone them to death, because they tried to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. ¹¹ Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and no one among you will do such an evil thing again.

¹² If you hear it said about one of the towns the Lord your God is giving you to live in ¹³ that troublemakers have arisen among you and have led the people of their town astray, saying, ‘Let us go and worship other gods’ (gods you have not known), ¹⁴ then you must enquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly. And if it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done among you, ¹⁵ you must certainly put to the sword all who live in that town. You must destroy it completely, both its people and its livestock. ¹⁶ You are to gather all the plunder of the town into the middle of the public square and completely burn the town and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. That town is to remain a ruin for ever, never to be rebuilt, ¹⁷ and none of the condemned things are to be found in your hands. Then the Lord will turn from his fierce anger, will show you mercy, and will have compassion on you. He will increase your numbers, as he promised on oath to your ancestors – ¹⁸ because you obey the Lord your God by keeping all his commands that I am giving you today and doing what is right in his eyes.” (NIVUK)

This is a difficult chapter to come to grips with; instructions to destroy the detestable if it arises, seem so harsh to my sensibility. But the instruction to test false prophets highlights the seriousness of idolatry from God’s perspective and the judgement that He will bring to individuals and communities that would lead people to worship other than the one true God. Those who obey God will ‘put to death’ falsehood, rebellion and purge the evil, even if they are family and friends! It is an individual responsibility but also that of the community to ‘destroy’ anything that will encourage idolatry thus protecting self and others; but don’t do so on hearsay, there must be justice involved.  If ‘destruction’ is just, then the whole community will know and fear rebellious choice and will be protected from being led astray. I need to think this through, it is not immediately obvious to me how this works out in practice for our secular society – is a focus on truth involved? Those who obey and destroy falsehood and evil influences will find God’s mercy and compassion. The call to holiness and to truth reminds me of Paul’s comments in 2 Corinthians 11 about the false apostles. The question I am left with is how tolerant am I of falsehood and those who subtly and not so subtly seek to lead people away from God? The NT makes it clear the judgement of such people is God’s responsibility not mine; I have a responsibility to test, warn and remove (with the Spirit’s help) such influences from my life even when those influences are close to ‘home’.  How do I do this is a secular society where such influences are constantly in my ears and eyes? Paul’s words of advice in 2 Cor 10:5 point me in the right direction – we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.  It also reminds me of Rom 12:1-2 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Geoff Hinch