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Deuteronomy 13 Bible study: Walk after the LORD your God
In Deuteronomy 13 a prophet's sign can come to pass and still not be the test; where he leads is (13:2-3). The answer is six things, and in Hebrew each puts him, his commandments or his voice before the verb: walk after, fear, keep, obey, serve, and "cling to him" (13:4), the same verb as "Nothing of the devoted thing shall cling to your hand" (13:17).
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“You shall walk after the LORD your God, fear him, keep his commandments, and obey his voice. You shall serve him, and cling to him.”
Try it · Did you catch it?
“In Deuteronomy 13, Israel is told not to listen to a prophet who says "Let’s go after other gods", even if his sign comes to pass.”
Is that in Deuteronomy 13, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
When the sign comes true
The first case is not a prophet whose sign fails. It is one whose sign works: "and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you" (13:2). What decides it is where he leads: "Let’s go after other gods" (which you have not known) "and let’s serve them" (13:2). The answer is plain: "you shall not listen to the words of that prophet, or to that dreamer of dreams" (13:3). The chapter doesn't say how the sign came to pass. It says what the LORD is doing: "for the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul" (13:3). Those are nearly the words of 6:5: "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might."
Where it leads to Jesus
Great signs and wonders
Deuteronomy 13:1leads toMatthew 24:24
Moses warns of a prophet whose "sign or the wonder comes to pass" but who says, "Let’s go after other gods" (13:2). Jesus told his disciples, "For false christs and false prophets will arise, and they will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones" (Matthew 24:24), and "Behold, I have told you beforehand" (Matthew 24:25); Mark gives the same saying (Mark 13:22). Jesus doesn't cite Deuteronomy 13, so setting them together is a reading. One reading hears Jesus giving this chapter's warning again: a sign that happens does not settle whom to follow. Another reads Jesus as speaking of the days he describes in Matthew 24, in words that share "false prophets" and "signs and wonders" with this chapter's subject without pointing to it.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Deuteronomy 13
That was a taste
The rest of Deuteronomy 13 is waiting in Favor
- Three cases, one sentence
- Go after, or walk after
- Where the chapter begins
- "Spoken rebellion against the LORD"
- 9 questions as you read
- 12 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it
נָסָהnasahsay na-SAH
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "test, try, prove, tempt [but not in the modern sense of the word]". Strong's: "to test; by implication, to attempt". "For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul" (13:3). Moses has used it of the wilderness: "that he might humble you, to test you, to know what was in your heart" (8:2). Both times the LORD tests "to know". It is the verb of "God tested Abraham" (Genesis 22:1).
For your group
Deuteronomy 13 Bible study questions
- 1In 13:1-3 the sign came true, and it still didn't settle the matter; where it led did. What tends to convince you that something is right, and how do you check where it's leading you?
- 2Moses names the people with the most pull on us, down to "your friend who is as your own soul" (13:6). Who has that kind of pull on your choices, and does it draw you toward God or away?
- 3Before acting on what they heard, Israel was to "inquire, investigate, and ask diligently" (13:14). When you hear something bad about someone, what would it look like to do that first?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Deuteronomy 13 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home