This has to be one of the sternest chapters anywhere in scripture, and also one of the most offensive to the modern obsession with “tolerance”. It is difficult to imagine a more clarion call to intolerance than is given here. Even the attempt at description seems like an effort to hold it at arm’s length, to domesticate it. That would be a mistake. For all its ferocity, it should be embraced.
The three paragraphs deal with the principle means by which the impetus to abandon loyalty to the true and living God may come, and the level on which their appeal operates: religious and spiritual (vv. 1-5), relationships — even the most intimate (vv. 6-11) — and culture (vv. 12-18).
It is well known that Deuteronomy oscillates in its second person (“you”) address between singular and plural, often without any clear rationale. Deuteronomy 13 is wholly in the singular. However, it is worth noting the last verse of chapter 12, which is the first verse of chapter 13 in Hebrew. The final paragraph of ch. 12 introduces in a general way the specific case-by-case scenarios of ch. 13, and 12:32 (in English) is the hinge between them. It is framed in the second person plural: these instructions bind on individuals, but they are the responsibility of the community as a whole.
How does this “land on” or claim Christian readers? It is, at least, an encouragement to see something admirable in a Phinehas (cf. Numbers 25), and the crucial, life-and-death significance of faithfulness to the true God. And the “introductory” paragraph at the end of Deuteronomy 12 makes clear that idolatry is insidious, subtle, pervasive, and destructive. The trajectory to Romans 1 is clear. That, at any rate, is one way it continues to ring in Christian ears.
