Read Deuteronomy 13:1-14:21 at Bible Gateway.
Previously: deuteronomy 10:12-12:32, love and gratitude
(Please review the teaching tools of scripture, especially the Hebrew paragraph divisions and chiastic structures. The paragraphs marked by an “s” at their close are weak paragraphs, which indicate a change of facet but not a change of theme or topic. The paragraphs marked by a “p” at their close are strong paragraphs, which indicate the completion of a theme or topic. The paragraph divisions reveal the chiastic structures: narratives which zero in on the main point of the narrative at its center, like a bull’s eye at the center of a target. The main point is revealed, because the narrative elements before the main point (or central axis) are repeated after the central axis, in reverse order, while the central axis itself is not repeated.)
This section, Deu 13:1-14:21, is the second section explaining the second commandment, Do not make idols. (The second commandment is explained in Deu 11:26-14:29, and this is my summary of it.) These are the Hebrew paragraph divisions:
Deu 13:1-5 {s} Death for the prophet who tries to turn Israel from YHVH
Deu 13:6-11 {s} Death for the loved one who tries to turn Israel from YHVH
Deu 13:12-18 {s} Death for the city in Israel who turns from YHVH
Deu 14:1-2 {s} Do not mourn for the dead in the manner of the nations
Deu 14:3-8 {s} Do not eat unclean animals
Deu 14:9-10 {s} Do not eat unclean sea creatures
Deu 14:11-21 {p} Do not eat unclean flying things + do not boil a kid in its mother’s milk
Even though it does not make sense to human logic, we can tell by the paragraph divisions that all of this together is teaching a single overarching topic (something having to do with idols, we expect), according to God’s logic. So let’s look at it more closely to see what we can discover.
The first three paragraphs, Deu 13:1-18, are very similar. They each form very similar chiastic structures:
Deu 13:1-5 s
1a) Deu 13:1-2, If prophet/ dreamer gives you a sign/ wonder + asks you to go after other gods and serve them;
1b) Deu 13:3-4, The Lord tests you, if you love Him with your whole heart + soul/ walk after + fear Him + obey His voice;
central axis) Deu 13:5a, Put prophet or dreamer to death/ he tried to turn you from the Lord who redeemed you from Egypt;
2b) Deu 13:5b, He tried to thrust you from the way the Lord commanded you to walk;
2a) Deu 13:5c s, You will put the evil away from your midst.
Deu 13:6-11 s
1a) Deu 13:6-7, If your brother + son + daughter + wife + friend entice you to go serve other gods;
1b) Deu 13:8, You shall not consent nor listen; neither shall your eye pity + spare + conceal him;
central axis) Deu 13:9-10a, You shall kill him/ you first then all the people/ you shall stone him until he die;
2b) Deu 13:10b, Because he sought to thrust you away from the Lord who brought you out of Egypt;
2a) Deu 13:11, All Israel shall hear + fear/ shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you.
Deu 13:12-18 s
1a) Deu 13:12-14, If one of your cities goes to serve other gods/ if such abomination is true + certain;
1b) Deu 13:15, You shall surely put that city to the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, all within it + its cattle;
central axis) Deu 13:16, Gather its spoil in its midst/ burn city + spoil with fire/ remain a heap + not be built for ever;
2b) Deu 13:17a, Nothing of the cursed thing shall cleave to your hand;
2a) Deu 13:17b-18, So He may turn from His fierce anger/ show you mercy/ when you listen to His voice + do right in His eyes.
We might say the theme of these three paragraphs is:
Deu 13:1-18 s+s+s, Israel shall judge prophet + kinsman + city that seeks to serve other gods;
As I was trying to study this strong section to find the connection for its seeming disparate parts, I discovered that Deu 14:1-21, the remaining four paragraphs to the section, formed its own chiastic structure as well:
Deu 14:1-21, s+s+s+p
1a) Deu 14:1, You shall not cut yourselves + make bald between your eyes for the dead (you shall not adopt idolatrous customs);
1b) Deu 14:2a, You are holy to the Lord;
1c) Deu 14:2b s, You are distinctly His special treasure above all the nations on the earth;
1d) Deu 14:3, You shall not eat any abominable thing;
central axis) Deu 14:4-20 s+s, What Israel may/ may not eat among beasts + fish + birds;
2d) Deu 14:21a, You shall not eat what dies of itself;
2c) Deu 14:21b, You shall give it to the stranger + sell it to a foreigner (they are not distinct);
2b) Deu 14:21c, For you are a holy people to the Lord your God;
2a) Deu 14:21d p, You shall not boil a kid in his mother’s milk (you shall not adopt idolatrous customs).
We saw previously that in the pagan culture surrounding Israel, every time an animal was killed to be eaten, it was killed as a sacrifice to an idol. Eating involved idol worship. So, we are seeing God establishing distinctions between Himself and the idols. The idolators made their sacrifices in every place … His unique people would make their sacrifices in one place. The idolators killed every creature for food as a part of idolatrous practices … His unique people would partake of only clean creatures for food (creatures who were not detrimental to life and health). His unique people would not engage in practices common to idolatrous superstitions, such as cutting the hair to dedicate it to an idol on the passing of a relative, or boiling a kid in its mother’s milk to seek “mother earth’s” blessing on the crops for the coming season.
Continued: deuteronomy 14:22-29, the fear of the Lord
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