Deuteronomy 13:12

"If thou shalt hear tell concerning one of thy cities, Which Jehovah thy God giveth thee to dwell there, saying, Certain base fellows are gone out from the midst of thee, and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known; then shalt thou inquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be the truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in the midst of thee, thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword. And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shall burn with fire the city and all the spoil thereof every whit, unto Jehovah thy God: and it shall be a heap forever; it shall not be built again. And there shall cleave naught of the devoted thing unto thy hand; that Jehovah may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and show thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, when thou shalt hearken unto Jehovah thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to. do that which is right in the eyes of Jehovah thy God."

Alexander states that the words here rendered "hear tell" sometimes have the meaning of "overhearing," as in Genesis 27:5;[19] but nothing like that is meant here. It is merely a reference to the common gossip about a town that reaches to another town. In the event of such an evil report coming in about some sister city, the report was to be carefully sifted, diligently researched, and after all doubt of the truth of the report was removed, then, and not before then, the town was to be devoted, that means, "It was to be placed under the ban in its most destructive phase."[20] Notice here that no punishment was to be inflicted until the fullest possible investigation had been completed. "Many of the principles of British common law can be traced to these Mosaic enactments."[21]

One of the most significant things in these early books of the Bible is found in Joshua 22, where is given a historical example of how Israel honored this law in the instances of an event which, according to the gossip of the day, indicated that the trans-Jordanian tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh had erected an altar contrary to the law of God and were, in fact, defecting from the holy religion of Israel. The other tribes sent a delegation to make inquiry, headed by Phinehas, who was still living, and the result was so satisfactory in clearing up the false report that Phinehas even pronounced a benediction upon the builders of the monument (falsely reported as an unauthorized altar). Joshua 22 contradicts everything connected with the false allegations of critics trying to date Deuteronomy in the 9th century B.C. As McGarvey put it:

"Now, whoever wrote this account, and whatever date may be assigned to the Book of Joshua, if this account is true, all debate about the Mosaic authorship of Deuteronomy ought to terminate right here."[22]

All such witnesses against the evil theories, however, are shouted out of the Bible altogether by its enemies, who, without any evidence to sustain them, without the slightest excuse, and without even the semblance of any reason, declare of all such passages: "They don't belong ... they are not historical ... they are a gloss ... they are interpolations, etc. etc." It is far past time that any such criticism should receive any attention whatever from Christians. They do not derive from intelligence, or scholarship, or any kind of investigation whatever, but are pure and simply the children of unbelief!

Some have professed horror at what they call "these bloody laws" in Deuteronomy, but, as Jamieson said, "These laws were in accordance with the national constitution of Israel. God was their King, and idolatry was therefore treason and justly deserved the penalties of rebellion."[23]

Note the word "abomination" in Deuteronomy 13:14. Wright observed that, "This is the strongest word that the O.T. possesses for that which is impure, unclean, and lacking in holiness."[24]

"Smite the inhabitants of that city ... (Deuteronomy 13:15)." By adopting the paganism of the doomed cities of Canaan, any city of the Israelites would by such an adoption have made themselves the same kind of an abomination that pertained to the doomed cities of Canaan, and it would not have been just for Almighty God to have spared any Israelite city so defiled from the punishment meted out against the condemned cities of Canaan. "Note too that the Divine Suzerain, like the common lords in their ancient treaties, imposed strict regulations upon the disposal of the spoil that resulted from the destruction of any rebellious city."[25] God's law differed in this respect, that the spoil was in no sense whatever expected to enrich the persons inflicting the penalty of destruction. It was to be burnt up, made a part of the holocaust that should bring the death of the doomed city. This was an important distinction, because it meant that no monetary rewards would accrue to the people inflicting the punishment. Such a role would have effectively prevented any hasty destruction on the basis of improper or insufficient evidence. Any city incurring such a penalty "was to be made a ruin, never to be rebuilt; and thus was to be treated the same as a heathen idolatrous city."[26]

It was especially important that no Israelite allow any of the spoil of the doomed city to "cleave to his hand" (Deuteronomy 13:17). Keil pointed out that, "An example of how such property placed under the ban, if appropriated by an Israelite, would bring the wrath of God upon the whole people is seen in the case of Achan (Joshua 7)."[27] Speaking of how God's law that forbade the taking of spoil from the doomed cities was designed to restrain the greed of men, Adam Clarke questioned, "How few religious wars there would have been in the world, if they had been regulated by the principle: `Thou shalt neither extend thy territory, nor take any spoils?'"[28]