John Calvin Commentary Deuteronomy 13:16

"And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, unto Jehovah thy God: and it shall be a heap for ever; it shall not be built again." — Deuteronomy 13:16 (ASV)

And you shall gather all the spoil of it. They are commanded to burn all the furniture and whatever is found in the city; and the reason is added, because it is accursed (anathema). If any city was taken in war, all that God here commands to be burned was to be counted as spoil, for the Jews would pollute themselves by its very touch.

It might be indeed that God’s intention was to prevent covetousness, lest the Jews should mix up their zeal with plunder; but the principal reason was that which Moses expresses, that the people might be more accustomed to detest the crime, which they saw to be so cruelly punished by God.

The word חרם, cherem, which the Greeks have translated anathema,⁶⁴ properly means destruction or abolition; but that which God wills to be annihilated, because He cannot bear the sight of it, is called חרם before Him. Therefore it is said, “You shall burn it to the Lord your God;” for the translation which some give, “for (propter) the Lord,” is not quite literal.

The sum is this: if they fear God’s vengeance for themselves and desire to propitiate His favor, they must hold in execration the houses and property of those who have rebelled against the Law. Moreover, it is implied by the words “mercy” and “compassion” that if God should deal with absolute justice, the wickedness of one city would suffice to destroy a whole country. From this we gather that a kind of expiation is demanded to propitiate God, when they are commanded utterly to destroy the city and to cast every remnant of it into the fire.

⁶⁴ “Execration.” — .” — Fr..