John Gill Commentary Deuteronomy 13

If there arise among you a prophet
A false prophet, a lying prophet, as the Targum of Jonathan; one that pretends to be a true prophet, and to be sent of God, and to come from him with a message from him, a new revelation or doctrine, or in his name, to foretell things to come; the former is chiefly meant. Such prophets did arise in Israel before the time of Christ, and have since arose under the Christian name; see (2 Peter 2:1) ,

or a dreamer of dreams ;
the same with the prophet, only to be distinguished by the different manner of their having the mind and will of God revealed to them, pretended to; either by vision or by dream, which were the two usual ways in which the Lord spoke to the true prophets, (Numbers 12:6) so that the prophet is one who pretended he had a vision from the Lord, and the dreamer one that had a dream from him, or something revealed to him in a dream; and dreams are sometimes used for false doctrines, vain, deceitful, and illusory; see (Jeremiah 23:25–28). The Targum of Jonathan calls him ``a dreamer of a dream of pride:''

such persons are generally prompted by the pride of their own hearts to take such a method to make themselves famous and respected among men; and usually bring such doctrines with them which are agreeable to the pride and vanity of human nature:

and giving thee a sign or a wonder ;
for the confirmation of his mission and doctrine; such as Moses wrought before the children of Israel and before Pharaoh. Signs are expressions or representations of things to come to pass; wonders, such as either do, or seem to exceed the common course of nature, or be contrary to it.

And the sign and wonder come to pass whereof he spake unto
thee
The sign he promised to give, or the miracle he proposed to do, to show the reality of his mission, and the truth of his doctrine, which is performed, or seemingly performed, by legerdemain, by magic art, or by the help of the devil; which the Lord sometimes suffered for the trial of the faith and obedience of his people, and for the hardening of others in their unbelief, and which issues in their destruction; see (2 Thessalonians 2:9–12) ,

saying, let us go after other gods (which thou hast not known), and let
us serve them ;
other gods besides the one living and true God, the Creator of all things; strange gods, the idols of the people, as the Targum of Jonathan; such as they had never heard of, nor had any knowledge of, nor any benefit from, as they had of the Lord their God. Now the doctrines of these, and of their worship, are what the false prophet or dreamer is supposed to come with, and inculcate into the minds of the people; and for the confirmation of which, and in order to draw them into the reception of them, and act according to them, he proposed to give a sign or wonder.

Thou shall not hearken to the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams Even though he does give the sign, and work the wonder; for it might be reasonably concluded there must be fallacy in him, and that neither he nor his miraculous sign could come from God, who would never send a person to enable him to do signs and wonders, to persuade men to believe and act contrary to a former declaration of his mind and will; to break a plain law of his, as in (Deuteronomy 5:7–9) , this would be to contradict and deny himself; whatever therefore is contrary to a known law or established doctrine, either of law or Gospel, let it come from whom it will, or pretend to be confirmed by miracles, is not to be received; see (Galatians 1:8Galatians 1:9) ,

for the Lord your God proves you, whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul ; for should they be prevailed upon by such a prophet to hearken to his doctrine, and embrace it, and act according to it, it would be a plain case that they did not cordially love the Lord, since they could so easily, and by such pretences, be drawn aside from the true worship of him, and serve other gods; on the other hand, it would be a proof of their sincere affection for God, and of their close and strict attachment to him, that notwithstanding such specious pretences made, and such miracles wrought, yet abode by him and his worship, and could not be wrought upon to forsake him and follow other gods and serve them; see (1 Corinthians 11:19) .

You shall walk after the Lord your God As he has directed, according to the laws and rules which he has given, both with respect to their moral and civil conduct, and their religious worship of him; and so the Targum of Jonathan, "you shall walk after the worship of the Lord your God:" and fear him, and keep his commandments ; fear to offend him, and so keep his commandments; or keep his commandments from or through fear; not a servile but a filial one, a reverential affection for him; this is the whole duty of man, (Ecclesiastes 12:13) ,

and obey his voice ; in his word, or by his prophets and ministers: it may very well be understood of the voice of Christ, the Angel that went before them, whose voice they were continually to hearken to and obey, (Exodus 23:21Exodus 23:22)

and you shall serve him, and cleave unto him ; it may respect all religious worship, both private and public; the Targum of Jonathan restrains it to prayer, but it not only includes that, but all other acts of piety and devotion, and which are to be constantly performed and not departed from; for so to do is to cleave to the Lord as a man to his wife, or a woman to her husband, in which conjugal relation God and his people Israel were, he was an husband unto them, and to do otherwise is to go a whoring from him after other gods.

And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to
death
Which death, according to the Targum of Jonathan, was to be killed with the sword:

because he has spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God ;
or "spoken revolt against the Lord" ^F12 , high treason against him, delivering out doctrine thattends to cause his subjects to rebel against him, and revolt from him; and therefore he is justly deservingof death, to draw off a people from him he has been so good and kind to; so that to apostasy would be addedthe sin of ingratitude:

which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the
house of bondage ;
and so was not only their Lord by creation whom they ought to serve, but by redemption, which laid them underdouble obligation to serve him:

to thrust you out of the way which the Lord your God commanded you to
walk in ;
not by external force, but by the power of persuasion, by enticing words and arguments:

so you shall put the evil away from the midst of you ;
the evil man, by putting him to death, and the evil of idolatry, by not listening to the words of the falseprophet.

FOOTNOTES:

• F12: (hro) "apostasiam", Junius & Tremellius,Piscator; "defectionem", Tigurine version.