Contemplative Bible Reading

Deuteronomy 13:10 (New Living Translation)

10 Stone the guilty ones to death because they have tried to draw you away from the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of slavery.

Moses is passing the law from God to the people. Earlier, Moses warned of people who would say, “Come, let us worship other gods.” In other words, let’s worship rocks and sticks and rivers and mountains and such. Let’s worship idols. They aren’t real, they have no power, but they have appeal to those who want to assign supernatural power to just about anything.

What to do with such idolators? Stone the guilty ones to death. Put them in the middle of a circle. Everyone surrounding them would throw rocks at them until they died. This was cruel and unusual punishment done in public with the complete participation of the public. This was horrible. This was a punishment and a warning to anyone else who might do likewise.

Serious? You’re darn right it is serious. God didn’t want the people worship sticks and stones and stuff. I often hear people today talking about “worshiping money” or “worshiping jobs” and such. I disagree with describing a preference for some things as idolatry. Idolatry was serious. The punishment was serious.