The Sanitation Department of God: Text: Deuteronomy 13:12-18
Introduction: A Holy Intolerance
We live in an age where the highest virtue is a limp-wristed, gelatinous tolerance. The only thing our culture cannot tolerate is intolerance. The only sin is to call something a sin. The only absolute is that there are no absolutes. Into this sentimental, lukewarm bathwater, a passage like this one from Deuteronomy lands like a block of dry ice, boiling and steaming and making everyone terribly uncomfortable. And that is precisely its purpose.
This is one of those passages that the new atheists love to pull out, wave around, and use to paint the God of the Old Testament as a bloodthirsty monster. And many Christians, sadly, have no answer. They either try to change the subject, or they mumble something about God being different in the New Testament, which is a damnable heresy. The God of Sinai is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has not changed. His character is immutable. Therefore, if we are to be faithful, we must understand what He is commanding here and why.
This law concerns corporate apostasy. This is not about a private citizen having a crisis of faith. This is about a municipality, a city within the covenant nation of Israel, officially and publicly seceding from the covenant. It is an act of high treason against Yahweh, the one true King. These laws about stoning false prophets, executing idolaters, and, in this case, destroying an entire city, were the constitutional bedrock of the nation of Israel. To serve other gods was not a lifestyle choice; it was sedition. It was an attack on the very existence of the nation. What we are reading is God's prescribed method for dealing with a spiritual and political cancer. It is a holy quarantine. And while the application of the sword has been transferred from the church to the state in the New Covenant, the underlying principle of radical separation from evil is as binding on us today as it was on them.
We must have the stomach for this passage, because it teaches us something essential about the holiness of God, the seriousness of sin, and the responsibility of a covenant community to maintain its purity. If we are unwilling to perform spiritual surgery, the entire body will die of sepsis.
The Text
If you hear in one of your cities, which Yahweh your God is giving you to live in, anyone saying that some vile men have gone out from among you and have driven the inhabitants of their city astray, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods' (whom you have not known), then you shall inquire and search out and ask thoroughly. Behold, if it is true and the matter is confirmed, that this abomination has been done among you, you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, devoting it to destruction and all that is in it and its cattle with the edge of thesword. Then you shall gather all its spoil into the middle of its open square and burn the city and all its spoil with fire as a whole burnt offering to Yahweh your God; and it shall be a ruin forever. It shall never be rebuilt. Now nothing from that which is devoted to destruction shall cling to your hand, in order that Yahweh may turn from His burning anger and grant compassion to you and show compassion to you and make you multiply, just as He has sworn to your fathers, if you will listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, keeping all His commandments which I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the sight of Yahweh your God.
(Deuteronomy 13:12-18 LSB)
The Rumor and the Investigation (vv. 12-14)
The process begins not with a flash of divine insight, but with a rumor.
"If you hear in one of your cities... that some vile men have gone out from among you and have driven the inhabitants of their city astray, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods'..." (vv. 12-13)
The men who instigate this rebellion are called "vile men." The Hebrew is bene beliyya'al, sons of worthlessness. This is not a term for someone with a few theological questions. This describes men who are morally and spiritually bankrupt, scoundrels who are actively leading a rebellion. Their crime is sedition. They are driving the inhabitants of their city astray, persuading them to break the first and most fundamental law of Israel's constitution: "You shall have no other gods before Me." This is a political coup, an attempt to secede from the kingdom of Yahweh and establish a new allegiance to a foreign, non-existent deity.
But notice what must happen next. God does not command a vigilante mob. He does not say, "If you hear a rumor, go burn the city down." No, He commands the very foundation of Western jurisprudence.
"then you shall inquire and search out and ask thoroughly. Behold, if it is true and the matter is confirmed, that this abomination has been done among you..." (v. 14)
This is a command for due process. Three distinct verbs are used: inquire, search out, and ask thoroughly. This is a rigorous, careful, judicial investigation. You must get the facts. You must have evidence. The matter must be confirmed. The penalty is the most extreme possible, and therefore the standard of proof must be equally high. This is God's protection against rash judgment, false accusations, and mob rule. He is a God of justice and order, not chaos. Before the sentence is carried out, the truth of the matter must be established beyond any doubt. This is not an emotional reaction; it is a deliberate, judicial process.
The Sentence of Herem (vv. 15-16)
Once the investigation is complete and the guilt of the city is confirmed, the sentence is pronounced. And it is breathtaking in its severity.
"you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, devoting it to destruction and all that is in it and its cattle with the edge of the sword." (v. 15)
The key phrase here is "devoting it to destruction." This is the Hebrew word herem. It does not simply mean to destroy. It means to consecrate something to God for utter destruction. It is to remove something from ordinary use and hand it over to God's judgment. This was the sentence on Jericho. This city has become a spiritual cancer, and the only cure is complete excision. This is the civil magistrate of Israel, acting under God's explicit command, carrying out corporate capital punishment for high treason.
And the sentence extends beyond the people.
"Then you shall gather all its spoil into the middle of its open square and burn the city and all its spoil with fire as a whole burnt offering to Yahweh your God; and it shall be a ruin forever. It shall never be rebuilt." (v. 16)
Why burn the spoil? This is crucial. This act of judgment must not be tainted by greed. This is not a war for plunder. The soldiers are not to enrich themselves. By burning everything, they are demonstrating that their motive is pure zeal for the Lord's honor. The entire city, with all its wealth, is declared herem. It is offered up as a "whole burnt offering" to God. This is a liturgical act of justice. It is worship. The city becomes a permanent ruin, a tel, a monument and a warning to all future generations about the consequences of corporate apostasy.
The Reason for Radical Purity (vv. 17-18)
The final verses explain the purpose behind this terrifying command. It is not about divine cruelty; it is about restoring covenant blessing through radical purification.
"Now nothing from that which is devoted to destruction shall cling to your hand, in order that Yahweh may turn from His burning anger and grant compassion to you..." (v. 17)
The people executing the judgment must themselves remain clean. If they take any of the devoted spoil, as Achan did at Jericho, they bring the curse upon themselves and the whole nation. The command to keep their hands clean is a test of their motives. Are they doing this for God or for gold?
The ultimate goal is the restoration of fellowship with God. The corporate sin of one city has kindled God's "burning anger" against the entire nation. This surgical procedure is necessary so that God may turn from His anger and show compassion. This is severe mercy. By cutting out the one diseased member, the whole body of Israel is saved from the judgment it would otherwise deserve. Purity is the path to divine favor. Obedience in this hard thing leads to God's compassion, mercy, and blessing, causing them to multiply as He promised their fathers.
The passage concludes by restating the fundamental principle of the covenant.
"...if you will listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, keeping all His commandments... and doing what is right in the sight of Yahweh your God." (v. 18)
Blessing is conditional on obedience. The standard is not what seems right in your own eyes, which is the very definition of anarchy (Judges 21:25). The standard is what is right in the sight of Yahweh your God. He is the King, He sets the terms, and His people flourish when they walk in His ways.
New Covenant Application
So what do we do with this? We are not ancient Israel. The Church is a spiritual kingdom and does not wield the physical sword; that authority has been given to the civil magistrate (Rom. 13:4). We are not to burn down cities. To attempt to apply this law literally today would be a wicked and grotesque misreading of redemptive history.
But does this mean the passage has nothing to say to us? God forbid. The principle of herem is still in effect, but its application has been transferred from the civil realm to the spiritual realm of the church. The New Testament equivalent of devoting a city to destruction is excommunication.
Consider Paul's instructions to the Corinthian church. A man was engaged in notorious, unrepentant sexual sin, and the church was puffed up and tolerating it. They were proud of their "open-mindedness." Paul is horrified. What does he command? "Purge the evil person from among you" (1 Cor. 5:13). He tells them to "deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord" (1 Cor. 5:5). That is the language of herem. It is a spiritual handing-over for judgment, with the ultimate goal of purification for the church and, hopefully, repentance for the sinner.
The modern church has completely lost its nerve in this regard. We tolerate heresy, immorality, and every kind of abomination because we have exchanged the biblical virtue of holiness for the worldly sentiment of niceness. We refuse to "inquire and search out" because we are afraid of what we might find. We refuse to excommunicate because we fear being called judgmental. We allow the devoted things to cling to our hands, and then we wonder why the church is so weak, so compromised, and so fruitless.
The burning anger of the Lord is kindled against a church that tolerates wickedness in its midst. This passage from Deuteronomy should be a splash of cold water in our faces. It reminds us that God is holy, that sin is a consuming fire, and that a covenant community is responsible for its own purity. Our love for God, our love for the church, and even our love for the unrepentant sinner demand that we take church discipline seriously. The goal is the same now as it was then: that the Lord might turn from His anger, grant us compassion, and cause His people to multiply. A pure church is a powerful church. Let us therefore have the courage to obey.