The cost of discipleship can be great, but Jesus told us that ahead of time. “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). Jesus’s words are about allegiance. He doesn’t actually want you to hate your family. Those words in Luke 14:26 are hyperbolic to make a larger point about allegiance. True disciples of Jesus are devoted, above all, to Jesus.

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There are different reasons why people turn from truth to error. One such reason is found in Deuteronomy 13. In the context of that chapter, Moses is warning the Israelites about the kinds of people who will seek to steer them away from true worship and into error and idolatry.

Deuteronomy 13:1–5 is about a false “prophet” or “dreamer” who leads people astray. Deuteronomy 13:12–18 is about a whole town plunging into idolatry. The middle section of the chapter, and the one I’m interested in for our purposes, is Deuteronomy 13:6–11. Take a look at that text.

6 “If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife you embrace or your friend who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known, 7 some of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other, 8 you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him. 9 But you shall kill him. Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. 10 You shall stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 11 And all Israel shall hear and fear and never again do any such wickedness as this among you.”

Strong words, I know. Though we’re not under the Sinai Covenant, and though the civil penalties (in this case, stoning) don’t overlap with the New Covenant community, there is a lesson about faithfulness that we need to discern.

In Deuteronomy 13:6–11, the danger of turning to error is due to a snare that feels close to home—and may even be in the home.

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