Deuteronomy 13:6-11: a reflection

In a strong and solemn command, God warns his people to guard against being enticed away from him to serve other gods, even when the enticement comes from those closest to them. If your brother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, entices you secretly, saying, let's go and serve other gods, the command warns, you shall not consent to him nor listen to him. The command envisions the enticement coming not from a stranger but from the closest possible relations, a brother, a child, a spouse, a dearest friend; and it insists that not even such closeness may draw us away from God. Our loyalty to God is to hold above every other loyalty, even to those we love most. This shows that nothing, not even our closest relationships, should draw us away from God. Not even those closest to us should draw us from God. Loyalty to God holds above every other loyalty. Guard against being enticed from God, even by loved ones. God is to be loved above all, even those dearest to us.

Notice how the command guards the people's loyalty to God against the strongest possible pull. It does not envision enticement from an enemy or a stranger, which might be easy to resist; it envisions enticement from the closest and dearest relations, a brother, a son or daughter, a beloved spouse, a friend who is as one's own soul. These are the people whose influence over us is greatest, whom we most want to please, whose enticement would be hardest to resist. And yet the command insists that not even these may be allowed to draw us away from God. Our loyalty and love for God must hold above even our love for those closest to us; if even they would draw us away from God, we must not follow. This is sobering and clarifying. Jesus himself said that whoever loves father or mother, son or daughter, more than him is not worthy of him. God is to be loved and followed above all, above even our dearest human loves. This does not diminish our love for others; but it orders it rightly under our supreme loyalty to God. We do well to guard our loyalty to God, not letting even those closest to us draw us away from him. Guard your loyalty to God above even your closest relationships. Do not let even those dearest to you draw you away from God. Love for God must hold above every other love. Order your loves rightly, with God supreme.

That is worth taking to heart, for nothing, not even our closest relationships, should draw us away from God, whose claim on our loyalty holds above every other, as the command warned against enticement even from the dearest relations. We can be drawn away from God by the influence of those we love most, whose enticement is hardest to resist; but the command insists that not even a brother, child, spouse, or dearest friend may draw us from God. Loyalty to God holds above all. Do not let even those closest to you draw you away from God; keep your loyalty to him supreme, ordering your other loves under it. Guard your supreme loyalty to God, not letting even those closest and dearest to you draw you away from him, as God solemnly warned his people that if even a brother, a son or daughter, a beloved spouse, or a friend who is as one's own soul should entice them to serve other gods, they must not consent or listen; for the command guards loyalty to God against the strongest possible pull, not from an enemy or stranger, which might be easy to resist, but from the closest and dearest relations whose influence is greatest and whose enticement would be hardest to resist, insisting that not even these may draw us away from God, since our loyalty and love for God must hold above even our love for those closest to us, as Jesus himself said that whoever loves father or mother or son or daughter more than him is not worthy of him, so that God is to be loved and followed above all, above even our dearest human loves, which does not diminish our love for others but orders it rightly under our supreme loyalty to God, and we do well to guard that loyalty and not let even those closest to us draw us away from him.