In Deut 13, Moses continues to exhort the Israelites about what to do once they conquer and settle down in the PL. In chapter 12, he highlighted the importance of proper worship. In chapter 13, Moses highlights the importance of remaining loyal to God even when others are attempting to lead your astray. He brings up three potential scenarios here, each one beginning with the word “if” – “If this happens, here is what to do; here is how to respond to these potential problems.”

Chapter 12 dealt largely with the potential influence of the Canaanites. The false religion of the Canaanites presented an external threat. Israel must avoid learning the ways of the people they are about to conquer.

Chapter 13 deals with those who would lead them astray from within their own people. Cf. .1a “arises among you a prophet or dreamer of dreams.” The threat is internal, not external—not the Canaanites; it’s the Israelites who are the source of this threat.

And in each of these cases, someone from Israel might come along and say, “Let us go after other gods …” (cf. vss. 2b, 6b, 13b).

So the dangerous influence in each of these cases originates from within Israel.

We live in an era of influencers. People who have a following, particularly via the Internet and social media, are now called “influencers.” And they have that name because that’s what they do; they influence people who follow them. Some of these influencers earn an enormous income because of their influence. Companies try to enlist these influencers to advertise their products. People follow influencers.

In this passage, Moses is talking about spiritual influencers, and not good ones. He lays before us three cases of influencers within Israel attempting to lead people away from God and toward idolatry.

Moses’ main point here is that our loyalty to God must exceed our loyalty to anyone else. No matter who is trying to lead us astray—whether it’s the Canaanites or the Israelites; teachers, relatives, friends, or government officials—we must maintain our allegiance to God and not follow anyone into apostasy.

Let’s consider the three potential scenarios/cases that Moses offers here.