Pensamiento judío sobre Deuteronómio 17:2

After exhorting against all those things which are forbidden because of their identification with idol worship, the Torah begins speaking of the punishment for idol worship itself, doing so last because of its relative rarity. It begins (Deuteronomy 17:2): "If there be found in your midst, within one of your gates…" And because it is so unexpected that any Jew would go and serve idols, unlike the case with the other transgressions of the Torah to which many might succumb under the pressure of their evil inclination, it is accordingly written (Ibid 4): "And it was told to you, and you heard, and you inquired well." We find this expression three times in the Torah. The first, in relation to a city that has been turned to idolatry (Ibid 13:15): "And you inquire, and you search it out, and you ask well"; the second, here, in relation to idol worship: "and you inquired well, and the thing was true and correct"; the third in relation to contriving witnesses [edim zomemim] (Ibid 19:18): "And the judges shall inquire well." And though our rabbis of blessed memory have expounded this as dictating diligent inquiry for all monetary judgments, and they have derived from it that whatever applies to one [of the three cases] applies to the other, as stated in the beginning of the chapter "They would Subject them to Seven Inquiries" (Sanhedrin 40a), it being stated in the Gemara: "How do we know these things? R. Yehudah answered: 'We know it from the verses: "And you inquire, and you search it out, and you ask well" in relation to a city that has been turned to idolatry; "And it was told to you, and you heard, and you inquired well" in relation to idol worship; "And the judges shall inquire well" in relation to contriving witnesses'" — still, I contend that it was so written in these three places alone to impress it upon us that in any case [such as these] where the alleged occurrence is rare, the judges should accept the testimony and punish the suspect only after the most thoroughgoing inquiry, the exhaustiveness of the inquiry to be proportionate to the rarity of the occurrence. Unquestionably, there is no transgression in the Torah more severe than that of idolatry, which, in point of its severity, should have the fewest number of transgressors, which no one should be suspected of, and which, consequently, no one should be punished for except after the most exacting inquiry. But what is even rarer is that an entire city should consent in such a severe transgression, for which reason the Torah dilated upon the need for the most exhaustive inquiry, and searching out, and questioning, compounding its terms — "And you inquire, and you search it out, and you ask well" — such a thing being extremely rare because of the severity of the transgression. And because the numbers involved are very great, the witnesses should be believed only after the completest of cross-examinations. One idol worshipper, however, is not so rare as many, for which reason the judges were not commanded to be so exhaustive in their inquiry in this regard as in the case of an entire city, it being written in the latter case: "And you inquire, and you search it out, and you ask well," and in the former, only: "and you inquire well." Still, because it is far less common for one to fall prey to idol worship than to the other transgressions, the Torah wrote "and you inquired well," to teach us that no Jew should be suspected of such an abomination and punished for it without thorough inquiry.

After this remark, which you will understand when you have read such of their works as are at present extant, and have been mentioned by me, hear what I will tell you. It is the object and centre of the whole Law to abolish idolatry and utterly uproot it, and to overthrow the opinion that any of the stars could interfere for good or evil in human matters, because it leads to the worship of stars. It was therefore necessary to slay all witches as being undoubtedly idolaters, because every witch is an idolater: they only have their own strange ways of worship, which are different from the common mode of worship offered to those deities. But in all performances of witchcraft it is laid down as a rule that women should be employed in the chief operation; and therefore the Law says, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” (Exod. 22:17). Another reason is the natural reluctance of people to slay women. This is also the cause why in the law of idolatry it is said “man or woman” (Deut. 17:2), and again repeated a second time, “the man or the woman” (ibid. ver. 5)—a phrase which does not occur in the law about the breaking of Sabbath, or in any other law; for great sympathy is naturally shown to women. Now the witches believed that they produced a certain result by their witchcraft; that they were able through the above-mentioned actions to drive such dangerous animals as lions, serpents, and the like out of the cities, and to remove various kinds of damage from the products of the earth. Thus they imagine that they are able by certain acts to prevent hail from coming down, and by certain other acts to kill the worms in the vineyards, whereby the latter are protected from injury; in fact, the killing of the worms in vineyards, and other superstitions mentioned in the Nabatean Agriculture, are fully described by the Sabeans. They likewise imagine that they know certain acts by which they can prevent the dropping of leaves from the trees and the untimely falling of their fruit. On account of these ideas, which were general in those days, the Law declares in “the words of the covenant” as follows: The same idolatry and superstitious performances which, in your belief, keep certain misfortunes far from you, will cause those very misfortunes to befall you. “I will also send wild beasts among you” (Lev. 26:22), “I will also send the teeth of wild beasts upon them, with the poison of those that creep in dust” (Deut. 32:24).” The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation, which thou knowest not, eat up” (ibid. 28:33). “Thou shalt plant vineyards and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, etc. Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil” (Deut. 28:39, 40). In short, in spite of the schemes of idolaters to support and firmly establish their doctrine, and to make people believe that by idolatry certain misfortunes could be averted and certain benefits gained, worship of idols will, on the contrary, as is stated in “the words of the covenant,” prevent the advantages and bring the troubles. The reader will now understand why, of all kinds of curses and blessings, those mentioned in “the words of the covenant” have been selected by the Law, and particularly pointed out. Note also the greatness of the benefit [of these laws).