신명기 13:5의 주석

ואת מצותיו תשמורו HIS COMMANDMENTS YE SHALL KEEP — the Law of Moses,

AFTER THE ETERNAL YOUR G-D SHALL YE WALK. This is a commandment that we follow His counsel, and of Him alone shall we inquire concerning every hidden thing and inquire concerning the future, as it is written, and she went to inquire of the Eternal;¹⁴⁵Genesis 25:22. because the people come unto me to inquire of G-d.¹⁴⁶Exodus 18:15. And so did the Israelites do with the prophets, [as it is said,] Is there not here a prophet of the Eternal, that we may inquire of the Eternal through him?;¹⁴⁷II Kings 3:11. that the Eternal thy G-d may tell us the way wherein we should walk, and the thing we should do.¹⁴⁸Jeremiah 42:3. And in the Sifre it is stated:¹⁴⁹Sifre, R’eih 85. “After the Eternal your G-d [shall ye walk] — this refers to the cloud [of Glory].”¹⁵⁰See Ramban to Numbers 9:19: “They did the will of G-d in following after the cloud [of Glory].” See also my Hebrew commentary here p. 406. This is as we have explained, that we are to hearken to the “voice” of His signs and follow His counsel.

אחרי ה' אלוקיכם תלכו, similarly phrased to והלכת בדרכיו in Deut. 28,9. You are not to seek out new paths which the “prophet” or “dreamer” employs to make you depart from the ways of the Lord.

אחרי ה׳ אלוקיך תלך, "Follow the Lord your G'd, etc. It is difficult to understand why our paragraph about the false prophet is interrupted by this verse. This verse should have been written only after verse 6 in which the penalty of execution of the false prophet is discussed. Besides, why did Moses use such long-winded phraseology as "you shall follow G'd, fear Him; His commandments you shall observe, and to His voice you shall hearken; Him you shall serve and to Him you shall cleave?"

אחרי ה' אלוקיכם תלכו, “You shall follow Hashem your G’d;” Nachmanides interprets these words as Moses urging the people to follow G’d’s advice exclusively, and if they feel the urge to know something in the future because they are consumed with worry, to turn only to Him via His accredited prophets. They are to emulate our matriarch Rivkah, who, when she was unable to account for what by all accounts was an unusual pregnancy, went to “enquire from a Divine source.” (Compare Genesis 25,23)...

אחרי ה' אלו-היכם תלכו, “Follow Hashem your G’d!” This is an exhortation to emulate G’d’s attributes. The call by Moses here is similar to והלכת בדרכיו in Deut. 28,9.
ואותו תיראו, “and Him you shall revere.” Do no relate to Him by trying to investigate His essence but by assessing His manifest actions.

The voice of the prophets. I.e., “Keep His commandments,” already implies the entire Torah given through Moshe, which includes all His commandments. If so, what is the meaning of, “Heed His voice”? Rather, it includes the voice of the prophets.

V. 5. אחרי ד׳ וגו׳: Gott, der durch seine Offenbarung euer Gott, ausschließlicher Lenker eurer Geschicke und Leiter eurer Taten geworden, sollt ihr treu nachfolgen etc. etc. und euch durch keinen Propheten in der treuen Nachfolge, in der Gottesfurcht, in der gewissenhaften Erfüllung seiner Gebote, in eurem Gehorsam, eurem Dienste, eurem Festhalten an Gott irre machen lassen. Wir haben bereits bemerkt, wie der Wortlaut dieses Verses dafür spricht, dass hier nicht nur von Verleitung zum Götzentum, sondern ebenso auch von Verleitung zu irgend welchem Treubruch gegen Gottes Gesetz die Rede ist. (Vergl. Bamidbar 15, 22 — 31 wo ebenfalls die prinzipielle Übertretung eines einzigen Gesetzes dem Gesamtabfall vom Gottesgesetz und dem Hinfall zum Götzentum gleichgestellt ist).

ובקלו תשמעו HIS VOICE YE SHALL OBEY — the voice of the prophets,

ואותו תיראו, even though the person who now claims to be a prophet had previously been considered as a pious and thoroughly G’d-fearing individual. Your prior esteem of him and his views must turn into total rejection and you must allow your awe and reverence for G’d and His words to outweigh any argument he may present. ואת מצותיו תשמורו, so that you will only observe His commandments and not any new ones claimed to be His by the new “prophet.” This refers in particular to matters involving idolatry where the most minute deviation automatically challenges the totality of Torah and all of its laws.

ואותו תיראו, “and Him you shall fear.” You should be secure in your heart that life and death are domains that are exclusively His, only He can decree death, and only He can decree life, therefore there is no point in fearing anyone else.

ואת מצותיו תשמרו, “and His commandments you are to observe.” This is a reference to the written Torah, the 613 commandments written therein.

In His Sanctuary. The word “serve” refers to sacrifices, which is in the Sanctuary. For if it refers to the service of fulfilling His commandments, this has already been mentioned.

I believe that Moses wanted to spell out the various elements which comprise serving the Lord. Once we know this we can better understand why the penalty for a false prophet or a dreamer applies even if he asks you to violate only a single one of these elements which are part of serving G'd by applying them to worship of an alien deity. The first element in serving the Lord, i.e. "following Him" is the acceptance of the yoke of Heaven and not the dictates of any other power claiming to be a god. This teaches us that if the prophet asks the people to accept the sovereignty of any other power he is guilty of enticing the people to serve idols. Moses was careful to use the word תלכו, "you shall walk (future)," to teach us that even if said prophet did not demand immediate acceptance of an alien deity he is still guilty of the death penalty from the moment he made such a statement.

AND HIM SHALL YE FEAR. You are to believe that it is He in Whose hand is the soul of every living thing,¹⁵¹Job 12:10. and it is in His power to kill and to make alive,¹⁵²II Kings 5:7. visiting iniquity,¹⁵³Exodus 20:5. and rewarding for meritorious deeds.

ואתו תעבדו HIM YE SHALL SERVE in His Temple (Sifrei Devarim 85:5).

ובקולו תשמעון, you are to carry out all the instructions given to you by properly accredited prophets and to listen to their commands, such as to Elijah at Mount Carmel, and not to the instructions of anyone canceling any of G’d’s commandments.

ואת מצוותיו תשמורו, “and His commandments you shall observe;” the Torah taught to you by Moses.

Embrace His ways; engage in kindness, etc. Why does Rashi not explain similarly above in Parshas Eikev (10:20) where it also written, “Cleave to Him”? The answer is: The simple meaning of the verse in Eikev [actually] is: “Embrace His ways; engage in kindness, etc.” But here in order that we do not make a mistake to explain [in a similar fashion] the verse “After Adonoy, your God, are you to go...” that it means “after having acquired all of these attributes, then “Cleave to Him” — in order that you shall have His Divine Providence. Therefore, Rashi needed to explain: “Embrace His ways, etc.”

Moses continues: ואותו תיראו, "and Him you shall fear," to emphasise that only Him you shall fear. You must not be afraid of any other so-called power in this universe. The Torah implies that even if the false prophet does not suggest you worship or sacrifice to any other power but only "fear" it, he has thereby become guilty of the death penalty. One must only fear G'd in Heaven.

AND HIS COMMANDMENTS SHALL YE KEEP. This refers to the Law of Moses.

ובו תדבקון AND UNTO HIM YE SHALL CLEAVE — i.e. cleave to His ways: do kindly actions, bury the dead, visit the sick, as did the Holy One, blessed be He (Sotah 14a).

ואותו תעבודו, exclusively. You cannot simultaneously serve any other deity as spelled out in Exodus 22,19 זובח לאלוהים יחרם, “if anyone is found offering sacrifices to any other deity he is guilty of death.”

ובקולו תשמעו, “and to His voice you shall hearken.” As a prelude to observing all His instructions, the ones communicated by His accredited Rabbis, in addition to that which is spelled out in the written text of the Torah. The reason why Moses appears to repeat himself here to some extent is because he wants to counter any effect of the words of a false prophet. Some people, out of fear that maybe the false prophet is a true prophet and not listening to him could bring harm on oneself, are inclined to “play it safe.“ Moses therefore warns such people not to do so. There is no other authority than Hashem that is authorized to issue any instructions whatsoever to His people. This is all part of the warning in 12,31, לא תעשה כן לה' אלוקיך, “do not do thus to the Lord your G’d.” The exclusivity of the nature of Hashem must be preserved at all times and in all places. Ibn Ezra understands the words אחרי ה' אלוקיכם תלכו, as an appeal by Moses for the Jewish people to emulate Hashem whenever and wherever that is possible. We are to follow in His footsteps to the extent that He has revealed them to us. The words: ואותו תיראו, he understands as warning us not to ask “why” before we perform His commandments. The words ואת מצותיו תשמורו, he understands as meaning that “performance” of the commandments is what is what is important, not any additional reason of why you do it, i.e. because you agree with it. The words: ובקולו תשמעו, he understands as any explanations, rationales, supporting these commandments being only a reminder of the essential element of each commandment being its performance whenever possible. The meaning of the words ואותו תעבודו, “Him you shall serve,” is “in deed,” whereas the words ובו תדבקון, “and to Him you shall cleave,” mean “with your heart, throughout your life from its beginning to its end.”

Moses continues: ואת מצותיו תשמרו, "and His commandments you shall observe," i.e. His commandments and not the demands made in the name of any other deity. The new element in this statement is that if, say, the deity orders you to do something which brings in its wake a tangible benefit, such as the promise that if you perform a certain act you will become rich as a result, then although the act itself has no connotation of worship you must not do it as you must not take orders from anyone but G'd. If the false prophet were to say that G'd has ordered him that the people should perform a certain idolatrous act in order to be successful, such a false prophet is liable to execution.

AND UNTO HIS VOICE SHALL YE HEARKEN — to do whatever He commands us to do aside from the Torah, such as Samuel said [to Saul], Thou hast done foolishly; thou hast not kept the commandment of the Eternal thy G-d¹⁵⁴I Samuel 13:13. [referring to a commandment transmitted to Saul by Samuel]. It is this which is explained further, A prophet will the Eternal raise up unto thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken,¹⁵⁵Further, 18:15. and it states, And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto My words which he shall speak in My Name, I will require it of him¹⁵⁶Ibid., Verse 19. meaning that he will be liable to death by the hand of Heaven,¹⁵⁷Sanhedrin 89a. and as it happened because of the prophet’s command, “Smite me, and wound me by the word of the Eternal”¹⁵⁸I Kings 20:35. [and when the man refused to obey he was slain by a lion].¹⁵⁹Ibid., Verse 36. And so also the Rabbis said in the Sifre:¹⁴⁹Sifre, R’eih 85. “And unto His voice shall ye hearken — the voice of His prophets.”

ובו תדבקון, the objective of all your activities must be to carry out His will unaffected by any prior hostility.

Alternatively, the meaning could be that you should not ever entertain the thought to leave the service of the Lord. When someone is a slave, even if he is fortunate enough to have the most accommodating and sympathetic master, there are times when he wishes to be free, independent. A Jew is never to allow himself the feeling that he wants to be free of his obligations vis-a-vis the Lord. The affinity between Israelite and G’d should be one that neither party ever wishes to sever. The reason is that true freedom is this very cleaving to Hashem, the best insurance against being enslaved to the evil urge.

Moses goes on to say ובקולו תשמעו, "and you shall hearken to His voice," to remind you that you are to listen only to the teachings revealed in the Torah and to teach these sacred words. You are not to listen to words spoken by the Avodah Zarah. [I suppose it would be prohibited to listen to the sound of the voice of the oracle in Delphi. I was there myself, but it did not speak. Ed.] If the false prophet claims to have been instructed by G'd to listen to what such a deity has to say he is guilty of death even though he does not perform a deed or even fears the deity in any way.

AND HIM SHALL YE SERVE, AND UNTO HIM SHALL YE CLEAVE. I have already explained this.¹⁶⁰Above, 6:13; 11:22. Now it has already been stated, Thou shalt fear the Eternal thy G-d, and Him shalt thou serve.¹⁶¹Ibid., 6:13. But he repeated it here to negate [any consideration of obedience to a false prophet,] that we are not to fear the words of a [false] prophet because of the sign or wonder, and that we should not transgress the service of G-d because of the prophet’s words, for it is the Eternal alone that we are to fear, and no other god. [It was also repeated here] to add, and unto His voice shall ye hearken.

It is also possible to view the words ובו תדבקון not so much as a command but as a promise. It is the promise of life in the world to come if we have fulfilled the instructions in the first half of the verse to emulate the attributes of the Lord, to revere Him and to serve Him by praying to Him and to observe His commandments, both the written ones and the oral ones (compare Ibn Ezra).

ואותו תעבדו, "and Him you shall serve," etc. This also means "G'd exclusively." We can illustrate this with the story told in Gittin 57 of the Seleucid Emperor who said to Hannah's youngest son that he should merely pretend to throw the ring on his finger in front of the idol and he could then come and bring it back so that the onlookers would gain the impression that he had performed an act of obeisance though in his heart he had not meant to do this at all. The son refused and was killed for refusing. The Torah tells us here that if a false prophet were to come and tell such a son of Hannah in the name of G'd that he could do what the Emperor requested of him, such a prophet would make himself guilty of the death penalty [though all he wanted was to save the boys' life. Ed.].

ובו תדבקון, "and you are to cleave to Him. This expression may be understood in conjunction with Ketuvot 111 where the Talmud asks how it is possible for man who is made of matter to cleave to G'd who is totally abstract? The answer given is that we are to cleave to Torah scholars as they are the carriers of the Shechinah, the presence of G'd. By cleaving to Torah scholars one is considered as having attached onself to G'd. ובא האות והמופת לאמור נלכה אחרי אלוהים אחרים, "and the sign or the wonder comes about, of which he spoke to you saying: 'Let us follow gods of others, etc.'" Moses does not quote the false prophet as saying: "let us serve the gods of others" in order to teach us that he is guilty of the death penalty even without encouraging the Israelites to "serve" those gods. Even though Moses concludes the verse with the prophet saying: "and let us worship them," Moses merely means that in the end at one point or another such a false prophet will ask you to worship and to serve the deity in question. This is why in the next verse (6) the Torah speaks of והנביא ההוא, "that prophet;" i.e. "this prophet" who wanted to escape execution by his devious ways will be executed, כי דבר סרה על השם, "because he has said something perverse against G'd." Although this prophet did not literally promote idol worship he lied vis-a-vis G'd by prophesying lies. The Torah makes it plain that a true prophet would never predict such things, much less in the name of the Lord. Any command by an established prophet for the Jews to temporarily violate one of the commandments is valid only for one of the commandments not involving idolatry. With regards to idolatry the slightest deviation is taboo and G'd will not even tolerate a minute deviation in an emergency. Sifri confirmed what we have said by translating the word סרה, as "falsified." Committing fraud with the Torah is a capital sin.

Apart from the approach we have taken to explain our verse, i.e. that it is intended to address the six elements involved in serving G'd, one may also view Moses as alluding to the six major sections of the oral Torah, i.e. the Mishnah. The words: "follow the Lord your G'd" refer to the section called Zeraim. This section contains laws involving the gleaning after the farmers have harvested their grain or orchards, as well as many laws designed to cater to the needs of the poor. It therefore reflects the attributes of G'd who cares for the needy. It also contains a tractate about the need to bring one's second tithe all the way to Jerusalem to consume it or its equivalent in that city. There is also a story Shemot Rabbah 31 about a farmer who had duly discharged all the various commandments dealing with tithes and gifts to the Levite, the priest and the poor, and who found that the normal yield of his field amounted to one thousand bushels. After a while the farmer died and during the year following the father's death the field continued to yield its regular harvest. The son, who was miserly, separated less than the required amount of tithes, and found to his distress that in the following year the yield of the field declined by approximately the amount he had thought he had saved by cutting back on his tithes, etc. He continued to deprive the Levite and the poor of even more of their due only to find that the harvest of his field kept shrinking apace. The story proves that the earth's produce is in direct proportion to whether the farmer fulfils his social obligations laid down in the Torah. This is what Moses alluded to when he instructed the Israelites: אחרי ה׳ אלוקיכם תלכו, "follow after the Lord your G'd!"

Another nuance in the wording of this verse which suggests that it may allude to laws in the section Zeraim of the Mishnah, is that that section relates to laws governing man's nourishment and his food supply. Maimonides writes in his treatise Hilchot Deyot 3,2 that when man eats and drinks he has to concentrate on the thought that the purpose of eating and drinking is to keep his body in good health so that he can serve the Lord with all his strength. He bases this on Proverbs 3,6: "Acknowledge Him in all your ways (activities)." This is what Moses meant when he wrote אחרי ה׳..תלכו, "i. e. in your ways, your activities.

ואותו תיראו, "and Him you shall fear." This is an allusion to the second section of the Mishnah, the one called Moed which deals with all the festivals and the Sabbath. The word אתו is an allusion to the Sabbath which is called אות in Exodus 31,17. Festivals are also described in the Torah as אות, "sign." The author of Tikkuney Hazohar chapter 9 relates to that fact by saying that just as one needs to fear violating the Sabbath one should fear violating the laws pertaining to the festivals.

ואת מצותיו תשמרו, "and observe His commandments." This is an allusion to the section of the Mishnah called Nashim in which the many laws concerning marriage, forbidden unions, family purity, etc., are discussed.

ובקלו תשמעו, and to His voice you shall hearken; this is an allusion to the various tractates dealing with property rights called Nezikin. One needs to pay careful attention to the judges who render judgment in matters of civil disputes. One must not depart fom what the judges rule, as spelled out in Deut. 17,12 "any man who deliberately fails to obey the ruling by the priest, etc.

ואתו תעבדו, "and (only) Him you must serve." This is an allusion to the section called Kodoshin. It deals with the details of the Temple Service, etc.

ובו תדבקון, and to Him you shall cleave." This is an allusion to the sixth and final section of the oral Torah which deals with matters of ritual purity. By observing these laws in its details one becomes worthy of cleaving to the Shechinah, the presence of G'd.