Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 18:13
Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God.
13. perfect ] blameless; not elsewhere in D, but twice in P in this moral sense (Gen 6:9 of Noah, Deu 17:1 required of Abraham as the condition of God granting him His covenant) and frequent in a physical sense, Lev 1:3; Lev 1:10; Lev 3:1, etc. The sense of the incompatibility of magic and necromancy with loyalty to the God of Israel is traceable from at least Saul’s time onward, and is very articulate in the great prophets. The instinct was sound. That such practices divert men from the rational and ethical elements of religion and weaken both the judgement and will of those who resort to them is notorious in the history of modern spiritualism. Cp. Luk 16:31: if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, if one rise from the dead. Let other nations hearken to soothsayers and diviners, God does not grant such to His people ( Deu 18:14). For them the living word of the living God is the thing! (Isa 8:19), to which this law now therefore naturally turns.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Perfect – As in Gen 17:1; Job 1:1; Mat 5:48. The sense is that Israel was to keep the worship of the true God wholly uncontaminated by idolatrous pollutions.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Sincerely and wholly his, seeking him and cleaving to him and to his word alone, and therefore abhorring all commerce and conversations with devils or their agents, such as were now mentioned.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God. Sincerely serve and worship him, faithfully adhere to his word, laws, statutes, and ordinances, and walk uprightly before him.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
13. Thou shalt be perfect. He refers to the mutual obligation of that holy covenant whereby as on the one side He had pledged Himself to the Jews, so on the other He had made them His debtors, not to prostitute themselves to idols, or to hanker after strange religions, whereby men’s minds are led astray. This perfectness, then, is opposed to all those mixtures or corruptions which withdraw us from the sincere worship of the one true God; because the simplicity which retains us in obedience to heavenly teaching, is that spiritual chastity which God requires in His Church. The context of the passage proves this with sufficient clearness, viz., that God would restrain the Jews from all licentiousness, so that being devoted to His service, they should not look this way or that way, nor be carried away by vanity and instability, but constantly abide in the pure worship which He had prescribed to them. For this reason Paul declares that he is jealous for Christ; and because he had “espoused” the Corinthians to Christ, he feared “lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve, through his subtlety,” so being ensnared by the wiles of impostors, they should fall “from the simplicity that is in Christ.” (2Co 11:2.)
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(13) Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God.Rashis note on this is worth preserving: Thou shalt walk with Him in sincerity, and wait for Him. And thou shalt not pry into the future. But whatsoever cometh upon thee, take it with simplicity, and then thou shalt be with Him, and be His portion.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
13. Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God Blameless with Jehovah, wholly devoted to him. The people of Israel are not to be like these nations; they are to be blameless in seeking intercourse with their God. In the rabbinical copies of the Hebrew Bible the initial consonant of the word rendered perfect ( ) is large, to denote the special significance of this precept.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
DISCOURSE: 212
CHRISTIAN PERFECTION
Deu 18:13. Thou shall be perfect with the Lord thy God.
IT seems strange that any who have ever heard of Jehovah, should need to be put on their guard against alienating their hearts from him, and placing their affections on any created object in preference to him: but the Israelites, who had seen all his wonders in Egypt and in the wilderness, were ever prone to depart from him, even as we also are, notwithstanding all that we have heard respecting that infinitely greater redemption which he has vouchsafed to us through the incarnation and death of his only dear Son. Permit me, therefore, to remind you, as Moses reminded the people committed to his charge, that you must on no account, and in no degree, transfer to the creature the regards which are due to your Maker alone; since his injunction to you, and to every child of man, is, Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God.
In order to bring home to your hearts and consciences this solemn injunction, I will,
I.
Unfold its import
As for absolute perfection, there is no hope of attaining it in this world. Job himself, whom God pronounced a perfect man [Note: Job 1:1; Job 1:8.], declared, that if he should arrogate to himself a claim of absolute perfection, his own mouth would condemn him, and prove him perverse [Note: Job 9:20-21.]. But uprightness there is, and must be, in all who shall be approved of their God. In this sense, we must be perfect with the Lord our God:
1.
In love to his name
[We are commanded to love God with all our heart and mind and soul and strength. And every one of us should be able to say with David, Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee [Note: Psa 73:25.] ]
2.
In affiance on his care
[Whatever our trials be, there should be no leaning either upon our own strength or on any created power: for cursed is the man that maketh flesh his arm, whose heart departeth from the Lord his God [Note: Jer 17:5.]. Our trust should be in God alone: and on him should we rely without the smallest measure of diffidence or fear. Our continual boast should be, The Lord is on my side; I will not fear what either men or devils can do against me.]
3.
In zeal for his glory
[As we have received our all from him, so we should improve every thing for him. We should live entirely for our God: and, if only he may be glorified in us, it should be a matter of indifference to us, whether it be by life or by death. Are we called to act? We must resemble Asa, who, with impartial energy, dethroned his own mother for her idolatry, and ground her idols to dust [Note: 1Ki 15:13.]. Are we called to suffer? We should yield our bodies to be burned, rather than swerve an hairs breadth from the path of duty [Note: Dan 3:17-18.]. In the whole of our Christian course we should be pressing forward continually towards the goal, if by any means we may obtain from God the prize of our high calling. This is the true nature of Christian perfection [Note: Php 3:15.].]
Such being the injunction, I will proceed to,
II.
Enforce its authority
Without real integrity before God, we can have,
1.
No comfort in our souls
[A man may, by an overweening conceit of his own attainments, buoy himself up with somewhat of a pleasing satisfaction respecting his state: but there will be secret misgivings in hours of reflection, and especially in that hour when he is about to enter into the immediate presence of his God. Even at present, an insincere man feels no real delight in God: and a consciousness of that will occasionally disturb his ill-acquired peace. But the man whose heart is right with God will have a holy confidence before him; according as the Psalmist has said: Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace [Note: Psa 37:37.]. Hezekiahs blissful retrospect, if not in its full extent, yet in good measure, will be his: I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight [Note: 2Ki 20:3.]!]
2.
No stability in our ways
[A double-minded man will be unstable in all his ways [Note: Jam 1:8.]. Let but a sufficient temptation arise, and he will turn aside, even as Demas did, to the indulgence of his besetting sin. The stony-ground hearers, for want of a root of integrity within themselves, will fall away; and the thorny-ground hearers, not being purged from secret lusts, will never bring forth fruit unto perfection. It is the honest and good heart alone that will approve itself steadfast unto the end. But the upright man God will uphold under every temptation; as an inspired prophet has assured us: The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him [Note: 2Ch 16:9.].]
3.
No acceptance with our God
[We may deceive ourselves, but we cannot deceive our God: to him all things are naked and open: and, however we be admired by our fellow-creatures, he will discern our true state; as he did that of the Church at Sardis; of whom he says, I know that thou hast a name to live, but art dead: for I have not found thy ways perfect before God [Note: Rev 3:1-2.]. It is to no purpose to dissemble with him: for he searcheth the heart and trieth the reins, and will give to every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings [Note: Jer 17:10.].]
Address,
1.
Those who are unable to ascertain with confidence their real state
[Surely you should not suffer this to remain in doubt. Look into the Scriptures; and you will find in the saints of old a well-grounded persuasion that they had passed from death unto life. Real uprightness is like light, which carries its own evidence along with it. I would not encourage an ill-founded confidence: nor would I, on the other hand, encourage that kind of diffidence which puts away the consolations provided for us in the Gospel. Examine yourselves as before God; and never rest till you have the testimony of Gods Spirit, that ye are Israelites indeed, in whom is no guile.]
2.
Those who have an inward evidence that their hearts are right with God
[What is there under heaven that can equal such a blessing as this? St. Paul himself had no greater jay [Note: 2Co 1:12.]. For you, Brethren, death has no sting, and the day of judgment itself no terror. You may look and long for the coming of your Lord. Be thankful then; and let the brightness of your prospects increase your vigilance in the path of duty, that ye may never fall, but have an entrance ministered unto you abundantly into the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ [Note: 2Pe 1:10-11.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Deu 18:13 Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God.
Ver. 13. Thou shalt be perfect. ] See Trapp on “ Mat 5:48 “ In the original there is a bigger tau than ordinary in the word Tamim, rendered perfect, to show, say Hebricians, that we must keep the whole law of God from the first letter thereof to the last – tau is the last letter of the alphabet – and this we must do constantly to the very last, and with the whole man. But how can this be done otherwise than by running to Christ, and in an evangelical way? In sincerity and integrity we must hate such wicked persons, even as God also hateth them. Psa 139:21-24 Hebrew Text Note
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
perfect = devoted, or single-hearted.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Thou shalt: Gen 6:9, Gen 17:1, Job 1:1, Job 1:8, Psa 37:37, Mat 5:48, Phi 3:12, Phi 3:15, Rev 3:2
perfect: or, upright, or, sincere
Reciprocal: Jos 24:14 – serve 2Sa 22:33 – perfect 1Ki 8:61 – perfect
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Deu 18:13-14. Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God Sincerely and wholly his, seeking him and cleaving to him, and to his word alone, and therefore abhorring all commerce and conversations with devils. Hath not suffered thee so to do Hath not suffered thee to follow these superstitious and diabolical practices, as he hath suffered other nations to do, but hath instructed thee better by his word and Spirit, and will more fully instruct thee by a great Prophet.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
18:13 Thou shalt be {f} perfect with the LORD thy God.
(f) Without hypocrisy or mixture or false religion.