Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants - If one city were permitted to practice idolatry, the evil would soon spread, therefore the contagion must be destroyed in its birth.

Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword,.... This could not be the work of a single person, nor of the whole sanhedrim, but was what the whole nation was to join in, according to the above note:

destroying it utterly; pulling down the houses, and demolishing its walls and fortifications, or burning it, as afterwards explained:

and all that is therein; men, women, and children:

and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword; this severity was used to show the Lord's indignation against the sin of idolatry, and to deter persons from it, both individuals and bodies of men.

Upon this report the people as a whole, of course through their rulers, were to examine closely into the affair (היטב, an adverb, as in Deuteronomy 9:21), whether the word was established as truth, i.e., the thing was founded in truth (cf. Deuteronomy 17:4; Deuteronomy 22:20); and if it really were so, they were to smite the inhabitants of that town with the edge of the sword (cf. Genesis 34:26), putting the town and all that was in it under the ban. "All that is in it" relates to men, cattle, and the material property of the town, and not to men alone (Schultz). The clause from "destroying" to "therein" is a more minute definition of the punishment introduced as a parenthesis; for "the cattle thereof," which follows, is also governed by "thou shalt smite." The ban was to be executed in all its severity as upon an idolatrous city: man and beast were to be put to death without reserves; and its booty, i.e., whatever was to be found in it as booty-all material goods, therefore - were to be heaped together in the market, and burned along with the city itself. ליהוה כּליל (Eng. Ver. "every whit, for the Lord thy God") signifies "as a whole offering for the Lord" (see Leviticus 6:15-16), i.e., it was to be sanctified to Him entirely by being destroyed. The town was to continue an eternal hill (or heap of ruins), never to be built up again.

Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword.

13:15 The inhabitants - Namely, all that are guilty, not the innocent part, such as disowned this apostacy, who doubtless by choice, at least upon warning, would come out of so wicked a place. Utterly - The very same punishment which was, inflicted upon the cities of the cursed Canaanites, to whom having made themselves equal in sin, it is but just God should equal them in punishment.

13:12-18 Here is the case of a city revolting from the God of Israel, and serving other gods. The crime is supposed to be committed by one of the cities of Israel. Even when they were ordered to preserve their religion by force, yet they were not allowed to bring others to it by fire and sword. Spiritual judgments under the Christian dispensation are more terrible than the execution of criminals; we have not less cause than the Israelites had, to fear the Divine wrath. Let us then fear the spiritual idolatry of covetousness, and the love of worldly pleasure; and be careful not to countenance them in our families, by our example or by the education of our children. May the Lord write his law and truth in our hearts, there set up his throne, and shed abroad his love!