John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 6. If thy brother, the son of thy mother , etc.] A brother by mother’s side, which is generally supposed to be the nearest relation, at least most out of question, so more liable to be regarded as being beloved: or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom ; most dearly beloved by him, as indeed each of these relations are by a man, there being none nearer or dearer to him: or thy friend, which [is] as thine own soul ; as dear to him as himself, and so strictly united in friendship, as if one soul dwelt in two bodies; such close friends were Jonathan and David, ( 1 Samuel 18:1). Some Jewish writers think the father is not mentioned, because of the reverence of him, with which all later dealings with him obliged to would seem inconsistent; but the reverence of God is to be preferred to the reverence of parents; and besides, if such near relations that are here mentioned, than which there are none nearer, are not to be spared if guilty of the sin after warned against, then not a father, who is in the same transgression: entice thee secretly ; when alone with him, which might be judged the most proper time to work upon him, there being none to oppose the enticer, or to assist the enticed; so Satan took the opportunity of Eve being alone when he attacked her with his temptation, and the same method is taken by his children: saying, let me go and serve other gods which thou hast not known, thou nor thy fathers ; not even their immediate ancestors, and so the calf was not of these gods; nor their more remote ancestors, as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who were no idolaters; nor even Terah, though he was one, yet the gods of the Canaanites and of the neighbouring nations, which seem to be here meant, at least principally, were such that he knew not. This circumstance may seem to carry in it an argument rather why they should not than why they should serve such gods; wherefore the words of the enticer seem to be only these, let us go and serve other gods , and what follows are the words of the Lord, descriptive of those gods, and so a dissuasive from serving them.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 6-11 - It is the policy of Satan to try to lead us to evil by those whom we love, whom we least suspect of any ill design, and whom we are desirou to please, and apt to conform to. The enticement here is supposed to come from a brother or child, who are near by nature; from a wife of friend, who are near by choice, and are to us as our souls. But it is our duty to prefer God and religion, before the nearest and deares friends we have in the world. We must not, to please our friends, brea God's law. Thou shalt not consent to him, nor go with him, not for company, or curiosity, not to gain his affections. It is a genera rule, If sinners entice thee, consent thou not, Pr 1:10. And we mus not hinder the course of God's justice.
Original Hebrew כי3588 יסיתך5496 אחיך251 בן1121 אמך517 או176 בנך1121 או176 בתך1323 או176 אשׁת802 חיקך2436 או176 רעך7453 אשׁר834 כנפשׁך5315 בסתר5643 לאמר559 נלכה1980 ונעבדה5647 אלהים430 אחרים312 אשׁר834 לא3808 ידעת3045 אתה859 ואבתיך׃1
