Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 4:3
Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baal-peor: for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you.
3. Your eyes have seen ] Cp. Deu 3:21.
because of Baal-peor ] Heb. in Ba‘al-Pe‘or (= in Beth-Ba‘al-Pe‘or), a place-name as in Hos 9:10; cp. Deu 3:29. The sin and its punishment are related by JE, Num 25:1-5; then follows, 6 16, a similar story about Israel and Midianite seductions, from P. Ba‘al of Pe‘or was a local deity, otherwise unknown to us. Driver ( Deut. 63 f.) questions the usual opinion that he was a priapic deity, yet the close association of the charge of worshipping him with that of illicit intercourse with the daughters of Moab, combined with the notorious impurity of the Syrian religions, appears to confirm the opinion.
thy God from the midst of thee ] Note the change to the Sg. here from the Pl. in the beginning of the verse. Sam. and LXX, probably less originally, give Pl. throughout. For similar changes see Deu 4:25 ; Deu 4:29 ; Deu 4:34; Deu 11:13-14.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
3, 4. Your eyes have seen what theLord did because of Baal-peor . . . the Lord thy God hath destroyedthem from among youIt appears that the pestilence and thesword of justice overtook only the guilty in that affair (Nu25:1-9) while the rest of the people were spared. The allusion tothat recent and appalling judgment was seasonably made as a powerfuldissuasive against idolatry, and the fact mentioned was calculated tomake a deep impression on people who knew and felt the truth of it.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baalpeor,…. Because of the idolatry the people of Israel fell into by worshipping that idol, being drawn into it by the daughters of Moab and Midian, through the counsel of Balaam, with whom they committed fornication; which led them to the other sin, and both highly provoking to God. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan are,
“what the Word of the Lord has done to the worshippers of the idol Peor;”
for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you; 24,000 persons died on that account; which being a recent thing, fresh in memory, and what they were eyewitnesses of, was a caution to them to avoid the same sins, as it is to us on whom the ends of the world are come, Nu 23:9.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
3. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did. This enlargement more clearly shews that so conspicuous was the example given in the punishment, that it could not be hidden from even the most ignorant; for Moses does not here address those of refined judgment, but the common people generally, who had only been spectators. Assuredly, if God’s vengeance had been less manifest, he would not have so confidently appealed to them as witnesses; hence was their stolidity the less excusable, if they were blind to so plain and notorious a fact.
His praise of their constancy I refer to the present case alone; for it is abundantly clear that they did not persevere in cleaving to God. The meaning is, that there was a manifest discrimination in this Divine chastisement, so that the death of the ungodly multitude should preserve the pure worship of God among the survivors.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) Your eyes have seen.Literally, your eyes are they that seei.e., you are witnesses of these things. The men who perished by the plague because of the iniquity of Beth peorto the number of 24,000seem to have been all members of the younger generation; for they had already passed the brook Zered. (See on Deu. 2:13.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Of Baal-peor Moses refers to that recent judgment of God upon the sins of the people when twenty-four thousand were slain. Num 25:1-9.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Compare this with Num 25:4 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Deu 4:3 Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you.
Ver. 3. Destroyed them. ] Hanging them up in gibbets, as it were, before your eyes, to warn you.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
men. Hebrew ‘ish. See App-14. Baal-peor. See note on Deu 3:29 and Num 25:1-5, Num 25:9. Psa 106:28. Hos 9:10. 1Co 10:8.
destroyed = exterminated. Hebrew. shmadh.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
what the: Num 25:1-9, Num 31:16, Jos 22:17, Psa 106:28, Psa 106:29, Hos 9:10
for all the men: It appears from this appeal, that the pestilence, as well as the sword of the magistrates, singled out the guilty persons and spared the rest – Psa 91:6-8. The legislator, in order to deter the Jews from idolatry, alludes to this fact, but he notices no circumstance but one, which, though in the original narrative was not stated, was infinitely the most important to advert to on this occasion; but which no persons, but spectators of the fact, and perfectly acquainted with every individual concerned in it, could possibly feel the truth of. Num 26:64
Reciprocal: Num 25:3 – joined Num 25:4 – all the heads Num 25:9 – General Deu 3:29 – General Deu 6:22 – before 2Ki 9:1 – Ramothgilead Psa 119:52 – remembered Eze 20:18 – I said Mal 1:5 – your Rom 11:4 – Baal Heb 2:2 – every Heb 3:9 – and
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Deu 4:3-4. Are alive every one of you this day A singular providence watched over them, to preserve them in such good healthy that not one of so many thousands was dead since that time. Nor, in the war with the Midianites, did they lose so much as one man, Num 31:7-49.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
4:3 Your {d} eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you.
(d) God’s judgments executed on other idolaters ought to serve for our instruction, read Num 25:3-4.