Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 4:15
Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day [that] the LORD spoke unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:
15. ye saw no manner of form ] Resumes and repeats the reminder in Deu 4:12 in a way that would have been unnecessary but for the digression in 13 f.; and proves that the latter is original. Form, Heb. t e mnah.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 15. Ye saw no manner of similitude] Howsoever God chose to appear or manifest himself, he took care never to assume any describable form. He would have no image worship, because he is a SPIRIT, and they who worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth. These outward things tend to draw the mind out of itself, and diffuse it on sensible, if not sensual, objects; and thus spiritual worship is prevented, and the Holy Ghost grieved. Persons acting in this way can never know much of the religion of the heart.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
By which caution he insinuates mans great proneness to the worship of images.
God, who in other places and times did appear in a similitude, in the fashion of a man, now in this most solemn appearance, when he comes to give eternal laws for the regulation and direction of the Israelites in the worship of God, and in their duty to men, he purposely avoids all such representations, to show that he abhors all worship of images, or of himself by images of what kind soever, as it here follows, Deu 4:16-19, because he is the invisible God, and cannot be represented by any visible image. See Isa 40:18; Act 17:29.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. Take . . . good heed . . . forye saw no manner of similitudeThe extreme proneness of theIsraelites to idolatry, from their position in the midst ofsurrounding nations already abandoned to its seductions, accounts fortheir attention being repeatedly drawn to the fact that God did notappear on Sinai in any visible form; and an earnest caution, foundedon that remarkable circumstance, is given to beware, not only ofmaking representations of false gods, but also any fanciedrepresentation of the true God.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves,…. As to keep all the laws given them, so particularly to avoid idolatry:
for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire; and therefore, as they had nothing that directed and led them, so they had nothing that could be a temptation to them, to make any form or likeness, and worship it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
As the Israelites had seen no shape of God at Horeb, they were to beware for their souls’ sake (for their lives) of acting corruptly, and making to themselves any kind of image of Jehovah their God, namely, as the context shows, to worship God in it. (On pesel , see at Exo 20:4.) The words which follow, viz., “ a form of any kind of sculpture,” and “ a representation of male or female ” (for tabnith , see at Exo 25:9), are in apposition to “graven image,” and serve to explain and emphasize the prohibition.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
b. WARNING AGAINST MAKING PHYSICAL REPRESENTATIONS OF GOD OR GODS (Deu. 4:15-24)
15 Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of form on the day that Jehovah spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire; 16 lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17 the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flieth in the heavens, 18 the likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth; 19 and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the host of heaven, thou be drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which Jehovah thy God hath allotted unto all the peoples under the whole heaven. 20 But Jehovah hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as at this day. 21 Furthermore Jehovah was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over the Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance: 22 but I must die in this land, I must not go over the Jordan; but ye shall go over, and possess that good land. 23 Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of Jehovah your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image in the form of any thing which Jehovah thy God hath forbidden thee. 24 For Jehovah thy God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS 4:1524
77.
After hearing Jehovah God and participating in His power and provision, how could these people possibly make a likeness of man or woman and worship it?
78.
Why was Moses so elaborate in his prohibitions against idolatry?
79.
What is involved in the expression iron furnace? Does this mean the Israelites worked in iron furnaces in Egypt?
80.
Once again: Does Moses blame Israel for his sin? Cf. Deu. 4:21.
81.
What promised punishment was given for those who forget the covenant of God? Cf. Deu. 4:24.
AMPLIFIED TRANSLATION 4:1524
15 Therefore take good heed to yourselves; since you saw no form of Him on the day the Lord spoke to you on Horeb out of the midst of the fire,
16 Beware lest you become corrupt by making for yourself [to worship] a graven image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
17 The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, or of any winged fowl that flies in the air,
18 The likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, or of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth.
19 And beware lest you lift up your eyes to the heavens, and when you see the sun, moon, and stars, even all the host of the heavens, you be drawn away and worship them and serve them, things which the Lord your God has allotted to all nations under the whole heavens.
20 But the Lord has taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be to Him a people of his own possession, as this day.
21 Furthermore the Lord was angry with me because of you, and He swore that I should not go over the Jordan, and that I should not enter the good land, which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance.
22 But I must die in this land, I must not cross the Jordan; but you shall go over and possess that good land.
23 Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which He made with you, and make you a graven image in the form of anything, which the Lord your God has forbidden you.
24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
COMMENT 4:1524
YE SAW NO MANNER OF FORM (Deu. 4:15)See under Deu. 4:12.
LEST YE CORRUPT YOURSELVES, AND MAKE YOU A GRAVEN IMAGE IN THE FORM OF ANY FIGURE (Deu. 4:16)They saw no form of any kindno physical representation of God whateverthus were given no excuse for making any type of image.
Note the list of living things and other objects Israel is forbidden to worship (Deu. 4:16-19):
(1) the likeness of male or female (Deu. 4:16)idols were often of both sexes; e.g. in Egypt, Osiris and Isis; in Canaan, Baal and Astarte.
(2) the likeness of any beast (Deu. 4:17)How could Israel forget the golden calf at Sinai? And the calves of Jeroboam are a later example.
(3) the likeness of any winged bird (Deu. 4:17)Horus, the hawk, was worshipped in ancient Egypt. The ibis and the crane were also deified.
(4) . . . the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground (Deu. 4:18)the crocodile, frog, and beetle were worshipped in Egypt. The serpent was frequently worshipped in ancient timesthe most universally revered of all creatures (I.S.B.E.). Israels brazen serpent was erected at Gods command to stay the plague (Num. 21:8). But when it later because an object of worship, Hezekiah destroyed it (2Ki. 18:1-8).
(5) the likeness of any fish (Deu. 4:18)In Egypt, all the fish of the Nile river were deified. And the Philistines god Dagon was represented in figures that were half man, half fish.
(6) sun . . . moon . . . stars (Deu. 4:19)Objects of worship in many ancient nations: in the earliest Egyptian texts she sun appears as divine and the moon as the bull among the stars (I.S.B.E.). Ra was the sun-god, and in other forms worshipped as Khepera and Atmu. Then there was Nut, the god of the heavens, and her husband Geb; Shu, the god of space, etc. Similar gods existed among the Babylonians, while Baal was the sun-god of Canaan and surrounding nations. The name Sunday comes to us from the Teutons, who held the first day of the week as sacred to the sun. The ancient Greeks believed that the sun god Apollo drove the sun chariot through the sky . . . So we could continue through the cultures of the Incas of Peru, Persia, northern India, Scandanavia, the Mayas, peoples of Central and South America, and the American Indian. For obvious reasons, the sun seems especially to have been worshipped by agricultural peoples.
The worship of the moon is prominently illustrated in Ur of the Chaldees, where the Ziggurat, the huge temple-tower erected for its worship, has been unearthed by archaeologists.
BROUGHT YOU FORTH OUT OF THE IRON FURNACE, OF EGYPT (Deu. 4:20)See also 1Ki. 8:51, Jer. 11:4. From this mention of the word iron furnace there can be little doubt that the Israelites were employed in Egypt in the most laborious works of metallurgy. Digging, smelting, and forging of iron in so hot a climate must have been oppressive work indeed (Clarke). Others would make this iron furnace figurative. The iron furnace is used metaphorically for affliction, chastisement (Deu. 4:20; Eze. 22:18-22)I.S.B.E. We do, indeed have brass and iron used figuratively of barrenness in Deu. 28:23-24, and a yoke of iron is used in Deu. 28:48 to picture slavery or bondage. But even if we have here a figurative expression, it must have been a figure with which Israel was familiar. The argument that iron was not a well-known metal at this time is not valid. In Deu. 3:11 we saw that Ogs bedstead was cast of iron, and Jos. 17:16; Jos. 17:18 the Canaanites are not only said to have had chariots of iron, but to have had them in great numbers.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(15) Ye saw no manner of similitude.The worship of the invisible Jehovah is here specially insisted on. The difficulty of learning to worship one whom we cannot see is, happily, one which our education does not enable us to realise in its relation to Israel of old. All nations had their visible symbols of deity. Centuries afterwards the world described the followers of Christ as Atheists, because they had no visible God. It is especially recorded in praise of Moses that he endured as seeing Him who is invisible (Heb. 11:27).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
IDOLATRY SPECIALLY FORBIDDEN, Deu 4:15-24.
Idolatry in various and in most gross forms prevailed throughout the East among the nations with whom Israel would be brought in contact. Moses in these few passages comprehends the various form of idolatry prevalent.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
They Are To Remember That Yahweh Is Without Form, And Is A Consuming Fire, And Must Therefore Avoid Making Any Graven Image for Worship Purposes For That Would Be to Adulterate and Misrepresent Yahweh ( Deu 4:15-24 ).
a Take therefore good heed to yourselves; for you saw no manner of form on the day that Yahweh spoke to you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire (Deu 4:15).
b Lest you corrupt yourselves, and make yourselves a graven image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, of any beast that is on the earth, of any winged bird that flies in the heavens, of anything that creeps on the ground, any fish that is in the water under the earth (Deu 4:16-18).
c Lest you lift up your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which Yahweh your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven (Deu 4:19).
d But Yahweh has taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be to him a people of inheritance, as at this day (Deu 4:20).
c Furthermore Yahweh was angry with me for your sakes, and swore that I should not go over the Jordan, and that I should not go in to that good land, which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, but I must die in this land, I must not go over the Jordan. But you shall go over, and possess that good land (Deu 4:21-22).
b Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of Yahweh your God, which he made with you, and make yourselves a graven image in the form of anything which Yahweh your God has forbidden you (Deu 4:23).
a For Yahweh your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God (Deu 4:24).
Note that in ‘a’ Yahweh spoke without form out of the midst of the fire, and in the parallel Yahweh is a devouring fire. In ‘b’ They are not to corrupt themselves by making a grave image of any earthly creature, and in the parallel they are not to forget the covenant by making a graven image in the form of anything forbidden. In ‘c’ they are not to lift their eyes to the heavens to worship anything in the heavens, for those things have been allotted to all the peoples under heaven, they are common, while in the parallel the true heavenly One is angry with Moses so that he is excluded from the holy land that Yahweh is giving as an inheritance, the one place on earth that is holy and is exclusive to His people. Central in ‘d’ is that Yahweh has delivered His people from the iron furnace, from Egypt (a lesser fire even though painful) to be the people of His inheritance, in order that they might inherit that holy land from which Moses is excluded. For such people to seek to heavenly bodies which are common to man would be to degrade themselves utterly.
Deu 4:15-18
‘ Take therefore good heed to yourselves; for you saw no manner of form on the day that Yahweh spoke to you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire. Lest you corrupt yourselves, and make yourselves a graven image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the heavens, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth,’
They were especially then to remember that when they had seen Him they had seen no manner of form. All they had seen was glorious, unearthly fire; ethereal, mysterious, indescribable, untouchable, here, there, and everywhere on the mountain. To try to represent Him in any earthly form or art would be to misrepresent Him and to degrade Him. Thus they were to beware that they made no attempt to make any image of Him, of whatever likeness, however symbolic, not of anything in heaven, or on earth, or under the earth, or in the sea. To do so would be to commit a crime so heinous that it was deserving of instant death (Deu 27:15; compare Deu 13:6-11; Deu 5:8-9; Deu 12:2-4; Lev 26:30). Let them then remember that when they saw Yahweh they saw no manner of form.
These verses reflect a knowledge of the traditions behind Genesis 1, and are a reminder thereby that all these things of which men make images are but God’s creations, and thus not worthy of worship. To represent God in an image is thus to debase Him and limit Him to what is earthly, reducing His transcendence.
Many gods and goddesses and semi-deities throughout the Ancient Near East were represented as beasts and birds of various kinds, and many as serpents and later we learn of creeping things connected with some forms of religion (e.g. Eze 8:10). For men and women were seeking to affect the world and what was in it by their attention to such deities. They saw them as very much a part, even if a mysterious part, of the world scene.
Deu 4:19
‘ And lest you lift up your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which Yahweh your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.’
Nor when they lifted up their eyes to heaven and saw the majestic lights in the heavens were they to be drawn to worship them. They must remember that those lights are not holy but are for the common use of all men. They were but the sun, moon and stars that He had created, the stars almost as an afterthought (Gen 1:16). They were not to serve them or to worship them. They were rather to see that they have been created by Yahweh and allotted by Him for every man’s benefit throughout the whole world. Religiously speaking there was nothing special about the heavenly bodies. But in contrast Yahweh’s people are a holy people to Yahweh their God Who has chosen them to be a special people to himself, above all people who are on the face of the earth (Deu 7:6). They must therefore only seek to Yahweh. The sun god and the moon god (Job 31:26-27) were worshipped in different parts of the ancient world from time immemorial, and the stars provided a multiplicity of gods. But His people were to worship only the true God.
“The host of heaven.” This is a phrase simply indicating the multitude of lights in the heavens which were like a great army (compare Deu 17:3; Gen 2:1; Psa 33:6; Isa 34:4) or the multiplicity of angels. One look at the heavens on a dark night would give this impression. Later Assyria would more specifically worship ‘the host of heaven’ (2Ki 17:16; 2Ki 21:3; 2Ki 21:5) but the phrase is one naturally arising from glancing at the night skies and cannot be limited to that (compare Deu 17:3; 1Ki 22:19). Contrast in Deu 17:3 ‘any of the host of heaven’ where individual star deities are in mind. The heavenly bodies were worshipped by men as far back as written records go and even before, for they are found pictured in stone. In the early Biblical period interest in the heavens outside Israel was religious and astrological, not astronomical. Thus this simple and accurate description cannot be used as a dating technique, simply through a coincidence of expression. The thought behind it goes back into the mists of time.
“Which Yahweh your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.” This may refer to the fact that the sun, moon and stars have been made available freely to all men, and are but common and universal instruments of Yahweh, or it may be pointing out how different Israel are from all other nations. To man in his rebellion and darkness (as illustrated at Babel – Gen 11:1-9) Yahweh has ‘allotted’ these trivialities for them to play at worship with. They receive what they are deserving of. But to Israel He has given Himself to be worshipped within His Tabernacle in true worship in His holy land. The nations have gods which are no gods, Israel have the living God.
The sun was worshipped in Egypt as Ra or Atum and in Canaan as Shemesh (compare Beth-shemesh – the house of ‘Shemesh’). In Mesopotamia the Sumerian moon god/goddess Nanna, called Sin by the Akkadians, was especially worshipped at Ur, and at Haran in Syria and is often represented by an image of the crescent moon. Terah, Abraham’s father, was probably a moon worshipper (compare Jos 24:2). It is mentioned as yrh at Ugarit. The ‘stars’ were widely worshipped in a variety of ways, especially Venus. Astral deities were invoked as witnesses in Hittite treaty documents. All in 2nd millennium BC.
The mention of the heavenly bodies is a reminder that treating something natural as an image was as bad as actually making an image. God is not revealed through things of this creation. He is above and beyond creation.
Deu 4:20
‘ But Yahweh has taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be to him a people of inheritance, as at this day.’
They were especially to remember also that Yahweh had brought them out of an iron furnace, out of Egypt (compare 1Ki 8:51; Jer 11:4). There they had been subjected to the heat of man’s cruelty. Just as men put their silver and gold into an iron furnace in order to produce a graven image, so has Yahweh put them into a furnace in order that He might produce a purified and holy people. And they had survived and had been refined and delivered. And His purpose in this was in order to make them His inheritance, to make them a treasure, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exo 19:5-6). That is why they were now here at this particular point in time, and why nothing that came out of earthly fires could be acceptable to them.
“Furnace.” A pot or crucible for melting metals. It was often used as a picture of trial and testing and refining (compare Pro 17:3; Isa 48:10; Eze 22:18; Eze 22:20; Eze 22:22). ‘Iron’ stresses its intensity. It may have referred to what it was made of, or the fact that it was used for shaping iron. While iron coming from meteorites had been known almost from the beginning (Gen 4:22), the discovery of how it could be obtained from iron ore and utilised, made by the Hittites in the 2nd millennium BC, began a revolution in warfare and tool making. They exported iron among other places to Egypt. It may also be that iron reflects the military strength of Egypt, and the furnace the terrible heat under which day by day they had been subjected to intolerable burdens (compare Exo 9:8).
Deu 4:21-22
‘ Furthermore Yahweh was angry with me for your sakes, and swore that I should not go over the Jordan, and that I should not go in to that good land, which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, but I must die in this land, I must not go over the Jordan. But you shall go over, and possess that good land.’
Let them learn a lesson from him. Because he had sinned grievously at Meribah he was excluded from the land. He could not enter the ‘good land’. He must die the other side of Jordan. Why? Because the land was holy, it was Yahweh’s exclusive land, and nothing unworthy could enter it. If anything symbolised what the land of Canaan was to mean it was this. It was a land for the righteous, a land under Yahweh’s rule. Even a disobedient Moses was thus excluded. Their own right there comes through atonement on the one hand and obedient submission on the other. Thus if they do not righteously observe His covenant they too will be expelled. The righteousness and purity of this holy and exclusive land (Exo 15:13; Isa 57:13; Eze 20:40; Joe 2:1; Zec 2:12) in which the God-produced exclusive people are to dwell (Deu 7:6; Deu 14:2; Deu 26:19; Deu 28:9; Exo 19:5-6; Lev 20:26) and where they are to worship only Yahweh in the land in which He has His unique earthly Dwellingplace is in direct contrast with the heavenly bodies, which appear to men to be glorious but are in fact common instruments of man and freely available.
“Yahweh was angry with me for your sakes.” It was they who had incited Moses and Aaron to the exasperation that drove them to do what they did. But Yahweh is never depicted as angry with Moses because of the failure of the people. He knew them too well. Nor did He punish Moses for their sins. Indeed many of them had already died in the wilderness. Yahweh’s anger was solely because he had failed. He had been given great privilege and great responsibility and he had let Yahweh down. Thus another had had to be raised up in his place. Moses had become too vulnerable in his old age to cope with the problems that would have to be faced. He had for a moment behaved in the same way as all people under heaven do.
But in the context of the whole of sacred history the exclusion of Moses brings out the final unimportance of the land. Had that been of final importance Moses would hardly have been excluded. If anything demands the doctrine of the resurrection it is this exclusion. Otherwise it is inexplicable. If anyone had been loyal to Yahweh’s covenant it was Moses. The only explanation had to be that God had a greater land waiting for Moses, one not of this world. Like Abraham he looked for a continuing city that was to come (Heb 11:10; Heb 11:16), although it may not have been apparent then. In the end that is our inheritance too.
“I must die in this land.” However good and fertile ‘this land’ Transjordan might be it was not the good land. Canaan alone was that, for it was chosen by Yahweh as His inheritance. It was chosen for His people. Unlike Mesopotamia and Egypt it was not watered by irrigation and great rivers, but by God Himself, by the rain from heaven (Deu 12:11; Lev 25:4-5; Eze 34:26-27). And it was a land over which Yahweh exercised care (Deu 11:12; compare Lev 26:34; Lev 26:43 concerning when it was not treated properly) and that could be emptied of its inhabitants and become totally devoted to Yahweh, a Heaven on earth. It was a holy land (Deu 7:6). That was the inheritance that He was giving them.
Deu 4:23
‘ Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of Yahweh your God, which he made with you, and make yourselves a graven image in the form of anything which Yahweh your God has forbidden you.’
Thus they must beware of forgetting the covenant of Yahweh their God, made by Him on His own initiative as the Sovereign Lord out of His pure goodness and grace. They must not turn their eyes from Him as the One revealed through fire and cloud with no shape or form, and make graven images in any earthly form or shape, something strictly forbidden by Him. They must ever bare in mind the example of Moses, and learn from it.
Deu 4:24
‘ For Yahweh your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.’
For deep into their memory from what they saw on the Mount (Deu 4:15) should go the fact that Yahweh is a devouring fire and One Who is ‘jealous’, that is, will permit no rivals or alternatives. Nor would He countenance anyone who usurped His authority, as Moses and Aaron had done at Meribah. He demands total loyalty. And it is this idea of the devouring fire that now turns Moses’ thoughts to warnings of what will follow failure.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Moses lays great stress upon the prohibition to similitudes: not only condemning all improper resemblances, but all resemblances. “To what will ye liken me?” saith the LORD. Isa 40:18-25 . How sweet is pure gospel worship. See our LORD’S short but most expressive statement of it. Joh 4:23-24 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Deu 4:15 Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day [that] the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:
Ver. 15. Take ye therefore good heed. ] These many cautions note our proneness to this evil above others. This appeareth somewhat in children so delighted with pictures, and in that idolomania of these Jews, of the eastern churches, and of the synagogue of Rome.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Deu 4:15-20
15So watch yourselves carefully, since you did not see any form on the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire, 16so that you do not act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky, 18the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water below the earth. 19And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. 20But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be a people for His own possession, as today.
Deu 4:15
NASBSo watch yourselves carefully
NKJVTake careful heed to yourselves
NRSVtake care and watch yourselves closely
TEVFor your own good, then, make certain
NJBbe very careful what you do
The VERB (BDB 1036, KB 1581, Niphal PERFECT) is used in Deu 4:2; Deu 4:6; Deu 4:9(twice),15,23,40. Israel’s actions were conditionally connected to YHWH’s covenant. They were to strenuously avoid idolatry (cf. Deu 5:8-10).
Deu 4:16 act corruptly and make a graven image This is a reference to the golden calf (cf. Exodus 32) related to YHWH’s incorporality. The Israelites were not to represent YHWH by anything physical (cf. Deu 4:16-18; Deu 4:23; Deu 4:25; Deu 5:8; Exo 20:4).
the likeness of male or female Mankind’s tendency has been to make God like a man or woman. If we put God in a human form, we have put Him into a form which we can manage.
Deu 4:17 likeness of any animal This may refer to (1) other nations’ use of animals to represent their gods and goddesses or (2) characteristics of animals to describe God.
Deu 4:18 creeps on the ground This possibly refers to the Egyptian Scarab beetle which was holy to them.
Deu 4:19 the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven The ancients, as well as the moderns (horoscope), felt that the stars represented forces or powers that control the lives of humans. The worship of astral bodies seems to have started in Babylon (Genesis 1 may represent a reaction to this type of idolatry, as Exodus 20 represents a reaction to Egyptian idolatry). Israel is to vigorously reject this kind of idolatry!
those which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples The VERB (BDB 323, KB 322, Qal PERFECT) means to divide, but in the sense of allotment or apportionment. This could imply that God encouraged astral worship, but I think instead it is another way to show YHWH’s sovereignty over all the earth (cf. Deu 29:26; Deu 32:8). Idolatry was never God’s plan or will for mankind.
Deu 4:20 the iron furnace A furnace takes unusable ore, heats it and makes it usable metal. This is an analogy of what God did to Israel in Egypt (cf. 1Ki 8:51; Jer 11:4 and the same metaphor in Isa 48:10).
to be a people for His own possession This was a special title for YHWH’s covenant people (e.g., Exo 19:5; Deu 7:6; Deu 14:2; Deu 26:18; Tit 2:14; and 1Pe 2:9). They have a divine inheritance (YHWH and land) because YHWH had chosen them even before creation (cf. Deu 32:8-9; Psa 33:6-12; Jer 10:16; Jer 51:19) to represent Himself to the world.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
yourselves = your souls. Hebrew. nephesh. See Deu 4:9 above and App-13.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Jehovah a Jealous God
Deu 4:15-31
How often Moses repeats, take heed. We must watch as well as pray and keep our souls diligently. We must specially beware of idols-that is, any visible thing which takes the place of the unseen and eternal, veiling it from our view. The soul must learn to lean on the everlasting arm.
How true that description of the iron furnace! The metaphor is derived from the process of smelting metal. We have had our Egypts, where by trials the real ore of character was disintegrated from its rocky matrix. But though God may remove us from outward affliction, He is Himself the furnace of purification, by His Spirit and Word, and in the secrets of our hearts, Deu 4:24. But His fire burns our bonds, while our heads are unsinged, Dan 3:25.
If these words meet the eyes of any who are among the scattered and vanished ones, let them seek God again, and they shall certainly find Him; for He is merciful, He will not fail nor destroy, nor forget the olden Covenant, Deu 4:30-31.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
saw no manner
Cf. (See Scofield “Joh 1:18”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Take ye: Deu 4:9, Deu 4:23, Jos 23:11, 1Ch 28:9, 1Ch 28:10, Psa 119:9, Pro 4:23, Pro 4:27, Jer 17:21, Mal 2:15
of similitude: Deu 4:12, Isa 40:18, 2Co 4:4-6, Heb 1:3
Reciprocal: Exo 20:4 – General Exo 23:13 – be circumspect Exo 32:1 – make Num 12:8 – similitude Deu 5:8 – graven image 2Ki 10:31 – took no heed 2Ki 17:12 – Ye shall not Isa 40:25 – General Luk 17:3 – heed Rom 1:23 – an image
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Deu 4:15. Ye saw no similitude in Horeb God, who, in some other places and times, did appear in a human form, now in this most solemn appearance, when he came to give eternal laws for the direction of the Israelites in the worship of himself, and in their duty to their fellow- creatures, purposely avoided all such representations, to show that he abhors all worship by images, of what kind soever, because he is the invisible God, and cannot be represented by any visible image.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
4:15 Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no {l} manner of similitude on the day [that] the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:
(l) Signifying, that destruction is prepared for all who make any image to represent God.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
3. The prohibition of idolatry 4:15-24
Because God did not reveal Himself in any physical form He forbade the Israelites from making any likeness of Him as an aid to worship (Deu 4:15-18). They were not to worship the heavenly bodies for this purpose either (Deu 4:19), as did other ancient Near Easterners. Christians may not face the temptation to represent God in wood or stone, but we must be careful about thinking we can contain or limit Him or fully comprehend Him. Even though we have received much revelation about God we cannot fully grasp all there is to appreciate about Him.
Evidently the thought of God bringing the Israelites out of Egypt, "the iron furnace," to bring them into the land (Deu 4:20) triggered Moses’ reference to his own sin and its consequences (Deu 4:21-22).
"The use of metal by heating certain ores and then hammering the metallic residue or welding it to other parts while still hot may have appeared in the Near East in the first half of the third millennium B.C., but the manufacture of iron objects (usually weapons) was very limited till 1500 B.C. and later. Though the ’furnaces’ of the OT world could not be heated sufficiently to make molten iron, artisans had learned to use bellows to make the hottest fire then known; and they knew that the hottest fire they could produce was necessary for their iron productions. ’Out of the iron-smelting furnace, out of Egypt’ does not mean to imply that iron-smelting furnaces were in Egypt at that time. Rather, bringing Israel out of Egypt was like bringing her out of an iron-smelting furnace-the heavy bondage of Egypt with its accompanying difficulties and tensions being likened to the hottest fire then known." [Note: Kalland, pp. 45-46.]
Israel was to learn from Moses’ personal failure (Deu 4:23) and be completely loyal to Yahweh.
"Not only can the inheritance be merited by obedience, but it can be lost by disobedience. Even Moses was excluded from the land of Canaan (i.e., the inheritance) because of his disobedience (Deu 4:21-22). Clearly, Moses will be in heaven, but he forfeited his earthly inheritance. Not entering Canaan does not necessarily mean one is not born again.
"Even though Israel had become God’s firstborn son (Exo 4:22-23), the entire wilderness generation with the exception of Caleb and Joshua forfeited the inheritance due the firstborn. God disinherited them, and they wandered in the wilderness for forty years." [Note: Joseph C. Dillow, The Reign of the Servant Kings, p. 50.]
The "consuming fire" metaphor refers to the manifestation of God’s glory that burns in judgment all that is impure (cf. Exo 24:17; Lev 10:2; Num 16:35; Heb 12:29). God’s jealousy is His zeal for righteousness that springs from His holiness. He would not tolerate Israel’s allegiance to any other god. The connotation of pettiness that is present in the English word "jealousy" is absent from the Hebrew idea.