Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 19:4
Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I [am] the LORD your God.
4. Turn ye not unto ] As in Lev 19:31 (A.V. ‘Regard not’), and Lev 20:6.
idols ] ( ’l lm) things of nought R.V. mg. See reference there. The Heb. word occurs only here and Lev 26:1 in Pentateuch; a word of uncertain etymology, possibly suggesting the idea of gods from its sound (similar to that of ’l and ’lhm), but always associated with the idea of worthlessness. It is used by the prophets ironically of false gods in contrast to the true God.
molten gods ] See Exo 34:17. Cp. Deu 27:15.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Lev 19:4
Turn ye not unto idols.
Folly of idolatry
A Chinese wife was one day seen by a missionary to enter a temple. In her hands were some humble offerings, such as a twig, or rice, for propitiating the poor, blind deity. There he stood, some forty feet high, blackened and begrimed with the smoke of incense for hundreds of years. She presented her petition; she called upon the idol to protect and return in safety her husband, then on the sea in a storm. A few weeks after the missionary was there, and saw the same female enter the temple in a rage. She stood before the grim idol and cursed it for being so blind, so deaf, so helpless, as to let her husband perish! Yes, the wailing widow of heathen life only echoed the sad complaints of millions in Christian lands. They found their hopes and build their plans on just such baseless, blind, deaf gods as this humble dweller in darkness. The worldling ever prays to a god that is deaf and blind I (VanDoren, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. Turn ye not unto idols] elilim, literally nothings; and to this St. Paul seems to allude 1Co 8:4, where he says, We know that an idol is NOTHING in the world.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Turn not your hearts and faces from me, whom alone you pretend to respect, unto them. He intimates, that their turning to idols is a turning from God, and that they could not serve both God and idols.
Unto idols: the word signifies such as are no gods, or nothings, as they are called, 1Co 8:4, many idols having no being, but only in the fancy of their worshippers, and all of them having no virtue or power to do good or evil, Isa 41:23. Molten gods, nor graven gods neither, as appears from Exo 20, whereby we learn that such expressions are generally to be understood synecdochically.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Turn ye not unto idols,…. From the one only true and living God to them that are not gods, as the word used signifies, who are nothing; for, as the apostle says, an idol is nothing in the world, 1Co 8:4, is of no worth and value, of no consequence and importance, of no avail and usefulness to its devotees; wherefore to turn from the true God to such as these is the greatest stupidity, as well as wickedness: or “look not” at them g for help or assistance, for they are not able to give it: and to look at them so as to view them attentively, and consider their likeness, the Jews say h is forbidden; and even in the heart and mind, as Aben Ezra observes, to have respect unto them was not right; or in the thoughts, as Gersom:
nor make to yourselves molten gods; of gold, silver, or brass, melted and cast into a mould, as the golden calf was, to which respect may be had. These laws have a respect unto the first and second commandments,
Ex 20:3:
I [am] the Lord, your God; who only is to be worshipped, and who has forbid the making and worshipping any image, molten or graven, and who will therefore resent idolatry of every sort, and punish for it.
g “ne respiciatis”, Montanus, Tigurine version, Drusius. h Pesichta, Maimonides.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(4) Turn ye not unto idols.As the Lord is their God, and there is no other God besides Him, the Israelites must never turn their affections nor address prayers or enquiries to idols. This part of the verse therefore corresponds with the first commandment of the Decalogue (Exo. 20:3). The expression here rendered idols, which, apart from the Prophets and Hagiographa, only occurs once more (see Lev. 26:1), denotes non-entitiesnothings, and it is in allusion to this import of the word that the Apostle remarks, We know that an idol is nothing in the world (1Co. 8:4). According to the administrators of the law during the second Temple, the injunction here turn not means face not, and forbids even the looking at or the examination of an idol.
Nor make yourselves molten gods.This part of the verse corresponds with the second commandment in the Decalogue (Exo. 20:4-6), though the phrase molten gods only occurs once more where the same prohibition is enforced (Exo. 34:17).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Idols The Hebrew term elilim, nothings, or “things of naught,” (Jer 14:14,) is very expressive. There is a paronomasia, or similarity of sound with elohim, God, which heightens the contrast. “As the Living One, Jehovah, is placed in contrast to the gods of the heathen, which can reveal nothing, perform nothing, grant no requests, and send no help, Deu 32:37-39; which are nothings, and dead, Psa 106:28.” Oehler. But Furst derives the word from el with a diminutive syllable, “little gods,” indicating the greatest contempt.
Molten gods The massecha, or molten image, is spoken of in distinction from the graven or carved images. The precious metals were used. Exo 20:23; Exo 32:2; Exo 32:8.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Lev 19:4. Turn ye not unto idols The word rendered idols elilim, coming from elil, vain, foolish, false, signifies vain, foolish, or false things: a name given in just contempt by believers to the vain objects of heathen worship, which were nothing in themselves, and to worship which shewed the greater folly; as, having no intellectual existence, they were unable to help: We know that an idol is nothing in the world, says St. Paul, 1Co 8:4 an observation equally true, whatever was the object of false worship.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
These are all so many repetitions of the laws, on the same points, which had been given before. Lev 7:16-18 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Lev 19:4 Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I [am] the LORD your God.
Ver. 4. Turn ye not unto idols. ] Heb., Elilim; deunculi, deastri; Petty gods, dunghill deities; of all which we should say, as he did once, Contemno minutulos istos deos, modo Iovem (Iehovam) mihi propitium habeam, I care for the favour of no god, but of the great God of gods.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
idols = Hebrew. ‘elilim. See Lev 26:1.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Exo 20:3-5, 1Co 10:14, 1Jo 5:21
not unto: Lev 26:1
molten gods: Exo 20:23, Exo 32:4, Exo 34:17, Deu 27:15, Hag 2:18
Reciprocal: Exo 20:4 – General Lev 18:2 – General Jdg 17:3 – a graven image 1Ch 16:26 – all the gods 2Ch 28:2 – molten images Dan 3:18 – that
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lev 19:4. Turn ye not unto idols Hebrew, , Elilim, No gods, or nothings, as the word signifies, and as idols are called, (1Co 8:4,) many of them having no being but in the fancy of their worshippers, and all of them having no virtue or power to do good or evil, Isa 41:23.