Deuteronomy 4:15-31--Idolatry Forbidden

Deuteronomy 4:15-31
English Standard Version

Idolatry Forbidden
15 “Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since you saw no form on the day that the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, 16 beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17 the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, 18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. 19 And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. 20 But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day. 21 Furthermore, the LORD was angry with me because of you, and he swore that I should not cross the Jordan, and that I should not enter the good land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance. 22 For I must die in this land; I must not go over the Jordan. But you shall go over and take possession of that good land. 23 Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make a carved image, the form of anything that the LORD your God has forbidden you. 24 For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

25 “When you father children and children's children, and have grown old in the land, if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and by doing what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, so as to provoke him to anger, 26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed. 27 And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you. 28 And there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. 29 But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the LORD your God and obey his voice. 31 For the LORD your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.

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The LORD is not like the gods of the other pagan nations where those people made idols or metal, wood, or stone fashioned in the form of someone or something they worshiped.  Moses reminds the people to be careful that the LORD has no form, as we are told in John 4:24-24 by Jesus Himself, "24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

They were to be careful to not make any likeness of a man or a woman or of any animal, nor any other created thing including the sun, moon, stars and planets.  That covers just about everything that the pagan world at that time worshiped (many today still worship these things).

Moses is still upset with the people at this point blaming them for his sin, but it should be no surprise to us that he is not going in because the LORD told us as much in the book of Numbers with the 12 spies when He told them that not one of the people counted in the first census would enter the land with the exception of Joshua and Caleb.  God told Moses and the others that thought they would make it that they would not.  It will be interesting to see if Moses stops blaming others for his anger issues and takes responsibility for what he did before the end of this sermon.  He does correctly warn them though that they must be careful to keep the covenant because God's punishment of Moses is a warning to all the people that sin (especially sins of open rebellion) will not go unpunished.  I think these words the LORD spoke to King Saul through the prophet Samuel would be fitting to interject here during our discussion of idolatry.

1 Samuel 15:23
English Standard Version
​23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination,
    and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
    he has also rejected you from being king.”

Why were the people forbidden from making idols and worshiping other gods?  "For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God."  That's not an attribute of God that we normally talk about.  When was the last time you heard someone talk about the LORD whose name is Jealous or that the LORD is a consuming fire (not that He's literally fire, but this is how He revealed Himself to the people on Mt. Sinai).  Fire is safe when it is contained, but the LORD cannot be contained--He is good, but not safe as C.S. Lewis wrote of Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia (Aslan is supposed to be a picture of Jesus in these allegorical stories).  It will burn you if you get too close, just like we cannot approach God's holiness without being covered by the blood of Jesus first.  Fire consumes the impurities when metal is being refined and it will burn away the worthless deeds described as "wood, hay, and stubble" in the Judgment Seat of Christ and only leave the "gold, silver and precious stones" that we will lay at His feet.  We are told in Peter's epistles that one day there will be judgment by fire and the very elements will melt with fervent heat, and we often see fire associated with the LORD's presence.

Moses prophesies that this generation would not be careful to keep their children and grandchildren from idolatry.  Moses calls heaven and earth as witnesses against them that they have been warned that the LORD will not tolerate idolatry and will judge them, even they they are "His children."  They will be driven from their land and scattered among the pagan peoples that they wanted to emulate by having gods like theirs.

Moses also prophesies that in that place where the people have been taken out of their land (the Babylonian/Persian exile is probably the best biblical example) they will once again turn back to the LORD and His covenant and the LORD will be faithful to keep His covenant with them and to not destroy them, and part of that covenant is to return His people to the land that He has promised them.  We've seen that also in recent history with the nation of Israel being returned to the Promised Land, but they still do not have control of all the land that originally given to them.  The LORD has been faithful and preserved His people, even through Holocaust, and He will keep them through the Great Tribulation that is to come and in that time all Israel will look to Christ and cry out to Him for salvation and then the end will come.  (see Romans 11, and there are a few other Old Testament passages that we'll get to that seem to indicate that great revival of the Jewish people in the end times).