Deu 4:15-21 | KD | STEP | 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 ), are in apposition to “graven image,” and serve to explain and emphasize the prohibition.

‏ Deuteronomy 4:15-21

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. Deu 4:17-18

They were also not to make an image of any kind of beast; a caution against imitating the animal worship of Egypt. Deu 4:19

They were not to allow themselves to be torn away (נדּח) to worship the stars of heaven, namely, by the seductive influence exerted upon the senses by the sight of the heavenly bodies as they shone in their glorious splendour. The reason for this prohibition is given in the relative clause, “which Jehovah thy God hath allotted to all nations under the whole heaven.” The thought is not, “God has given the heathen the sun, moon, and stars for service, i.e., to serve them with their light,” as Onkelos, the Rabbins, Jerome, and others, suppose, but He has allotted them to them for worship, i.e., permitted them to choose them as the objects of their worship, which is the view adopted by Justin Martyr, Clemens Alex., and others. According to the scriptural view, even the idolatry of the heathen existed by divine permission and arrangement. God gave up the heathen to idolatry and shameful lusts, because, although they knew Him from His works, they did not praise Him as God (Rom 1:21, Rom 1:24, Rom 1:26). Deu 4:20

The Israelites were not to imitate the heathen in this respect, because Jehovah, who brought them out of the iron furnace of Egypt, had taken them (לקח) to Himself, i.e., had drawn them out or separated them from the rest of the nations, to be a people of inheritance. They were therefore not to seek God and pray to Him in any kind of creature, but to worship Him without image and form, in a manner corresponding to His own nature, which had been manifested in no form, and therefore could not be imitated. בּרזל כּוּר, an iron furnace, or furnace for smelting iron, is a significant figure descriptive of the terrible sufferings endured by Israel in Egypt. נחלה עם (a people of inheritance) is synonymous with סגלּה עם (a special people, Deu 7:6 : see at Exo 19:5, “a peculiar treasure”). “This day:” as in Deu 2:30. Deu 4:21-24

The bringing of Israel out of Egypt reminds Moses of the end, viz., Canaan, and leads him to mention again how the Lord had refused him permission to enter into this good land; and to this he adds the renewed warning not to forget the covenant or make any image of God, since Jehovah, as a jealous God, would never tolerate this. The swearing attributed to God in Deu 4:21 is neither mentioned in Num 20 nor at the announcement of Moses’ death in Num 27:12.; but it is not to be called in question on that account, as Knobel supposes. It is perfectly obvious from Deu 3:23. that all the details are not given in the historical account of the event referred to. כּל תּמוּנת פּסל, “image of a form of all that Jehovah has commanded,” sc., not to be made (Deu 4:16-18). “A consuming fire” (Deu 4:24): this epithet is applied to God with special reference to the manifestation of His glory in burning fire (Exo 24:17). On the symbolical meaning of this mode of revelation, see at Exo 3:2. “A jealous God:” see at Exo 20:5.

To give emphasis to this warning, Moses holds up the future dispersion of the nation among the heathen as the punishment of apostasy from the Lord.