Deu 4:16-19 | 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 4:16-19

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).