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Deuteronomy 4:16
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14 And athe Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might1 observe them in the land which you cross over to possess.  

Beware of Idolatry

15 a“Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no bform when the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire,  
16 lest you aact corruptly and bmake for yourselves a carved image in the1 form of any figure: cthe likeness of male or female,  
17 the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air,
18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth.
19 And take heed, lest you alift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, ball the host of heaven, you feel driven to cworship them and serve them, which the Lord your God has1 given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage.  
20 But the Lord has taken you and abrought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be bHis people, an inheritance, as you are this day.  
Commentaries:
Forerunner Commentary
What is the Forerunner Commentary?
<< Deuteronomy 4:15   Deuteronomy 4:17 >>

What Does Deuteronomy 4:16 Mean?



Deuteronomy 4:15-20

Since they saw nothing of the God who liberated them and whom they now were commanded to worship, anything they contrived to represent Him would be a boldfaced lie. No one else has seen God in His glory either, so absolutely no one can even begin to catch even the essence of a true representation of Him. Nothing could even come close to a resemblance. Any representation by anyone throughout history is a lie. Do we want to worship a lie?

Even in the Holy of Holies there was no representation of God, and the altar was of simple turf or unhewn stones (Exodus 20:22-26). A meaningful lesson exists in this: From God's perspective, because man always infuses human nature into the objects of his worship, he always tends to ruin whatever he touches in his relationship with God. This is not good because the worshipper can rise no higher than the god he worships.

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Second Commandment (1997)

Related Topics: Idolatry | Relationship with God | Representation of God | The Second Commandment | Way We Worship | What We Worship | Worship




Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing Deuteronomy 4:16:

Exodus 20:4-6


 
<< Deuteronomy 4:15   Deuteronomy 4:17 >>

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