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Warning Against Idolatry
v. 14. And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it, namely, the precepts contained in the legislation beginning with Exodus 21.
v. 15. Take ye, therefore, good heed unto yourselves, every one was to watch carefully over his soul; for ye saw no manner of similitude, no form or outline which could be used as the basis for a picture, on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire;
v. 16. lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, either carved or hewn, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
v. 17. the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,
v. 18. the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth, any statue or picture whatever which might be used for purposes of gross idolatry;
v. 19. and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars, even. all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, Rom_1:25, and serve them, which the Lord, thy God, hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. God's original purpose was that the heavenly bodies should serve mankind, Gen_1:17-18. Since the heathen, however, carried away by the lure of the unknown, by the enticement of the light bodies, had given them divine honor, the Lord had permitted them to remain in their foolishness, as a punishment for turning from Him.
v. 20. But the Lord hath taken you and brought you forth out of their on furnace, a significant picture of the most severe misery and oppression, even out of Egypt, to be unto Him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day, Exo_19:5.
v. 21. Furthermore, the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, Num_20:12, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land which the Lord, thy God, giveth thee for an inheritance;
v. 22. but I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan; but ye shall go over and possess that good land. The wistful tone which Moses employs shows how deeply he was affected by the Lord's ruling that excluded him from the Land of Promise.
v. 23. Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord, your God, which he made with you, and make you, a graven image or the likeness of anything which the Lord, thy God, hath forbidden thee.
v. 24. For the Lord, thy God, is a consuming fire, even a jealous God, whose righteous anger devours the children of disobedience. We should remember at all times that God will not be mocked, but that He resents every attack upon His holiness and righteousness and will punish all willful transgressors.