Worshiping Other gods is Forbidden
July 31, 2022
Commentary
Moses wanted to make sure that the people did not forget all they had seen God do, so He urged parents to teach their children about God’s great miracles. While the mountain burned with fire the Lord spoke out of the midst of the fire (vv. 11-12). The nations around Israel worshiped many gods, but Israel was to worship only the one true God. Our worship may be to money, comfort, convenience, or status, rather than allowing God to bring his words to our attention. He commanded them to perform the ten commandments and to perform them in the land they were soon to possess (vv. 13-15). The people heard God speak the Word, but they didn’t see any form of God (v. 15). The conclusion seems obvious; God forbids His people to worship visible representations of God or of anything God has made, whether humans, animals, birds, fish or the sun, moon, and stars.
The religious objects and exercises discussed here are totally alien in today’s Western world; but the basic distinction made between such practices and the worship of God is still relevant and important (vv. 16-19). It is often easier to worship an idol, bow to a crucifix, or send a check to the local church, than it is to listen to the voice of the invisible God. To worship other gods is to worship nothing and become nothing (Ps. 115:8). In his message, Moses gives several arguments to defend this warning against idolatry. To worship the creation instead of the Creator is the essence of idolatry (Rom. 1:22-25). God had taken them out of the iron furnace of Egypt and placed them in His inheritance (v. 20). God made man in His image, but idolaters make gods in their own image and thereby cheapen themselves and insult God.
Application
It is so easy for me to worship people or things in this life. My desire is to feed my mind with the truth of God’s Word to the point it will be purged from the things of this world and devoted totally to the fulfillment of God’s purpose in my life.
Deuteronomy 4:11– 20 (NET)
11 You approached and stood at the foot of the mountain, a mountain ablaze to the sky above it and yet dark with a thick cloud. 12 Then the Lord spoke to you from the middle of the fire; you heard speech but you could not see anything—only a voice was heard. 13 And he revealed to you the covenant he has commanded you to keep, the Ten Commandments, writing them on two stone tablets. 14 Moreover, at that same time the Lord commanded me to teach you statutes and ordinances for you to keep in the land that you are about to enter and possess.
15 Be very careful, then, because you saw no form at the time the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the middle of the fire. 16 I say this so you will not corrupt yourselves by making an image in the form of any kind of figure. This includes the likeness of a human male or female, 17 any kind of land animal, any bird that flies in the sky, 18 anything that crawls on the ground, or any fish in the deep waters under the earth. 19 When you look up to the sky and see the sun, moon, and stars—the whole heavenly creation —you must not be seduced to worship and serve them, for the Lord your God has assigned them to all the people of the world. 20 You, however, the Lord has selected and brought from Egypt, that iron-smelting furnace, to be his special people as you are today.