Jehovah is a jealous God. So be on your guard and watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the covenant of the LORD your God which He has made with you, and make for yourselves a carved or sculpted image in the form of anything which the LORD your God has forbidden you.
For the LORD your God is a consuming fire; He is a jealous (impassioned) God [demanding what is rightfully and uniquely His]. Deu 4:23-24
INTRODUCTION TO THE OLD TESTAMENT
The Law Repeated for the New Generation
I FIRST DISCOURSE OF MOSES, Deuteronomy 1-4
2. Appeal to the People to Faithfully Observe God’s Commands, Deu_4:1-40
3. Supplementary Historical Statement, Deu_1:41-46
7. In what sense is Jehovah “a jealous God?”
INTRODUCTION
This is again the Greek name for this book, and signifies the “second giving of the Law.” It contains the records of public addresses to Israel, delivered in the eleventh month of the fortieth year of their wanderings through the Wilderness. As Moses uttered them on the eve of his own speedy removal, he was able to speak with unusual emphasis and urgency. The allusions to the natural features amidst which these addresses were given are consistent with the place and speaker. It has been shown also by competent scholarship that Deuteronomy has all the peculiarities of Moses’ style; and any differences of hortatory entreaty and appeal may be accounted for by the mellowing effect of age.
The special references to this book in the New Testament are very significant. Our Lord quoted from it thrice in His Temptation, Mat_4:4; Mat_4:7; Mat_4:10. See also Rom_10:19; Act_3:22; Act_7:37. There are touches by a later writer, and an appendix, Deu_34:1-12; but the origin of the treatise as a whole must be ascribed to the great Lawgiver.
IDOLATRY FORBIDDEN
“So pay attention and watch yourselves carefully–for you did not see any form [of God] on the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire–
so that you do not act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved or sculpted image [to worship] in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, or of any winged bird that flies in the sky,
the likeness of anything that crawls on the ground, or of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth.
And beware that you do not raise your eyes toward heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and let yourselves be led astray and worship them and serve them, [mere created bodies] which the LORD your God has allotted to [serve and benefit] all the peoples under the whole heaven.
But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron [smelting] furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people for His own possession, as [you are] this day.
“Now the LORD was angry with me [at the waters of Meribah] because of you, and He swore [an oath] that I would not cross the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
For I am going to die in this land, I am not going to cross the Jordan, but you shall cross over and take possession of this good land.
So be on your guard and watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the covenant of the LORD your God which He has made with you, and make for yourselves a carved or sculpted image in the form of anything which the LORD your God has forbidden you.
For the LORD your God is a consuming fire; He is a jealous (impassioned) God [demanding what is rightfully and uniquely His].
“When you become the father of children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, then if you corrupt yourselves by making a carved or sculpted image in the form of anything [for the purpose of worship], and do evil [things] in the sight of the LORD your God, provoking Him to anger,
I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You shall not live long on it, but will be utterly destroyed.
The LORD will scatter and disperse you among the peoples (pagan nations), and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD drives you.
And there you will serve [false and foreign] gods, the work of human hands, [lifeless images of] wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell [the offerings of food given to them].
But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.
When you are in distress and tribulation and all these things come on you, in the latter days you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice.
For the LORD your God is a merciful and compassionate God; He will not fail you, nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.
Comments by
F.B.Meyer
On
JEHOVAH “A JEALOUS GOD”
How often Moses repeats, “take heed.” We must watch as well as pray and keep our souls diligently. We must specially beware of idols-that is, any visible thing which takes the place of the unseen and eternal, veiling it from our view. The soul must learn to lean on the everlasting arm.
How true that description of the iron furnace! The metaphor is derived from the process of smelting metal. We have had our Egypts, where by trials the real ore of character was disintegrated from its rocky matrix. But though God may remove us from outward affliction, He is Himself the furnace of purification, by His Spirit and Word, and in the secrets of our hearts, Deu_4:24. But His fire burns our bonds, while our heads are unsinged, Dan_3:25.
If these words meet the eyes of any who are among the scattered and vanished ones, let them seek God again, and they shall certainly find Him; for He is merciful, He will not fail nor destroy, nor forget the olden Covenant, Deu_4:30-31.
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