Deuteronomy 4:15-31 - Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

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Jehovah “a Jealous God”

Deuteronomy 4:15-31

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, Deuteronomy 4:24. But His fire burns our bonds, while our heads are unsinged, Daniel 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, Deuteronomy 4:30-31.

Related Commentaries of Deuteronomy 4:15

Deuteronomy 4:15-31

15 Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:

16 Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

17 The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,

18 The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth:

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, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath dividedc unto all nations under the whole heaven.

20 But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.

21 Furthermore the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, 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:

22 But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that good land.

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 any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee.

24 For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.

25 When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger:

26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.

27 And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you.

28 And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.

30 When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;

31 (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.