What Their Fate Will Be If They Turn Away From Him To Graven Images (Deuteronomy 4:25-29).
This fate had already been portrayed by what had happened to their fathers who were driven from the land (Deuteronomy 1:44-45). It was being portrayed by what would happen to Moses who was to be excluded from the land. It will be brought home by what should happen to the Canaanites as they are driven out and scattered. For the land can only receive and hold the good. Thus if they fail and become corrupt they too can only expect to be cast out. Obedience is an essential part of the covenant. We should note that in the end the idea was not the keeping of a list of regulations, it was a response of personal obedience to Yahweh Who had revealed His grace towards them, of which the other was only a consequence. If they failed in that they too would have to be cast out.
For the land was not being given to them as their prerogative. It was being lent to them by Yahweh. It was only for the righteous. Thus if they failed in righteousness there would be no place for them in it. On the other hand if they return and seek Him with all their hearts they will find Him.
We may analyse this passage in the word of Moses as follows:
a When you beget children, and children's children, and you have been long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves (Deuteronomy 4:25 a),
b And make a graven image in the form of anything, and shall do that which is evil in the sight of Yahweh your God, to provoke him to anger (Deuteronomy 4:25 b).
c I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from off the land to which you go over the Jordan to possess it. You will not prolong your days on it, but will be utterly destroyed (Deuteronomy 4:26).
c And Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, and you shall be left few in number among the nations, to which Yahweh shall lead you away (Deuteronomy 4:27).
b And there you will serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell (Deuteronomy 4:28).
a But if you seek Yahweh you will find Him if you seek Him with heart and soul (Deuteronomy 4:29)
In ‘a' we have the picture of a people who corrupt themselves because they have been ‘long in the land', and in the parallel the promise that if they genuinely return and seek Yahweh they will find Him. In ‘b' they do evil in the sight of Yahweh and provoke Him to anger by making as graven image in any form, and in the parallel we have the consequence, they will indeed worship such useless gods, but it will be outside the land (‘there'). In ‘c' Yahweh calls heaven and earth to witness what He will do with such people, He will destroy them, and in the parallel the consequence of that destruction will be their scattering and being left few in number (compare Deuteronomy 28:62 and contrast Deuteronomy 1:10-11; Deuteronomy 10:22) and short of days (contrast Deuteronomy 4:40; Deuteronomy 5:16; Deuteronomy 6:2).
‘ When you beget children, and children's children, and you have been long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image in the form of anything, and shall do that which is evil in the sight of Yahweh your God, to provoke him to anger,'
No one was more aware than Yahweh of the propensities of the people. He had seen it all before. So He seeks to prevent failure by the intensest of warnings. What He described was not a prophecy before the event, it was just the necessary and inevitable consequence of covenant failure, something which Moses was himself experiencing in his own way. (Knowing their history and the tendencies of man most of us could have prophesied that in time Israel would fail. It was hardly therefore a secret to God).
So He warns them of the danger of turning to false gods in the future, especially as manifested in the making of graven images. It may not happen immediately, but He is warning future generations, ‘your children, and your children's children'. Note the sense of the continuity of Israel. The activity of their children's children will be their action too. If any of them make a graven image or do what is evil in the sight of Yahweh then they must recognise what the consequences will be. They will provoke Him to anger and face the consequences.
‘ I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from off the land to which you go over the Jordan to possess it. You will not prolong your days on it, but will be utterly destroyed.'
And judgment would be certain. No more solemn witness could have been called for, for heaven and earth includes all that is in them. Moses was calling on the whole of creation to bear witness, just as in parallel treaties the gods were invoked as witnesses. And what were they to witness? They were to witness God's declaration of the consequences for those who so sinned. That such would soon utterly perish from the land. Rather than prolonging their days on the land they would be utterly destroyed. This was already intended to be the Canaanite's fate. It had been the fate of their own fathers. In one sense it was Moses' fate (he had a harsh lesson in front of his very eyes). If they were unfaithful to the covenant it would also be theirs. The land would not hold those who were unfaithful.
That this was delayed when the inevitable happened and they deserted Yahweh was not because of any failure on God's part, but because He displayed with them the longsuffering that He had displayed with the Canaanites.
It is noteworthy that certain political decrees discovered among the Canaanite literature at Ugarit also called on heaven and earth as witnesses. Heaven and earth were regularly seen as important witnesses.
‘ And Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, and you shall be left few in number among the nations, to which Yahweh shall lead you away.'
The result of rebellion would be that they would be scattered among the nations (compare Deuteronomy 28:64; Leviticus 26:33), as those who rebelled against God at Babel were so scattered (Genesis 11:8), and as the Canaanites before Israel in the land were to be driven out and thus scattered (Exodus 23:28-31). And they would be decimated so that they were few in number. Few in number is the opposite state to being as the stars of heaven for multitude (Deuteronomy 1:10; Deuteronomy 10:22). Compare here Deuteronomy 28:62. This would be their punishment. It was the inevitable consequence for peoples driven from their own countries in all directions. Disease, the sword and starvation would follow inevitably for many as they became refugees wherever they were, seeking a place to rest. There is no thought here of the Exile. The thought is rather of the practical effect of being driven out of the land, seeking refuge in many countries.
‘ And there you will serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.'
And in those countries they would be reduced to serving gods which were the work of men's hands, gods who could, he points out sardonically, neither see, hear, eat nor smell. In the beginning this would have been their own choice, for they would have turned to graven images, which was why they would face this suffering in the first place, but now it would also be thrust on them, for they would have no Central Sanctuary and they were outside Yahweh's land, and it may even be forced on them by the country of their exile. The point is that they would have lost all the blessings of the covenant.
It should be noted that rather than being an indication that this was written ‘after the event' this is simply a typical treaty clause concerning the consequences of disobedience to a treaty covenant. What they had done to others would be done to them.
‘ But from there you will seek Yahweh your God, and you will find him, when you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.'
Once they were scattered they would undoubtedly at some stage turn to seek Yahweh their God, and then they would find Him (for He would be graciously waiting), but only when they sought Him with all their heart and with all their soul. Note that there is here no promise of return to the land, only a promise of return to Yahweh, for that is the most important thing.