Deuteronomy 4 The shape of idols

seekeroftruth

Well-Known Member
Deuteronomy 4:15 You saw no form of any kind the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, 16 so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, 17 or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air, 18 or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below. 19 And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars—all the heavenly array—do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven. 20 But as for you, the Lord took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of his inheritance, as you now are.​

This is from the easy English site.

Moses reminded the people that they did not see any shape of God at Mount Sinai. They must not make an image of God. Other nations made their false gods in many shapes. Moses made a list of the images that those nations used. Most of those images were in the religions of the Canaanites, the Egyptians and the nation called the Hittites. Moses told the Israelites not to give honour to the sun, the moon or the stars. The Israelites were different from other nations. God rescued them from the very difficult situation in Egypt. He made them his special people.

Moses reminded the Israelites that he would not go into the new country. That was because he had done the wrong thing. The Israelites would go into the new country, but they must be careful. They must not make any idol, because God is very holy. If they did not continue to worship God, he would be very angry. God did not want the people to worship any false gods. The Israelites should put God first. That is the only right way.

This is from the blueletterbible.org site.

The commands at Horeb had to be obeyed. Because they saw no form of God, therefore God commanded that they must never make an image to represent Him.

Israel also was forbidden to worship the creation of God. Neither any beast or bird or the sun, the moon, and the stars are fit for our worship. This is worshipping the creature rather than the Creator (Romans 1:25).​

Because God has delivered us, He has rights over us. He did not deliver us so we could do our own thing, but so we could do His thing.

I titled this post "the shape of idols" because Moses seems to be talking about it. Moses started out by reminding us that when he was at Mount Sinai, there was a voice, a presence if you will, but no shape. I'm not a big fan of modern art. I really don't get the modern art portraits. I'm talking about those "portraits" that have a nose where the belly button should be or an eye at the elbow. It's like the artist didn't have a mom or dad to play the name the body parts games.

I've never seen an ugly portrait of Jesus, have you? I bet people who would make an "portrait" of God would put their whole heart and sole into the effort. With no model to use.... it could drive a guy crazy.... right? I don't think we have the ability to show the real color or shape of God because it seems God created color and shape as well as everything else. So anything man could create would be ugly compared to the real thing....

Besides.... the time spent driving yourself crazy getting everything just right could be much better spent simply talking to Him. Right?

:coffee:
 
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