In Deuteronomy 4:15-24, Moses counsels this generation of Israelites to watch themselves very carefully, remembering that they had seen no physical form of God, and thus, to vigilantly keep from making carved images in the form or likeness of anything as something to worship in place of God. This is what their parents had grievously done while Moses was receiving the law from God at Horeb. Moses also urged them to also beware lifting their eyes up for the purpose of worshiping the celestial elements (sun, moon, and stars) as something deserving their worship. After all, God had given such displays of His kindness to every people group.
And furthermore, it was Yahweh (and no other) who had rescued them from the iron furnace of Egypt, where they had endured the harshest of conditions, being refined by God’s providential hand. And God had saved them for the purpose of being a people of His own inheritance … and it is to Him alone that they should express their worship.
Moses also reminded them that sin brings consequences and that even he himself would not be going with them because of their sin and his sinful response. These are the words of a dying father who wishes to see his children walk in faithfulness to God. And so, Moses finally reminded them (in this section) to never forget the covenant God had made with them which required their entire devotion to Him alone. Never were they to break the conditions of the covenant by making carved images, which God had expressly forbidden. And this was no thing to take lightly, for “the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God,” and they could certainly remember how God’s fire had consumed many of their rebellious parents of the first generation.
You can listen to this teaching on Deuteronomy 4:15-24 by clicking on the following link: A People Of His Own Inheritance
