Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal-peor, for the LORD your God destroyed from among you all who followed Baal of Peor. Your eyes have seenThis phrase emphasizes the firsthand experience of the Israelites. In the Hebrew context, "eyes" (עֵינַיִם, 'eynayim) often symbolize perception and understanding. The Israelites are reminded of their direct witness to God's actions, underscoring the importance of personal experience in faith. This serves as a call to remember and learn from what they have observed, reinforcing the idea that faith is not blind but informed by God's past deeds. what the LORD did
The phrase highlights God's active role in the history of Israel. The Hebrew name for God here is "Yahweh" (יְהוָה), the covenant name of God, which signifies His eternal presence and faithfulness. This reminds the Israelites of God's sovereignty and His direct intervention in their lives, encouraging them to trust in His power and promises. at Baal-peor
Baal-peor refers to a specific event recorded in Numbers 25, where the Israelites fell into idolatry and immorality with the Moabites. "Baal" (בַּעַל) was a Canaanite deity, and "Peor" (פְּעוֹר) was a location. This incident serves as a warning against idolatry and the consequences of turning away from God. It underscores the importance of faithfulness and the dangers of syncretism, where the worship of God is mixed with pagan practices. The LORD your God destroyed
This phrase emphasizes God's judgment and His protective nature over His people. The Hebrew word for "destroyed" (שָׁמַד, shamad) conveys a complete and utter destruction, highlighting the seriousness of sin and God's intolerance of idolatry. It serves as a reminder of God's holiness and the need for His people to remain pure and devoted to Him. from among you
This indicates the separation of the guilty from the community of Israel. The phrase underscores the concept of holiness, where God's people are set apart from sin. It reflects the biblical principle that sin affects the entire community, and thus, there is a need for communal purity and accountability. everyone who followed Baal of Peor
This final phrase identifies the specific group that faced God's judgment. "Followed" (הָלַךְ, halak) implies a deliberate choice to walk in the ways of Baal, contrasting with walking in the ways of the LORD. It serves as a cautionary tale about the consequences of choosing false gods over the true God. The phrase calls believers to steadfastness in their faith and warns against the allure of false teachings and practices. Persons / Places / Events 1. MosesThe speaker of this verse, Moses is addressing the Israelites, reminding them of past events to instruct and warn them. 2. IsraelitesThe audience of Moses' speech, they are the chosen people of God who witnessed the events at Baal-peor. 3. Baal-peorA location where the Israelites fell into idolatry and immorality, worshiping the Moabite god Baal, which led to God's judgment. 4. Baal of PeorA false deity worshiped by the Moabites, representing fertility and associated with licentious practices. 5. The LORD (Yahweh)The one true God of Israel, who executed judgment on those who turned to idolatry at Baal-peor. Teaching Points The Danger of IdolatryIdolatry is not just the worship of physical idols but anything that takes the place of God in our hearts. We must guard against modern forms of idolatry, such as materialism or self-worship. The Consequences of DisobedienceThe events at Baal-peor serve as a stark reminder that disobedience to God leads to severe consequences. We must strive to live in obedience to God's commands. The Importance of RemembranceRemembering past failures and God's judgments helps us avoid repeating the same mistakes. Reflect on personal and communal history to grow in faithfulness. God's Righteous JudgmentGod's actions at Baal-peor demonstrate His holiness and justice. We should have a healthy fear of the Lord, understanding that He is both loving and just. The Call to HolinessAs God's people, we are called to be set apart and holy. This requires vigilance in our spiritual walk and a commitment to God's standards. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the incident at Baal-peor illustrate the dangers of compromising with surrounding cultures and beliefs? 2. In what ways can modern Christians fall into idolatry, and how can we guard against it? 3. Reflect on a time when remembering a past mistake helped you make a better decision. How can this practice be applied to your spiritual life? 4. How does understanding God's judgment at Baal-peor affect your view of His character and your relationship with Him? 5. What steps can you take to ensure that you are living a life set apart for God, avoiding the pitfalls of disobedience and idolatry? Connections to Other Scriptures Numbers 25Provides the detailed account of the events at Baal-peor, where the Israelites engaged in idolatry and immorality, leading to a plague as God's judgment. Psalm 106Reflects on Israel's history, including the sin at Baal-peor, emphasizing the consequences of idolatry and God's mercy. 1 Corinthians 10Paul warns the Corinthians by referencing Israel's past, including the incident at Baal-peor, as a lesson against idolatry and immorality. People Amorites, Baalpeor, Bezer, Gadites, Israelites, Manasseh, Manassites, Moses, Og, Reubenites, SihonPlaces Arabah, Aroer, Bashan, Beth-baal-peor, Bezer, Egypt, Gilead, Golan, Hermon, Heshbon, Horeb, Jordan River, Mount Sion, Peor, Pisgah, Ramoth, Sea of the Arabah, Valley of the ArnonTopics Baal, Ba'al, Baalpeor, Baal-peor, Ba'al-pe'or, Case, Destroyed, Destruction, Followed, Midst, Peor, Pe'or, SeeingDictionary of Bible Themes Deuteronomy 4:3 7312 Baal Library February the Sixteenth Crowding Out God
"Lest thou forget." --DEUTERONOMY iv. 5-13. That is surely the worst affront we can put upon anybody. We may oppose a man and hinder him in his work, or we may directly injure him, or we may ignore him, and treat him as nothing. Or we may forget him! Opposition, injury, contempt, neglect, forgetfulness! Surely this is a descending scale, and the last is the worst. And yet we can forget the Lord God. We can forget all His benefits. We can easily put Him out of mind. We can live as though He were …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling YearDeuteronomy
(Third Sunday after Easter.) Deut. iv. 39, 40. Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else. Thou shall keep therefore his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, for ever. Learned men have argued much of late as to who wrote …
Charles Kingsley—The Gospel of the Pentateuch Political and Religious Life of the Jewish Dispersion in the West - their Union in the Great Hope of the Coming Deliverer.
It was not only in the capital of the Empire that the Jews enjoyed the rights of Roman citizenship. Many in Asia Minor could boast of the same privilege. [327] The Seleucidic rulers of Syria had previously bestowed kindred privileges on the Jews in many places. Thus, they possessed in some cities twofold rights: the status of Roman and the privileges of Asiatic, citizenship. Those who enjoyed the former were entitled to a civil government of their own, under archons of their choosing, quite independent …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah Of the Cities of Refuge.
Hebron, the most eminent among them, excites us to remember the rest. "The Rabbins deliver this; Moses separated three cities of refuge beyond Jordan, [Deut 4:41-43;] and, against them, Joshua separated three cities in the land of Canaan, [Josh 20:7,8]. And these were placed by one another, just as two ranks of vines are in a vineyard: Hebron in Judea against Bezer in the wilderness: Shechem in mount Ephraim against Ramoth in Gilead: Kedesh in mount Napthali against Golan in Basan. And these three …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica That the Devout Soul Ought with the Whole Heart to Yearn after Union with Christ in the Sacrament
The Voice of the Disciple Who shall grant unto me, O Lord, that I may find Thee alone, and open all my heart unto Thee, and enjoy Thee as much as my soul desireth; and that no man may henceforth look upon me, nor any creature move me or have respect unto me, but Thou alone speak unto me and I unto Thee, even as beloved is wont to speak unto beloved, and friend to feast with friend? For this do I pray, this do I long for, that I may be wholly united unto Thee, and may withdraw my heart from all created …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ The First Covenant
"Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice, and keep My covenant, ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me."--EX. xix. 5. "He declared unto you His covenant, which He commanded you to perform, even ten commandments."--DEUT. iv. 13.i "If ye keep these judgments, the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant,"--DEUT. vii. 12. "I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers, which My covenant they brake."--JER. xxxi. 31, 32. WE have …
Andrew Murray—The Two Covenants The Unity of God
Q-5: ARE THERE MORE GODS THAN ONE? A: There is but one only, the living and true God. That there is a God has been proved; and those that will not believe the verity of his essence, shall feel the severity of his wrath. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.' Deut 6:6. He is the only God.' Deut 4:49. Know therefore this day, and consider it in thy heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath, there is none else.' A just God and a Saviour; there is none beside …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity The Northern Coasts of Galilee. Amanah. The Mountain of Snow.
This coast is described by Moses, Numbers 34:7: "From the Great Sea to mount Hor: from mount Hor to the entrance of Hamath," &c. Mount Hor, in the Jewish writers, is Amanah; mention of which occurs, Canticles 4:8, where R. Solomon thus: "Amanah is a mount in the northern coast of the land of Israel, which in the Talmudical language is called, The mountainous plain of Amanon; the same with mount Hor." In the Jerusalem Targum, for mount 'Hor' is the mount Manus: but the Targum of Jonathan renders it …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica Ninth Sunday after Trinity Carnal Security and Its vices.
Text: 1 Corinthians 10, 6-13. 6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. 7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. 9 Neither let us make trial of the Lord, as some of them made trial, and perished by the serpents. 10 Neither murmur ye, as …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III Epistle cxxvii. From S. Columbanus to Pope Gregory .
From S. Columbanus to Pope Gregory [89] . To the holy lord, and father in Christ, the Roman [pope], most fair ornament of the Church, a certain most august flower, as it were, of the whole of withering Europe, distinguished speculator, as enjoying a divine contemplation of purity (?) [90] . I, Bargoma [91] , poor dove in Christ, send greeting. Grace to thee and peace from God the Father [and] our [Lord] Jesus Christ. I am pleased to think, O holy pope, that it will seem to thee nothing extravagant …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great The Second Commandment
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am o jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of then that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.' Exod 20: 4-6. I. Thou shalt not …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments "They have Corrupted Themselves; their Spot is not the Spot of his Children; they are a Perverse and Crooked Generation. "
Deut. xxxii. 5.--"They have corrupted themselves; their spot is not the spot of his children; they are a perverse and crooked generation." We doubt this people would take well with such a description of themselves as Moses gives. It might seem strange to us, that God should have chosen such a people out of all the nations of the earth, and they to be so rebellious and perverse, if our own experience did not teach us how free his choice is, and how long-suffering he is, and constant in his choice. …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning A Reformer's Schooling
'The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace, 2. That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. 3. And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Second visit to Nazareth - the Mission of the Twelve.
It almost seems, as if the departure of Jesus from Capernaum marked a crisis in the history of that town. From henceforth it ceases to be the center of His activity, and is only occasionally, and in passing, visited. Indeed, the concentration and growing power of Pharisaic opposition, and the proximity of Herod's residence at Tiberias [3013] would have rendered a permanent stay there impossible at this stage in our Lord's history. Henceforth, His Life is, indeed, not purely missionary, but He has …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah Covenant Duties.
It is here proposed to show, that every incumbent duty ought, in suitable circumstances, to be engaged to in the exercise of Covenanting. The law and covenant of God are co-extensive; and what is enjoined in the one is confirmed in the other. The proposals of that Covenant include its promises and its duties. The former are made and fulfilled by its glorious Originator; the latter are enjoined and obligatory on man. The duties of that Covenant are God's law; and the demands of the law are all made …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting Subjects of Study. Home Education in Israel; Female Education. Elementary Schools, Schoolmasters, and School Arrangements.
If a faithful picture of society in ancient Greece or Rome were to be presented to view, it is not easy to believe that even they who now most oppose the Bible could wish their aims success. For this, at any rate, may be asserted, without fear of gainsaying, that no other religion than that of the Bible has proved competent to control an advanced, or even an advancing, state of civilisation. Every other bound has been successively passed and submerged by the rising tide; how deep only the student …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life Wisdom and Revelation.
"Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness …
W. H. Griffith Thomas—The Prayers of St. Paul Links Deuteronomy 4:3 NIVDeuteronomy 4:3 NLTDeuteronomy 4:3 ESVDeuteronomy 4:3 NASBDeuteronomy 4:3 KJV
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