And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.
At the mountain where God spoke, Israel heard a voice but saw no shape. Now Moses points them to the sky, and warns that the sun, moon and stars — God's gift to every nation — can still pull a heart away from their Maker.
Looking Past the Light to the Maker
The command does not tell Israel to stop looking at the sky. It tells them where to stop looking.
Leslie M. GrantAlso, if they lifted their eyes to heaven, beyond the level of earthly creatures, let them be sure to look above the sun, moon and stars. Let them look to the One who created all these things, instead of worshipping these visible works of God's hands... Though God has created these wonderful heavenly bodies, they are there only to direct our attention to their unseen Maker.
What God Gave to All the Peoples
Some read the closing clause as if Moses allowed other nations their star-gods. One writer answers them, and says what the gift really was.
Samuel Ridout"Higher criticism" has twisted the last clause of the passage just quoted. It teaches that Moses thought God gave the host of heaven to all nations to be their gods. But honest minds understand that these lights were the common portion of all. They are God's creation, witnessing of His power and care to all mankind. What blindness it is to see otherwise!
The Sun as Servant
If God assigned the sun to the nations, then the sun works for them. Even its clockwork reliability shows the same thing.
Numerical Bible NotesThe sun, with all his brilliance and blessing for us, is clearly only the servant of a power beyond his own. Indeed, as Moses declares in his appeal against this very worship, the sun is servant to the peoples to whom God has assigned the ordinance of heaven (Deut. 4:19). It keeps its appointed seasons with unbroken constancy, and that constancy shows its character to be simply that of a servant... But law is the rule of the governed, and not of the Governor.
The Cost to the Worshipper
Idolatry does not only dishonour God. It changes the standing of the one who bows.
C. H. MackintoshThe people are plainly taught what they did when they made an image and bowed down to it. They really lowered and corrupted themselves... The worshipper must be lower than what he worships. So in worshipping a calf, they put themselves below the level of the beasts that perish.
Ignoring the Warning
The warning was not theoretical. Israel broke it, and the fall went further than a golden calf.
William KellyMan, unbelieving man, is so ready to abandon the living God, despite the daily standing witness of His power and grace... Nor did the "calf," the abomination of Egypt, satisfy Israel. They craved objects higher than the works of their own hands, whatever the appeal of that to man's vain heart. Once yielding to the snare, Israel had to outdo Egypt. So "God turned and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven."
The Damage to Everyday Life
One last question is practical. What does a wrong idea of God actually damage?
William KellyWe have to face an important truth here. Whatever touches God, whatever presents Him falsely, has the closest bearing on the daily life of His people. It reaches both their households and matters of public judgment. If we are wrong in what we allow about God Himself, if we tamper with what stains His glory... or if we set up creatures in the place of God Himself, then all the lower part of life feels the destructive and corrupting results at once.
Summary
- Gift — the sun, moon and stars are God's common portion to every nation. They are lights that witness to His power and care for all mankind, not gods handed out to the peoples.
- Servant — the sun's steady regularity proves that it is governed, not governing. Law is the rule of the ruled, and the Maker stands above it.
- Drift — the danger is not looking at the sky, but stopping there. The lights exist to point the eye higher, to the Maker no one can see.
- Descent — no one rises by worshipping a creature. The worshipper always ranks below what he worships. Israel bowed to a calf, and sank beneath the animals.
- Damage — a wrong thought of God never stays in the mind. It works down into the home and the courtroom, corrupting everything under it.