Deuteronomy 4:15

"Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of form on the day that Jehovah spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire; lest ye corrupt yourselves and make you a graven image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flieth in the heavens, the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters under the earth; and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto the heaven, and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the host of heaven, thou be drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which Jehovah thy God hath allotted unto all the peoples under the whole heaven. But Jehovah hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as at this day. Furthermore, Jehovah was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance: but I must die in this land, I must not go over the Jordan; but ye shall go over and possess that good land. Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of Jehovah your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image in the form of anything which Jehovah thy God hath forbidden thee. For Jehovah thy God is a devouring fire, a jealous God."

Here Moses returned to the thought of Deuteronomy 4:12, namely, that in the great theophany at Horeb, Israel "saw no form." Von Rad saw this place as "a comparatively insignificant passage,"[20] but, on the contrary, it vitally illuminates the prohibition against the making of images. The spirituality of God is emphasized dramatically here. "It is as a spirit that God is to be worshipped, and not under any outward representation."[21] "Men are not to worship anything that men can see."[22] The making of any kind of image is actually an attempt to define and limit God, "but to contain or limit God, whether by material form or theological proposition, is failure to be aware of the infinitude and transcendence of God."[23]

Deuteronomy 4:16-18 prohibited the making of any religious image like any animal, bird, fish, creeping thing, or anything else. Many such things were commonly worshipped in Egypt and throughout the ancient world.

Deuteronomy 4:19 forbade the worship of sun, moon, stars, or any of the host of heaven. God made it clear in this passage that he had appointed the host of heaven to "serve mankind," hence, the foolishness of men who would "serve them" (Deuteronomy 4:19). Right here is one of the vast differences in the true religion and the religious superstitions that have troubled men throughout history. The astrology business, right now, in the U.S.A. is a two billion dollar business annually, and what is "astrology?" It is the science of trying to determine the influence of the stars over human behavior. Christian, get it straight: "The stars do not control you, they SERVE you." Some of the more discerning pagans understood this perfectly: "It is written in the stars when I myself shall write it there with lofty hand!" Conceited as such a remark assuredly is, it at least avoids the abasement of worshipping stars.

"The iron furnace ..." (Deuteronomy 4:20). This metaphor is rendered as "smelting furnace" in the New English Bible. What is indicated is the severe and rigorous service imposed upon the Israelites in the land of their bondage, Egypt.

In Deuteronomy 4:21,22, Moses again recalls the prohibition against his entry into Canaan, again adding the words "for your sakes," making it clear that Israel should get the point that, "if the leader of the whole nation was forbidden to enter the promised land because of his sin, then any sins committed by the Israelites themselves would most certainly bring punishment upon them."

Any old man talking about historical events will naturally throw in, now and then, some detail overlooked in other narratives of the event, and so it is here in Deuteronomy 4:21, where Moses mentioned that God "sware" that he should not enter the promised land. This is the first mention of such an oath, and the critics almost go into ecstasy thinking they have found a contradiction! But Alexander effectively refuted this as follows:

"It is inconceivable, and it certainly does not follow, that because no mention was made in Numbers of God's swearing that he did not swear on the occasion here mentioned. Since God had sworn that the people (above 20 years of age) would never enter Canaan, would he not also have sworn when Moses was prohibited?"[24]