Deuteronomy 4:19

Lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven , etc. The worship of the heavenly bodies, especially star-worship, prevailed among the Canaanites and many of the Semitic tribes, but was not confined to them; the Egyptians also reverenced the sun as Re, the moon as Isis, and the stars as the symbols of deities. The Israelites were thus, both from past associations and from what they might encounter in Canaan, exposed to the danger of being seduced into idolatry. Shouldest be driven : shouldest be urged on , drawn , or constrained (cf. Deuteronomy 13:13 ). Which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven , God had allotted ( חָלַק ) to all mankind the heavenly bodies for their advantage ( Genesis 1:14-18 ; Psalms 104:19 ; Jeremiah 31:35 ); it was, therefore, not competent for any one nation to seek to appropriate them as specially theirs, and it was absurd for any to offer religious service to objects intended for the service of man. Targum: Which the Lord thy God prepared for all peoples under heaven ; Vulgate: Quae creavit Dominus Deus tuus in ministerium cunctis gentibus . This seems better than the interpretation that God had "allotted them for worship, i . e . had permitted them [the nations] to choose them as the objects of their worship" (Keil, etc.); for:

1. There is no distinction here between the Hebrews and the other nations of the earth; "all nations" includes them as well as the heathen.

2. Though God permitted the heathen to worship the heavenly bodies, he never allotted these to men in order that they might worship them. "It noteth God's bounty in giving all people the use of those creatures, and the base mind of man to worship such things as are given for servants unto men" (Ainsworth).