Deuteronomy 4:3

3 You saw with your own eyes what the LORD did concerning the Baal of Peor. The LORD your God destroyed everyone who followed the Baal of Peor,

Deuteronomy 4:3 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 4:3

Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baalpeor,
&c.] Because of the idolatry the people of Israel fell into by worshipping that idol, being drawn into it by the daughters of Moab and Midian, through the counsel of Balaam, with whom they committed fornication; which led them to the other sin, and both highly provoking to God. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan are,

``what the Word of the Lord has done to the worshippers of the idol Peor;''

for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the Lord thy God hath
destroyed them from among you;
24,000 persons died on that account; which being a recent thing, fresh in memory, and what they were eyewitnesses of, was a caution to them to avoid the same sins, as it is to us on whom the ends of the world are come, ( Numbers 23:9 ) ( 1 Corinthians 10:6-8 1 Corinthians 10:11 ) .

Deuteronomy 4:3 In-Context

1 Now, Israel, in light of all that, listen to the regulations and the case laws that I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live, enter, and possess the land that the LORD, your ancestors' God, is giving to you.

2 Don't add anything to the word that I am commanding you, and don't take anything away from it. Instead, keep the commands of the LORD your God that I am commanding all of you.

3 You saw with your own eyes what the LORD did concerning the Baal of Peor. The LORD your God destroyed everyone who followed the Baal of Peor,

4 but all of you who stayed true to the LORD your God are alive today.

5 So pay attention! I am teaching all of you the regulations and the case laws exactly as the LORD my God commanded me. You must do these in the land you are entering to possess.