Deuteronomy 4:3

3 Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal-peor, for the Lord your God destroyed every one of you who followed Baal of Peor.^[a]

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, listen to the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live, enter, and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

2 You must not add anything to what I command you or take anything away from it, so that you may keep the commands of the Lord your God I am giving you.

3 Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal-peor, for the Lord your God destroyed every one of you who followed Baal of Peor.

4 But you who have remained faithful to the Lord your God are all alive today.

5 Look, I have taught you statutes and ordinances as the Lord my God has commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to possess.

Footnotes

• [a]. Nm 25:1-9