The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 12:29-32

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

The subtle ensnarements of idolatry.

A spirit of vain curiosity is to be repressed at its beginning. So weak is human nature, and so subtle is the working of sin, that prying curiosity into evil customs works practical mischief. Human life, to be a success, must be a perpetual battle with moral evil. We cannot afford to parley with the enemy nor give him a single advantage. Incessant watchfulness is our safety.

I. IDOLATRY HAS GREAT FASCINATIONS FOR MAN'S SENSUOUS NATURE. There is in all men a yearning for visible signs of God. "Show us some sign!" is the natural demand of the human mind. Even Moses had passionately asked, "I beseech thee, show me thy glory." Satan employs a thousand wily artifices to corrupt the spiritual impulses of the heart. Speciously, idolatry asks to be tolerated as a symbol, and then detains our faith as if it were the substantial object.

II. IDOLATRY IS THE FRUITFUL PARENT OF VICE AND CRUELTY. We can never deal with forms of idolatry as if they were mere intellectual vagaries. The worship of material images has always been associated with sensuality, obscenity, and vice. It deteriorates human nature, hardens sensibility, and clips the wing of aspiration. When the seed has grown to the mature tree, human victims are demanded as oblations. "The children were compelled to pass through the fire." Atrocious cruelty is the last effect.

III. IDOLATRY IS HATEFUL IN GOD'S ESTEEM. It is impossible for us to err if we make the supreme God our model. To the extent that we know God, we must endeavor to assimilate our tastes to his, to love what he loves and to hate what he hates. Idolatry, in any form (whether of graven image, or material wealth, or human friend) is overt treason against God. If we cannot see the inherent wickedness of idolatry, it should be enough for us to know that it is an abomination before God, "a smoke in his eyes; a stench in his nostrils."

IV. IDOLATRY IS A SOURCE OF NATIONAL AND INDIVIDUAL RUIN. In that early period of human history, the spirit of idolatry must have been rampant. It was the curse of the age. Although the Hebrews had seen the practical effects of idolatry in Egypt; although they had themselves been the executors of God's vengeance against idolatry in Canaan; nevertheless the tendencies to idolatry were, humanly speaking, irresistible. It had been the source of Pharaoh's overthrow. It had been the occasion of a great slaughter among the Hebrews under the peaks of Sinai. It was the parent of the vices and crimes that prevailed among the Amorites. Idolatry is doomed by an eternal decree, and if men persist in identifying themselves with it, they are doomed also. Let us be well guarded against so insidious an evil!—D.

Deuteronomy 11

Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 13

Deuteronomy 12 - deuteronomy-12 - worlddic.com

More for Deuteronomy 12:29-32

Continue with other commentaries and DiscipleDeck content connected to this verse, chapter, or topic.

Other commentaries

The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 12:1-32Deuteronomy 12:1-32 · The Pulpit CommentaryRegulations for Divine worship: specific rules embodying permanent principles. With this twelfth chapter an entirely new set of instructions begins. Up to this point the exhortations have been for the most part moral: n…The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 12:1-32Deuteronomy 12:1-32 · The Pulpit CommentaryEXPOSITION ANNOUNCEMENT OF PARTICULAR LAWS. CHAPTERS 12-26. Moses, having in his first address cast a glance at the events which had transpired between Sinai and the plains of Moab, and in his second recapitulated what…Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 12:5-32Deuteronomy 12:5-32 · Matthew Henry Concise CommentaryThe command to bring ALL the sacrifices to the door of the tabernacle, was now explained with reference to the promised land. As to moral service, then, as now, men might pray and worship every where, as they did in the…Where Sacrifices Must Be Offered; Ceremonial Observances; Cautions Against Idolatrous Rites. (b. c. 1451.)Deuteronomy 12:5-32 · Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole BibleWHERE SACRIFICES MUST BE OFFERED; CEREMONIAL OBSERVANCES; CAUTIONS AGAINST IDOLATROUS RITES. (B. C. 1451.) There is not any one particular precept (as I remember) in all the law of Moses so largely pressed and inculcate…The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 12:6-29Deuteronomy 12:6-29 · The Pulpit CommentaryThe central sanctuary. There are difficulties connected with this law from which conclusions have been drawn adverse to the Mosaic authorship of Deuteronomy. These arise: 1. From the lack of evidence that the law was in…The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 12:29-32Deuteronomy 12:29-32 · The Pulpit CommentaryUnworthy inquiries. We have here— I. BALEFUL SUPERSTITION. The ground of these inquiries about the gods of the place was a lurking belief in their reality. There was a superstitious feeling that the woods, hills, stream…

commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 12:1-32Regulations for Divine worship: specific rules embodying permanent principles. With this twelfth chapter an entirely new set of instructions begins. Up to this point the exhortations have been for the most part moral: n…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 12:1-32EXPOSITION ANNOUNCEMENT OF PARTICULAR LAWS. CHAPTERS 12-26. Moses, having in his first address cast a glance at the events which had transpired between Sinai and the plains of Moab, and in his second recapitulated what…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryMatthew Henry on Deuteronomy 12:5-32The command to bring ALL the sacrifices to the door of the tabernacle, was now explained with reference to the promised land. As to moral service, then, as now, men might pray and worship every where, as they did in the…Matthew Henry commentaryWhere Sacrifices Must Be Offered; Ceremonial Observances; Cautions Against Idolatrous Rites. (b. c. 1451.)WHERE SACRIFICES MUST BE OFFERED; CEREMONIAL OBSERVANCES; CAUTIONS AGAINST IDOLATROUS RITES. (B. C. 1451.) There is not any one particular precept (as I remember) in all the law of Moses so largely pressed and inculcate…Matthew Henry commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 12:6-29The central sanctuary. There are difficulties connected with this law from which conclusions have been drawn adverse to the Mosaic authorship of Deuteronomy. These arise: 1. From the lack of evidence that the law was in…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 12:29-32Unworthy inquiries. We have here— I. BALEFUL SUPERSTITION. The ground of these inquiries about the gods of the place was a lurking belief in their reality. There was a superstitious feeling that the woods, hills, stream…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 12:31For even their sons and their daughters have they burnt in the fire to their gods. Elsewhere the phrase used is "make to pass through the fire "(Deuteronomy 18:10), or simply "make to pass through to Molech" (Le Deutero…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 12:32The admonition in this verse is best regarded as forming an intermediate link between this chapter and the following, "closing what goes before and introductory to what follows" (Keil). HOMILETICSJoseph S. Exell and contributors