For a nation that is just about to enter into the Promised Land, it’s hard to imagine what life would be like if they ever lost that land. It won’t be their problem—the Assyrian and Babylonian exile are a few hundred years away—but the terms originate with them.
As with everything else in Scripture, it comes down to faithfulness. Moses disobeyed, and lost out on Canaan. Israel refused to trust in God, and went back to the desert.
Now, Moses tells this generation that the same thing could happen in the future. If they worship idols, eventually that’s all they will be left with—more idols.
This entire section is actually an inverse of the blessings God promised them. Instead of being numerous and multiplying in the land, they will “be few in number” (Deuteronomy 4:27). Instead of owning the land (Deuteronomy 4:1), they will have it taken from them.
Moses says essentially the same thing in regard to idolatry. Whereas God is with them during their sojourn now—fully present and fully empowering them—refusal to sanctify Him will result in His absence.
That’s the background to Moses’ statement in Deuteronomy 4:28, where it seems like Moses is condemning them to forced idolatry: “There you will serve gods, the work of man’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell.”
We know that’s not actually the case. Even though Nebuchadnezzar tried to get Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to worship his golden image, those three men refused. They may have been pressured, but they still had free will. Nobody is ever forced to worship idols; everyone has the ability to say no and accept the consequences.
It seems like what Moses is actually saying here is that if you want to worship idols instead of God, that’s exactly what you’ll be left with.
In that sense, it’s a fulfillment of their later wish: “Make us a king so we can be like all the nations!” (1 Samuel 8:20). If they want to be like everyone else, God will let them become like everyone else, idolatry included.
What Israel didn’t understand is that Jehovah worship is a privilege. They’re given a proximity to God that is unique, and one that every other nation on earth would be jealous of (Deuteronomy 4:5-8). Why would they throw that away just so they could worship dumb stone idols?
We could ask the same of ourselves. God has called us to worship Him and Him alone, yet most of humanity also worships something else: Money, power, sex, fame, etc. Are those not idols?
Greed is an idol, according to Colossians 3:5. So is a self-serving appetite (Philippians 3:19), and sexual immorality (Ephesians 5:5).
How many serve these idols on an everyday basis while still claiming to only serve God? You may sing about God on Sunday, but your actions the rest of the week describe allegiance to a different god.
The warning to us is the same as it was to them: If you want to serve idols, then eventually, idols are all that you’ll have left. You can bow before a block of wood all you want—God will be gone.
How fulfilling would that be?