Commentaire sur Le Deutéronome 4:15

TAKE YE THEREFORE GOOD HEED UNTO YOURSELVES. He warns them lest they mistakenly follow the voice they heard and they commit the corruption of “mutilating the shoots.”⁶⁴This consists of separating any of the Ten Emanations and worshipping it independently. See Vol. II p. 556, Note 308. He states first the likeness of male or female,⁶⁵Verse 16. [lest they corrupt themselves by making a graven image in the likeness of male or female] of the Being⁶⁶See my Hebrew commentary p. 362. from Whom the voice came. Afterwards he mentioned all that is on the earth of beast and of fowl,⁶⁷See Verse 17. of those that creep on the ground, and of the fish that are in the water,⁶⁸See Verse 18. and then he reverts to the host of heaven.⁶⁹Verse 19. Now I have already explained⁷⁰In Leviticus 18:25; Numbers 11:16. the expression, which the Eternal thy G-d hath allotted unto all peoples,⁶⁹Verse 19. for every nation has a star and constellation, and, above them⁷¹Ecclesiastes 5:7. the angels of the Supreme One, like those mentioned in the Book of Daniel, the prince of the kingdom of Persia,⁷²Daniel 10:13. and the prince of the kingdom of Greece⁷³Ibid., Verse 20. — this being the reason why they [the nations] make of them gods for themselves and worship them. Scripture continues, And you the Eternal hath taken,⁷⁴Verse 20 here. for you are the portion of the Eternal.⁷⁵Deuteronomy 32:9. You are thus not to appoint a prince or helper over yourselves except for Him, for it is He Who brought you forth out of the iron furnace⁷⁴Verse 20 here. when you were in Egypt in the midst of a furnace of fire and wood [i.e., a furnace of affliction] and He took you out from there in spite of their princes against whom He executed judgments.⁷⁶Exodus 12:12. See Ramban there, Vol. II, pp. 129-131. Had He not brought about their downfall you would not have gone out, for they were [so much] in their ascendancy that you would not be able to leave. Thus He has done all this in order that you be “an inheritance” to Him⁷⁷Deuteronomy 32:9: Jacob is the lot of His inheritance. and be to His Great Name a treasure from among all peoples.⁷⁸See Exodus 19:5.

כי לא ראיתם כל תמונה, this is in contradiction to a category of philosophers believing that beyond the celestial phenomena we observe in the sky there are none that are more substantial and influential, and these are the only ones which existed since prehistoric days.

ונשמרתם מאד לנפשותיכם כי לא ראיתם כל תמונה, “But you shall greatly beware for your souls, for you did not see any likeness.” Seeing that you know clearly that you did not see any phenomenon, image, at the time when G’d revealed Himself, you must take care in the future never to make such a likeness, no molten image or sculpture; there are nations which serve and worship some domestic animal or free-roaming beast, whichever they encounter first on that day. The astrologers have written that the zodiac sign cancer places some of its power on such animals and causes them to bite or otherwise cause damage.[The point of worshipping these animals would be to neutralize their destructive power against the person worshipping them.]