God’s favor toward Israel had always been conditional on their obedience. At the foot of Sinai they had entered into covenant relationship with Him as His “peculiar treasure... above all people.” Solemnly they had promised to follow in the path of obedience. “All that the Lord hath spoken we will do,” they had said. Exodus 19:5, 8. And when, a few days afterward, God’s law was spoken from Sinai, and additional instruction in the form of statutes and judgments was communicated through Moses, the Israelites with one voice had again promised, “All the words which the Lord hath said will we do.” At the ratification of the covenant, the people had once more united in declaring, “All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient,”Exodus 24:3, 7. God had chosen Israel as His people, and they had chosen Him as their King.
(PK 293.1)
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Near the close of the wilderness wandering the conditions of the covenant had been repeated. At Baalpeor, on the very borders of the Promised Land, where many fell a prey to subtle temptation, those who remained faithful renewed their vows of allegiance. Through Moses they were warned against the temptations that would assail them in the future; and they were earnestly exhorted to remain separate from the surrounding nations and to worship God alone.
(PK 293.2)
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“Now therefore hearken,” Moses had instructed Israel, “unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.... Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”Deuteronomy 4:1-6.
(PK 294.1)
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The Israelites had been specially charged not to lose sight of the commandments of God, in obedience to which they would find strength and blessing. “Take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently,” had been the word of the Lord to them through Moses, “lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons.”Deuteronomy 4:9. The awe-inspiring scenes connected with the giving of the law at Sinai were never to be forgotten. Plain and decided were the warnings that had been given Israel against the idolatrous customs prevailing among the neighboring nations. “Take ye ... good heed unto yourselves,” was the counsel given; “lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure,”“and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.”“Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which He made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of anything, which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee.”Deuteronomy 4:15, 16, 19, 23.
(PK 294.2)
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