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Deuteronomy 4 Bible study: A voice, and no form
At Horeb Israel "heard the voice of words, but… saw no form" (4:12), so they were to make no carved image of anything (4:15-18, 4:23). Scattered for their images (4:25-27), they would still find him if they searched "with all your heart and with all your soul" (4:29), because he would not "forget the covenant" (4:31). "There is no one else" (4:39).
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“Know therefore today, and take it to heart, that the LORD himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath. There is no one else.”
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“In Deuteronomy 4, Moses says the people at Horeb heard a voice but saw no form.”
Is that in Deuteronomy 4, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
Listen, and live
After three chapters of looking back, Moses turns to what comes next: "Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and to the ordinances which I teach you, to do them, that you may live" (4:1). The word is to be kept whole: "You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you take away from it" (4:2). Then he points to something they had seen themselves. "Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baal Peor" (4:3), where "Israel joined himself to Baal Peor" (Numbers 25:3) and "Those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand" (Numbers 25:9). "But you who were faithful to the LORD your God are all alive today" (4:4). Then he says what keeping the law would look like to everyone else: "this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples" (4:6). "For what great nation is there that has a god so near to them as the LORD our God is whenever we call on him?" (4:7).
Where it leads to Jesus
Neither heard his voice nor seen his form
Deuteronomy 4:12leads toJohn 5:37
At Horeb "you heard the voice of words, but you saw no form; you only heard a voice" (4:12). Jesus said of the Father, "The Father himself, who sent me, has testified about me. You have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his form" (John 5:37), and "You don’t have his word living in you, because you don’t believe him whom he sent" (John 5:38). Jesus doesn't name Deuteronomy 4, so this is a reading: some hear the day at Horeb behind his words, voice and form together, turned on hearers who don't believe the one the Father sent; others read John 5:37 as a plain statement about his hearers, with no look back to Horeb.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Deuteronomy 4
That was a taste
The rest of Deuteronomy 4 is waiting in Favor
- A voice, and no form
- Scattered, and still found
- Ask now of the days that are past
- Three cities, set apart before the crossing
- Seek and search, again in Jeremiah
- The fire and the voice, in Hebrews
- 15 questions as you read
- 12 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach Deuteronomy 4 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.
The Hebrew word behind it
תְּמוּנָהtemunahsay te-moo-NAH
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "likeness, form". Strong's: "something portioned (i.e. fashioned) out, as a shape". The Hebrew Bible has it only 10 times, and 5 are in this chapter. At Horeb, "you heard the voice of words, but you saw no form" (4:12), and "you saw no kind of form" (4:15); so Israel must not make "a carved image in the form of any figure" (4:16), and again "a carved image in the form of anything" (4:23, 4:25). The commandment against idols uses it, where the WEB has "image" (Exodus 20:4). The people saw no form, but of Moses the LORD had said, "he shall see the LORD’s form" (Numbers 12:8). In Job, Eliphaz tells of the opposite of Horeb, a form seen and then a voice: "A form was before my eyes. Silence, then I heard a voice" (Job 4:16).
For your group
Deuteronomy 4 Bible study questions
- 1Moses says, "lest you forget the things which your eyes saw… but make them known to your children and your children’s children" (4:9). What has God done in your life that you'd want the next generation to know, and how might you tell them?
- 2Israel heard a voice and saw no form, so they were not to make anything to stand for God (4:12, 4:15-19). What things that you can see are most tempting to trust or give first place to instead of him?
- 3"But from there you shall seek the LORD your God, and you will find him" (4:29). Have you ever sought God from a place you got to by your own wrong turns? What did you find?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Deuteronomy 4 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home