Deuteronomy 12:29-30 (ESV Strong's)
“When the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’
Don’t Desire Other “Gods”.
God has made a point in this section that He is the God of Israel and there are no other “gods.” He has warned them repeatedly about going after the gods of the people in the land they are about to dispossess. He does not want them to be curious about that. This might be a good verse to start with in a Christian college comparative religion class. Too many times we are “curious” about how others worship their gods. God does not honor that inquisitive nature ... not based upon the above verse. We are to be ignorant of the false worship in the world around us. Notice what Paul told the early church:
Romans 16:19 (ESV Strong's)
For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.
That was Paul’s conclusion to the Roman church after he wrote about the great doctrine of Justification to the early church. He is, in essence, saying, we have the greatest God and the deepest doctrine on the earth; why spend time gazing upon evil. This is the same message God gave Moses to give to the nation of Israel. They had the greatest God who was bringing them into a land where He would destroy the gods of the people. Why cast your eyes in want on their gods when their gods could not save them from Your God? Our God is great and we should study Him and be ignorant of other gods.
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