“Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.” (De 12:30 AV)
There is a saying, “curiosity killed the cat.” The origin of the phrase appears to be in the mid-1550s by two poets, one of which was William Shakespeare. In the original proverb, the writers penned, “care killed the cat.” The proverb suggests cats are naturally curious to the point of self-destruction. Whether that is true or not, I don’t know. What we do know is God’s warning which applies to a curiosity regarding sin. Moses is giving instructions to the people of Israel. Some victories will be won and the result would be temples, altars, etc left behind by their enemies. Curiosity would suggest learning about them and how they worked might be to the advantage. The thought might be the people of God could improve their system of worship by learning how others did theirs. We can justify all sorts of inquiries. We can offer the excuse we need to look into it so that if someone comes to us with a problem, we have the knowledge to help them. We can make the argument that learning about it might dissuade us from falling for it. Whatever the excuse, we are warning not to enquire into what the world does if it is not a spiritually beneficial or biblical thing to do.
Marketing firms know this proverb. Just use an app on your phone. I use an app called Weatherbug. It has all these ads to click on. Once the user gets beyond the weather screens, there are many links with teaser photos at the bottom. One of my favorites shows a picture of countless bubble-wrapped items of the same kind with the caption, “Government cannot sell so they are giving them away.” Still, another might promise a miracle weight loss solution. They are teasers designed to get the user to click on the ad and divulge information the designer is seeking. Based on the app and ad, it might be a ruse for something as nefarious as stealing an identity. Regardless, they are designed to pique curiosity and entice the user to go down a path that will lead to some type of wrong decision. More to the point, sometimes we might be innocently researching something which we do need to know. Perhaps something health-related. And there are site suggestions that are anything but helpful. Curiosity entices us to click on a link that causes great harm. Sticking our noses into an area it does not belong can lead to very harmful choices.
Curiosity regarding sin will often lead straight to it. This is exactly what happened to Israel time and again. From their intermarriages to the Moabites and Peor to the Damascene altar that replaced Moses’ altar, the children of Israel curiously went after other gods because they wanted to learn more about their neighbors. They wanted to know how they lived and what they believed. They ended by being just like them. Ignorance is bliss. Being naïve regarding the things of the world is a good thing. Staying away from it rather than trying to figure it out keeps our minds and hearts from going to a place they should not go. This was Moses’ advice. And it is good advice.
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