Deuteronomy 4:3

“Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baalpeor, etc.] Because of the idolatry the people of Israel fell into by worshipping that idol, being drawn into it by the daughters of Moab and Midian, through the counsel of Balaam, with whom they committed fornication; which led them to the other sin, and both highly provoking to God. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan are, “what the Word of the Lord has done to the worshippers of the idol Peor;” for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you; 24,000 persons died on that account; which being a recent thing, fresh in memory, and what they were eyewitnesses of, was a caution to them to avoid the…”

“Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor . . . the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you--It appears that the pestilence and the sword of justice overtook only the guilty in that affair (Num 25:1-9) while the rest of the people were spared. The allusion to that recent and appalling judgment was seasonably made as a powerful dissuasive against idolatry, and the fact mentioned was calculated to make a deep impression on people who knew and felt the truth of it.”

“4:3 Baal was the Canaanite god associated with the fertility of the soil and of human and animal life. Local pagan worship centers linked Baal with their own shrines and cultic rituals, as with the god of Peor (see 3:29).”

“what the: Num 25:1-9, Num 31:16; Jos 22:17; Psa 106:28, Psa 106:29; Hos 9:10 for all the men: It appears from this appeal, that the pestilence, as well as the sword of the magistrates, singled out the guilty persons and spared the rest ( Psa 91:6-8). The legislator, in order to deter the Jews from idolatry, alludes to this fact, but he notices no circumstance but one, which, though in the original narrative was not stated, was infinitely the most important to advert to on this occasion; but which no persons, but spectators of the fact, and perfectly acquainted with every individual concerned in it, could possibly feel the truth of. Num 26:64 Deuteronomy 4:4”