Hi,
"Early idolaters promised great material success and
benefits… And when He wished to make us complete in the truth of His faith, Gd
came and gave us His Torah and prohibited us from those types of service, and
so He needed to say [that there would be material rewards], lest one think that in halting those types of
service, the material benefits would also be lost, as was said by the early
ones and as the accursed women said, 'Since we ceased to burn offerings for the
queen of the heavens, and to pour libations for her, we have lost all.
(Yirmiyah 44:18)' It would not be so. Just the opposite – by distancing
ourselves from those types of service, greater and greater benefits and
successes, without measure, would flow upon them under the supervision of Gd."
(Commentary of Don Isaac Abarbanel to Vayikra 26:1)
Have a great day,
Mordechai
I see this as a variant of #2. The 2nd answer was that focus on reward and punishment would distract from acting for the appropriate motive. This answer says that paganism is all about obeying the gods to get what you want, so we went to the opposite extreme.
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