Avoda Zara - does it have power?

 Emes l'yakov (Devarim 4:19) . And lest you lift up your eyes to the skies, and when you see the sun, and the moon, and the stars, all the host of the skies, should you be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord your God has allotted to all nations under the whole sky. Look at the Commentaries to the Torah. There are two different approaches in explaining this verse. There are commentaries that say that the Sun and Moon were given to all nations to provide illumination and so the Torah warns us not to bow down to them. However the Ibn Ezra and Ramban explain it to mean that every nation has a unique star and mazel and each city has its own mazel and they influence them. Ramban (Bereishis 1:18) also states this.. It seems that there is a fundamental dispute here concerning the nature of Avoda Zara. The view of the Rambam in various places is that Avoda Zara is nonexistent and has no actual power. Therefore those who pray to it and worship it not only transgress a severe prohibition of the Torah they are wasting the time for nothing. In contrast the view of Ramban is that G-d imbued Nature so that every nation has its own influence from the Heavenly World and it has an actual power to influence its designated nation as long as it is not something relevant to Jews [because Jews have no Mazel]. Nevertheless the nations are prohibited from worshipping these intermediaries. That is because in fact all power comes from G-d and therefore prayer and worship must be to G-d i.e. to the Supreme Divinity  and not to the intermediaries. However if these are worshipped or prayed to they can be of help and they have the capability to help. This is the explanation of the verse “which G-d has distributed to all the nations under the Heavens” In other words G-d has distributed a lord to every nation that influences the nation. Look at Shoftim (11:24) the words of Yiftach to the King of Ammon, “Will not you possess that which Kemosh your god gives to you to possess? So whoever the Lord our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess.” The Ralbag said it was said in a sarcastic manner. However according to the view of Ramban regarding Avoda Zara it was meant literally and not sarcastically. That is because Ramban holds that Kemosh has the power as the lord of that nation to give them what he want to and consequently you can have no complaints against the Jews regarding what G-d gives them.

The above is a strange statement - unsupported by any other sources

In fact the Ramban himself does not assert this concerning avoda zara but only in regard to magic

Ramban (Bamidbar 21:29)WOE TO THEE, MOAB! THOU ART PERISHED, O PEOPLE OF CHEMOSH. The meaning of this is that [the people of] Moab used to worship Chemosh their deity, and build high places [i.e., altars, to him] and trust in him more than every other people, and in the time of their trouble they would say to him: ‘Arise, and save us.’ Similarly Scripture refers to [this worship of theirs] in all places, as it is written, And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab hath wearied himself upon the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail; and it is further stated [of Moab], and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity, his priests and his princes together with him; Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, saith the Eternal, him that offereth in the high place, and him that offereth to his gods. Therefore those who spoke in parables said by way of mockery, that Chemosh hath given ‘his sons’ as fugitives, refugees who flee [to safety] because of the sword; and ‘his daughters’ into captivity; [these terms, “sons” and “daughters” are used] because those who believe in him are called “his sons” and “his daughters,” in the same way that they are [here] called “his people” [people of Chemosh]. Similarly [we find the expression], the daughter of a strange god. The [correct explanation is thus] not like the words of Rashi, who interpreted [the verse as follows]: “He the Giver [i.e., G-d] gave his sons [i.e., those of Moab] as fugitives from the sword.”Chemosh was also worshipped by the children of Ammon, as Jephthah said [to the king of Ammon], that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess that you will possess. They also had in their country Milcom the detestation of the Ammonites. Or [it may be that] Jephthah mentioned Chemosh to the king of Ammon because of [the land] which Israel had captured from Moab, just as he [Jephthah] mentioned to them [i.e., to the Ammonites]: Balak king of Moab, meaning to say that neither Chemosh their god nor Balak their king had saved their land [Moab] from the hand of Israel. It is very fitting that we say, as our Rabbis explained, that [the reference in the term] ‘hamoshlim’ (they that speak in parables) is to Balaam and those like him, the diviners who spoke in parables about future events.

Avoda Zara (55a) Rav Yehuda said to Rava bar Rav Yitzḥak: Now, were I dead I would not have been able to tell you the explanation of this matter. It is therefore good that you reminded me of this matter while I am alive. The explanation is as Rav says: What is the meaning of that which is written: “And lest you lift up your eyes to the heavens, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the host of heavens, you are drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which the Lord your God has allotted [ḥalak] to all the nations under the whole heaven” (Deuteronomy 4:19). The verse teaches that God allowed the nations to be misled [sheheḥelikan] by matters that seemingly indicate that idol worship is effective in order to expel the nations from the world due to their decision to engage in idol worship.

Megila (9b) Instead of Moses’ assertion: “I have not taken one donkey [ḥamor] from them” (Numbers 16:15), they wrote in more general terms: “I have not taken one item of value [ḥemed] from them,” to prevent the impression that Moses took other items. To the verse that discusses the worship of the sun and the moon, about which it is written: “Which the Lord your God has allotted to all the nations” (Deuteronomy 4:19), they added a word to make it read: “Which the Lord your God has allotted to give light to all the nations,” to prevent the potential misinterpretation that the heavenly bodies were given to the gentiles so that they may worship them.

Yerushalmi Megila (1:9) Thirteen things they changed for King Ptolemy. They wrote for him, “God created the beginning.” “I shall make man in stature and form.” “Male and his openings He created them.” “He finished on the Sixth and rested on the Seventh” “Now I shall descend.” “Sarah laughed in her surroundings, saying.” “For in their rage they slew a bull and in their will uprooted a trough.” “Moses took his wife and his sons and let them ride on people-carriers.” “The dwelling of the Children of Israel, which they dwelled in Egypt and other lands, was 430 years.” And the hare, “and the young of foot.” King Ptolemy’s mother was called “hare”. “Not one precious thing I took from them” “Which the Eternal, your God, distributed them to give light to all peoples under all the heavens.” “Which I did not command peoples to worship them.”

Sifri (Devarim 148:10) R. Yossi Haglili says: Because it is written (Ibid. 4:19) ("the sun and the moon, etc.) which the L-rd your G-d bequeathed to all the peoples," I might think that He bequeathed them to the nations (to serve them), it is, therefore written (Ibid. 29:25) "gods which they did not know and which He did not bequeath to them (to serve them)."

Rabbeinu Bachye (Devarim 4:19) "which the Lord your God allocated to all the peoples under the whole sky." According to the plain meaning of the text the word חלק means: "He gave it to them as their share." [They have the choice of serving the Lord directly or by means of these astrological manifestations]. The word is not to be understood to mean that these people have been "assigned" these phenomena in the sky. If the latter meaning were correct then these people would have an ironclad argument accusing God of preventing them from worshipping Him directly or indirectly, seeing He had made their fates dependent on the correlation of these stars to one another. Idolatry would then have been decreed upon them. Seeing that the word חלק lends itself to misunderstandings, the seventy sages who had been assigned by King Talmai to translate the Torah into Greek, were forced to translate this as "which the Lord allocated to them to provide light for them" (Megillah 9).A Midrashic approach: the word חלק is connected to the word חלקות, something smooth, slippery. God flattered the nations with words in order to eventually drive them out of the world (Pessikta Zutrata ). Our sages had interpreted the words משגיא לגוים ויאבדם in Job 12,23 as meaning precisely this (according to Shemot Rabbah 15,11). They suggested that the letter sin in the word משגיא in that verse be read as a shin to mean "mislead," instead of "exalts". [The end-effect of the verse, i.e. that God destroys the Gentiles is the same; the difference is only the immediate cause. Ed.].