On the brink of becoming an actual nation, Israel was presented with a choice by Moses (speaking on behalf of the God who had brought them out and set them apart.)  Moses offered them life or death, blessing or curse. (Detailed in Deuteronomy 26-30, and referred to in other places.)

The blessings were stupendous!  The curses were severe:  famine, pestilence, conquest by foreigners, severe infirmities, slavery, exile and more.  Wait though, in what way are these “curses” any different from what would be experienced sooner or later by any other nation in that time and place?  Or for that matter, any time and place?  The answer is that they aren’t any different!  But that’s the point.  The blessings would result in them being very different.  They would not suffer the things that every nation goes through.

Boiling down these chapters, and indeed the whole law, here’s the message:  If you keep separate from all the other peoples of the earth, honoring God, being faithful to Him, keeping His laws (which are good for you), being kind and loving (as you have learned God is)…then God will keep you separate from the inevitable fate of all people.  You will just keep on being blessed, to the awe of everyone else.  However, if you decide you want to be like all the others, serving their gods-who-are-no-gods, doing whatever you feel like, being violent and greedy and unjust…well then God will give you your wish, and you will be like every nation.  You will suffer the things that come on all of them, and to such an extent that everyone else will be amazed.

We know what happened.  It took no time at all for Israel to abandon their redeemer God.  And the curses started flowing.  Some people claim this depiction of God is horrible, and they reject the God of the Bible (unintentionally duplicating what Israel did).  What God was actually doing was giving them a taste of what they had chosen—in hope that they would get the message and turn around.  And it worked!  At least some of the time.  The books of Judges, Kings and Chronicles record how it happened time after time.  Sometimes they got the message, turned around, and found God was there ready to bless once again.  But the overall pattern was definitely downhill.  And ultimately they rejected the last call, and the final curses—enslavement and exile—came upon them.

An uncountable number of nations have been conquered, displaced, enslaved. Nothing unique about Israel and Judah in that regard.  The unique thing is that they weren’t assimilated.  They continued to be an identifiable people afterwards, not just for a couple generations, but for millennia.  Which is exactly what the prophets promised, speaking for God!  One example:

Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the LORD of hosts is his name: “If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the LORD, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever.” Thus says the LORD: “If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the LORD.”  (Jeremiah 31:35-37)

In fact, take a fresh look at the whole section of Jeremiah, chapters 30-33.  So even when they had reaped exactly what they’d sown (being like everyone else), God’s love still wasn’t done with them.  He had given his word, in fact made a solemn covenant, with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He would not back out.

All this is just a review, I know—nothing you haven’t heard.  It just seemed to me that it would be timely to apply the principles to our own situation. Do we not consider ourselves to be the offspring of Abraham by faith, spiritual Israel, delivered out of bondage to sin (“Egypt”)?  Don’t we fully understand that the same choice is required of us?

The questions seem timely to me because the curses are ever with us, and in particular pestilence is right in our face. Famines, wars, natural disasters – they just keep on happening, all the time, and let’s be honest, we mostly don’t pay all that much attention.  When they get close to home, though, all of a sudden we’re awake.

Folks debate whether such things as a pandemic are punishments from God.  I think Jesus answered this pretty well: 

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”  (Luke 13:1-5)

In other words, asking if such things are punishments is the wrong question.  The right question is, “When I die, whatever causes it, will I have chosen to be like everyone else, or will I have chosen a different outcome?”  All die…but not all perish.

Pestilences and droughts and foreign conquerors happen.  Might be literal, might be figurative.  Either way, when they get our attention I think it’s a good time to remember the choices.  They’re the same ones Moses posed – life or death, blessing or curse?  Serve ourselves (our own personal god-who-is-no-god), just live and die like everybody else?  Or choose to be set apart, one of God’s covenant people, in the hope of eternal life?

Love, Paul

If you have any feedback, please contact me at: paul.zilmer@gmail.com