This is a passage that has helped shape the way that I think and act.
To put it simply, if you obey you will be blessed. If you disobey, you will be punished. How will you be blessed? Good question…this passage doesn’t specify the precise blessing, but rather speaks in general terms of how “everything will seem to go your way”. You will be the farmer that has just enough rain, and fertile soil that produces plentiful crops. In modern times, apart from the agricultural interpretation this could mean that you will be promoted at work, or that your vehicles will last longer, or your home will rise in value. God is not limited in the ways that He can bless you, and I believe the God delights to bless His people in new and creative ways that we haven’t seen before. When we are obedient, we are blessed far beyond what we could ever possibly use ourselves…so our extended families are blessed, and our communities are blessed. When we are obedient, we are able to bless others in foreign lands. Abundance and obedience are related, and God promises blessings to those who obey.
This sounds like “prosperity preaching” but actually, I don’t subscribe to that train of thought. You might be wondering how I could possibly believe anything but that, given what I just wrote. By way of explaining, I see the rewards for obedience and the promises of punishment as being doled out to a NATION. God isn’t making an individual promise here, these are promises of personal reward for national obedience. If the nation disobeys, then there may still be a few blessed people in the land. If the nation disobeys, then the whole nation will go into captivity, including the ones who were faithful. They won’t lose God’s favor or his blessing personally, but they will suffer because the nation was rebellious. To support my point, I offer the account of Daniel. Daniel was a godly man who was taken captive to Babylon, where he rose to significance…but he was still a captive in a foreign land. I offer Joseph, who didn’t do anything wrong, but was tossed into a well, and sold into slavery. There are other examples, I’m sure. God will not forget your obedience, and He will not fail to show mercy to you and your family…but if the nation you live in is disobedient, there are going to be consequences for that as well. Take heart, even though the nation suffers, you will be cared for. In fact, it is good that there are faithful people among the disobedient when the nation goes through hard times…those are the people that the Lord can speak through in order to call the nation back to Himself.
Now, what about disobedience? I notice that the Lord speaks far longer about disobedience than He does obedience. I personally think that God already knew that the people would be disobedient, and when He was describing these things to Moses, He was seeing them happen right in front of Him. They were in the distant future for Moses, but for God it was (and is) the present. All time is “present” for God, because He lives outside of the time continuum. The punishments for disobedience start small and escalate. At first they are natural, then they move to supernatural. They begin with explainable causes, but grow to have no explanation. One thing is common throughout: these punishments are meant to move us back into obedience. If we are ever being punished, either as a nation or as a family…we should simply move back to obedience as quickly as we can. Confession, soul searching and repentance are the right mind set for the person who recognizes that God has withdrawn His hand of protection and blessing. When we repent and return, God relents and begins to bless us. Continued rebellion will accomplish nothing. If you want to envision a scary picture, then read the passage again where God says “I will pile your lifeless bodies on your lifeless idols”. We need to get this right. There are consequences for deliberate disobedience.
One quick note here. We consider that Jesus exemplifies love and peace, and harmony all manner of wonderful emotions and characteristics that are appealing to us. That’s because we are focused on the New Testament revelation of God’s character. But that picture is incomplete, just as the Old Testament is incomplete without the New. In the New Testament Jesus says “I have not come to bring peace” and in another place He appears as a mighty warrior sitting on a powerful horse, slaying His enemies. These are not kind and gentle images. When God says that He will pile bodies on top of bodies, it’s Jesus that is doing it. His name is to be revered, and He himself is to be honored. He has been gracious enough to reveal Himself as kind and gentle, but the person who provokes Him will discover that God is also capable of wrath. As we worship, it’s good to keep both images in our mind.
I don’t feel as if I need to offer much on the purchasing back of offerings except to make a few observations:
1. The tithe of everything is mentioned here It’s 10% off the top of all that we receive, and if we receive something that we want to keep, but it’s part of the tithe, then we buy it back at assessed value plus 20%.
2. I am currently worth more than my associate when valued with the Sanctuary sheckel. For the next 6 years I will retain my value of 50 sheckels (a bargain in any economy), while my esteemed colleague has seen her stock plummet for no other reason than gender and age. Of course, I won’t bring any of this up in my workplace conversations with her. 🙂
Faithfully,
PR