THE BLESSINGS AND THE CURSES Having come close to the end of his farewell speech to his people, who were about to enter into the Promised Land, he provided them with the right to choose between obedience and disobedience. He revealed the blessings of obedience to the divine commandment; namely loyalty to the divine covenant; as well as the curses for the disobedience of the commandment; namely breaking of the covenant. This chapter confirms man’s freedom to choose either of two ways; it is within his hands. God’s grace is always ready to work in the life of those wishing for it. In this talk about the blessings and curses, it is noticed: 1. While God presents His blessings to His people and children as a free gift or grace; yet, with His love for man, He requests from him to refrain from living with the spirit of slothfulness and confusion; but to walk as is fitting of a people referred to God; or as a son attached to the spirit of his father. He requests from them to be spiritually mature. 2. It was not possible for the people, at the start of their spiritual path, to present to them the rewards and punishments on an eternal level; but on the level of their temporal life; that, when the Word of God comes; and the believer gets mature, his insight would be greater, and his mind more mature, to seek the heavenliness and to fear the eternal punishment. 3. Those blessings and curses have their special concept for the Christian believer in the light of the biblical thought, and the encounter with the Lord Christ, who lifts him up, not to seek temporal blessings, nor to fear earthly strokes; but to seek for himself the Grantor of the blessings; and to fear the deprivation of the fellowship with Him in the heavenly glories. A. BLESSINGS OF OBEDIENCE: 1–14 1. The blessings go after and attach themselves to the obedient 1–6. 2. Victory over enemies 7. 3. Enjoyment of riches 8. 4. Enjoyment of holiness 9. 5. Enjoyment of dignity 10. 6. Enjoyment of fruition 11. 7. Nature at the service of the obedient 12. 8. Enjoyment of the spirit of leadership 13–14. B. CURSES OF DISOBEDIENCE 15–68 1. Curses go after and attach themselves to the disobedient 15–19. 2. Suffering from disturbance 20. 3. Suffering from plagues 21–22. 4. Nature opposes the disobedient 23–24. 5. Defeat before the enemies 25–26. 6. Deprivation from every gift 27–35. 7. Loss of dignity 36–37. 8. Deprivation from the fruition of the labor of hand 38–42. 9. Falling down and collapse 43–46. 10. Falling under servitude 47–57. 11. Falling under the plagues of Egypt 58–60. 12. Dwelling of destruction 61– 67. 13. An apostasy to Egypt 68. 7 A. BLESSINGS OF OBEDIENCE By presenting blessings before curses, God proclaims that He is slow to anger, and fast to reveal love and mercy. He finds pleasure in blessing; reveals His longing that no one would fall under curse; and His desire for the success and holiness of His people (1-14). His promise came for a flood of blessings, physical and material, for those who are faithful to the covenant by observing the commandment. It is fitting for us in dealing with God, to be filled with the hope of the children for their Father’s love, rather than with the terror of slaves from their master. He presents to us the conditions for gaining the blessings; which are: Diligently obeying the voice of God (1-2), in order to bear inside us His holy will (13). Keeping the commandment of the Lord, and walking in His ways (9); not once, nor many times, but to keep it all the time, and to walk in His way up to its end, and not to its middle. Not to divert from the way to the right or to the left, and that would be neither by exaggeration, nor by slothfulness. Here, he distinguishes between two kinds of blessings, integrated together; namely, the blessings that concern the people as a whole, and those that befall the individual and his family; although this could not be separated from that. As to the collective blessings, he says: “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments, which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth” (Deut. 28:1) He starts the blessings by the work of God with the congregation, setting it high above all nations of the earth. Dwelling in the highest, God will set out of His Church a heavenly congregation, which His Holy Spirit would bear, as though up to the throne; to become high above all nations of the earth. This is the work of obedience. While bowing by our free will before God, He would lift up our mind, will, and all our depths, to bear heavenly features, not to be counted among the earthly creatures, but to enjoy fellowship with the heavenly ones. Speaking about the divine blessing, God is referred to His people; and the expression “the Lord your God’ is repeated. 1. THE BLESSINGS GO AFTER AND ATTACH THEMSELVES TO THE OBEDIENT: Whereas every man desiring to enjoy the blessing, wonders how to achieve it, the prophet here reveals the exalted love of God, who, wishing to lift us up to experience His blessed life, let the blessings go after man, who often assumes that he is unworthy of them; that, in the great day of the Lord, the believers say: “Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You?” (Matthew 25:37). We are in need, not to go after the blessing, but rather to open the gates of our hearts to it. The prophet sees the blessing as though a being or a person who goes after the believer, to reach him, attach to him, and to unite with him; saying: “And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God” (Deut. 28:2) He is addressing the people as a whole as though one person; The secret of the blessing is the unity of the people together, for all to enjoy what is for their edification, if they obey the voice of the Lord their God. The blessing comes to the believer, reaches him, and presents itself to him 8 with all its exalted riches and divine possibilities; comes to bless all the aspects of his inner and outer life, and all his relationships, to grant him peace in his heart, and with others. After revealing the divine blessings, working in us and dwelling within us; being a shadow of the Lord Christ who came to us; he clarified the following aspects of these blessings: Their kinds: earthly, mental, and spiritual blessings. Their extension: They work in the city as well as in the country (3). They will dwell everywhere; namely, we shall enjoy heavenly blessings pertaining the high city of Jerusalem; and temporal blessings pertaining to the field of ministry in this world. Their work: Blessings that touch all the aspects of our life: “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body” (sanctifying the Spirit); “the produce of your ground” (sanctifying the body); and “the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle, and the offspring of your flocks” (sanctifying the human energies); namely both the inner and the outer life (4). Their range of care: They care even for the daily needs of man: “Blessed shall be your basket” (luxuries like the fruits in those days); “your kneading bowl” (necessities like the daily bread) (5). Their center: They accompany man and attach to him wherever he is, when he comes in, and when he goes out (6). Their capacity: They keep him against his enemies, and grant him the spirit of conquest (7) Their possibilities: Blessings in their storehouses; and even to become a holy people; namely, a “blessing to others” (8). Their goal: Set us holy for the Holy One (9). Their reward: They will grant the believer dignity and awe (10). Their results: a perpetual fruition (11). Their role: The gates of heaven will open to flood the believer with blessings with no limits “The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season (namely, sends His Holy Spirit to us); and to bless all the work of your hand” (12) Their mission: Will set the believer as a leader and head (13). a. “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country” (Deut. 28:3). The blessing will reach the believer whatever his circumstances are; whether he is trading in the city; or working in the field in the country. He will enjoy the blessed divine life; whatever is his work, his position, or his role in the society. It was said: ‘God created the country, and man made the cities.’ And here, God confirms His care for this and that. He blesses the city with His divine righteousness, purifies its polluted atmosphere; leaves no place in them for evil; but fills them with the sweet fragrance of Christ. b. “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground, and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle, and the offspring of your flocks” (Deut. 28:4). God created the earth and everything on and in it for the sake of man. If man is blessed, blessed will be the earth serving him with all its possibilities and herds. Whereas if he is cursed; God will say to him: “Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life ; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field” (Genesis 3:17, 18). The blessing will be in the inner depths “the fruit of your body;” and in the outer life 9 “the produce of your ground;” as well as in the body with all its instincts “the increase of your herds.” c. “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl” (Deut. 28:5). Some believe that the basket represents the place where man stores the fruits and agricultural produce; whereas the (small) kneading bowl is the vessel in which man kneads bread for the family just enough for one day. Thus God will bless the daily needs of man, and will let him in need of nothing. d. “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you get out” (Deut. 28:6). As the Psalmist says: “The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in” (Psalm 121:8). The blessing of the Lord, is not only in the inner and outer life of man, to bless his whole being, works, and possessions; but will walk along with him and will accompany him wherever he goes, in his coming in and in his going out. 2. VICTORY OVER ENEMIES “The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee from you seven ways” (Deut. 28:7) God does not promise the obedient believer that no enemy will attack him; but on the contrary He confirms to him that he will have many enemies; yet the opposition will lead him to conquest and victory, and he will enjoy glories and crowns, as enemies are only one step to glory. Our life will be a perpetual battle, in which the devil will attack the believer with all his hosts and evil works, together with his long experience, and deceit; concentrating on them as though in one way; but he will, by the grace of God, the Grantor of conquest, be scattered before the believer in several ways. 3. ENJOYMENT OF RICHES “The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you” (Deut. 28:8) Accompanying the believer and dwelling in him, the blessing of the Lord, will not only lift him up to heaven to set him above all nations of the earth, but will bless even his temporal possibilities “his storehouses,” and will turn his hand into a blessing; “in all to which you set your hand;” even the ground will be blessed because of him. With the blessing of the Lord, the believer will praise, saying: “A little that a religious man has, is better than the riches of many wicked” (Psalm 37:16). God will open up the gates of heaven before the faithful to get his fulfillment; and, with no limit. He will grant him from His treasure everything new. And at the same time, He will bless the land on which he walks, and all to which he sets his hand, to fill up his storehouses with riches. Whereas the rich man who lacks the blessing of the Lord, will never get fulfilled; and as the wise Solomon says: “He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity. When goods increase, they increase who eat them; So what profit have the owners, except to see them with their eyes…There is a severe evil which I have seen under the sun: Riches kept for their owner to his hurt, but those riches perish through misfortune; When he begets a son, there is nothing in his hand. As he came from his mother’s womb, naked shall he return. To go as he came; and he shall take nothing from his labor which he may carry away in his hand” (Ecclesiastes 5:10-15). 10 The apostle James says: “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten” (James 5:1, 2). On the contrary, in case there is the blessing of the Lord, even if the storehouses of man are not full, he would be counted as rich. The Psalmist says: “A little that a righteous man has, is better than the riches of many wicked” (Psalm 37:16). 4. ENJOYMENT OF HOLINESS “The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways” (Deut. 28:9) “Establish” or “raise up” is the same word used by the Lord Christ when He restored to life the daughter of Jairus, and came in (Deuteronomy 18:15, 18) ; proclaiming setting a new thing. Setting of men a holy people, is one of the most valuable of divine gifts, that makes out of man a being referred to God, who bears His divine righteousness and holiness. The concept of holiness is dedicating man with his whole being to the Holy God. If God is preoccupied with the salvation and glorification of man, the believer, in response to God’s love should dedicate all his energies, by the Holy Spirit of God, on account of His kingdom. This blessing also bears the concept of settling down and solid establishing; The church of God, every home, and even every heart, need the exalted hand of God to establish His kingdom in them; according to the evangelist St. Luke: “The churches were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily” (Acts 16:5). The apostle Paul in his epistle to the Romans wrote: “For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established” (Romans 1:11); and to the Colossians: “As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, routed and built up in him and established in the faith” (Colossians 2:6, 7); and to the Hebrews: “Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace” (Hebrews 13:9). The apostle Peter says: “Therefore I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know them, and are established in the present truth” (2 Peter 1:12). That is how God establish His people in the holiness that is His, to become His icon that no power can remove or smudge. It is of the work of the Holy Spirit in our depths. 5. ENJOYMENT OF DIGNITY “Then all peoples of earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and shall be afraid of you” (Deut. 28:10) “The name of the Lord” is the Lord, as He proclaims Himself. When we are called by His name, acquire Him, and bear His fear and dignity in us, all peoples of the earth will be afraid of us. Of the spiritual Israelites, it is said: “to whom pertain the adoption and the glory” (Romans 9; 4). Israel has got the shadow; whereas we have got the grace and the truth; as according to the apostle: “For the Law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things” (Hebrews 10:1). Through obedience, the fear of God working in us is proclaimed; and through fear, lest we may hurt the feelings of His love, He pays us back this fear, by the others fearing us. God will honor whoever honors Him; and whoever fears Him, will be granted dignity and fear. It was said about the church: “Fear came upon every soul” (Acts 2:43). 11 The world fears the prayers of the righteous; although they bear no hate toward them. They feel fear and apprehension before God who is pleased with them and dwells in them. Being called by the name of God, it is fitting for us to bear Him, not just by outer appearance, but through holding fast in Him; as according to the apostle Paul, “For they are not all Israel who are of Israel” (Romans 9:6). In the great day of the Lord, those who bear His name superficially, will be separated from those who spiritually bear His power; as “Not every one who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name? And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness’” (Matthew 7:21-23). 6. ENJOYMENT OF FRUITION “And the Lord will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you” (Deut. 28:11) Together with the dignity that the believer will enjoy as a divine gift, God will grant him plenty of goods that will never decrease; goods in his children, the fruit of his body; goods in his possessions as the livestock; and goods in the land in which he dwells. 7. NATURE AT THE SERVICE OF THE OBEDIENT “The Lord will open to you His good treasure the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow” (Deut. 28:12) When the believer by obedience, opens his heart to God, heaven will open up its gates, to rain, not its treasures, but the Grantor of all treasures, the rain of the Holy Spirit, who works in the believer’s life, granting him the blessing and the conquest, together with eternity. Even heaven will be also called new, when it is no more bronze; but gives rain; and the earth, likewise, becomes new, when it is no more barren1. St. John Chrysostom Man, who is faithful in his relationship with God, will behold the gates of heaven open before him, to draw from their storehouses, not the water of rain, but the nature of love. He will long to lend and to give, rather than to take; to have his heart become spacious with compassion, that floods all around him abundantly. 8. ENJOYMENT OF THE SPIRIT OF LEADERSHIP “And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them. So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them” (Deut. 28:13-14) When obedience is connected with humility, God will grant His children, not the spirit of humiliation, but that of living and true leadership. The believer would be a head and not a tail. The wise Solomon says of the acquirement of the divine wisdom: “Exalt her, and she will promote you; she will bring you honor, when you embrace her. She will place on your head an ornament of grace” (Proverb 4:8, 9). 1 In Hebr. hom. 14:6. 12 God grants His children the spirit of perpetual growth, to be promoted all the time, and never fall; it may be a slow growth, yet an un-defeatable, perpetual and steadfast one. Connecting to His Savior, the Only-Begotten Firstborn Son, the believer himself, also becomes a firstborn. And in his obedience to the King of kings, he becomes a king. He continues to be in a perpetual growth, longing to reach the perfect measure of the stature of Christ. The Law requires of the believer who observes it, to keep walking in the way, described by the Lord as “narrow and difficult” (Matthew 7:14); and not to turn aside from it, to the right hand or to the left. This teaching is based on the fact that virtue is distinguished by moderation. Any evil is naturally done through either the lack or the exaggeration of virtue. Cowardice is a lack of virtue, whereas extravagance is an exaggeration of practicing it. In all other things, in which you strive to reach what is better, you have to take the middle way in between the close evils. The wisdom is to take the middle way between and simplicity; the wisdom of serpents, or the innocence of doves (Matthew 10:16) is not always commended, if one of them is chosen alone. Virtue is rather a strong combination of both along the way. The person who lacks moderation is loose; and he, who goes beyond moderation,(2timothy 4: 2) will have, according to the apostle, a troubled conscience. One would surrender himself to pleasures with no limit; while the other would wrongly think of marriage, as though it is adultery. Moderation is walking along the middle way between the two1. St. Gregory of Nyssa 1 Life of Moses 287-290. 13 B. CURSES OF DISOBEDIENCE Having revealed the joyful aspect of obedience, here he reveals the dark aspect of disobedience. If we do not observe the commandments, we shall, not only be deprived of the promised blessings, which provide us with every kind of happiness, but we shall cast ourselves under the curse, which provides us with every misery. God proclaimed the power of His blessings and their activity in the life of the believer; but at the same time, He revealed the seriousness of disobedience, in order that the believer would not assume that the spiritual life is love with no control or law. Here, He presents a horrible portrait of what would befall the people because of their diversion from God, the Source of their life, their growth, fulfillment, joy, holiness, and inner freedom. Many scholars believe that this part of the chapter represents the most horrible part in the Holy Bible. Matthew Henry states that a man could not bear to read the curses that came in it; he tore out this chapter altogether from the Holy Bible. He did not realize that love has to be clothed with firmness; and that God’s exalted love, could not be enjoyed without the divine fear. In every nation, there are people who could be described as children spiritually, who need some kind of fear to lift them up to maturity, until they practice obedience through love. What are here called curses, are expressing the divine anger against sin or evil. God’s anger is holy, and could not be separated from His love. He gets angry because of sin, longing to liberate the sinner from it. The curses are but natural fruition of man’s separation from the Source of every blessing. When we talk about what God allows of curses; their source is not God the whole love and the Giver of goods; but they are the fruit of our evil will, separated from the Source of blessing. The true love goes hand in hand with faithfulness and seriousness in work, and not slothfulness and un-faithfulness. The curse in the Holy Bible Blessings and curses represent an essential factor in spiritual life and in biblical thought. But there is a great difference between the concept of the curse in the Holy Bible, and that of the pagan world. The pagans believe the curse to be a divine anger, or a work of magic, which would not be removed through repentance and spiritual behavior; but through the use of magic words and works. The Holy Bible, on the other hand, sees the following in the curse: A curse is a natural fruit of sin: When the sinner tastes its pledge in the present world, he would probably re-evaluate his position, and repent his sin. Otherwise, he would taste the fullness of bitterness in the coming world. If the blessing is the gift of God the Righteous One, the curse, on the other hand, is the fruit of evil done by the wicked and the sinner (Proverb 11:31). Sin will bring confusion, chaos, and corruption to the soul, to turn everything in and out of man corrupt (see Galatians 6:8; Romans 6:21). The work of curse is corruption: It corrupts the mind, the heart, the will, and the whole inner being of man. It is a blessing of the Lord that we are not aware of the extent of what the curse would do in us; especially in the world to come, lest we fall into despair. What this chapter reveals of the work of curse in the life of man is but a shadow of what to happen in the depths of the soul, and to be revealed in the great day of the Lord. A curse deprives nature of the natural fruition: God has set for nature laws, by which it consummates its work, and brings on the increasing fruits for the happiness of man, which it cannot do without divine help. The curse, being a separation of man from God the Almighty, leads to an utter confusion of the laws of 14 nature. A curse is a deprivation from life: Wherever it dwells, it separates man from God, the Source of life; and death would come to him wherever he is. We do not fall under a curse for no reason, nor for one of no significance, as God does not search for a chance to come against us, nor intends to enter with us into a conflict. The following categories fall under curse: a. Those who despise God, and refuse to listen to His voice (15), considering His voice not worthy of listening to. b. Those that disobey Him.[20] God would never cast us away, unless we cast Him away of our life. Possibility of the curse God does not wish man to have curse and not blessing. He has created him to enjoy the fellowship of life with Him. But sin turns light into darkness, the sweetness of life into bitterness, and the food into poison. Curse turns man’s exalted mind, with all its capabilities and possibilities, into a center of confusion. It acts like a virus to a computer that corrupts its memory, and confuses all its data. Curse turns the beautiful nature that is created to serve man, into a tool for his sufferings and troubles. Curse turns the body which is supposed to share with the soul its rejoice of God, the Creator of all, into a center of lusts that destroy both the soul and the body. Curse turns the children, from being the source of joy, into that of anxiety. Curse turns possessions, from being the source of man’s fulfillment, into the cause of disturbance. Curse corrupts the exalted system of nature with all its precise laws, into a state of chaos. Finally, as the curse dwells in man, it turns him into someone in a kind of unconsciousness; to see the son as a furnace of fire; nature as an agent of limitless curses; and the future as darkness destructive to the soul. Escaping from the curse: All curses generally come upon us, and overtake us, even if we try to escape from them or to overcome them (15). God’s anger will follow the sinner, even if he tries desperately to flee from its power (Job 27:22). Nobody can flee from God, but everybody can flee to Him. Nobody can flee from His justice, but everybody can flee to His mercy (Psalm 21:7-8). Wherever the sinner will go, curse will follow him; and wherever he may be, it will come upon and settle in him. He would not find protection within the walls of the city; and the pure air of the field will not protect him from the corrupt smoke. “The curse of the Lord is on the house of the wicked” (Proverb 3:33). And when he comes out of the house, he cannot leave it back there and flee from it; as it gets into his heart, and infiltrates into his bones. Curse for him is like the ground on which he stands, as it happened with Cain (Genesis 4:11). The curse will dwell in the basket and the storehouse; namely, in his mind and conscience (Timothy 1:15). He will never find comfort, but will lose the peace of his heart and mind. Because the curse will come upon all to which he sets his hand,[20] he will be in great despair. God threatens to bring on very severe judgments; as it came in (Ezekiel 15 14:21). If man does not repent, he will face double as much. Curse and prophecy Some believe that the curses, which came here, are all prophecies that were realized along the eras: * The Assyrian and the Chaldean attacks, mentioned in (15), and in Jeremiah 4:13. * The Babylonian captivity for the duration of 70 years. * The Roman occupation as foreign enemies (49, 50). * The siege of Jerusalem by Titus, as it came in Josephus the Historian1. * The hundreds and even thousands of Jews who were sold as slaves along the generations. Those wicked people tend to kill themselves by every kind of lusts… Yes, Even when they live, they do in disgrace; considering their bellies as their gods; and will get tortured when they die2. St. Athanasius the Apostolic 1. CURSES GO AFTER AND ATTACH THEMSELVES TO THE DISOBEDIENT Seeing the blessings like someone going after the believer, intending to catch up with him, to enter into his depths. The curses are seen doing the same. There is a struggle between God and the devil. As God intends to acquire man as His own child, to grant him eternal glories, the devil intends to do likewise; doing his best to acquire him as his son to partake of his perdition. “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all his commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you” (Deut. 28:15) Curses try to chase man wherever he goes, to offer him everything contrary to blessings. Curses intend to work in man, whether he is in the city or in the country, to touch both his inner and outer life, to corrupt even his daily work, and to accompany him in his coming in and in his going out. “Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country. Cursed shall be your basket, and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out” (Deut. 28:16-19). The curse here is the deprivation of the city and the country of every touch of life; for death to come everywhere. 2. SUFFERING FROM DISTURBANCE “The Lord will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed, and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me” (Deut. 28:20) If the fruit of the Spirit is love mixed with joy (Galatians 5:22), where the Spirit carries the soul as though to heaven to taste the eternal joy, while still in the midst of confusion, worries, and temptations of this world, the work of sin, especially disobedience, is to deprive man of this heavenly atmosphere; as with disobedience, man gives his back to God, the source of the true inner joy, casting himself into the hell of anxiety and disturbance, in all that he sets his hand to do, and bringing himself 1 Josephus: Wars of the Jews, Book 5:10:3; 6:3:3,4; 6:6:2. 2 Paschal Letters 7. 16 to inner destruction. 3. SUFFERING FROM PLAGUES “The Lord will make the plague cling to you until he has consumed from the land which you are going to possess. The Lord will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever, with the sword, with scorching, and with mildew, they shall pursue you until you perish” (Deut. 28:21, 22) In the Septuagint version, the word ‘plague’ came as ‘death;’ as when man, by his disobedience, refuses to attach himself to God, the Source of life, he brings death upon himself. All kinds of maladies will come upon him, until his body and soul both wither. Thus he loses his vitality, and becomes like a dead corpse. Together with every kind of maladies to man’s body, his crops will be infected by pests like blight: “I blasted you with blight and mildew, When your gardens increased, Your vineyards, Your gif trees, And your olive trees, the locusts devoured them; Yet you have not returned to Me, says the Lord” (Amos 4:9). And also the withering, caused by the east winds, as it came in Pharaoh’s dream: “…and seven ears, withered thin, and blighted by the east wind” (Genesis 41:23); when the hot wind strikes the ears of grain before it bears the fruit, causing them to dry up. 4. NATURE OPPOSES THE DISOBEDIENT “And your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron. The Lord will change the rain of your land to powder and dust; from the heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed” (Deut. 28:23, 24) Nature created by God for the happiness and fulfillment of man, will stand against him; the heaven shall turn into bronze that bring no rain; and the earth shall turn into iron in which no seeds can grow. Famine will come over earth, man will suffer a decrease of produce; according to the warning of God: “I will break the pride of your power; I will make your heaven like iron and your earth like bronze. And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its produce; nor shall the trees of your land yield their fruit” (Leviticus 26:19, 20). Instead of rain falling from heaven on earth, heavy sand and dust will fall that blind the eyes. Man will lose his comfort, and his sound sight to things. So, by giving his back to God, man loses the gift of His Holy Spirit, his soul (the heaven) will turn into bronze that bears no fruit of the Spirit; and his body will bear the spirit of rebellion and opposition, to become like iron. 5. DEFEAT BEFORE THE ENEMIES “The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become troublesome to all the nations of the earth. Your carcasses shall be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and no one shall frighten them away” (Deut. 28:25-26) Before their entrance into the Promised Land, and their enjoyment of conquest over the nations dwelling in Canaan, God confirmed to them, that if they disobeyed His commandment, they would lose their conquest and their honor; and their carcasses would become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth; both on the level of the people as a whole, and that of every individual. As the prophet Elijah said to the wife of Jeroboam: “The dogs shall eat whoever belongs to Jeroboam and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the field, for the 17 Lord has spoken” (1 Kings 14:11). And as it came in the psalms: “O God, the nations have come into your inheritance; Your holy temple they have defiled. They have laid Jerusalem in heaps. The dead bodies of your servants, they have given as food for the birds of the heavens, the flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth” (Psalm 79:1, 2). And according to the words of the Lord on the tongue of the prophet Jeremiah: “Therefore behold, the days are coming, says the Lord… the corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth; and no one will frighten them away” (Jeremiah 7:32, 33). The literal translation of the phrase “troublesome to all the nations of the earth,” is that it will be moved by the nations of the earth here and there, up and down; namely, it will be like a ball for their feet; as it was said: “I will hand them over to trouble to all kingdoms of the earth” (Jeremiah 15:4); and “I will deliver them to trouble into all the kingdoms of the earth, for their harm, to be a reproach and a byword, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them” (Jeremiah 24:9; 29: 18) . 6. DEPRIVATION FROM EVERY GIFT If God struck the Egyptians who enslaved His people, when Pharaoh refused to allow them to go to sacrifice to the Lord in the wilderness; this people, if they disobeyed the Lord and refused to submit to Him in obedience and faithfulness to His covenant, they would fall under similar strikes with no partiality of nations over another. Every nation will enjoy the blessings of the Lord or fall under His strikes, according to its position as far as the commandment is concerned. That is why He says: “The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt” (27); namely, with various strikes; physical, mental, psychological, social, familial, economic, military etc. a. Physical strikes: “The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors, with the scab, and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed” (27). b. Mental strikes: When man is stricken with some kind of madness, to become unable to take the wise decision in running his life; with some kind of mind blindness, to lose his way as though groping in darkness at noonday; like what happened with the leaders of the Jews who became blind to recognize the Lord Christ ‘the Sun of righteousness;” loved the darkness and rejected the Light of the world. Man would fall into confusion of the heart, to become unable to know the difference between the truth and the vanity; and become hesitant in his decisions. “The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart; and you shall grope at noonday, as a blind man gropes in darkness” (Deut. 28:28-29). The Jewish people have been stricken with spiritual blindness. Although He called them “My servant and My messenger;” and it was fitting for them to preach the Messiah the Savior of the world; yet their eyes were blinded to see Him, and their minds to understand the prophecies about Him; hence He rebukes them, saying: “Hear, you deaf; and look, you blind, that you may see. Who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as he who is perfect, and a blind as the Lord’s servant?” (Isaiah 42:18-19) As it came in Zephaniah: “They shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord” (Zephaniah 1:17). And as according to our teacher the apostle Paul concerning those who rejected the word of the gospel: “Whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them” (2 Corinthians 4:4). c. Social strikes: He would fall under social oppression; would cry out all the 18 days of his life, with no one to respond to him or to give him justice; and would moan of oppression, and accuse all who are round him; not realizing that his disobedience to God, and his rejection of His love, would deprive him even of the enjoyment of his social rights. “You shall not prosper in your ways; you shall be only oppressed and plundered continuously, and no one shall save you” (Deut. 28:29). d. Familial strikes: Strokes within his family; He would fall into captivity, and his children would be delivered as slaves to another nation. “You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall lie with her; you shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it; you shall plant a vineyard, but shall not gather its grapes. Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat of it; your donkey shall be violently taken away from before you, and shall not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have no one to rescue them” (Deut. 28:30, 31) e. Military strikes: His country shall be delivered to the enemies because of his sins; his children shall become slaves to strangers; he will see them humiliated before his eyes, unable to help them. The enemy will enjoy all the fruits of his land, while he and his countrymen live in hunger and disgrace. “Your sons and your daughter shall be given to another people, and your eyes shall look and fail with longing for them all day long, and there shall be no strength in your hand” (Deut. 28:32) f. Economic and material strikes: He would be stricken in his possessions; building a house, to be taken away from him, and stay homeless; planting a vine to be denied the enjoyment of eating its grapes and drinking its wine; to see his ox slaughtered before his eyes, and not eating from it; his donkey violently taken away and not restored to him; and his sheep given to his enemies, and no one to save him of all this oppression. “A nation whom you have not known shall eat the fruit of your land and the produce of your labor, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually. So you shall be driven mad because of the sight, which your eyes see. The Lord will strike you in the knees and on the legs with severe boils which cannot be healed, and from the sole of your foot to the top of your head” (Deut. 28:33-35) And as it came in the prophet Zephaniah: “Their goods shall become booty, and their houses a desolation; they shall build houses, but not inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards, but not drink their wine” (Zephaniah 1:13). And in the prophet Micah: “You shall sow but not reap; you shall tread the olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; and make wine, but not drink wine” (Micah 6:15). 7. LOSS OF DIGNITY “The Lord will bring you and the king whom you set over you to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods – wood and stone. And you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations where the Lord will lead you” (Deut. 28:36-37). He spoke about the military strike, which is the collapse of the nation because of sin, for the people to fall into captivity. Now he tells us about a strike of losing honor. God has created man to live as a master on earth, and not to be enslaved by anyone. The earth and everything above and below it were created to serve man. Man was not created to be a slave under his brother. Yet, if he delivers himself to the servitude of sin, instead of the freedom given to him by God, God will sometimes 19 allow for him to be deprived of honor and freedom, to give him the chance to stand before his depths to search them, to get back freedom and liberation from the servitude of the devil, by returning to God. It is amazing to notice the following here: 1. What happens to us of bitterness, like captivity with all its servitude, humiliation and ridicule, are allowed by God; as it is said: “The Lord will bring you … where the Lord will lead you”. 2. Although it so seems that God is harsh in delivering His own people to a foreign nation to chastise them; yet whoever becomes harsh on soul, does not care for its salvation or freedom, and does not care for falling in servitude, would be worthy of a temporary servitude. 3. When the people disobey God and reject His commandments, He lets them be captivated by a pagan nation; fall into idolatry, and be humiliated until they return to God; not just to worship Him, but to respond to His commandments. This was literally realized, when Israel and Judah were captivated by Assyria and Babylon; became in the humiliation of captivity, until God allowed for their return to Jerusalem. 8. DEPRIVATION FROM THE FRUITION OF THE LABOR OF HAND “You shall carry much seed out to the field but gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it. You shall plant vineyards and tend them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olives shall drop off. You shall beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours; for they shall go into captivity. Locusts shall consume all your trees and the produce of your land” (Deut. 28: 38- 42) Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes, which He commanded you. And they shall be upon you for a sign and a wonder, and on your descendants forever” (Deut. 28:45-46) By saying “forever,” God proclaims His ultimate rejection of Israel, as long as it refused faith in the true Messiah. As a people, they are no longer the one chosen by God, having opposed the Savior of the world. But whoever returns to faith, and accepts Him, in whom the prophecies that are within their hands were realized, will find the arms of God outstretched to him with love and acceptance. He will be waiting for the faithful few remnants (Isaiah 10:22; 6:13; Romans 9:27; 11:5). The (Word of God) is food, ornament and security for the soul; there would be, in not listening to it, famine and deprivation1. St. John Chrysostom 9. FALLING DOWN AND COLLAPSE “The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail” (Deut. 43-45). 10. FALLING UNDER SERVITUDE Whoever refuses to serve God would be committed to serve others by force; and whoever does not worship God, would be a slave to many. That is why St. 1 In Matt. hom. 2:10. 20 Arsanius often said: [It is better for you to be a slave to one master, than to be a slave to many.] “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things, therefore you shall serve enemies, whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of all things; and he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you. The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand, a nation of fierce countenance, which does not respect the elderly nor show favor to the young. And they shall eat the increase of your livestock and the produce of your land, until you are destroyed; they shall not leave you grain or new wine or oil, or the increase of your cattle or the offspring of your flock, until they have destroyed you” (Deut. 28:47-51) Because of disobedience, Assyria invaded Israel and captivated it (Isaiah 5:26; 38:11; 23:19); and Babylon invaded Judah and captivated it. Here, he speaks more about the Roman Empire. He describes the nation that was going to chastise the people as being like an eagle; which was a prophecy of the invasion by the Roman Empire (following those by Assyria, Babylon, Made, Persia, and Greece). The eagle was the distinguishing sign of the Roman army. The word ‘eagle’ in Latin is ‘aquila,’ was used by some scholars to mean a military regiment. That nation, they did not understand its language, as they spoke in Latin; a nation of fierce countenance, which did not respect the elderly nor showed favor to the young; the slogan of the Romans was: ‘Violence is life1.’ “They shall besiege you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls in which you trust, come down throughout all your land, and they shall besiege you at all your gates throughout all your land which the Lord your God has given you. You shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters whom the lord your God has given you, in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you. The man among you who is sensitive and very refined will be hostile toward his brother, toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the rest of his children whom he leaves behind, so that he will not give any of them the flesh of his children whom he will eat, because he has nothing left in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates” (Deut. 28:52-55) When man assumes that he can protect himself behind the strong high walls, the curse would draw him out of where he assumes to be the source of his security, to find himself helpless. No fortified strongholds can protect him (Deuteronomy 9:1), nor chariots and horses (Psalm 20:7), nor great number and wealth (Proverb 10:15), nor political experience and alliances with foreign powers (Isaiah 30), can protect him, because God’s mighty hand forsakes him. I wish we do not hide behind self-righteousness; as “every mouth may be stopped before the Lord” (Romans 3:19); or put our trust in vain things (Matthew 3:9; 7:22); or justify ourselves by excuses (Matthew 25:26; Luke 14:18). He presents a very bitter portrait for the tender and delicate queen, of authority, who used to be always carried on shoulders, but now humiliated in captivity; saying: “The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and sensitivity, will 1 Caes. Hisp. 30; cf Matt. 24:28. 21 refuse to the husband of her bosom, to her son and her daughter, her placenta which comes out from her feet, and her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of all things in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates” (Deut. 28:56-57) The queens were used to go to extremes in adornments and pretence of tenderness, in order to get more respect and honor; whereas man’s honor, whether a man or a woman, a king or a slave, is not in his or her outer adornments, or in what he or she pretends to be, but in what his or her depths bear of good personality, wisdom, and inner bond to the heavenly One. 11. FALLING UNDER THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT “If you do not carefully observe all the words of this Law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God, then the Lord will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues – great and prolonged plagues – and serious and prolonged sicknesses. Moreover He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you” (Deut. 28:58-60) It is obvious that he does not mean here the book of Deuteronomy, but what the prophet Moses has presented of the commandments and statutes that God delivered to him. “The glorious and awesome name” (58): God’s names in the book of Deuteronomy warrant a study. He is “the living God” (5:26); “God of our fathers” (6:3); “God of gods, and Lord of lords” (10:17; Revelation 19:16); “The Rock… A God of truth” (32:4); “The Most High”(32:8; “The eternal God” (33:27). But the most frequently used is “The Lord your God.” What does he mean by saying, “Written in this book”? At that time, the book of Deuteronomy was not yet written. Some scholars believe that to mean the Book of Law that the prophet Moses received from God. He connects between keeping the commandment or acting according to it and the enjoyment of the fear of the Lord our God. As through the fear of God we keep the commandment, and through keeping the commandment we taste the sweetness of the fear of God; practically experience it and grow in it. God brought upon the Egyptians the ten plagues mentioned in the book of Exodus (7-11); to let His people enjoy the exodus, receive the divine commandment, and realize the covenant with God. Now, as the people refuse to respond to the divine commandment, and do not keep it, they are worthy of falling under the same plagues under which the Egyptians fell. 12. DWELLING OF DESTRUCTION “Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in the book of this Law, will the Lord bring upon you until you are destroyed. You shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven in multitude, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God. And it shall be, that just as the Lord your God rejoiced over you to do you good and multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice over you and bring you to nothing; and you shall be plucked from off the land, which you are going to possess. Then the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known – wood and stone. And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place, but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing 22 eyes, and anguish of soul. Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life. In the morning you shall say, Oh, that it were evening!’ And in the evening you shall say, ‘Oh, that it were morning!’ because of the fear which terrifies your heart, and because of the sight which your eyes see” (Deut. 28:61-67) Now, as His people refused to attach to Him, He chastises them even to destruction, with the hope that the few remnants of them will return to Him. He rejoices over them to chastise them, to scatter them among the peoples from one end of the earth to the other end. “’For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies’ says the Lord; Therefore turn and live’” (Ezekiel 18:32); and the Lord Christ Himself wept over the falling Jerusalem (Luke 19:41). Pope Athanasius the Apostolic believes that the words of the prophet Moses: “Your life shall hang in doubt before you,” constitute a prophecy about the death of the Lord Christ, who was hanged on the cross by the unbelieving Jews1. If they cared for the prophecy of Moses, they would not have hanged Him, who was their life2. Pope Athanasius the Apostolic By saying, “Your life shall hang in doubt before you” he means that it will be like something hanged by a thread before someone, who expects it to fall any moment. 13. AN APOSTASY TO EGYPT “And the Lord will take you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which I said to you, ‘You will never see it again.’ And there you shall be offered for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you” Deut. 28:68) The worst curse was probably being taken back to Egypt to be sold there as slaves to their enemies; and in disgust, no one will buy them. Some believe that Egypt here, is a symbol of what befell the Jews, when they fell in captivity to several nations; whereas others believe that that has literally been realized after Titus took over Jerusalem, and carried a great number of Jews to Egypt where they lived a bitter life of servitude, up till the days of Hadrian3. Some say that the worst enemy of mankind on earth is man himself; as when he oppresses his fellow man, he becomes fiercer than wild beasts. That is why he saved the threat of captivity and servitude to the end, being the worst of curses. 1 De Incarnatione Verbi Dei, 35:2. 2 Paschal Letters, 10:5. 3 Josephus. De Bell, Jud. 6:9:2; Philo: Flace and Leg. Ad Laium. 23 AN INSPIRATION FROM THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY (Chapter 28) LET YOUR BLESSING ATTACH TO ME Foolishly, I was searching for Your blessing; Thinking that they are very far from me to acquire. Then I found it knocking on the gate of my heart; Seeking my friendship, love, and submission. Let Your blessing enter into my depths and attach to me; I am sick of love. Let Your blessing work in my life; In my work, my home, and my church; To occupy all my being; My soul, body, mind, and all my energies. To reign inside me, and to lead all my being; To work in my eating, drinking, sleeping, and waking up. Yes, let Your blessing become the leader! To move all my being in the battle of the Spirit. By it, I will conquer every enemy and every corruption, By it, I will enjoy thrones of eternal glory. Let Your blessing set guards on the storehouses of my heart, To turn it into a sanctuary for You. To enjoy following Your example, O the all holy One! To become a living icon of You, O the only holy One! Let Your blessing carry me up to Your heaven; Let it reveal for me Your divine mysteries; And grant me a place in Your exalted secret place; To encounter You, and unite with You, O the divine Groom of my soul. Your blessing turns my life into an incessant heavenly joy. It makes me a head and not a tail; It opens for me the treasures of heaven; And blesses the goods of the earth; And everything to which I set my hand; Your blessing will lift me up to You, to stay with You forever.
Welcome