Blessings and Cursings Part 2

Well within sight of each other, Mount Ebal's rather barren appearance contrasted with the more profusely-covered Mount Gerizim. This difference was used in a ceremony to symbolize the blessings for those who obey God, and the curses for those who disobey - a principle that applies as much now as at any other time during scriptural history. This picture from the lds.org library is my favorite for showing this.

Gerizim and Ebal

The following is a sampling of the blessings and curses which were recited. I used the NIV because it was so much shorter. For a complete list-especially of the curses- see the rest of Deuteronomy 28.

If You Choose To Obey God

If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God: You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. - Deu 28:4 - The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. - Deu 28:7 - The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you. (Deuteronomy 28:1-8 NIV)

If You Choose To Disobey God

However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country. Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed. The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out. The Lord will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking Him. - Deu 28:21 - The Lord will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess. The Lord will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish. (Deuteronomy 28:15-22 NIV)

Blessings and Cursings Part 1

I love how the Lord uses geography of the Holy Land to emphasize his significant teachings.

Before the Israelites entered the Promised Land, Moses gave instructions that the blessings and cursings of the covenant should be read aloud on Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal :

The same day Moses charged the people as follows: When you have crossed over the Jordan, these shall stand on Mount Gerizim for the blessing of the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin. And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali. Then the Levites shall declare in a loud voice to all the Israelites … (Deut 27:11-14).

Then follow the blessings and the cursings, after each all the people shall say, “Amen”.

These instructions were carried out under the leadership of Joshua:

All Israel, alien as well as citizen, with their elders and officers and their judges, stood on opposite sides of the ark in front of the levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD has commanded at the first, that they should bless the people of Israel. And afterward he read all the words of the law, blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law. (Josh 8:33-34).

We may wonder how it was possible that the whole population of the Israelites, at least 600,000 adult men, could hear this reading of the law without a modern public-address system, and be able to respond with “Amen” to each of the blessings and curses.

An article on bibleplaces.com refers to an experiment conducted in the 19th century by J.W. McGarvey, during his tour of the Holy Land . He describes how these two mountains face each other with their slopes being about one mile apart, with the Biblical city of Shechem lying between them. On the side of both mountains there is a deep semicircular recess, which form two natural amphitheatres, where voices can carry for considerable distances. For his experiment, McGarvey stood between the two mountains, in the place where the Levities and the people of Israel would have stood. He said that there would have been enough space for 600,000 Israelites and their families. One of his two companions climbed halfway up Mt. Ebal , and another climbed halfway up Mt. Gerizim . Each evidently stood within the two natural amphitheatres, where they could each represent six tribes for the blessing and the curse.

The author read the blessings and the curses, and his two companions responded with, “Amen”, as Moses had instructed. The companion on Mt. Gerizim could hear the author clearly, and his response could also be heard clearly. The companion on Mt. Ebal could hear the voice of the author, but had difficulty distinguishing the words because of trees and terracing on the mountainside, which affected the acoustics. McGarvey suggested that if Joshua had a loud voice, he could have easily been heard by the whole the whole people of Israel , even without the Levites repeating his words.

This experiment shows that God chose the best place in the land to conduct this ceremony of renewal of the covenant, so all the congregation of Israel could hear the words of the Law clearly, and agree to them.

The natural amphitheatres do not work so effectively today because of recent building development, but still show clearly in photographs and aerial mapping.

Google Earth




BiblePlaces--color emphasis added

Mess

And he took and sent messes unto them from before him: but Benjamin's mess was five times so much as any of theirs. And they drank, and were merry with him. Genesis 43:34

Mess is an archaic or colloquial term for a portion, or serving, of food. The miltary still uses this term-as in Mess Hall. Joseph sent "portions" from his own table to his brothers, who could not sit with him because of his station as next to Pharaoh (Genesis 43:34). When David told Uriah to go to his home, "there followed him a present from the king"—there is no indication in the Hebrew that it was "a mess of meat," as the KJV has it (2 Samuel 11:8).

The Hebrew word in these two cases is the one which is translated "gifts" in the account of the great banquet given by King Ahasuerus to celebrate the coronation of Queen Esther (2:18). It is an interesting fact that the well-worn phrase "a mess of pottage" does not appear in the Biblical account of Esau's sale of his birthright (Genesis 25:29-34) or in the reference to it in Hebrews 12:16.

(The Bible Word Book, Bridges & Weigle pg 223)

Biblical humor

While the primary purpose of the Hebrew Bible is to teach people how to live a spiritual life and serve God, many of the stories contained in the text are quite humorous. Some of these situations result from a funny predicament and may include humorous imagery as well.

For example, the plague of frogs. First, the imagery invoked of a country overrun with jumping frogs, including frogs in the palace, in the bedrooms of Egypt, in the ovens and kneading bowels is quite ludicrous. Then, as if this image is not funny enough, the Egyptian magicians, trying to downplay what Moses had done, "brought up frogs on the land of Egypt " (Exodus 8:3) to show that they could do the same thing. One would think they would have tried to eliminate the plague (but, of course, they couldn’t).

There is even humor in the word used to describe Moses’ prayer to God asking for the frogs to go away. Moses cried (vayitzack) to God. Moses had to cry because the noise made by all those frogs required that Moses scream to be heard (see the commentary of Sifse Chachamim).

Friedman, Hershey. International Journal of Humor Research, Vol. 13, Sept. 2000

Fire from Heaven

And it came to pass, when the time was come that
he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face
to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before his
face: and they went, and entered into a village of the
Samaritans, to make ready for him. And they did not
receive him, because his face was as though he would
go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John
saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command
fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even
as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and
said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For
the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but
to save them. Luke 9:51-56

God was going to get their enemies, and this is what
the disciples believed when they wanted to call down
fire from heaven.

In the time of Christ, there was an imprecatory prayer
that was frequently used to curse Rome. It went
something like this:

"Dear God, Please cause a river
of fire to flow from heaven, and let it burn every
Roman, each in his own house, amen."

This is probably what Jesus' disciples were referring to
when they wanted to call down fire from Heaven on those who
did not believe or show hospitality to their Master.

(Fleming, James W. 2002. Desert Spirituality. Biblical Resources Conference Lecture Series, June, pg103)

Jesus did not respond in kind to to His
nation’s enemies, the Romans and Samaritans.

When we have trouble forgiving painful hurts
and slights – especially concerning those we love – we
can remember that the Lord is longsuffering, patient,
and kind to all – even our enemies – because he knows
it is possible that some of them will repent and come
unto Him. He is anxious to save as many as possible.

I Shall Not Want

When I was a child we repeated the 23rd Psalm in school every morning after the Pledge of Allegiance. Unfortunately, its meaning was never explained to the class. I understood much of it, but I thought the phrase, "I shall not want" meant that He was my shepherd whether I wanted him to be or not.

One wiser individual better understood the true intent of David's words when he wrote of the Shepherd:

I shall not want or lack...

...rest for He maketh me to lie down.
...refreshment for He leadeth me beside the still waters.
...restoration for He restoreth my soul.
...guidance for He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness.
...confidence for I will fear no evil.
...companionship for Thou art with me.
...comfort for Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.
...provision for Thou preparest a table.
...joy for my cup runneth over.
...anything in this life for goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
...anything in eternity for I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

When we have a good shepherd, there is no need that goes unfilled.

The Bread of Friendship

Designer Mies Van der Rohe observed that “God is in the details.” The smallest details can truly reveal someone’s heart. The Last Supper contains many tender insights into the nature of Christ. A knowledge of middle eastern meal customs is helpful to our understanding here.

While eating a meal, it was customary to place three small "loaves" of bread at each setting. These resembled modern tortillas or pancakes. Pieces of this bread were doubled up, spoon fashion, and used to scoop up the stews and sauces. By practice, this was done with much expert cleanliness and was not at all messy. When one prepared such a mouthful and handed it to another at the table, it was a sign of friendly regard. An affectionate exchange of food would take place only between friends. In some parts of the Middle East, this "sop" is called "the bread of friendship."

In John 13:26, we read of such an exchange:

Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot...

Through the sharing of his sop, Jesus truly practiced his own teaching – to "love your enemies."