Deuteronomy 28:63 says, “Just as it pleased the Lord to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please Him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.”
Wait.
How can a loving God take pleasure in ruining and destroying His people?
Before your mind paints a picture of God rubbing his hands, eager to pour curses onto His helpless people, keep these truths in mind:
Curses are consequences.
Throughout Deuteronomy 28, the word “curse” is used to describe what will happen if there is disobedience. The word “curse” conjures up images of a cold-hearted antagonist from a magical world who flicks his wand towards any unsuspecting person, but, in Deuteronomy 28, curses are consequences. There are no surprises. God clearly spelled out how to obey and the results. Although the consequences in Deuteronomy 28 are specifically for Israel for this point in their history, God still takes obedience seriously. There are consequences for disobedience. There are blessings for obedience. Luke 11:28 says, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”
The purpose of the consequences was to draw the people back to God.
The curses were not the end of God’s plan. God let the people know His plans to restore His people to the land. In Deuteronomy 30:1-3, God says:
“When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you.”
These verses were fulfilled in Ezra and Nehemiah when the people turned back to the Lord, returned to the land, and rebuilt Jerusalem. The people repented and their blessings were restored.
For Christians today, experiencing the consequences of sin is an opportunity to turn back to God. Like the father who welcomed the Prodigal Son with lavish gifts, God welcomes us with open arms when we return to Him in obedience.
God gave plenty of second chances before the consequences were given.
Israel entered the Promised Land around 1400 BC. It didn’t take long before the nation disobeyed. God handed out the consequences listed in this chapter a little at a time to get the people’s attention. He sent prophets to remind the people of the consequences and to proclaim His love for His people. God doesn’t fully give the last group of consequences listed in Deuteronomy 28, being uprooted from the land and scattered, until 586 BC when Babylon captures Jerusalem and the people are exiled and scattered. God gives the curses out over an almost one thousand year period. If God’s supreme delight was cursing His people, He would have done so at the first infraction. Instead, God’s loving patience allowed the people generations of opportunity to repent and obey God.
Christians today are not waiting on the edge of the Promised Land, but on the edge of eternity. Two thousand years ago, Jesus promised to return and bring curses and consequences with Him. God’s patience is allowing time for people to turn to Him in faith. 2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
God’s patience is not just for His broader plan for Israel and the Church. God’s patience is personal. Since I am a sinner by birth, I deserve God’s immediate punishment. Instead, God drew me to Himself with His grace so I could experience the blessings of forgiveness through Jesus’ death and resurrection.
God will be pleased to curse the people.
The Hebrew word for pleased means “exult, rejoice.” God took pleasure in the ruin of His disobedient people. To understand God’s pleasure in consequences, I thought about myself as a parent. When I give out a consequence after being exceedingly clear about my expectations and the resulting discipline, I feel satisfaction when the consequence is given. Justice has been maintained. The sin has been addressed and now the consequence gives opportunity for repentance. At the same time, I am saddened and frustrated at the disobedience and feel compassion for my child who has to experience the discipline. There are a range of emotions involved in discipline. It’s complicated.
The same range of emotions are felt when a high-profile criminal has been sentenced. We read the headline with a small smile thinking, “Good. That’s what they deserved.” The satisfaction is mixed with sadness for the criminal, his choices and his victims, but there is a certain amount of pleasure since justice has been served.
God is rightfully pleased when He enacts His perfect justice. God’s pleasure in giving consequences does not negate His love or compassion.
How has God been patient with you? Share in the comments below!
I never really thought about the length of time God gave the Israelites to repent. He IS patient! I’m so thankful for that!
I never did the math either until I was writing this post. That’s a LONG time. He’s waiting a lot longer until Christ returns though. I wonder how long that’ll be? He is being VERY patient now!
so did God curse(provide consequences) the entire population or just those that disobeyed? I’m pondering the effect of these curses on innocent wives/children,newborns. Help with that please?
That’s a great question! Throughout the Old Testament, especially in the prophets, there are passages that refer to the remnant which are the faithful in the population that remained followers of God. Although some of the consequences effected them like the exile, God promised to bring the faithful back to the Promised Land which He did and you can read in Ezra and Nehemiah. At the same time, our sin does sometimes effect others even those who did not participate in evil doing. We see that today like when someone drinks and drives and gets in an accident and their kid in the back seat is killed along with them. It’s horrible. But sometimes our sin does effect others who aren’t participating in wickedness 🙁
Rachel, I’ve been thinking about Deuteronomy 30 lately where God clearly declares His intention to bless His people and then sets forth the parameters for blessing, making it very clear that there will be consequences for disobedience. He is a Good Father who holds his children to a high standard, but give grace to meet it.
Thank you for commenting, Michele. I’m glad God is so clear about what He expects. That makes it easier to obey to Him.
Really enjoyed this reading. God is always there for us. We just have to obey his words.
Thanks for reading, Charles. You are right. God has so much good for us when we obey Him.
Who are/were Gods chosen people and what completion were they?
I’m not sure what you mean by “what completion were they.” But God’s chosen people in the context of the Old Testament was the nation of Israel.
The insight you bring out in the Book of Habakkuk is very rewarding. Thank you Rachel. The love God has for His children, in the body as well as out of the body is very apparent. The Apostle Paul says it best in Hebrews 12. God will be a Father to all men, sooner or later, and with His discipline and Wisdom, we will all gain the victory.
Thank you so much, Mr. Garzillo!
So glad I found you. Thank you for your insight.
thank you! Glad it was helpful!
Thanks for this post, Rachel 🙂
The following sentence is partially true: “God doesn’t fully give the last group of consequences listed in Deuteronomy 28, being uprooted from the land and scattered, until 586 BC when Babylon captures Jerusalem and the people are exiled and scattered.”
It’s easy for us to be confused because in the Bible “Israel” sometimes means all 12 tribes and sometimes only the 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom.
After King Solomon’s reign Israel was divided into the Southern Kingdom (the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and also called “The House of Judah”) and the Northern Kingdom (the other ten tribes, and also called ‘The House of Israel”).
The Southern Kingdom was exiled to Babylon in 586 BC but they returned to Palestine 70 years later (described in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah). They are called “Jews” because they mainly consist of the tribe of Judah.
The Northern Kingdom was exiled by Assyria at about 721 BC. They were scattered among the nations and most of them never returned.
God promised to gather the scattered descendants of the Northern Kingdom. He promised to reunite the House of Judah and the House of Israel into one nation and make a new covenant with them (Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Ezekiel 37:15-23). This prophecy has made much of the Bible much easier to understand.
Thanks for the clarification!
But how am I supposed to feel ok with suffering the consequences for a bygone generations mistakes? Feels unfair to me.
Thank you so much for your question! It’s a good one. I have a couple of thoughts. First of all, the subsequent generations were also turning their back on the Lord and following their own ways, so they were suffering judgment for their own actions and not their forefathers. I think of God’s people in the book of Judges. They lived in peace as long as they followed the Lord, but whenever they strayed away, God brought judgment upon them so that they would have a wake up call. Secondly, I have been reading through Ezekiel right now and there is a whole chapter which is exactly your question! In Ezekiel 18, the people were saying, “why does God punish the children for the father’s sins?” and God says, “no, I don’t do this. That would not be fair. I punish each person for their own sins, but whoever repents and turns to me, I will forgive him.” If you have time, please read the whole chapter of Ezekiel 18. I think you will see God’s heart on your question.
I find it very uncomfortable reading this. Creating fear in people is not healthy and it definetly is not going to make us love god. The more you try and control someone the more they will move away. If people are living peacefully and not hurting anyone why is their a need for punishment. There are some decisions in life that a person knows what is right for them. I just don’t understand
This is a very hard passage in Scripture and I’m sorry that it is creating a fear in you that is driving you away from God. I pray for you to understand the love of God and how His love calls us towards him and not away from Him. The truth is that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) so all of us need to come to Christ for forgiveness and freedom from punishment. That is what God longs for. That is his heart. The punishment is something he has to do in his justice, but his longing and his heart are for us to turn to him. We are much better off turning to Him rather than doing our own thing.
Why would a loving God create people if he knew that he would have to curse them and send them to everlasting torment? How do you feel about verse 30 – “You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and rape her”? Why does God get so upset with the children he created? No parent would treat their own children this way.
Verse 1 says “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.” Are you aware of the hundreds of commands God gave his chosen people such as not working on the sabbath, mixing fabrics, sleeping with a woman on her period, eating pork or shellfish and the like? One misstep and he will have someone rape your fiancée? This is not a father I would want to have.
I don’t think it’s accurate to say “one misstep and he will have someone rape your finacee.” This passage isn’t talking about one misstep, but rather generations and generations of willful disobedience without repentance. And God has gone to great lengths to rescue people from the consequences of the curse of everlasting torment. Yet people still ignore His Son who was sent to rescue us. God, as our Father, has gone to great lengths to rescue His people. This is the Father whom we have. It takes faith and trust to see the world from his perspective.
First of all, it’s my ancestors and descendants that were scattered, raped, vexed, enslaved, beat, called bi-words, indoctrinated, demeaned, oppressed, persecuted and killed by your people. We have paid dearly for our disobedience. God never once said to mistreat his people. He said blessed are those who bless Israel. America the great Babylon has never blessed us. In end days, you too shall reap what you have sown in double portions for God has said to pour you double of what you have given. The season of the gentiles has come to fulfillment. The tail shall now become the head and the elder shall serve the younger. Lord knows how we got to America, the Lord knows what we have endured and our day of deliverance is upon us. Our 400 year curse is fulfilled.
My heart breaks for all the suffering and oppression your people have experienced. I’m thankful for God and His forgiveness and the New Heavens and Earth we are looking forward to where there will be no more pain.
Hi Rachel. I was shocked in reading this verse (Deut. 28:63) this morning. I did some research and it seems it is a bad translation in most Bibles. It should be rendered “The Lord will cause (others) to be pleased in ruining and destroying you”. That is consistent with the passages in the Bible that say other nations rejoiced over the destruction of Jerusalem (and God was angry at them because they did so). Please check https://cutt.ly/LjMJ8Xe in which this is explained.
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing. I’d love to hear what the Bible translators would say in reply to this translation. And I do think about whatever way it is translated, after a time of ruin and destruction for Israel, God restores them. I see that theme in Ezekiel over and over again.