FROM TODAY’S RECAP: - The Bible Recap - Day 053 - Leviticus 26:44-45 - Have your CHURCH read through the Bible with TBR! - The Chosen: Season 5 Sneak Peek Note: We provide links to specific resources; this is not an endorsement of the entire website, author, organization, etc. Their views may not represent our own. SHOW NOTES: - Follow The Bible Recap: Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | YouTube - Follow Tara-Leigh Cobble: Instagram - Read/listen on the Bible App or Dwell App - Learn more at our Start Page - Become a RECAPtain - Shop the TBR Store - Credits PARTNER MINISTRIES: D-Group International Israelux The God Shot TLC Writing & Speaking DISCLAIMER: The Bible Recap, Tara-Leigh Cobble, and affiliates are not a church, pastor, spiritual authority, or counseling service. Listeners and viewers consume this content on a voluntary basis and assume all responsibility for the resulting consequences and impact.
Full Episode
Hey Bible Readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible Recap. Today, we drop back in on Moses as he's reviewing the blessings and curses portion of the covenant. He reminds the Israelites of the blessings that await them if they obey God. He will give them victory in battle. And Moses even says God will command his blessing on them. Wow, blessings go where God tells them to go.
And he promises to give the things only he can give, life, growth, and reign. When that happens, the people around them will take notice that there seems to be a unique blessing on this nation state. Because of God's very evident protection and provision, these other nations will be afraid of the Israelites because nothing is more terrifying than when your enemy is thriving.
When Israel thrives, they'll lend to their neighbors in need. And remember, their neighbors here are their enemies. Neighbor isn't just some word to suggest friend. The surrounding nations oppose them and don't follow Yahweh. All of these blessings will follow them if they follow God. If they don't follow God, the curses will come. And wow, they sound terrible.
Covenant curses were typically not just the absence of blessing, but the complete reversal of blessing. So you may have noticed those parallels. For example, the blessing would have them be victorious over their enemies who would scatter in seven directions, but the curse would have them losing to their enemies while they scattered in seven directions.
That's how covenants were typically written, a complete reversal of outcome for blessings and curses. That's one reason why some of these verses might seem extra harsh, but they're more of a demonstration of covenant language than of character.
For instance, 2863 says, As the Lord took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the Lord will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you. This is typical covenant language, and it's the opposite of what we've seen about God's character in how he regards his people. He doesn't delight in harming them.
We heard some harsh words from Moses today, but first of all, this conversation isn't over yet. And second, we have to remember what we've learned about God so far from the other times Moses has discussed God's relationship with these people. Resist the urge to isolate this text and build theology around something taken out of the greater context.
Remember day 53 where we learned in Leviticus 26 that God will be faithful even when his people are faithless? He will pursue them even when they go astray. In these other passages where Moses is covering the same thing he covered here, we've seen that God only sends the bad in order to bring about good in the end. And remember, we don't want a God who lets us rebel without consequence.
We want a God who will call us back to him when we stray. And that's exactly the kind of God Yahweh is. Not a God of punishment, but of discipline and protection. His discipline protects us from the far greater harm we would bring on ourselves and others if we continued in rebellion unchecked. As I was reading through some of the curses, a lot of it reminded me of Job.
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