God was not just severe in His judgment of the people of the
world as seen in the Old Testament, but He was very severe in His punishment of
also Israel, people called after His own name. Why so? Basically, the question
again is, is God of the Old Testament a cruel and willful God? Does He have any
resemblance to the loving God portrayed in the New Testament by Jesus Christ
and his followers, the Christians? Or is He a separate and a different God
altogether?
In the last two blogs I examined these questions and tried to
answer these from God’s command to Israelite for the whole sale destruction of
the Amorites and Canaanites in the Promised Land of Canaan before their
settlement and the various narratives in the Bible about God’s dealings,
starting from the first human couple, to Cain, and up to people of Noah’s time.
The truth to observe in all these dealings with people is
that God always warned people of the wrong things they were committing and gave
them sufficient time to repent and turn back to Him and stick to the commandments
given to them to lead a holy and blameless life. It was only when these warnings
fell to deaf ears and they still persisted in their evil ways that God brought
in the judgment and punished them. Even then He does not punish us as much as
our sinfulness deserves. I also pointed out that He is a God of righteousness
and justice and cannot let sin and wrong-doings go unpunished. However, His
punishments are always tempered with mercy and His love for people, the crown
of His creation.
In this blog I want to show that God was not judging only the
other people in the world, but also His own people, people called the Israel.
He punished them, sometimes severely, not without reason. How far was He
justified in doing so? To answer this question, we need to know a little
background of God’s purpose in shaping Israel as His own people.
God selects Abraham and calls him to be faithful to Him. God
enters into a covenant relationship with him, promising that He will bring out
a nation from his seed, let them inherit the land of Canaan and also to bless
the nations of the world though his seed. In Genesis 12:2-3, God tells Abraham,
“I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing…
And in you all the families of the
earth
Shall be blessed.”
The purpose and plan of God was to bring salvation and
restoration of relationship with Him to all the people of the world through the
descendants of Abraham. This was followed by Mosaic covenant bestowed upon the
people of Israel at Mount Sinai, prescribing His laws and commandments,
including the Ten Commandments, to be followed strictly by Israelite, to lead
a holy life pleasing to Him. Such obedience would bring blessings from God to
the people and disobedience will bring curses or punishment from the same God. These
blessings and curses are written in Leviticus 26:1-13 and 14-39. This long
passage ends with the clause that if these people, who because of their
disobedience suffered the curses as a consequence, confess their sins and seek
forgiveness from God, He will be merciful forgive them and restore them to
their former covenant relationship with Him. Leviticus 26:40-42.
But what happened as narrated thereafter in the books
of history of Israel in Bible was a dismal failure of Israel to keep up the
laws of God. The intention of God in selecting Abraham and bringing up a nation
out of him and prescribing His statues and commandments to them, was that these
people will be His own people, and be a witness to Him and His true nature to
all the world. Moses says in Deuteronomy 7:6,
“For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the
Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure
above all the peoples on the face of the earth.”
Israel was to be ‘a kingdom of priests and a holy
nation’ to God. Exodus 19:6.
Oh how miserably they failed Him! The books of Judges
and the Kings and Chronicles detail how the people whom God chose as His
special people, so that they could be His witnesses to the whole world, to
showcase His Holiness, righteousness and justice, His demand that people, His
creation also lead a holy life, worth of their Creator, failed Him repeatedly.
In spite of repeated warnings through His prophets, whom He sent to them
throughout their life time, they slipped back to the pattern of life of the
people around them, worshiping idols created by them, sacrificing their
children to their gods and goddesses, and leading immoral and depraved lives.
Through His prophet Micah, God asks his people,
“…And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?”
They could not obey even this much in their lives.
After repeatedly warning them of the dire consequences of their actions, God
brings in the calamity on them. The Northern Kingdom of Israel falls to the
assault of Assyrian king in 721 BC and after 135 years, the Southern Kingdom of
Judah also falls a victim to the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, in 586 BC.
These are historical facts verifiable from secular writings. The people were
taken captive and scattered; the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. Jews
deported to Babylon were permitted to return to Jerusalem in 538 BC to rebuild
their Temple and resettle in Judah during the reign of Cyrus King of Persia
who conquered Babylon. On their return they discard idols and stick to the
worship of Lord their God alone.
Was God harsh in His punishment to the Israel? I don’t
think so. What God had commanded them not to do they did openly, with least
regard to their God. They worshiped the gods of the nations around them, made
idols of goats and calves and offered their children to these gods as
sacrifices, which were abominations to God. They worshiped the sun, moon and
the stars, creations of God instead of worshiping the creator of these, the
Almighty God. In Jeremiah 2:13, God says,
“For My people have committed two evils:
They have forsaken Me, the fountain of
living waters,
And hewn themselves cisterns-broken
cisterns that hold no water.”
God brings charges against His own people. He calls
out to them, “Return, backsliding Israel,” but to no avail. He tells them “…I
am merciful, and I will not remain angry forever. Only acknowledged your
iniquity, that you have transgressed against the Lord your God,” Jeremiah 3:12,
13. ‘I will forgive you and restore you.’ But Israel spurned His offer of love
and ended up as captives in another land. He proclaims again, “…I am the Lord,
exercising loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness on earth, for in these
I delight,” Jeremiah 9:24. He pleads with them, but of no avail. Then He
scatters them in the Gentile world. Instead of being the head they ended up
being the tail, as was prophesied in the blessings and curses in Deuteronomy.
Whose fault was that? Was it God their merciful
Creator or their own sinful conduct? God described in the Bible is never
willful or vindictive or whimsical or harsh. He loves His people as His own, He
wants only the best for them; but when they turn against Him and walk away from
Him with disregard to His commands and expectations, even then he is patient
and gives them a long rope, sends warnings after warnings, so they could return
from their evil ways and come back to Him. Only when their wrong doings go
beyond the limit, does He brings down the calamities that were promised for
disobedience.
Still all is not lost. After punishments and judgments, God
is still tenderhearted towards His people. He says,
“…O Jacob,
And Israel, for you
are My servant;
I have formed you,
you are My servant;
O Israel, you will
not be forgotten by Me!” Isaiah 44:21
He promised to gather and bring back Israel, who were
scattered all over the world. He says,
“For behold, the days are coming…that I will bring
back from captivity My people Israel and Judah… I will cause them to return to
the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.” Jeremiah 30:3
That was God’s promise to Israel that He will bring
them back to the land He gave to their fathers and settle them down there.
After being stateless and nation-less for almost 18 centuries, a new country ‘Israel’
was formed in 1948 and Jews from all over the world returned to their land. It
is said that as on today only 50% of the Israelite from other countries have
returned to Israel. May be it will be 100% only wit the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, when he will establish His rule on earth, and rule with justice and
righteousness for one and all.
After Jesus was born as a human being on earth, some
2000 years ago, the blessings of Abraham have been extended by God to all the
people of the earth. It is no longer restricted to Israel alone. Ah, but that
will be the subject of the next blog.
Until then good bye.
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