Previous Section: Faith Above Lineage
As we continue to see God’s word unfold, we see that Israel is given both a blessing and a curse. If they follow His ways, they are to be blessed and unified, but if they fall away, they heap on themselves a curse and are scattered. In essence, God’s ways are a kind of glue that unify a people, and without His ways, we see they are dispersed. This dispersion or scattering occurs until they can confess their iniquity to God, and He holds to His promise to Abraham. We will see that it is by this mechanism that God’s people once receive no mercy, and later, through Christ, receive mercy again. We read in Deuteronomy about the blessing at the curse:
“And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, 2 and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. 4 If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will take you.
Deuteronomy 30:1-4 ESV
The same is seen in Leviticus:
27 “But if in spite of this you will not listen to me, but walk contrary to me, 28 then I will walk contrary to you in fury, and I myself will discipline you sevenfold for your sins.
33 And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.
40 “But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, 41 so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity,
Leviticus 26:27-28,33,40-41 ESV
In verse 41, we see that God describes the status of the person’s heart as critical to His people, not their law keeping. The scripture emphasizes the person’s heart as uncircumcised (covered) before Him. This seems to imply an importance of the spiritual state over the physical state. God cherishes matters of the heart, and if His people humble themselves, we see the scattered reunified.
42 then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. 43 But the land shall be abandoned by them and enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them, and they shall make amends for their iniquity, because they spurned my rules and their soul abhorred my statutes. 44 Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God. 45 But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the Lord.”
Leviticus 26:42-45 ESV
In Leviticus 26, we also see something interesting about the land come into play. God states that when the people are scattered, their land will enjoy rest. The fruitful land will be desolate before them, and they will be in the land of their enemies. While this seems to physically represents the land of Israel that we know of today (lands that immediately surround Jerusalem) and their physical displacement from that land, we are also told in Hosea that the blessings of the land are not necessarily unique to Jerusalem or its surrounding areas. Rather, that lands give up their rewards to those who diligently seek Him. We see the prophet Hosea describe Israel as a wayward wife who does not know where the blessings of the land originate:
8And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal. 9 Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my wine in its season, and I will take away my wool and my flax, which were to cover her nakedness. 10 Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one shall rescue her out of my hand. 11 And I will put an end to all her mirth, her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her appointed feasts. 12 And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she said, ‘These are my wages, which my lovers have given me.’ I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall devour them.
Hosea 2:8-12 ESV
God will remove the blessing of the land from their lives, and this includes their grain, flax, wine, and the blessings of livestock, such as wool. Without the blessings of the land, their joyful feasts and rewards will end, and the land that so richly provided for them will become an uncultivated forest, devoured by beasts. So while there is a literal interpretation of the land, we can also understand the spiritual undertones. If we forget his ways, we abandon our blessings and invite on ourselves a curse. The land will cease to reward our efforts and we will be scattered from Him.
Yet, despite the curse, in both Leviticus 26 and Hosea 2, we see God demonstrating His loving character, as He allows them to return to Him. After describing the consequences for their actions, we see that God provides forgiveness and will remember His promises and bless them in their land. Recall from Leviticus 26 as it reads, “42 then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.” (Leviticus 26:42). And in Hosea, it reads:
21 “And in that day I will answer, declares the Lord, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth, 22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel.
Hosea 2:21-22 ESV
We will clarify who Jezreel is shortly, but for now, realize it is a component of God’s people, Israel. So in both Leviticus 26 and Hosea 2, we have descriptions of the blessing and a curse. We have the land providing for His people and keeping them unified in their blessing, and the land becoming dormant and unyielding when they are scattered from His presence in their curse. The land is in essence, a vehicle by which God demonstrates His reward and His punishment. And since we know His people are to inhabit far reaching lands in all cardinal directions and bless all nations, for the whole earth is His (Genesis 28:14 and Exodus 19:5), we can surmise that this blessing of the land is not unique to Jerusalem and its surrounding areas, but throughout the whole earth. A rewarding land is observed throughout God’s people. A specific land does not convert its inhabitants to becoming God’s people by virtue of them living on it. In other words, living in a particular land does not define who God’s people are if their heart is not in the right place. God’s people are defined in His eyes only, and receive the rewards of the land when they are living in His blessing with a heart of flesh, not stone. So we do not know God’s land boundaries, but we know they are fixed in His eyes for the worldly powers of earth. Again, in Deuteronomy we read, “8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.” (Deuteronomy 32:8 ESV). So God knows the divisions of the earth, not man, and the importance we place on particular areas is likely misplaced.
In saying this, I do not diminish the importance of the physical land of Jerusalem and its surroundings, for in several places the promised land is defined to various degrees (Gen 15:18-21, Ex 23:31, Num 34:3-12, Josh 1:1-4). But these were iterations of His people throughout time. We should not lose site of the spiritual importance of His people and of the land they inhabit, and that He blesses God’s people if they stay true to His ways. Again, God uses physical land at times as an instrument, and assigned Jerusalem and its surroundings a special place, but His people are not defined by the land regardless of their heart. The land surrounding Jerusalem is a tool used by God to demonstrate His will, not something that defines who is and isn’t His people along man-made boundaries. When one is walking within certain boundaries commonly referred to as the land here on earth, does that also coincide with God’s view of the land? Are they the same? Likely not, for God chose a people that were to spread far abroad, and be a blessing to all families and nations of the earth. They were to spread the blessings of His commandments. So does this mean that if you follow God’s commandments and seek His will above all else, that the land you stand on will give up its rewards for you? I believe that to be the case, yes.
God uses land as tool, but land does not define His people, just as God uses lineage as a tool, but lineage does not define His people. There are corrupt people that live in a promised land, and there are corrupt people that claim a promised lineage.
In Deuteronomy 29, we see God’s people further defined as having nothing to do with lineage, but rather defined as all who enter into sworn covenant with the God and follow in His ways. Moses includes the foreigner in the camp as equally receiving the promise, for there is to be ONE LAW (not a law for Jews and for gentiles, or Jews and Christians, but ONE LAW):
“There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.”
Exodus 12:49 ESV
“15 For the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you, a statute forever throughout your generations. You and the sojourner shall be alike before the Lord. 16 One law and one rule shall be for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you.
Numbers 15:15-16 ESV
“29 You shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally, for him who is native among the people of Israel and for the stranger who sojourns among them.”
Numbers 15:29 ESV
10 “You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God: the heads of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones, your wives, and the sojourner who is in your camp, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, 12 so that you may enter into the sworn covenant of the Lord your God, which the Lord your God is making with you today, 13 that he may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your God, as he promised you, and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 14 It is not with you alone that I am making this sworn covenant, 15 but with whoever is standing here with us today before the Lord our God, and with whoever is not here with us today.
Deuteronomy 29:1-4, 9-20 ESV
So what happens when people on the land forsake God’s ways? Continuing on, we see in Deuteronomy 28 the blessing and the curse reiterated. God gives us another warning that there will be a scattering of Israel from one end of earth to the other if they do not follow His commandments.
“And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. Whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, you shall be left few in number, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God. And 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. And you shall be plucked off the land that you are entering to take possession of it. “And the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. And the Lord will bring you back in ships to Egypt, a journey that I promised that you should never make again; and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.””
Deuteronomy 28:1, 62-64, 68 ESV
So God will scatter those who do not follow His commandments. The land will not give up its rewards to them and they are cut off. They will be no longer defined as a nation or people in the eyes of God. Yet, while shaken like a sieve, no pebble shall fall (Amos 9:9) and God will maintain his vineyard. He will use the scattered as an instrument to unite Israel, for those who keep the commandments. They will be made jealous of no people.
Next Section: Jealous of No People