“In spite of this, there will be no one needy among you; because Adonai will certainly bless you in the land which Adonai your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess — if only you will listen carefully to what Adonai your God says and take care to obey all these mitzvot I am giving you today.”-Deuteronomy 15:4-5
I want to expound a bit more on verses 4-5 of Deuteronomy Chapter 15.
The reason why is because these verses present the classic “IF YOU DO THIS…, THEN I WILL DO THIS…” phrase which is the formula that lies at the very heart of the Mosaic Covenant.
Properly understanding this phrase will enable us to properly understand one of the most MISUNDERSTOOD phrases within the gentile church.
I’m talking about the Apostle Paul’s use of the phrase “curse of the law”.
The gentile church thinks that what Paul meant is that the law is inherently bad.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
If that’s the case, then what do you make of verses like this?
“So then, the law is holy,
and the commandment
is holy, righteous and good.”
-Romans 7:12
“We know that the law is good
if one uses it properly.”
-1 Timothy 1:8
Okay, let’s clear up the misunderstanding surrounding this verse once and for all, shall we?
The typical church’s misinterpretation is actually quite easy to debunk.
So here goes.
The first thing you’ve got to understand is that every Law or Commandment of God has two sides to it.
There is a blessing IF God’s command is obeyed AND…
…there is a curse IF God’s command is disobeyed.
Got it?
Whenever a believer is disobedient to God’s Laws, the Bible labels such behavior “sin”.
And for each sin you commit, there is a divine consequence attached to that misbehavior that the Bible calls “curses”.
The curses that result from you sinning can range from small penalties all the way up to the death penalty.
So let’s get this straight for all time and forever.
When Paul says “the curse of the Law”, he is NOT referring to the Law itself.
He is NOT calling the Law a cursed thing that must be ended.
I hope that point is crystal clear.
To put it simply, the curses of the law are the divine consequences for breaking the law.
And the “curse of the law” (singular) is eternal separation from HASHEM.
Probably the easiest way to understand this is to simply substitute the word “consequence” for “curse” and that will make things a lot clearer.
When Paul speaks about Yeshua’s atonement and the “curse” of the law (in the singular) he is talking about how one is saved from the spiritual consequences of breaking the Law which is as I just said is eternal separation from the Creator.
Don’t think (as the church mistakenly teaches) that you are released from the requirement to be obedient to the Lord’s commands or that you are even saved from being disciplined here on earth if you are disobedient to God’s Torah.
Quite the contrary actually…
…because the Lord disciplines those He calls His own.
In that sense, all of the hell the Jewish people have had to go through over the centuries is divine evidence that the Lord IS WITH THEM.
“You only have I chosen
of all the families of the earth;
therefore I will punish you
for all your sins.”
-Amos 3:2
The formula of how the Law works is simple.
OBEY IT AND BE BLESSED.
DISOBEY IT AND BE CURSED
(meaning you will pay the consequences).
Getting back to where we were at in Deuteronomy Chapter 15, if Israel properly obeys those commands designed to help the poorest of society (that part called SHMITTAH or “release”), then Israel will be incredibly blessed.
However, if they are not obedient, then they will pay some pretty severe earthly penalties such as fighting to keep their land and being cruelly dominated by the gentile nations.
As I’ve already mentioned, we have zero record that Israel ever kept even one Jubilee year according to the Torah instructions.
And what was the result of this?
A variety of curses overtook them such as being under constant attack from their enemies, being driven out of the land and being forced to borrow money in order to just survive.
These were all divine consequences folks.
Understand that the curses are just as real as the blessings.
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