CURSES AND BLESSINGS

According to the Voice of the first biblical Prophet: Moses

Peter Qeko Jere

Obedience is a very vital ethical issue in our society today. Parents want their children to be obedient to them while government demands that all citizens obey the Laws of the land. Universities and other institutions demand that rules and regulation governing them be followed. At the same time anyone found violating and breaking any of the rules and regulation set is severely punished. In the same line of thought, throughout both the Old and New Testament God demanded that His children obeys and follow His commandments and consequences followed those who decided to ignore them.

In the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy chapter 28, we have the longest chapter of the book with full of blessings and curses upon those who were to either obey or disobey God’s commandments.

Reading through the whole 68 verses of this chapter, you find out rules and regulations children of Israel were to follow when they reached the Promised Land. Thus God commanded them to follow every little detail of the commandments He had given them. He told them that obedience was a key factor to all their success and blessings while disobedience was to give birth to various forms of curses upon them and their children. Jehovah God communicated this truth in advance because He is full of love, mercy and justice. This time, there were more than six million Jews whom God liberated through Moses.

In verses 1-14 of this chapter, we have long list of blessings while in verses 15-68, we have list of various curses. The question could be, are we under a curse or not? Deuteronomy 28 has key indicators that enable us to compare the curses listed to the events that happen in our society today.

To begin with, verses 17 and 41 clearly state that if Israelites will abandon God’s commandments, their children will be cursed and sent into captivity. What captivity is this? What do we see taking place in the lives of many young people in relation to their obedience to their parents? It is a fact that the power and forces of democracy and freedoms in the name of human rights control many young people. Walking down our city streets, you cant avoid to see young people taken over by the power of freedom in the name of human rights and are deep in exile and lost. At the same time, parents have lost their parental power and authority because they fear their own children and cannot discipline them or even tell them what not to do.

Secondly in verses 17, God points out that if they will not obey His, commandments, their economy shall be cursed and in verse 43 He says, “ the alien who lives among you will rise above you higher and higher but you will sink lower and lower. He will lend to you but you will not lend to him. He will be the head but you will be the tail”. Now is there anything in our society today, which reflects what God, says in these verses? While we thank God that our economy is now improving due to debt cancellation, the presence of foreigners in our economy shows that we have a problem and need to do more. As far as Deuteronomy 28:43-44 is concern, it is a huge and terrifying curse that foreigners should rise high above ordinary citizen of the land economically. At the same time, God forbid that citizen of the land should sink lower and borrow from foreigners because God has called citizen to be the head and not the tail. The presence of many foreigners in the economy of the land is terrifying and shows that something is terribly wrong and need to be revisited. In verse 16 God says that disobedience leads to death and curse of the economy where it is taken over by foreigners. Such that citizens of the land will be tails and not heads.

In verses 24 and 38, God says if they disobey Him, they shall be under a curse and they shall experience drought and poor harvest in the Promised Land. The presence of draught and poor harvest is a sign of the people’s disobedience to God according to Deuteronomy 28. This is because God is the one who is in control and He allows rains to fall and crops to produce in abundantly. Thus any nation facing poor harvest and draught should know that something has gone wrong between the people of that nation and their God. Therefore, draught and hunger has something to do with the people’s obedience to God or not.

In verse 28, God says that disobeying His commandments shall lead to confusion, madness, blindness and that they shall not succeed in everything they shall do. What confusion, madness and blindness do we have in our society today? There is of course in our political life where due to grid, selfishness many politicians have decided to go against God’s word in Romans 13. it is a total political madness and confusion when people begin to fight against God’s chosen leader. This is because Romans 13 says the every leadership comes from the Lord. In this regard, the voters are jus the tools He uses to enable His rightful choice prevail. Thus the presence of political madness and confusion shows that there is disobedience against God in a country.

Finally in verse 68, God says that any disobedience to His commandments will lead to sickness and disasters not recoded in the bible. When we look into our world and society today, this reminds us of the HIV and AIDS, Tsunami and the many Hurricanes and floods that have terrorized many part of the world. As regard our society, the HIV and AIDS disease has no cure and as far as Deuteronomy 28:68 is concern, this disease is a curse from God upon the world due to disobedience. Thus obedience to God is the only magical formula to the cure of AIDS. This means that any effort outside God will not prevail because God is in control even in the cure of such pandemic.

Having said this therefore, we need to realize that according to Deuteronomy 28, we need to be obedient to God’s commandment if our land and people are to be healed and if harmony and total unity is to be experienced. Deuteronomy 28 continues to point out that any disobedience will lead to more curses upon the land and the people. Thus we need to be obedient to God so that we enjoy His blessings of various kind.