We noted in the last blog that the true worship of God cannot be separated from obedience to God’s commands. Specifically, we looked at two passages from the prophets: Isaiah 1 and Amos 5. In fact, the messages of all Israel’s prophets are all based upon the original contract or covenant that God made with Israel. We should think of the prophets themselves as covenant mediators. God called Israel to offer him wholehearted worship and obedience. If Israel remained true to the covenant, God promised to bless them. They would enjoy peace and security, abundance and prosperity, joy and gladness. But there were consequences too. If Israel turned away from the one true God to idolatry and disobedience, then she would suffer the curses. Throughout Israel’s history, God again and again spoke to the people of Israel through his servants the prophets. God essentially says to his people, “We have an agreement! Worship and serve me so that I might bless you. But if you worship idols and disobey my commands, then you will be destroyed.”
This pattern of “obedience and blessing” versus “disobedience and curse” is woven deeply into the fabric of the entire Old Testament. Christians who spend any time at all reading the Old Testament likely grasp this connection, at least at some level. However, many of these same Christians assume that when they encounter Jesus and the writers of the New Testament that this dynamic is scrapped. After all, they’ve been taught that people are hopelessly sinful, and can never make themselves righteous before a just and holy God. Isn’t that exactly why the Old Testament is, well, old? We will indeed confront this thinking head-on when we reach Jesus and Paul in the New Testament. But first I would like to look at an extremely important part of the book of Deuteronomy in the Old Testament. I wish to demonstrate that in this passage there are powerful indicators that we must not abandon the correlation between “obedience and blessing” and “disobedience and curse.”
The entire book of Deuteronomy is basically one long speech by Moses. Moses addresses the people of Israel just before they enter the promised land. Before crossing the Jordan River, they re-affirm their commitment to the covenant. Moses reiterates the ten commandments as well as the other stipulations of the law. The overall terms of the covenant are then summarized in Deuteronomy 28-31. These are among the most important chapters in the Bible. Moses begins chapter 28 by pronouncing the covenant blessings: “If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God: You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock – the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.” (28:1-6)
The tenor of this passage changes dramatically midway through chapter 28 when the covenant blessings are contrasted by the covenant curses. “However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.” The second half of chapter 28 and chapter 29 are a horrifying recitation of the consequences of covenant failure. These curses will culminate with God giving Israel over to her enemies, who will invade her land, destroy her cities, slaughter her people, and carry the survivors into exile in foreign lands.
Even more startlingly, this passage even predicts Israel’s future unfaithfulness. Moses foresees a bleak future when Israel’s disobedience and idolatry will bring the full weight of the covenant curses down upon her head. “Your children who follow you in later generations and foreigners who come from distant lands will see the calamities that have fallen on the land and the diseases with which the LORD has afflicted it.” (29:22) “All the nations will ask: ‘Why has the LORD done this to this land? Why this fierce, burning anger?’ And the answer will be: ‘It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt. They went off and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, gods they did not know, gods he had not given them. Therefore, the LORD’s anger burned against this land, so that he brought on it all the curses written in this book. In furious anger and in great wrath the LORD uprooted them from their land and thrust them into another land, as it is now.” (29:25-28)
Later in the narrative, God himself predicts Israel’s failure. He says to Moses, “You are going to rest with your fathers, and these people will soon prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake me and break the covenant I made with them. On that day I will become angry with them and forsake them; I will hide my face from them, and they will be destroyed. Many disasters and difficulties will come upon them, and on that day they will ask, ‘Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is not with us?’ And I will certainly hide my face on that day because of all their wickedness in turning to other gods.” (31:15-18)
This all makes for some pretty discouraging stuff. And if that was the end of the matter, the Israelites might be forgiven for asking, “What is the point of all this? Why should we enter into this covenant with God if we’re ultimately doomed to failure?” Theologically, we could go even further and ask ourselves why God would enter into such an agreement. If God knows that Israel has no hope of success, then the covenant becomes a very dark and distressing enterprise. Remember, the covenant is the rescue vehicle by which God intends to bring blessing to the whole world. If Israel fails, then God’s entire plan and purpose to restore creation fails as well.
Happily, we worship a God who is determined to set all things right again, and his plans will not be thwarted. God had chosen Israel as his chosen instrument to bring blessing to all nations. So even though Israel will indeed forsake God and face many difficulties and disasters, there will come a time of covenant renewal. The time of covenant renewal is the subject of the first half of Deuteronomy chapter 30. There we read: “When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come upon you and you take them to heart wherever the LORD your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you.” (30:1-3)
So here Moses sets out a sequence which will be played out in Israel’s history. First, there would be times of covenant faithfulness and blessing; next, covenant failure, curse, and exile; then finally, covenant renewal and restoration. Covenant blessing is best illustrated by the reign of David. David was “a man after God’s own heart” who led Israel in obedience. The nation flourished under his reign. Other times of transient blessing might include the reign of Hezekiah king of Judah when God delivered Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib, the king of Assyria. Or the reign of Josiah, when the long-neglected book of the law was discovered in the temple. Josiah led the people in recommitting themselves to the covenant, thereby sparing themselves (for a time) from God’s judgement. Ultimately, however, as Moses predicted, Israel would turn away from her God and suffer destruction and exile.
The Jews at the time of Jesus fervently studied the book of Deuteronomy and asked themselves, “When will the promised time of covenant renewal occur?” True, some of the exiles had made their way back to the land of Israel, but many where still scattered among the nations. And even those who had returned still lived in oppression under the iron fist of Rome. So even the Jews in Jerusalem who had returned to the land of Israel considered themselves to be effectively living within an ongoing state of exile. For example, consider Nehemiah’s prayer: “But see, we are slaves today, slaves in the land you gave our forefathers so they could eat its fruit and the other good things it produces. Because of our sins, its abundant harvest goes to the kings you have placed over us. They rule over our bodies and our cattle as they please. We are in great distress.” (Nehemiah 9:36-37) Thus, even the Jews who had returned to the land of Israel yearned deeply that God would restore and again bless his people Israel.
Let’s go back and take a close look at the language of covenant renewal. There Moses makes it very clear what must transpire in order for covenant renewal to take place: “When you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you.” (30:2-3) The key ingredient for covenant renewal is obedience.
Let’s stop and think about this, because we’re at a key moment here. I would first remind my readers that this is the Bible that Jesus and Paul read. There are strong indicators throughout the gospels that Jesus believed that he was bringing about the long awaited time of covenant renewal for Israel. He believed that those who responded to his kingdom announcement were the ones who would re-constitute the true, faithful Israel. The simple fact that Jesus appointed 12 apostles is unmistakable evidence for this mindset. The nation of Israel was composed of the 12 tribes, each descended from the sons of Jacob (Israel) himself. Therefore, the 12 apostles were a powerful signal that Jesus was re-forming Israel around himself. Paul clearly believed that Jesus was the Messiah, Israel’s anointed king. This led him to the stunning conclusion that anyone of any nationality who gave their allegiance to Jesus became a member of Israel. (We’ll expand on those thoughts later on.) The main point I’m making here is this: if, as all the first Christians believed, the great time of covenant renewal had come about through the death and resurrection of Jesus, then this covenant renewal must result in Israel’s obedience. The language of covenant renewal in the book of Deuteronomy presents us with no other valid option.
Later in Deuteronomy 30, Moses continues, “The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live. You will again obey the LORD and follow all his commands I am giving you today” (30:6,8) Here we find the same unbreakable bond between covenant renewal and obedience, but with a new twist: the circumcision of the heart. What in the world does that mean? Well, we know that God’s plan to restore and bless all creation began with the promises he made to Abraham. God promised Abraham that through his descendants – the people of Israel – blessing would come upon the whole world. Specifically, blessing would come about when Abraham’s descendants committed themselves to the true worship and obedience of the one true God. The practice of circumcision was given as an outward symbol of these covenant promises. Circumcision was therefore a sign that said, “I am apart of the people of Israel. We are the people who worship the one true creator God and live in obedience to his commandments.”
Unfortunately, the substance often did not match up with the sign. Circumcision was meant to be a sign of covenant commitment. But during the long, dark years of Israel’s history, God’s chosen people most often failed to live according to the covenant. They eagerly worshiped idols and flagrantly disobeyed God. Rather than a sign of faithfulness to God, circumcision became a horrible reminder of covenant hypocrisy. Therefore, starting with Moses himself, the prophets often spoke of Israel needing “the circumcision of the heart.” By this they meant that one day Israel would finally offer to God what he truly desired of his people: genuine worship and obedience.
The concept of the circumcision of the heart is all over the New Testament, and we will engage those passages in due time. But, again, my main point is that when the writers of the New Testament refer to the “circumcision of the heart,” it cannot mean anything other than what it means right here in Deuteronomy 30. Yes, it will mean loving God with all your heart and soul. But it must also mean “you will again obey the LORD and follow all his commands.” So if you want to understand the Bible, always keep this in mind: loving God cannot be separated from obedience to God – not in the Old Testament, nor in the New.
