Sunday, June 30, 2013

Q13. Why Was God So Inconsistent in His Treatment of the Israelites?

"De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da, is all I want to say to you,
De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da, the innocence will pull me through"  The Police, 1981

The above is the chorus to a pop song from the 1980s called "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" by a band known as The Police.

It came to mind because today's blog post hinges on the word "do" :-)

Earlier on I had asked the question whether God was indeed the same yesterday, today and forever.

Let's look specifically at how He dealt with the Israelites by looking at the following passages of Scripture:

1. So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What are we to drink?" (Ex 15:24)

2. In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. (Ex 16:2)

3. But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?" (Ex 17:3)

4. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, "If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert! (Num 14:2)

Now consider God's response to the people's grumbling...

1. He caused the bitter water sweet so that the Isralites could drink it (Ex 15:25)

2. He fed them with quails and manna (Ex 16:13)

3. He caused water to come out from the rock (Ex 17:6)

4. Those who grumbled ended as corpses in the wilderness (Num 14:29,32)

In the first 3 incidents, God responded to their complaints by providing for them in terms of food and water.

Yet in the 4th incident, the response was one of judgement for disobedience!

How then can we say that God is the same yesterday, today and forever, if He appears to be so inconsistent?  It is as though He woke up on the right side of the bed for the 1st 3 incidents and on the wrong side for the 4th.

When we encounter confusing passages in the Bible, we will need to take out that "scarlet thread" to "connect the dots".  Everything should point back to that first prophecy whereby God told Satan that Jesus would one day bring about his defeat.  In other words, we have to look for Jesus and His finished work.

(See the blog entry entitled "Connecting the Dots Via the Scarlet Thread")

Let us find out what exactly happened between Exodus 17 and Numbers 14 to cause such a drastic change of response.  Specifically, something that happened in Exodus 19 and 2o.

Up until then, the covenant that the Israelites were operating under was what was known as the Abrahamic covenant, which we read about in Genesis 15.  Under this covenant, God told Abraham that he would be a father of many, and that through Jacob (later renamed as Israel) his grandson, they would possess the land of Canaan.

Genesis 15

New King James Version (NKJV)

God’s Covenant with Abram

15 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!”
And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”
And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
Then He said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.”
And he said, “Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?”
So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. 11 And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror andgreat darkness fell upon him. 13 Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. 14 And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. 16 But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
17 And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. 18 On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying:
“To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates— 19 the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

Note that under this covenant, Abraham only had to believe God's promise to him and in return, God would consider him righteous.

And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.

In other words, Abraham did not have to perform any good deeds in order to be accepted by God.

Let's now look at what happened in Exodus 19 and 20.  It was 50 days after departing from Egypt and the Israelites had reached Mt Sinai.  God was about to introduce through Moses the Ten Commandments and other sets of laws, or what is known as the Mosaic covenant.

Exodus 19

New King James Version (NKJV)

Israel at Mount Sinai

19 In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the same day, they came to the Wilderness of Sinai. For they had departed from Rephidim, had come to the Wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness. So Israel camped there before the mountain.
And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”
So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the Lord commanded him. Then all the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” So Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord.

Note specifically what the Israelites' response to God was in verse 8

Then all the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do...


The original Hebrew word for "do" is עשה asah (Strong's H6213).

This same word is translated as "make" in the following passages:

Gen 1:26 -- God said "Let us asah man in our image..."

Gen 1:31 -- God saw everything that He had asah and it was very good...

Gen 2:18 -- It was not good for man to be alone, so I will asah him a helpmeet...

It is used to denote definitive accomplishment.  Or in Singlish, "sure can one!"

The Israelites were unfortunately telling God "sure can one!"  That whatever rules He was about to give to them, they were well able to accomplish.  They were effectively boasting in their own efforts, and once that happened, God's way of dealing with them was now based on their obedience or disobedience.  They had to earn their blessings from now onwards based on merits.

Even though they murmured and grumbled between the Passover and Mt Sinai, no one died because the convenant that was in effect at that point of time was the Abrahamic one where God promised Abraham and his descendants a land flowing with milk and honey.

But once the Israelites were under the Mosaic covenant based on their law-keeping and obedience, the stakes were different, and many a times, fatally so.

A person who was found to be gathering wood on the Sabbath was stoned to death (Num 15:32-36)

The earth opened and swallowed up Korah, Dathan and Abiram and their family because they had grumbled against Moses and Aaron (Num 16:31-33).

Another 250 men were consumed by fire because they were offering incense to the LORD, but the Law only allowed Levites to do so (Num 16:35).

14,700 others were struck dead by a plague because they blamed Moses and Aaron for the earlier mentioned deaths (Num 16:49).

Was God inconsistent?  No, because He gave the Israelites a choice.

If they had told God that there were just too many rules and admitted their inability to keep them, God in His mercy would have pardoned them.

But they told God through Moses that they would definitely be able to comply with whatever rules and regulations they were about to be given.

We see a parallel in the New Testament in the way Jesus dealt with people.  The rich, young ruler asked Jesus in Matthew 19 what he had to "do" to have eternal life, and Jesus quote him the Ten Commandments.  Yet, we read in Luke 23:42 how that thief asked Jesus to "remember him when He entered His kingdom" and Jesus' response was that he would be with Him in paradise.  The ruler approached Jesus based on his self-efforts, so Jesus responded as a lawgiver.  The thief approached Jesus just the way he was, and Jesus responded as a saviour.

Today, we no longer need to be afraid of God because we are not under the Old Covenant of Moses based on "Do good, get good. Do bad, get beat". Jesus has fulfilled all those Laws on our behalf, as well as taken upon Himself all the curses that pertained to the Law, and we are now redeemed from them.  Because Jesus' finished work on the cross tore the veil that separated a holy God from unholy men, we can now go into the Holy of Holies and approach God boldly.

Is God the same yesterday, today and forever?  Indeed He is!

1 comment:

  1. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Philippians 2:12. Surely when love faileth, fear sufficith. Thanks, http://deanhoff.wordpress.com/

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