Reading the Bible: Deuteronomy, Chapter 7
Blessing and Curse, Good and Evil
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During these times, Moses explains to the Hebrew people all the rules from God. It is one big speech that summarizes the entire book.
Past and Future
The word והיה, which is used several times in the chapter, means “and there was” but it also means “and there shall be”. it depends on the context. in this chapter, Moses explains what might happen in the future in case Hebrews do X or Y.
The interesting point is that the same letters of that word are also the letters of God’s name: יהוה. they are just reorganized.
This perhaps to show the link between the things that he says and the intention behind them.
Is God Evil? Why Threat So Much?
In the fifth and sixth part of the chapter, Moses says “if you do X Y Z, you will have A B C… if you will not do X Y Z, you will not have A B C”.
Why would God need to threat his people so many times? after all, this is not the first time these stuff are explained.
When you say to a child “You should not stick your finger inside the electricity, since you will get burned”. It does not make you a bad person. You are trying to help the child and keep them safe.
If the child actually follows your recommendation, it means that they trust you. And this actually is a good deed for a Hebrew to show they trust God’s word. Following God’s request, whether to do or not to do, is calculated as a positive act.
So we cannot really say that God is evil from this act itself.
Division of Sub-Chapters
As you know, Bible is divided into books, chapters, and sub-sections. an interesting point to me is why the sub-sections are divided as they are. this chapter is really quite obvious. all the first 4 and the 7th sections are really short with one passage. the fifth is 3 passages, and the sixth is 4 times longer than all… this is really weird.
You would also expect that sub-section would be arranged with some content beginning and closing, perhaps a story or a message. But even this does not seem like the case, as the sixth section starts from the middle of the fifth.
The reason seems to be related to the point of speaking good and bad. the order of the fifth section is that it starts with “what would happen if you do not follow orders” (27:11). Then in (28:1) Moses describes what would happen when they follow orders, and this continues also in the sixth part until (28:14).
Then in (28:15) we go back to hear “what would happen if you do not follow orders”.
So there is a mix between good and bad inside each sub-section. and I believe this is done in order to ensure that there is a balance of good and bad.
Curse and Blessing, Good and Bad
An important point to understand about good and bad, is that if a person has a good life, without problems or challenges, if they have no worries — if this kind of person would receive a present or something really good, they would not be able to identify its value.
we can see this type of behavior usually in the young generation today, and some might think “they are such ungrateful”, when actually, they simply do not know or are not aware of the effort behind the present, because no one has bothered to grant them that experience of difficulty or work.
Life can be appreciated when you understand death. Wealth can be appreciated when you understand poverty. Food can be appreciated when you know hunger.
Good can be appreciated when you know bad.
and I think this is a second reason why the good and bad are linked together. since, without the bad, you cannot appreciate the good.
by chance, in the same week, I also watched this short video. Although the “Hebrew” God can't be described as 2 entities, as this story describes, I believe this is a nice interpretation of good and evil, according to Jewish culture. since evil is only there, in order to be balanced by goodness, and vice versa:
