Expert: Messianic Rabbi Yochanan Levine - 9/18/2010

Question
QUESTION: Hi I am not a beliver but in the bible it says "and I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed" Genesis 12:3.I do not curse modern day Israel or the Jewish people, but will I be cursed because i think badly of any of the jewish people in the bible who killed anyone is this the equivilent of cursing them?Also i find it awful that the jewish people of old killed the Canaanites men women and children so they could posess the land."Say to the people of Israel, When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images, and demolish all their high places; and you shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it. You shall inherit the land by lot according to your families; to a large tribe you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a small inheritance; wherever the lot falls to any man, that shall be his; according to the tribes of your fathers you shall inherit. But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell." (Numbers 33:51-55 “However, in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them — the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites — as the LORD your God has commanded you. Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD your God” (Deuteronomy 20:16-18).Does this thinking bad of what the jewish people did in these passages mean i will be cursed because of what Genesis 12:3 says.Also will i be cursed for beliving that it was evil to take the land from the canannites?please note i am not antisemetic and i do support the rights of the jewish people today.

ANSWER: Hi me :-)

--- You: .... will I be cursed because i think badly of any of the jewish people in the bible who killed anyone is this the equivilent of cursing them?

Perhaps.

The events that occurred in the Bible that were done in obedience to God are the acts of God. Many of these acts are difficult to understand however those who obeyed God are God's instruments. You are not therefore judging those people, you are judging God.

Exactly what it means to "curse" someone (Jewish or not) is debated. The emphasis is on blessing the Jews. When we do not bless them we are moving into the domain of cursing them. When individual Jews do bad things they should not be blessed in their wrong doing of course. However obedience to God is never a wrong thing. Jews are people like all others. They do good things and bad things.

---- You: .... Also i find it awful that the jewish people of old killed the Canaanites men women and children so they could posess the land...

You would need to read the entire account to understand why these events occurred. They were worshiping other gods, they were performing human sacrifices, they were attacking the Israelites and forbidding them to pass through their lands, they were denying the freedom to draw water from their wells for the people or their livestock (which at that time was virtually a death sentence). When you understand what was happening at the time, you will see that God's rulings against these people was completely just.

--- You quoting: destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images, and demolish all their high places; ...

This is a key to understanding. These people were worshiping false gods and throughout the Torah we read of their ill treatment of Wandering Israel. God gave ALL of Eretz Israel (the Land of Israel) to the Israelites as their eternal homeland. That land above all others belongs to the One True God because He chose it specifically to display His glory.

In the Torah God specifically defined the boundaries of the Jewish Homeland. That Land belongs to the Jews because God said so.

Today Israel only occupies a small portion of the Land God them and just see how the nations are trying to steal even this sliver from them. God determined where they would live. Anyone then or now who seeks to take their Land (or keep it from them) is opposing God. This is true of the Canaanites of old and the Muslims of today.

God was establishing that the Holy Land was not to be defiled. At the time this section of the Torah was being written God was Personally accompanying His people. God has the right to take any land, any people, any planet, and do with it as He wishes. He refused to allow the Pagan gods (like Hubal and Sin) to be worshiped in His Land. To say their actions were wrong would be to say God does not have the right to do with His creation as He chooses.

---- You quoting: ...Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD your God

Again, here is the reason in the text. God was calling the Israelites to be a righteous people devoted to Him alone. HAD the Israelites done such acts on their own it would have been horrific (although no more so than what the nations did at that point) however if we accept the biblical claim that God was directing these events then we can only say Amen... otherwise we condemn God Himself! (may God protect us from ever doing such).

The point to understand is that biblically speaking the Hebrew/Israelite/Jewish people are unlike any other. The One True God chose them from among all the people of the world (because of their weakness and insignificance, not because they are better than others) so that through them He would demonstrate His glory and power to the world and, in the end, bless us all.

Genesis 12:3  And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

"And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."

When people curse Israel (people Israel or the nation) they are cursing themselves as well. Israel is the ONLY hope the world has. Through Israel God is redeeming (presence tense) the world.

As for questions like the one you raise (which is a perfectly valid question) consider the last few chapters of the Book of Job. For instance:

(This section use Job's actual Hebrew name, Iyov and refers to God as Adonai (the LORD).

Iyov (Job) 38:1  Then ADONAI answered Iyov out of the storm:  
2  "Who is this, darkening my plans with his ignorant words?  
3  Stand up like a man, and brace yourself; I will ask questions; and you, give the answers!  
4  "Where were you when I founded the earth? Tell me, if you know so much.  
5  Do you know who determined its dimensions or who stretched the measuring line across it?
6  On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone,  
7  when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?  
8  "Who shut up the sea behind closed doors when it gushed forth from the womb,  
9  when I made the clouds its blanket and dense fog its swaddling cloth,  
10  when I made the breakers its boundary set its gates and bars,  
11  and said, 'You may come this far, but no farther; here your proud waves must stop'?  
12  "Have you ever in your life called up the dawn and made the morning know its place,  
13  so that it could take hold of the edges of the earth and shake the wicked out of it?  
14  Then the earth is changed like clay under a seal, until its colors are fixed like those of a garment.  
15  But from the wicked the light is withheld, and the arm raised [to strike] is broken.  
16  "Have you gone down to the springs of the sea or explored the limits of the deep? ....

We can and should ponder what God does but in the end who are we to question His rulings? He is the Potter, we are the clay. His ways are far far beyond us.

Iyov 42:1  Then [at last,] Iyov gave ADONAI this answer:  
2  "I know that you can do everything, that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.  
3  "[You asked,] 'Who is this, hiding counsel, without having knowledge?'Yes, I spoke, without understanding, of wonders far beyond me, which I didn't know.  
4  "Please listen, and I will speak. [You said,] 'I will ask questions; and you, give me answers'-  
5  I had heard about you with my ears, but now my eye sees you;  
6  therefore I detest [myself] and repent in dust and ashes."

Our choice is the accept the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (and Moses and Y'shua (Jesus) etc) or to reject Him and stand with His enemies.

Joshua 24:15  If it seems bad to you to serve ADONAI, then choose today whom you are going to serve! Will it be the gods your ancestors served beyond the River? or the gods of the Emori, in whose land you are living? As for me and my household, we will serve ADONAI!"

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi there thank you for awnsering my question.I have been quite concerned about what i am now about to ask.You said in your last replie to my last question "Exactly what it means to "curse" someone (Jewish or not) is debated" Well i was wondering if it would be possible for you to be more specific please.Firstly am i cursing the jewish people by not supporting everything they did in the bible even things that God told them to do?For instance they took the land of cannan by force and killed men women and children in the process?I understand how it also records that the cannantits did abominable things, but i dont agree with anyone killing anyone.However i do support the jewish people and Israel today.If ever a people deserved their own land it is the jewish people because they have been suffering so much over many years from terrible persicution.Also they have a moral, legal, religious and historic right to the land.Also i do not blame a whole race for somthing their ancestors did. So given that i do support israel today will God curse me because i dont agree with everything their ancestors did in the bible? I must add because i am not a beliver i can only see it through the perspective of non beliving eyes.Secoundly to some people who do NOT belive in the supernatural,they obviously do not belive what the bible says.Therefore they must think that the authors of the bible are either mad, liers, of evil because it records events of the supernatural taking place.Most people who do not belive the bible hold one of these three positions. My question is are they cursed because the people who wrote the bible are all jewish? Surley they are not because they are not activily thinking bad of the authors of the bible because they are jewish.They just dont belive in the Bible just as they dont belive in any other book that contains supernatural occcurences recorded as events of the past.Also is beliving there is a contradiction in the bible concerning Abraham cursing the jewish people?Thank you.

Answer
Hi again,
Sorry about the delay in replying, yesterday was both Shabbat and Yom Kippur.

--- You: ... You said in your last replie to my last question "Exactly what it means to "curse" someone (Jewish or not) is debated" Well i was wondering if it would be possible for you to be more specific please...

My point here was that scripturally knowledgeable people do not agree on what it means to curse someone. In my opinion anything detrimental toward the Jewish people  as a whole would be considered a curse. This would include apathy when they need help and support.

--- You: Firstly am i cursing the jewish people by not supporting everything they did in the bible even things that God told them to do?

I answered that:

"The events that occurred in the Bible that were done in obedience to God are the acts of God. Many of these acts are difficult to understand however those who obeyed God are God's instruments. You are not therefore judging those people, you are judging God."

When in the Bible God tells the Jews to do something like slaughter the men, women and children of an area condemning those actions is to condemn God since He ordered it. If you have cursed the Jews for obeying God you obviously would do well to repent for that.

--- You: ...I understand how it also records that the cannantits did abominable things, but i dont agree with anyone killing anyone.

Do you accept that God has that right?
That's the question. According to biblical religion God has the right to do anything He wishes with His creation. Everything God does is righteous and to condemn what He does and/or orders is a very sinful act.

God was cleansing the Land of evil and giving it to His people. It was a righteous act even though you may not see it that way. If a body has cancer that cancer needs to be cut out and removed (in some way). Cutting into a body is an act of violence however removing the cancer and saving the life overshadows the act of cutting into the body. This is what God did. He removed a cancer. Unfortunately the Israelites did not fully comply with His instructions. Had they the cancer of Islam would not exist today.

--- You: ... However i do support the jewish people and Israel today...

Israel today is the same Israel that existed back then and the same God is in control. Israel back then did not always obey God and Israel today is not always obeying God. I stand with Israel then and now and forever even as I acknowledge their imperfections at obedience.

--- You: ...If ever a people deserved their own land it is the jewish people because they have been suffering so much over many years from terrible persicution...

While I agree of course, the reason Israel has the right to exist today is not because of the persecutions they have endured. They have the right to exist because that is their God Declared Homeland for all of eternity and because, as the prophets foretold, God decided in 1948 to restore their independence. ALL acts of the God of Israel are righteous and just and deserving of support.

--- You: ...Also i do not blame a whole race for somthing their ancestors did.

While your support for Israel today is great, what you are judging their ancestors for is obeying God. That is not so good. Again, if you spend time studying the Torah you will understand why these things were done and will discover the righteousness of the actions you are condemning.

--- You: ...So given that i do support israel today will God curse me because i dont agree with everything their ancestors did in the bible?

I'm not God so I can't say who He will and will not accept. My advise is to bless Israel. God is however quite merciful and considers our hearts and intentions.

--- You: ...I must add because i am not a beliver i can only see it through the perspective of non beliving eyes...

If that is the case you are concerned about the wrong thing. Will God bless a person for not cursing Israel and bless him for rejecting His Path? I would not think so.

If one is not a believer in the One True God then the rest is moot anyway. Moreover, if one is not a Believer why would one be concerned about the blessings or curses of a God whose existence one rejects?

---- You: ... My question is are they cursed because the people who wrote the bible are all jewish? Surley they are not because they are not activily thinking bad of the authors of the bible because they are jewish.

Luke (who wrote the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts) was a Gentile Nazarene. The point is not their Jewishness however but their obedience to God's Spirit that led to the books being written. Nor would a person be blessed simply because they had spoke no ill about Jews. One is accepted by God by accepting God (people of course differ on what this means and how to do it).

God is One. He is the Supreme Being without a second. All who come to Him in sincerity and accept Him as their God according to the Light they have will be accepted by Him. He will accept others as well according His will and mercy. Only God can say who is and who is not accepted by Him. Many people who claim to follow Him will be rejected because God knows the heart of us all and many who who do not observe set beliefs, denominations etc. will be accepted for the same reason.

No one has cornered the market on God. He acts according to His Will.

--- You: ...Also is beliving there is a contradiction in the bible concerning Abraham cursing the jewish people?

There are a few contradictions in the Bible we have today. I'm not aware of any related to Abraham supposedly cursing the Jewish people however but if such a contradiction exist how could acknowledging that result in one being cursed? The Bible is a book. Its a holy book that contains the Word of God, but it is still a book. What "saves" a person is the establishment of a personal relationship with God. God is not a book.

Don't be so concerned about curses, seek God's blessings.

~ John of AllFaith
~ Yochanan ben Avraham.