Saturday, January 18, 2020
Deuteronomy 7: Blessings of Obedience
![Count_blessings6[1]](https://thenoontimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/count_blessings61.jpg?w=300&h=240)
This is one of those portions of the Old Testament that we humans can distort to fit our own agenda; we might take it to mean that God shows partiality, or that some of us are somehow above others of us. I do not believe this to be so, and careful reading of good commentary tells us otherwise. The message we might better take away from today’s Noontime is this: Israel has a special function to serve in God’s plan – that of bringing other nations out of the darkness of pagan worship and into the light of mercy, justice and hope which the Living God brings to all. From the HARPERCOLLINS BIBLE COMMENTARY (Mays 198-199): “God has chosen Israel, not because of any special worthiness on its part, but out of God’s personal attachment based on divine love and the promises made to the ancestors (vv. 7-8). The Exodus experience reveals that God’s essential character promises covenant loyalty over uncountable generations (vv. 8-9). However, the integrity of God’s character also threatens individual retribution for those who are apostate (v. 10). A further motive for wiping out Canaanite religion is offered by the promise of fertility for family, field, and flock (vv. 13-14), an especially appropriate counter to Baal’s claims to bestow fertility. Obedience also leads to good health. The plagues of the Exodus tradition will be reserved for enemies (v. 15)”.
When we consider this, we understand that rather than giving his chosen people an exemption from acting in God’s name, God is expecting his faithful to behave as he himself does: with justice and compassion, bringing hope, and acting in love. This is the thinking we hear from Jesus in Luke 12:48: From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
Like Israel, the faithful are in a special covenant relationship with God.
Like Israel, the faithful are called to act in obedience to God’s call.
Like Israel, the faithful are graced with God’s countless blessing.
Like Israel, the faithful have not earned a “special worthiness” . . . yet are loved deeply and dearly by the Living God.
Image from: http://somewhereincraftland.blogspot.com/2011/01/count-your-blessing-subway-art.html
Mays, James L., ed. HARPERCOLLINS BIBLE COMMENTARY. New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1988. 198-199. Print.
Written on October 31, 2010 and posted today as a Favorite.
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