New Bible Commentary Part 1 (Old Testament) Carson Donald

28:1-68 Blessings and Curses

28:1-14 Covenant blessings. Moses continues to preach the covenant in Moab with blessings for the people's observance of its statutes and curses that will fall on him if the people break the law. Once again, Moses' speech follows the pattern of ancient tribal treaties, in which similar blessings and curses, often essentially the same, were incentives to adherence to the treaty.

The blessings relate to the main ideas of the book: Israel as God's chosen people(1.9–10, 13; cf.: 7:6;26:19), peace from enemies (7; cf.: 12:9) and prosperity (3–6, 8.11–12). It seems as if the people are surrounded by the blessings of God on all sides. Such ideas are always important for every nation.

However, in the ancient Mediterranean, such blessings were not taken for granted. Evidence was required. Political instability was commonplace; crop failure and constant anxiety could plunge people into poverty and devastation. Among ancient peoples, the fertility of the land and victory over the enemy became the basis of their religious cults. Baal was revered primarily as a guarantor of fertility (see: Hos. 2:5,8).

In its blessings (and, of course, curses), the Book of Deuteronomy seeks to show that it is the Lord, not Baal, who guarantees prosperity. Moreover, in matters of life and death, it is not the terrible spells of magic, ritual prostitution and idolatry that bring security to nations, but unquestioning obedience to the word of the one true and righteous God, whose only desire is to bless, and not to make them suffer. Blessings and curses are an important part of the teaching of the Book of Deuteronomy, which states that the peace of God is a rational and spiritual peace. Human beings are not left in the abyss of anxiety and danger. They can be sure V the fundamental truths of life, for they know what God is like; they can know God Himself.

28:15-68 Covenant curses. Much more space is given to curses than to blessings, probably to emphasize how serious the consequences of breaking the Covenant are. Curses are essentially the opposite of the picture of blessings painted above, they are an all-encompassing picture of human grief.

The first group of curses (15-19) is like a mirror image of the blessings from verses 3-6. Here we see poverty, suffering, unhappiness in everyday life, dissatisfaction with basic needs, on the one hand, and the prosperity of the family in everything and always, on the other.

An unstable life is described (20–24): sudden ruin, disease and drought. Where covenant requirements are neglected, there are no “eternal muscles” (33:27) to guard against such things. There is also no salvation from enemies, one of the greatest promises of the covenant (12:9); on the contrary, the apostate people are handed over to them (cf. v. 25 with v. 7; the position of the people presented in v. 26 appears to be a consequence of this defeat). The Lord not only does not carry His people in His arms, as fathers carry their children, He energetically quarrels with them, causing among His sons those misfortunes from which He once saved (27–29). Verses 30–35 focus on the inability to enjoy the gifts that the law guaranteed them. If previously men were exempt from carrying military service to build a family and provide for it and simply enjoy the blessings of God, now they are deprived of this; others are given the enjoyment of a wife, children, a house, a vineyard, and herds of cattle and flocks. This is the exact opposite of the untold riches spoken of in 6:10-11.

The misfortunes listed are so terrible because among them there is not even a glimmer of hope for deliverance. Much can be endured and endured if there is a basis for trusting in God. Here, however, He is shown to have withdrawn His helping hand; This is the brutal truth. There is no cherished hope for those who despise the covenant.

Harsh prospects for an apostate people. WITH general overview misfortune, horror, devastation, our attention switches to the coming historical upheavals that will follow the fall of the entire people. These pictures alternate with others of a more conventional nature, as in verses 38-44. Compare the winged words “he will be the head, and you will be the tail” (43–44) with verses 13; 26:19; and notice how the "sign and indication" of Israel's previous victory is turned against him (46; cf. 26:8). Now the focus is on defeat and dispersion. Art. 36–37 proclaim them generally; verses 49–57 depict the horrors of the siege and the fall, when people descend to cannibalism. Finally, the misfortunes associated with the dispersion itself are depicted (64-68). They are seen metaphorically as a return to Egypt (68), although in reality the dispersion of the larger, northern part of Israel would be brought about by the invasion of Assyria centuries after the death of Moses, and even later by the victory of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.

Dispersion is the worst possible covenant curse. It is seen in verses 58-63 as a complete reversal of all the promised covenant blessings and all that the Lord had won for His people. Notice with what plagues the Lord afflicts Israel (59). The same as He sent against Egypt in his time; the passions of Egypt, from which Israel was once delivered (7:15), are now brought upon them (60). The promise of a large number of people in his land has now been taken away (62–63; cf. Gen. 15:5,7). Israel's life with the Lord was closely connected with the Promised Land. Loss of land is the most terrible curse. When this happens, the question arises: does this people have a future?

Blessings and curses may seem like a harsh way of inducing people to comply with the terms of a treaty. However, they claim important points. The peoples around Israel believed in an unpredictability of the world, in which many gods try to influence the course of events and can do this arbitrarily, without relying on moral criteria. Israel, in covenant with God, knew that He alone controlled the course of history and that He would always act according to His nature. Curses make it possible to know what can happen to human communities and that it is God who controls all the possibilities and contingencies in human life, to know and fear it. This knowledge gives some hope that is not available to those who have not known Him.

The theme of reward and punishment is not only discussed in the Old Testament, it also lies at the heart of the teachings of Christ (Matt. 5:17-30; 25:31-46).

How to get rid of the curse? Hieromonk Simeon (Tomachinsky) A great gain is to recognize your wrongness and repent of it! For this it was worth suffering some failures in life... You realized your mistake - repent of it in confession, mentally ask

Curses Although the word “curse” does not appear in the Book of Haggai, the description of what happened to the people is very similar to the “curses” in Deuteronomy that God promised to afflict His people if they did not obey and listen to His voice (Deut. 28 ). In

Blessings and Curses (27:11-26) Moses made instructions regarding this ceremony even earlier. After the altar had been established on Mount Ebal, six tribes were to gather on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, and six others were to gather on Mount Ebal,

Curses for Disobedience (Deut. 28:15–68)14 “But if you do not listen to Me and do all these commandments, 15 if you reject My statutes and abhor My laws, if you do not fulfill all My commandments, breaking the agreement with Me, 16 this is what I will do

Curses for Disobedience (Lev. 26:14-39)15 But if you do not obey the Lord your God, and do not diligently do all His commands and statutes that I give you today, all these curses will come upon you and will be with you. you.16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in

Blessings and Curses (Matthew 5:3-12)17 Jesus went down with them to the plain. A large crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all over Judea, Jerusalem and the coastal regions of Tire and Sidon had already gathered there. 18 They came to listen to Jesus and to be healed of their illnesses. Those whom

Chapter 59 LAWS OF THE BLESSING OF TIME (SHEEKHEYANU) AND BLESSINGS “... WHO IS GOOD AND DOES GOOD” 1. If a person heard good news from the lips of a reliable person who himself witnessed the joyful event he is talking about, or even more so if the person himself

Chapter 46 BLESSINGS AND CURSES This chapter is based on the Book of Joshua 8th chapter. After the execution of the sentence over Achan, Joshua was commanded to attack Ai again with all the people capable of war. The power of God was with the Israelites, and they soon took possession of the city. Afterwards

Curses for Disobedience (Deut. 28:15–68)14 “But if you do not listen to Me and do all these commandments, 15 if you reject My statutes and abhor My laws, if you do not fulfill all My commandments, dissolving the covenant with Me, 16 then I will do this: I

Curses for Disobedience (Lev. 26:14-39)15 But if you do not obey the Lord your God and diligently do all His commands and statutes that I give you today, then all these curses will come upon you and will with you:16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed

Blessings and Curses (Matthew 5:3-12)17 Jesus went down with them to the plain. A large crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all over Judea, Jerusalem and the coastal regions of Tire and Sidon had already gathered there. 18 They came to hear Jesus and to be healed of their illnesses. Those,

III. CURSE When we read some psalms, hatred burns in our faces like heat from a furnace. Sometimes this hatred is not frightening, but only because it is funny to the modern mind. Examples of frightening hatred can be found in many places, but the most terrible one is probably in Psalm 108. Author

The rite of blessing of spouses who have lived for many years without a church blessing. Spouses who have lived in an unmarried marriage for many years and wish to have this Sacrament performed on them are blessed with a special rite. It is called the rite of “blessing the spouses,

The word “curse” is mentioned more than a hundred times in Scripture. However, this has nothing to do with the invented “damage” or “evil eye”. After all main reason All troubles lie in the reluctance of man himself to give up the slavery of sin.

From fallen angel to fallen people

Today you can meet people who are very afraid of falling under a curse, considering it some kind of evil fate. In fact, the presence of this fear is caused by a lack of faith in God's love.

From a biblical point of view, a curse is the opposite of a blessing, the greatest sin against the commandment of love for God and neighbor.

It should be noted that the very concept of “curse” appeared in ancient Old Testament times. Its active use in human life occurred as a result of the infamous fall of our first parents in paradise.

After Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit at the instigation of a fallen angel, the first sentence in biblical history was pronounced: “And the Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, you are cursed above all cattle and above all the beasts of the field; You will go on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life” (Gen. 3:14).

This phrase concerns not only the punishment of an unreasonable animal. We are talking primarily about the state of the self-humiliated Satan (by that time already cast down from heaven): he was doomed to grovel on the earth, feeding on human vices and atrocities, which are the result of his insidious machinations.

After Cain killed younger brother Abel, God pronounced a harsh sentence on the murderer himself: “And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened its mouth to receive the blood of thy brother at thy hand; when you cultivate the land, it will no longer give its strength to you; you will be an exile and a wanderer on earth” (Genesis 4: 11-12).

Here the curse is directed directly at the person: it consists in the infertility of the soil and homeless wandering. Until the moment when Adam's eldest son committed such a grave crime, the earth served him as a source of food and a place of residence. Subsequently, being stained with the blood of an innocent sufferer, it turns into an instrument of punishment for the murderer, depriving him of his natural gifts.

Sentences after the flood

Having survived the global flood, the human race was cursed in the face of youngest son Noah - Hama. Seeing the nakedness of his father (who was drunk on wine and asleep in the tent), he told his brothers Japheth and Shem about it with mockery and mockery.

When Noah woke up and found out about this, he immediately pronounced judgment on the seed of Ham: “And he said, Cursed be Canaan; He will be a servant of servants to his brothers" (Genesis 9:25). History has shown the fulfillment of this formidable prophecy: the descendants of Ham were killed or enslaved, first by the sons of Shem (during the conquest of the Promised Land), and then by the tribes of Japheth - the Persians, Greeks and Romans.

Subsequently, the attitude towards the curse was not only associated with many life situations, but was also based on Jewish legislation. Typical example- contractual relationship with God: if His commandments were kept, the Israelites were promised a blessing, and if they violated them, a curse.

So, before entering the Promised Land, all 12 tribes of Israel entered into the (Old) Covenant with God. For this purpose, one part of the people (representatives of the six tribes) stood on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, and the second (representatives of the other six tribes) stood on Mount Ebal to pronounce a curse.

They were cursed for grave sins: idolaters, bestialists, adulterers, murderers, slanderers of parents, unrighteous judges and other violators of the Law of God.

After the Israelites completely destroyed Jericho, their military leader Joshua uttered the following words: “... cursed before the Lord is he who rises up and builds this city of Jericho; On his firstborn he will lay its foundation, and on his youngest he will erect its gates.”

A very interesting incident happened with the prophet Elisha, whom small children called bald. His reaction to this bullying was very cruel: “He looked around and saw them and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And two she bears came out of the forest and tore to pieces forty-two children from them” (2 Kings 2:24).

Long-suffering Job, finding himself in the most difficult life situations, cursed his birthday. And another prophet cursed not only his birthday, but also the man who brought his father the good news of the birth of his son - the future prophet Jeremiah.

However, already in those distant times, orthodox Jews did not attach importance to all kinds of “damage” and “evil eye”. This is stated in the Proverbs of King Solomon: “As a sparrow flies, as a swallow flies away, so an undeserved curse will not come true” (Proverbs 26:2).

Excommunication

In New Testament times, the attitude towards the curse changes: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, taking upon Himself all our sins. And, of course, whoever has not accepted the Savior automatically falls under the condemnation of the Law of God. That is why in the apostolic letter (on Church Slavonic language) said: “Whoever does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be cursed, Maran-atha” (1 Cor. 16:22).

In the Russian translation, instead of the phrase “may he be damned,” the word “anathema” is written, which means “excommunication” or “curse.” However, this verse is talking about the self-condemnation of the sinner, and not about the desire of Christians to curse someone, since the main objective Churches are to bless and save, not to curse and reject.

“Whoever does not love God separates himself from Him even before the Last Judgment”

As for the expression “maran-afa”, it (from the Syrian language) is translated as “come, our Lord!” Thus, the mentioned apostolic phrase must be understood this way: whoever does not love God separates himself from Him even before the Second Coming of Christ, i.e. long before the Last Judgment.

Here is how Saint Theophan the Recluse speaks about it:

“The essence of Christianity in combination with the Lord is essential. But whoever is in the combination can not love the Lord? If someone does not love the Lord, then it is a direct sign that he is not in union with Him; and if he is not in union with Him, then he is alien to Christianity, alien to the body of the Church, self-excommunicated from it, although he bears the name of a Christian - anathema and means excommunicated from the body of the Church...”

If a person is outside the Church, which is the Body of Christ, then he deprives himself of both Divine grace and salvation for Eternal Life. Therefore, you need to pay attention not to the threats of someone’s external occult actions (“damage”, “evil eye”, etc.), but to your internal state.

If a person is at peace with God, then he is not afraid of anything in this life: “The Lord is my light and salvation, so who should I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, so whom should I fear?” (Ps. 26:1).

A case from one's life

In the life of Elder Paisius the Svyatogorets, a case of amazing paralysis is described young man: for many years his body was like wood and did not bend at all...

This is how the elder himself testified to this: “I started asking questions and found out that someone had cursed this young man. What happened? Here's what: one day he was driving to school, got on the bus and collapsed on the seat. At the bus stop, an elderly priest and an old man got on the bus and stood next to him. “Get up,” someone told him, “give way to the elders.” And he, not paying attention to anyone, fell apart even more. Then the old man standing next to him said to him: “You will remain elongated like this forever - you will not be able to sit.” And this curse worked. You see how: the young man was impudent. “Why am I,” he says, “going to get up? I paid for my place.” Yes, but the other one also paid. An elderly, respected man is standing, and you, a teenager, are seated. “This is what all happened,” I told him. - To become healthy, try to repent. You need repentance." And as soon as the unfortunate man understood and realized his guilt, he immediately became healthy.”

According to Paisius the Holy Mountain, a curse is valid when it is a reaction to injustice. For example, if a person curses his offender, then words spoken in terrible anger can have real power. The one to whom the curse is directed suffers only in this life. And the one from whom the curse comes risks exposing himself to torment not only on earth, but also in eternity (if he does not repent and confess in church).

“Cursing a person who has offended you is like taking a gun and killing him. By what right do you do this? No matter what your offender does to you, you have no right to kill him. If a person curses someone, it means that there is anger in him. A person curses another when, with passion, with indignation, he wishes him harm."- said the Athonite ascetic.

According to the elder, one can only be freed from the curse through confession and repentance. In his story, he refers to those who experienced similar cases: “People who suffered from the curse, realizing that they were cursed because they were guilty of something, repented, confessed, and all their troubles stopped. If the one who is guilty says: “My God, I did such and such an injustice. I'm sorry!" - and with pain and sincerity he tells about his sins in confession to the priest, then the Lord will forgive the repentant, because He is God.”

In contact with

Here are described the facts of connecting the Teachings of Jesus of Nazareth with ancient cults and religions. It describes how this teaching was penetrated pagan holidays, rituals, ceremony, ritual, etc., that is, everything that today makes up modern Christianity, which is so far from the customs and foundations of the first Christians, who still saw and heard the pure teaching of Jesus, and their followers. About the contradictions in the holy book of Christians - the Bible, about the contradictions between the Old and New Testaments, about the fact that these are two, completely different books, incapable of connecting and complementing each other. About the complete contradiction of the teachings of Jesus and the Old Testament, and much more.
“Regarding in general all the deviations in my understanding of the Gospels from the text accepted by the churches, the reader should not forget that the idea so familiar to us that the Gospels, all four, with all their verses and letters are sacred books, is, on the one hand, the most a gross error, on the other hand, the most gross and harmful deception. The reader must remember that Jesus himself never wrote any book, like Plato, Philo or Marcus Aurelius, and even never, like Socrates, conveyed his teaching to literate and educated people, but spoke. those illiterate people whom he met in life, and that only much after his death did people realize that what he said was very important and that it would not be a bad idea to write down some of what he said and did, and almost 100 years later they began to write down what they heard about him. The reader must remember that there were very, very many such notes, that many were lost, many were very bad, and that Christians used all of them and little by little selected what seemed to them better and more intelligent. , that, in choosing these best Gospels, the churches, according to the proverb: “you can’t choose a club without a crook,” should have captured that they cut out from all the vast literature about Christ, and a lot of crookedness; that there are many passages in the canonical Gospels as bad as in the rejected apocryphal ones, and that there are some good things in the apocryphal ones. The reader must remember that the teachings of Christ can be sacred, but a certain number of verses and letters cannot be sacred, and just such and such books from the first to the last line cannot become sacred just because people say that they are sacred. Only our Russian reader from educated people, thanks to Russian censorship, can ignore 100 years of work of historical criticism and naively say that the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, as they are, were written by evangelists, each separately and completely. The reader must remember that to say this in 1880, ignoring everything that has been developed by science on this subject, is the same as talking about the sun revolving around the earth in the last century. The reader must remember that the Synoptic Gospels, as they have come down to us, are the fruit of a slow increase through copying and attribution and considerations of thousands of different human minds and hands, and in no way the product of the inspiration of the holy spirit to the evangelists. That the attribution of the Gospels to the apostles is a fable that not only does not stand up to criticism, but does not even have any basis other than the desire of pious people for it to be so. The Gospels were selected, added to and interpreted over the centuries; all the Gospels of the 4th century that have come down to us were written in a continuous script, without signs, and therefore, even after the 4th and 5th centuries, they were subject to the most varied readings, and that there are up to fifty thousand such different readings of the Gospel books. The reader must remember all this so as not to be confused by the view we are accustomed to that the Gospels, as they are understood now, precisely came to us from the holy spirit. The reader must remember that not only is it not reprehensible to remove unnecessary passages from the Gospels, to illuminate one by another, but, on the contrary, it is reprehensible and godless not to do this, but to consider known number sacred verses and letters. Only people who do not seek the truth and do not love the teachings of Christ could establish such a view of the Gospels."

(Leo Tolstoy, preface to the work “ Summary Gospels")

Here are some of my favorite quotes ---

Why do I need your multitude of sacrifices? says the Lord. I am full of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened cattle, and I do not want the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. Isaiah 1:11=

For I want mercy, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. ( Modern translation Verse 6: I do not want sacrifice, but devoted love. I want people to know God and not bring burnt offerings). Hosea 6:6=

Hypocrites! Isaiah has already indeed prophesied about you: these people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me; but in vain they worship Me, teaching the doctrines and commandments of men. Matthew 15:7-9=

And he said: the place of prophets and true teachers of good has been taken by Orthodox churchmen; Therefore, whatever they tell you to observe, do not do or observe, and do not imitate their deeds, for they say one thing and do something else. They impose and place on the shoulders of people the burden of unbearable duties and rituals, but they themselves do not want to lift a finger to fulfill them. They perform any good deeds in front of people, for show; they widen their headbands with sacred inscriptions and lengthen the tassels on their clothes; they love to take the first places at feasts and the first seats in cathedrals, they love for people to greet them in the streets and address them: teacher! Holy father! Father! shepherd! Matthew 23:2-7=

Woe to you, Orthodox churchmen, hypocrites! You close (the gates of knowledge) of the Kingdom of Heaven for people, for you yourself do not enter, and you do not let in those who want to enter. Woe to you, Orthodox churchmen, hypocrites! You destroy the houses of widows and pray for a long time for show. Matthew 23:13-14=

Woe to you, Orthodox churchmen, hypocrites! Woe to you, blind guides! Stupid and blind! Matthew 23:15-16=

Woe to you, Orthodox churchmen, hypocrites! You tithe mint, anise and cumin, but you miss the most important thing in the law: love, mercy and forgiveness, when these must be fulfilled. Blind guides who spit out mosquitoes and swallow camels! Matthew 23:23-24=

Woe to you, Orthodox churchmen, hypocrites! You cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, while the inside is full of ill-gotten gains. Blind Pharisee! Clean first with inside cup and dish, then and with outside they will become clean. Matthew 23:25-26=

Woe to you, Orthodox churchmen, hypocrites! You are like adorned tombs that appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of the bones of the dead and all kinds of unclean things. So you are: outwardly you seem righteous to people, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. Matthew 23:27-28=

Snakes, brood of snakes! Will you really escape condemnation to Gehenna? Behold, God sends to you prophets, wise men, teachers and scribes; some you will torture and crucify, others you will scourge in your churches and drive from city to city. May the guilt fall on you for all the righteous blood shed on earth. I assure you: all this will fall on this generation. Matthew 23:33-37=

Leaving the law of God, you adhere to human customs: washing mugs, bowls, and do many other things similar to this. And he said to them: You have completely perverted the law of God in order to keep your customs. And you do many more things similar to this, replacing the word of God with your absurd customs, which you yourself have established. Mark 7:8-9,13=

He answered them: Indeed, Isaiah prophesied about you hypocrites, as it is written: these people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me; but in vain they worship Me, teaching the doctrines and commandments of men. (Isa. 29.13) Having abandoned the law of God, you adhere to human customs: washing mugs, bowls, and do many other things similar to this. And he said to them: You have completely perverted the law of God in order to keep your customs. Mark 7, 6-9=

And during His sermon He spoke to them like this: beware of Orthodox churchmen who love to walk around in magnificent robes, hear greetings in the streets, occupy the first seats in cathedrals and the first places at feasts. These destroyers of the homes of widows and orphans, who pray for a long time for show, will suffer severe punishment. Mark 12:38-40=

Why do you turn to Me: Lord! Lord!, but you yourself do not do what I tell you? Luke 6:46=

Woe to you, Orthodox churchmen! You took possession of the keys to the gates of knowledge, but you yourself did not enter, and you prevented those who want to enter. Luke 11:52=

The Orthodox churchmen, greedy for money, heard all this and began to mock Him. He said to them: Before people you present yourself as righteous, but God knows your hearts, and what people regard as great is an abomination before God. Luke 16:14-15=

However, the time will come, and it is already very close, when true believers will pray to the Father spiritually and truly, for the Father also wants them to pray to Him this way. God is spirit, and those who believe in Him should pray spiritually and truly. John 4:23-24=

2011.01.10 | question

Mother Alexandra!

• On one of the sites I came across This is the explanation of the biblical words about curse:
• There are actually verses in the Bible that talk about God punishing children for the sins of their parents:
• same: Deuteronomy 5:9. Exodus 34:7 “…who does not leave unpunished, but who punishes the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children’s children, to the third and fourth generation,”
• Same in Numbers 14:18. Isaiah 14:21 “Prepare the slaughter of his sons for the iniquity of their father.”
• When reading the Bible, you need to keep in mind that the Lord did punish people (including the elderly and children) to the third and fourth generation for the sins of their parents.
• Firstly, He did this in order to "to destroy evil from among Israel".
• Secondly, the fact that people are punished for the guilt of their fathers until the third and fourth generation explained by the structure of the Hebrew family, in which decisions were made and executed collectively, and therefore all family members were responsible for collectively made decisions.
• Excerpt from Ezekiel 18:1-4 proclaims change in the social structure in Israel, in which children no longer have to die for the sins of their parents, but everyone will answer before God for their own sin:
• “And the word of the Lord came to me: Why do you use this proverb in the land of Israel, saying: “The fathers ate sour grapes, but the teeth of the children are set on edge”? I live! says the Lord God, they will not speak this proverb in Israel. For behold, all souls are Mine: both the soul of the father and the soul of the son are Mine: the soul that sins shall die.”
• This is also evidenced by Deuteronomy 24:16“Fathers should not be punished with death for their children, and children should not be punished with death for their fathers; everyone must be punished with death for his crime.” Every sinner is responsible for his own sins, but he who turns from his sins can count on forgiveness:
• Ezekiel 18:21“And the wicked man, if he turns from all his sins which he has committed, and keeps all My statutes and does what is lawful and righteous, he will live and will not die.”
• Alexandra answers
• You can talk about anything. If you change a letter in the scripture a little, it will have a different meaning.
• I will cite an article published in the Orthodox leaflet (with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II) dated July 1998:
• "...To overcome statelessness and unrest, our ancestors accomplished the great feat of conciliar unity in Christ in the person of deputies from all over Russia and the clergy, who signed the Charter of the Moscow Zemstvo Council of February 21, 1613. Expressing the conciliar will of Russia, the fathers- the compilers of the Charter made a vow for themselves and for their descendants: to faithfully serve Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov - the “ancestors” of the rulers in Rus' from generation to generation.
• But, foreseeing the possibility of a repetition of the unrest, the drafters of the Charter gave their descendants a certain tool for preventing this disease:
• “And whoever goes against this Council resolution... let him be cursed in this century and in the future... do not bring blessings on him from now to eternity.”
• The participants in the Council of 1613 knew that the parental curse would fall on the family of the madman who broke the vow, and on his descendants. This family, as having broken its oath, will be wiped out by sin from the face of the earth in several generations - unless it repents.
• “FOR I AM THE LORD THY GOD,” the Bible says, “I PUNISH THE CHILDREN FOR THE GUILTY OF THE FATHERS UNTO THE THIRD AND FOURTH GENERATION” (Ex. 20:5). The historical existence of the peoples of Russia can continue only if we are faithful to the vow given for us by our ancestors. Dozens of other nations have already been wiped off the face of the earth by sin. What else is needed?
• As soon as our ancestors rejected the tsarist autocracy, the curse of their forefathers fell on them. We have all lost their conciliar-parental blessing. As a result, we are visited by sorrows one more terrible than the other.
• But, separated from the grace of God and having received an atheistic upbringing, we are unable to

First you need to define the concept of a curse. By curse I mean an evil, destructive force that can act for a short, or long time on certain areas of human life. The initiator of curses in the Bible is always God.

The Old Testament talks a lot about curses. Perhaps the most famous passage is found in Deuteronomy: “If you do not listen to the voice of the Lord your God and do not be diligent to do all His commandments and His statutes that I command you today, then all these curses will come upon you and overtake you. You [will be] cursed in the city and you [will be] cursed in the field. Cursed be your barns and your storehouses. Cursed be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land, the fruit of your oxen and the fruit of your sheep. You [will be] cursed when you enter and cursed when you go out” (Deut. 28:15-19).

Further to the end of this chapter there are lists of curses in various areas of life: health, finances, family, society, etc. Let us note that the main condition through which believers could fall under the curse is this: “If you do not listen to the voice of the Lord your God and you will not try to keep all His commandments and His decrees.”

Refusal to be obedient to the revealed will of God brings curses. The opposite is also true - with humility and obedience, varied and generous blessings come into the life of a believer.

The text most often cited is from the book of Galatians: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us—for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree—so that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.” (Gal.3:13,14).

The position is this - whoever is in Christ is free, therefore there can be no curse - such a person is blessed, period. To the many examples of apparent curses in the lives of believers, the usual response is that such people have weak faith or a “wrong” relationship with God.

Sometimes a text from the prophet Ezekiel is quoted: “And the word of the Lord came to me: Why do you use this proverb in the land of Israel, saying: “The fathers ate sour grapes, but the teeth of the children are set on edge”? I live! says the Lord God, they will not speak this proverb in Israel. For behold, all souls are Mine: both the soul of the father and the soul of the son are Mine: the soul that sins, it will die... The soul that sins, it will die; the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, and the father shall not bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall remain with him, and the iniquity of the wicked shall remain with him” (Ezek. 18:1-4, 20).

I even heard this interpretation: supposedly, through Ezekiel, the Lord completely abolished the curses that He had spoken about earlier through Moses.

Allegedly, from the time of Ezekiel, Israel, and then the Church, lived outside of curses. A very strange interpretation, if only because the entire history of both Israel and the Church is full of evidence to the contrary and is in clear and obvious contradiction.

Let me now express my point of view. First of all, nowhere does the Lord revoke His Word. The prophets supplemented the revelation of Moses and looked into the era of the New Testament, but did not abolish anything from the Law. Even Christ did not do this: “Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle will pass from the law, until all is fulfilled” (Matt. 5:17,18).

What was Ezekiel talking about? First, this is not so much about curses and blessings as it is about one of the principles of God's judgment. This principle can be expressed this way: God's judgment is individual. The Lord judges each of us individually, not collectively. The New Testament affirms this principle in many places. For example: “Who will reward everyone according to his deeds”(Rom. 2:6), “for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive [according to] what he did while living in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10), etc.

Secondly, it is impossible to interpret the text of the prophet Ezekiel without considering the parallel text of another great prophet: “In those days they will no longer say: “The fathers ate sour grapes, but the teeth of the children are set on edge,” but everyone will die for his own iniquity; whoever eats sour grapes will have his teeth set on edge. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not such a covenant as I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; They broke that covenant of mine, although I remained in covenant with them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law within them, and write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they will be My people” (Jer. 31:29-33). .

The prophet speaks very clearly that liberation from the hereditary curse will be possible only in the future, namely during the time of the New Testament, when the Lord promised to give people a new heart and a new spirit.

In addition to individual sin, there is also the sin of society - corporate. Punishment for this sin, like for any other, does not come immediately, but as it matures. For example, all of us living in modern Russia, we experience a certain Negative influence on the part of long-dead people who spread the ideology of communism with fire and sword. One can also note the sins of the “brilliant society” during the autocracy, without which, of course, there would be no talk of revolution.

So, Jeremiah, along with Ezekiel, foresaw that a completely different spiritual era would come when believers, lovers of God, it will be possible to leave the curse zone. Glory to our Lord that this era has come!

However, curses did not automatically disappear after the death and resurrection of Christ. Thus, the New Testament epistles continue to mention them, although much less frequently than in the OT. Thus, in the first chapter of his famous and most beloved letter, the Apostle Paul speaks three times about curses: “But because they, having known God, did not glorify Him as God, and did not give thanks, but became futile in their speculations, and their foolish hearts were darkened... then God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to uncleanness, so that they defiled their own bodies. . God gave them over to shameful passions: .. And since they did not care to have God in their minds, God gave them over to a depraved mind - to do indecent things.”(Rom. 1:21-28).

Then he writes his decision about the believer of the Corinthian community who has gravely sinned: « hand over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh so that the spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ."(1 Cor. 5:5).

This is what is said about those who spread heresies: “But even if we or an angel from heaven preached to you a gospel other than what we preached to you, let him be anathema. As we said before, [so] and now I say again: whoever preaches to you a gospel other than what you received? let him be anathema» (Gal.1:8,9). Anathema is the strongest declaration of curse in the New Testament. By the way, the following text belongs to the Apostle Paul: "Whoever does not love the Lord Jesus Christ is anathema, maranatha"(1 Cor. 16:22).

And here is what the apostle says about people who, at the time of the coming of the Antichrist, will not accept the love of the truth for their salvation: “And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, so that they will believe a lie, so that all will be condemned who did not believe the truth but loved falsehood" (2 Thess. 2:11,12).

So, we can draw a certain conclusion: the principle of God’s curse for violating the will of God revealed to man works in both the Old and New Testaments. In fact, a curse is a blessing, since it is a powerful signal to a person: you are going in the wrong direction! Turn around and do the will of God!

Imagine a situation where a person is given good car, the goal of movement was set, but he left the highway and drove along the road, the end of which was an abyss. If in this case mechanisms are activated that prevent the person from driving further, for example, the car constantly breaks down, the person is physically ill, then is all this evil or good?

Of course, curses can only act in the spiritual, or rather in the carnal, sphere of life of a believer. Curses have nothing to do with the regenerated spirit, since “We know that everyone born of God does not sin; But he who is born of God keeps himself, and the evil one does not touch him” (1 John 5:18).

If the principle of blessing and cursing is not abolished in the New Testament, then how should we interpret the above text: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us—for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree—so that the blessing of Abraham through Christ Jesus might come to Gentiles, that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith" (Gal. 3:13,14).

Here is a wonderful promise for those Christians who have realized that a certain curse is at work in their lives, have found the root of it, have repented and now want to live in the freedom of the Spirit and in blessing.

Christ has perfected those who are being sanctified forever. He has done absolutely everything for our complete salvation, but it is our responsibility to enter into our salvation by faith. This principle applies to all aspects of the great exchange accomplished at the Cross. For example, we believe that by the stripes of Jesus we were healed (1 Peter 2:24), but do diseases no longer affect our body? Does healing happen without the struggle of faith? Moreover, this struggle is often fierce and sometimes lost...

This was the case back in the days of Moses and Joshua. The land was given to them by God, but they had to gain possession of it through a difficult and persistent struggle.

What has been said is fully true in relation to curses. They, of course, were defeated by Christ on Calvary and when we do the will of God, no curse should have a place in the life of a believer. But of course, this does not always happen automatically. Diseases, demons and curses usually do not go away without a fight.

Thank God that Christ has already accomplished everything for our complete victory! Let's fight and win!