To counter Christian obscurantism, again being vigorously imposed on the Russian people, we continue to publish here fragments of our book “Biblical Pictures or What is “God’s Grace”?” . Perhaps, after reading the Bible - the main document of the organization to which they are so obsessively invited - people will think about what is actually written there, and not in the numerous promoted “interpretations” of the employees of the Christian corporation. Perhaps, after thinking, they will ask themselves questions, often perplexed, that will certainly arise when reading this document. For example, why are the history, genealogy, cultural tradition and moral standards of the ancient Jews imposed on other peoples with their history, genealogy, cultural tradition and moral standards, often far exceeding what is imposed, as sacred? And, having answered this and other questions for themselves, people will decide for themselves whether it is wise to join an organization whose main book preaches what it preaches. You can copy our book for yourself without any restrictions using the link provided. We even provide the layout and cover for the publication free of charge. Read this book, perhaps it will help you resist the persistent advertising of obscurantism that pours into our heads from all the cracks.
– It was forbidden to build individual altars and sanctuaries.
– It was forbidden to eat meat in the desert as everyday food. Every animal had to be brought to the tabernacle and sacrificed there.
– It was forbidden to eat animal blood.
– False prophets and those calling to convert to another faith (including relatives) are stoned. A city whose inhabitants began to worship other gods - to destroy, inhabitants - to be slaughtered, livestock and everything else - to be burned.
– It was forbidden to eat the meat of illegal animals, birds and fish.
– It was obligatory to separate tithes for the Levites.
– Every seventh year is a year of debt forgiveness. Foreigners were forbidden to forgive debts.
– A Jew was allowed to sell himself into slavery to another Jew. On the 7th year, the owner must release the slave with everything necessary to start a new life.
– If the local courts find it difficult to make a decision, then the case should be referred to the Levites.
– The priests and Levites were not supposed to own land.
– A small part of them should live at the Temple, the rest – among the tribes.
The next biblical book tells of the war of conquest waged by the Jews under the leadership of Jehovah, who expressed his will exclusively through a new speaker, whose name was Joshua. Having mourned the great leader from Pharaoh's slavery and the leader into the slavery of Jehovah, the Jews began to prepare to cross the Jordan River. So that the promises of their god, and therefore their dreams, will finally come true.
Chapters 2-6 are devoted to the capture of Jericho, the first city beyond the Jordan, which, in accordance with Jehovah’s strategic plan, was subject to destruction and plunder. They sent spies there, who, thanks to a traitor - a harlot named Rahab, successfully carried out reconnaissance and returned to the camp. As we see, the Bible continues its amazing tradition and reverently preserves the names of its heroes and heroines - traitors and murderers. The king of Jericho, like other various pharaohs, remained nameless. This is understandable, he is an enemy, and the harlot Rahab is an ally. This would be excusable for some opportunistic book, but you and I are reading the Book of Books, where, every word, there is “holiness”, “wisdom” and “purity”!
During the campaign against Jericho by a 40,000-strong army, Jehovah showed another miracle - as soon as the priests with the ark entered the Jordan, its waters divided and the Jewish army crossed the river, “like dry land” (oh, yes, storytellers). He ordered to take 12 stones from the places where the feet of the priests stood in memory of this great event. However, this miracle, similar to the one that Jehovah performed in the Red Sea (only pebbles were not collected there as souvenirs), was not done at all for the convenience of his sheep. And, for what? It’s just that an opportunity came up to play (on paper) with your, as the Bible says, muscle “ so that all the nations of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is strong, and that you may fear the Lord your God always"(Joshua 4:24). Jehovah continued to be painfully concerned about his reputation, apparently well understanding the unreliability of his “army.”
Along the way, he decided to correct a great oversight - those born in the desert, oh horror, were not circumcised. After all, it is impossible to go to the conquest of the Holy Land uncircumcised! And shortly before the battle, he ordered a massive separation of the foreskin with stone knives. Having successfully passed postoperative period, having celebrated Passover with the fruits of the land of Canaan, since the semolina freebie had ended, and having received detailed instructions After the siege of Jericho, the Jews began to implement the military plans of the Generalissimo. That's what the plan was. They had to en masse, led by the ark and 7 priests, with trumpets, go around the fortress walls of Jericho once a day for 6 days, and on the 7th day they had to go around the city 7 times, blowing the trumpets. At the moment when the jubilee horn blew, everyone was supposed to scream loudly and the wall was supposed to collapse. Next, it was necessary to condemn the city, except for the harlot Rahab, i.e. simply kill all living things, and all the gold and silver go into the treasury of God, that is, the Levites.
The destruction of the walls of Jericho. Gustave Dore.
That's how it all happened. They walked around the walls, blew trumpets, shouted in unison, and the walls crumbled (the paper again endured everything). All the people and animals were killed, all valuables were collected, and at the same time they cursed those who in the future would be going to restore Jericho. Please note that the defenders of Jericho, during this carnival, sat quietly and patiently waited for the crazy conquerors to play with the trumpets and begin to conjure them all (this is how the word “cut” is replaced in the Bible)!
Joshua leaves the harlot Rahab alive. Gustave Dore.
However, the first victory was followed by defeat. A 3,000-strong detachment of Jews was unable to take a certain city of Gai and fled. Jewish losses amounted to as many as 36 people. The number of Jericho residents killed by Jews is not given. They did not expect any resistance. They were promised! Here is the heart of the brave warriors " melted and became like water" Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the ground (the Fuhrer turned out to be a little thin), where he remained until the evening, the elders sprinkled ashes on his head. They became afraid that the Canaanites would do to them the same way as they did to the inhabitants of Jericho.
The Supreme Commander-in-Chief explained this unpleasant moment by the fact that they did not carry out the order 100%. Someone encroached on the gold and silver trophies of God. They carried out an inspection - the people were lined up by tribes and families - and the “enemy” was identified. A certain Achan from the tribe of Judah appropriated for himself some clothes, 100 shekels of silver and an ingot of 50 shekels of gold. For this, Achan, along with these clothes, silver, gold, sons, daughters, oxen and donkeys, were burned and stoned. Only after that " the fury of the wrath of the Lord has subsided».
Achan stoned by the Israelites. Gustave Dore
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First you need to define the concept of a curse. By curse I mean evil, destructive force, which can act 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 storerooms. 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 open to people brings curses to the will of God. The opposite is also true - with humility and obedience, varied and generous blessings come into the life of a believer.
This was the revelation of Moses. Do curses apply to us New Testament believers? First, I want to look at the position of those respected interpreters of Scripture who claim that, in principle, curses cannot apply to any 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 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 who loved God would have the opportunity to leave the cursed 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 different from 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!
INTRODUCTION........................................................ ........................................................ ..3
UNSOLVED PROBLEMS…………………………….…………......5
DEFINITION OF CURSE................................................... ...............................7
GENERAL CURSE AND THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST.....................................15
SIGNS OF A FAMILY CURSE………………………….……….…..28
LEGAL GROUND…………………………………………..……… ..34
THE DEVIL'S LEGAL SOIL…………….................................................... .... 26
CONCLUSION................................................. ............................................... 40
BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................. ........................................ 42
INTRODUCTION
The “spiritual world” is an absolutely real realm in which God, His angels, Satan and his fallen angels and demons exist. God and His angels exist on one side, and Satan and his angels exist on the other. The spiritual world is primary, the material world is secondary. Everything starts from the spiritual world. The spiritual world is not static, it is constantly moving.
Therefore, the spiritual world influences and dominates the material world. Everything that happens in this world, good or bad, blessing or curse, is a consequence of what happened in the spiritual. The roots of many problems, failures and pain are often hidden in the spiritual world. The devil knows this truth, so he wants to paralyze a person in the spiritual world; if he paralyzes in the spiritual, then in the material this will happen as a consequence, of course. Because it is the spiritual world that is the world of causes, everything that happens today in the world and in people’s lives happens for a reason, but has its own reason. And nothing happens without a reason.
Today people are faced with either a black streak or a white one. But they don’t even understand what exactly, light and shadow have a source in previous generations. The Bible talks a lot about this today.
The Bible calls them blessings and curses, respectively. The Bible is very clear about these powers. And it is very important to know about this. The Bible calls them blessings and curses.
There are two worlds, the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light. It is important to understand that there are natural problems, and they can be solved naturally if everything is put together. It doesn’t matter whether the problem is in a robot or in a marriage, a person can make a decision and solve it naturally. But there are problems behind which there is a supernatural force, a person tries with all his might to fix something, but nothing works. Therefore, such problems are solved spiritually.
It is precisely such difficulties, behind which there is spiritual strength, that are a curse for people. But be that as it may, today a person has a choice to give his life to Jesus and be freed from curses or give his life to the devil and continue to live under curses. People are called to have absolute victory over curses through our Lord Jesus Christ, but there is a devil who walks around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.
But due to ignorance of certain truths, people cannot free themselves from curses, living in defeat all their lives.
There are three types of curses: induced, acquired, and generic. This work will examine the biblical view of the teaching specifically about generational curses.
UNSOLVED PROBLEMS
Many Christians attend church regularly and strive wholeheartedly to live God-fearing lives. But, despite their efforts, everything falls apart, and no matter how hard they try, no matter who advises them, nothing helps. Sometimes people say: “My life was going very smoothly, everything was fine until I accepted Christ. Since then, everything bad that could have happened happened, everything became bad”? Some Christians do not understand why, against all odds, their children turn away from them and from God and go straight to destruction.
Others, having joyfully accepted the Lord, grow spiritually for a while, but then suddenly discover that they cannot have a close relationship with Him. They cannot read and study the Bible, they cannot pray, and eventually they give up and fall away.
Others suffer all their lives, now coming to God, now leaving Him, but still cannot establish a permanent relationship with Him.
There are other believers who year after year struggle with various illnesses and serious problems and yet, no matter how much they pray and believe, nothing changes in their lives and the problems do not decrease. The conflict continues without any hope of resolution, and the relationship with God is, as it were, the reason that there is no victory.
A huge number of families bear the mark of mental illness, suicide, alcoholism, physical illness, divorce, incest and poverty. Often even those who come to the Lord cannot break this endless circle of devastation in their families.
These problems affect entire churches as well as individual lives. Many churches are plagued by divorce or other problems among their members. “Some churches suffer for years, without progress and without growth. They do not grow either spiritually or numerically, often splitting and changing pastors.” Even if there is growth and revival, very soon everything falls apart, people leave, and the church is back where it started. Why is this happening?
These frustrating situations can be the result of many factors, but very often the cause is a curse that has not been broken in the life of that person or family. Many churches are also cursed. This area is especially neglected in Christian teaching today.
DEFINITION OF A CURSE
“A curse is a certain permission for the devil to act in a person’s life and destiny.” Also, “Cursed” in the original language of the Bible means “separated” from God.” And the one who is separated from God does not have His protection and patronage, and therefore the forces of evil rule in his life and Satan is allowed to act. And it is not God who gives Satan the right to act, and it is not Satan himself who takes upon himself this right. Man himself, being at a distance from God, opens the door to the devil.
The generational curse" is a channel through which the devil operates until the third and fourth generation. The Bible says: "I am the Lord your God, a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, and showing mercy to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments" (Exodus 20:5-6) A generational curse can affect not only one individual, but can affect a group of people, families, churches, cities, regions, geographic regions and nations.
Unfortunately, few people today know enough about their ancestors to judge their sins. However, their lives are influenced by these sins, whether they know about them or not. Christians today have lost this understanding. Refusal to confess and deal with the sins of one's ancestors often results in failure in attempts to break ancestral curses.
WHAT SCRIPTURE SAYS ABOUT THE GENERAL CURSE.
The Bible talks a lot about generational curses. This teaching is not made up from thin air, as many believe. There are many examples of curses in both the New and Old Testaments. The Bible says there can be a curse for the iniquity of the parents until the third and fourth generation. Knowing this feature of God's law, the disciples of Jesus Christ, seeing the sick man, asked who had sinned: that man or his parents. People knew the Law of God and understood how the spiritual world works.
There is another vivid example in the Bible of how the secret sins of parents become apparent in the lives of their children. “The most common sins at all times in human history have been sexual sins: fornication and adultery.” Thanks to them, a great many destinies and lives of people were destroyed, families broke up, and fatherlessness arose. Sometimes even people dedicated to God could not resist the seductive spirit of this insidious sin.
King Solomon, who possessed the great wisdom of God and expressed it in his parables, “did not miss his chance” when teaching the wisdom of the Queen of Sheba, who came from afar - the queen left pregnant. So Solomon began the dynasty of kings in Ethiopia. At the end of his life, Solomon also could not resist sexual sin and fell in love with many foreign women who inclined his heart to foreign gods. The biblical hero Samson, the owner of great power from God, lost it due to sexual sin towards the woman Delilah. The devil played a cruel joke on him: through what he was seduced by her beauty, her eyes, his enemies subsequently gouged them out for him. King David was a man who passionately loved the Lord, his psalms are placed in one of the books of the Bible; the hero of faith, raised by God from a simple shepherd to king, still could not resist the sin of adultery.
Let's look at the consequences this sin brought into his life.
The book of the Bible not only has historical value, but “all Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” (2 Tim. 3:6) Wise people learn from the mistakes of others, and fools learn from their own. We would rather be wise and learn from King David’s mistakes than end up in this situation ourselves.
When God raised David from a simple shepherd to king, giving him a kingdom, power, people, money, success, everything that every person would like to achieve, instead of establishing the throne of the king by engaging in state affairs, David decided to do something completely different . “And David realized that the Lord had established him as king over Jerusalem and that he had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel. And David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem.” (2 Samuel 5:12,13)
Success and fame often lead to a loss of vigilance, the right course and lead to entertainment, pleasing the flesh and other sinful things. With the acquisition of material wealth, a person no longer makes efforts in the struggle for survival and achieving goals. Having received these benefits, he begins to look for a way to best spend them and give himself pleasure, looking for various ways please yourself. The higher the financial situation, the more to a person it seems that he has become more important, greater, the more temptations in sin, the greater the fall.
So, women were a weak, vulnerable “spot” in David’s life. Once, at a time when kings went on campaigns, David remained in Jerusalem. “...In the evening, David, getting out of bed, was walking on the roof of the king’s house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and that woman was very beautiful. And David sent to find out who this woman was? And they said to him: This is Bathsheba, ... the wife of Uriah the Hittite. David sent servants to take her; and she came to him, and he slept with her... The woman became pregnant and sent word to David” (2 Samuel 11:2-4) . ( Most often, these stories happen when we are not where we should be; We don’t do our duty, we shirk work. The king should have been at the head of his army, but he stayed at home. When the army fought, he was idle. If David had gone to do his duty, he would not have ended up in bed with the wife of his best and most devoted warrior. When a person is not busy with work, the emptiness in his head begins to be filled with nonsense. “When we have committed one sin, it is always better to stop and repent so as not to commit further more serious sins.”
Instead of repenting of everything, David does not want to undermine his reputation as a king and an honest man. He decides to call Bathsheba's husband from the war and hide this sin when he spends the night at home with his wife. Uriah, the valiant warrior and devoted servant of David, has no idea about anything. Having told about the progress of the war, Uriah refused to go to sleep in his house with his wife when all the soldiers were in battle in the war. David's plan went awry. The next day David gave him a drink, thinking that this time his plan would work, but Uriah did not go to the house to sleep, but went to bed with his master’s servants. David decides to correct the current situation in another way: the third wheel. David has an insidious plan, he writes a letter to the commander of the battles: “put Uriah where the strongest battle will be, and retreat from him, so that he will be defeated and die” (2 Samuel 11-15). Uriah went to fulfill his duty, carrying in a letter a sentence of his own death.
After some time, they brought the king a message from the front line, as well as about those who died, among them was Uriah the Hittite. The plan worked, the third wheel was eliminated, the woman was now free, the sin was hidden, her reputation was not damaged; everything seemed to be orderly and noble, but for some reason there was no joy and happiness in David’s heart.
Evil was done in the sight of the Lord. And the Lord said through the prophet Nathan to David: “... the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife... I will raise up evil against you from your house, and I will take wives yours before your eyes and I will give to your neighbor, and he will sleep with your wives before this sun; You did it secretly, but I will do it before all Israel. ... The Lord has taken away your sin from you; you won't die... the son born to you will die.” (2 Samuel 12:10 -14) God forgave David, leaving him life and kingdom over Israel, but the son born to David from Bathsheba died. And this was only the first “sprout” of David’s sown atrocity. “Let’s scold God, it doesn’t happen. Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” . (Gal.6:7) What was “sown” by the king was now ripening and David would reap the “harvest” in the lives of his children.
King David's son, Amnon, fell in love with his sister Tamar, but instead of asking the king for her hand in marriage, Amnon took the advice of a friend. He pretended to be sick and asked his sister to prepare food for him and feed him. Left alone, he grabbed her, “overcame her and raped her…. Then Amnon hated her with the greatest hatred, so that hatred... was stronger than the love he had for her.” (2 Samuel 13:14,15)
David's other son, Absalom, hated Amnon because he had dishonored his sister and harbored a grudge against him. Two years later, at a holiday, he was able to take revenge on his brother for his sister. Having drunk him heavily, he told the servants: “Kill him.” The servants carried out their master's orders. “A raped daughter, a murdered son,” an already familiar situation, familiar actions echoed in the father’s memory: first the shed blood of Uriah, now his son Amnon, first David took someone else’s wife, now they took his daughter by force.
Absalom fled from his parents' wrath, defeated, humiliated and rejected by his father. After wandering a lot, he finally received permission to return home, but so as not to catch his father’s eye. What generosity and mercy, what “generous” parental forgiveness! Absalom lived in the house, but did not see the king’s face, and a plan, an insidious revenge, was ripening in his son’s heart. Even when David asked for a son, this did not stop him. Absalom decided to take the king's place. Having gained strength and gathered people through flattery, he rebelled against his father, and David fled, leaving ten wives and concubines to keep the house. “David ... walked and wept: his head was covered, ... he walked barefoot.” (2 Samuel 15:30) No one hurts the hearts of fathers so painfully and strongly as their own children. Why did the son rebel and act so treacherously, why did he not wait for his time when the father himself would have given part of the inheritance and the honors due to the king’s son? But Absalom chose the path of deception, deceit and dishonor. When his father fled, “Absalom went in to his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel” (2 Sam. 16:22) and slept with them.
What the father once did in secret, the son now did to his father in front of the eyes of the entire people. It was a shame. His own son dishonored his father in front of all people. The secret sins of parents become apparent in the lives of their children.
The father secretly slept with the wife of a warrior devoted to him, now the son sleeps in front of everyone with his father’s wives. But that’s not all, Absalom is plotting to kill his father and take his place. David, having strengthened his forces, returned his kingdom and his people began to pursue and destroy the people of Absalom. David changed his mind a lot during these days and understood that he was paying for what he himself had once sown in the lives of other people. There were his gaps and his guilt as a father in raising and rejecting his son. The king did not want more battles, blood and casualties, so he ordered his people : “Save for me the youth Absalom!” (2 Samuel 18:5) David wanted to correct the situation, to give his son the love and care that he was deprived of. The king was waiting for good news, if only his son would live. And the messenger arriving from the battlefield was met with the question: “Is the boy Absalom safe?” (2 Samuel 18:29) The messenger knew nothing about his son, reporting only on victories in the battle. David was eagerly awaiting the next messenger from the front line. The next messenger said: « … good news to my lord the king! The Lord has now shown you the truth in delivering you from the hand of all those who rose up against you.” (2 Samuel 18:31) And the king said, “Is the child Absalom well?” (2 Kings 18:32) The messenger answered: “Let the same thing befall the enemies of my lord the king and all who plot against you as befell the boy!” (2 Kings 18:32) Absalom is killed! “And the king was troubled, and went into the upper room above the gate, and wept, and as he went, he said thus: My son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Oh, who would let me die in your place, Absalom, my son, my son! ... And the victory of that day turned into mourning for all the people.” (2 Samuel 18:33; 19:2).
If only David could bring everything back: the meeting with Bathsheba, the murder of Uriah, the dead child... Oh, if only he knew what a terrible price he would have to pay for the sins he had committed! How, sometimes, we realize too late that satisfying momentary desires later turns into a tragedy in the lives of our children. And misdeeds concern not only us, but also the fate of our children. The Lord punishes children for the guilt of their fathers to the third and fourth generation. (Exodus 20:5)
First the dead son, the rape of Tamar, then the death of Amnon, now Absalom. David has a kingdom, glory, honor, power, money, honor. But the main thing is missing: the future; there is no prosperity in the destinies of children, bitterness and grief, loss and misfortune.
"King David's sexual sin of adultery set off a chain of curses in the children's lives: violence and death".
Perhaps someone today sleeps with other people’s wives (husbands), unaware of the consequences: why children get sick and their personal lives are not going well.
Perhaps someone today contributes and makes money by selling drugs to other people’s children, and ends up with their own son or daughter who is a drug addict. By selling alcohol to other children, he gets his children addicted to alcohol. What we “sow” in other people’s lives, we will always “reap” in ours. An example from the life of King David serves as a lesson for everyone and shows a clear example of how a generational curse can be passed on from father to sons.
The Bible, as you know, is a collection of sacred texts that, according to legend, were written down exactly from the words of God. However, the author of this set of texts was endowed with all human vices - pride, rage, anger, partiality in judgment and speed of reprisals. And there is no shortage of curses recorded on the pages of the Bible.
As you know, in the beginning, God the Father structured chaos and created inanimate material objects - heaven and earth, water and light. At the same time, He did not experience any special pangs of creativity, so to speak, and He did not destroy His creations in rage. The light, as God foresaw, remarkably separated from the darkness, without any problems, waters and land were formed, where necessary - mountains rose and rivers flowed. The settlement of land and waters also took place without major incidents. But the creation of a thinking substance caused a storm of emotions.
God the Father and his creations
If God had no complaints against Adam, a dull and obedient little fellow, then his first wife Lilith, according to legend, turned out to be such a dangerous little thing that she was immediately placed among evil spirits. After this, Adam, just in case, was endowed with “flesh of the flesh” - Eve, made from his own rib. But God's pleasure in his creations was short-lived. Soon Eve was seduced by a serpent, the couple ate the fruit of knowledge, and the first biblical curse sounded. More precisely, a whole tirade of curses.
Look in the Book of Genesis and you will find there all the recipients of biblical prophecy - the serpent, Eve, Adam, and even the earth on which Eve and Adam stood! God cursed the snake “before all the cattle and before all the beasts of the field,” aggravating the curse with the following wording: “You shall go on your belly, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life, and I will put enmity between you and your wife, and between your seed.” and among her seed; it will bruise your head, and you will bruise its heel.” Having cursed Eve, God promised that, by multiplying, he would increase the sorrows in her pregnancy, and that in illness she would give birth to children, and for her craving for her husband she would pay with eternal submission to him. Adam was cursed because he was tempted by the strange fruit: “By the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground from which you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you will return.” The earth itself received its share of curses, and God blamed the same disobedient Adam for the fact that the earth also had to be cursed!
In general, the topic of curses in the Bible is almost one of the most common. Patriarch Noah also sends a curse to his grandson Canaan: he will be a slave of slaves to his brothers. Canaan, by the will of God, received what Noah ordered. The practice of cursing among the Jews was apparently widespread. How else to explain that the Jewish priests promised negligent wives to make their wombs fall and their bellies swollen... God cursed the descendants of Adam and Eve to the third or fourth generation, sent deadly diseases, persecuted those who did not believe in Him with the rage of a maniac. But, of course, the theme of biblical curses during the period of the flight of the Jews from Egypt is especially famous, which we know for certain from the Book of Exodus.
Fury of Exodus and Deuteronomy
A whole array of curses is associated with the name of Moses and dates back to the time of the Hyksos, when the Jewish population sought to escape from Egypt. The curses of the Exodus were directed at the Egyptians and are known as the 10 plagues of Egypt. The curses of Deuteronomy are directed against those of little faith among themselves.
The first 10 curses gradually escalate the situation in Egypt on the eve of the exodus of the Jews. Every time the Egyptian pharaoh refuses to let them go to their historical homeland, God sends a new curse. The Egyptians were the first to receive the curse of blood when the Nile turned red and stank, and throughout Egypt people could not drink water from the rivers. The second curse was the invasion of toads that infested all of Egypt. The third was an invasion of midges, which caused deep ulcers on livestock and people. Following the midges, Egypt was struck by dog flies (as blood-sucking gadflies were called in those days). The fifth curse was the pestilence of farm animals. Moreover, the pestilence affected only Egyptian livestock and did not affect the animals of the Jews. The sixth curse was the appearance of ulcers and boils among the Egyptians. The seventh is the devastation of Egypt by thunderstorms with lightning and hail of fire, which is surprisingly similar to the entry of this territory into the fall zone large quantity meteorites (or decay in the atmosphere of a large celestial guest). The eighth curse was the plague of locusts, that is, the coming famine in Egypt. The ninth is the fall into the land of darkness “only for the Egyptians.” And the tenth is the curse and death of all the firstborn in Egypt, both among animals and among people. Only the last curse, as is known from the Bible, forced Pharaoh to release the Jews from the country with all the goods they had acquired and all the livestock they had saved.
The “plagues of Egypt” were directed at the pagan Egyptians. But once free and wandering through deserted deserts, the Jews managed to anger their God the Father so much that he burst out with many curses, now directed not at the Gentiles, but at those of little faith.
So, God the Father promised those who do not believe in Him and do not keep the commandments that they will be cursed both in the cities and in the fields - that is, they will not be able to hide anywhere from the wrath of God. Moreover, He cursed not only people, but also the land itself, and livestock, and grain. God promised to “reward” the apostates with pestilence, stunting, fever, fever, inflammation, drought, scorching wind and rust, madness, blindness and numbness of the heart, leprosy of Egypt, scabs and scabies, and also to make the earth iron, and the heavens copper, so that instead of rain, only dust and ashes fall from them. Moreover, the survivors of this nightmare will be invaded by enemies they cannot cope with and scattered throughout all the kingdoms of the earth. An entire chapter of the book of Deuteronomy is devoted to the curses that God will send on the Jews if they do not obey His will. All cases of “defeat in rights” are described - from the simple “they will oppress and offend you,” to the sophisticated “all these curses will come upon you, and will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not listen to the voice Lord your God, and did not keep His commandments and His statutes, which He commanded you: they will be a sign and a sign against you and on your seed forever.”
Will definitely come true
In the Old Testament, all curses are linked to prophecies and are sure to come true. This is a kind of instrument for controlling the consciousness of fellow tribesmen: the wrath of God in the form of a curse forced them to firmly follow the principles of religion. And if “good” magicians and sorcerers appear on the pages of the Bible, sending toads and other creatures to the house of Pharaoh, then one can only draw one conclusion - in those days they believed unconditionally in magic, witchcraft and God’s providence.
There were two famous mountains in ancient Israel: Gerizim and Ebal. From the first mountain the priests blessed the Jews, from the second they cursed them. Blessings, unlike prophecies, could be fulfilled by God, or they could not be fulfilled. Everything depended on how the blessed one would serve his God in the future - zealously or not so much. It's easier with curses. They were performed almost always. Saul, who did not believe God's words, was immediately cursed. And soon his place was taken by the faithful King David. The righteous and prophets skillfully used curses. God fulfilled Joshua's curses and turned his wrath against the boys who laughed at the prophet Elisha. Biblical curses immediately show the attitude of God the Father towards a particular character. Along with a curse that cannot be reversed, “unrighteous” kings leave the historical scene, and peoples who violated their agreement with God find themselves in captivity.
However, nothing has changed even after a millennium. Jesus Christ cursed no worse than his Heavenly Father. He sent the demons, whose name is legion, into the bodies of pigs and drowned them in the waters of the lake. He cursed the fig tree, which did not produce shade or fruit - it immediately withered. The practice of cursing was used in the same way as in Judaism, and in the early Christian church, and later, and is used to this day - in the form of an anathema, which priests proclaim from the pulpit against a specific person or some phenomenon. For example, Leo Tolstoy, monk Filaret, priest Gleb Yakunin, as well as those who are considered in Orthodoxy to be sectarians, pagans, astrologers and sorcerers were anathematized in Russian Orthodoxy...
Oleg, Krasnodar
How do we understand the curses in the Bible contained in Psalm 109?
Hello. The question is caused by the reading of Psalm 108, or more precisely, by the curses in the psalms. The psalm writers sang of their loyalty to God and His covenant. It is precisely the zealous desire to defend righteousness that explains the words of curses often found in their texts. They prayed that God would “break the arm of the wicked and evil” (Ps. 9:15), “break their teeth” (Ps. 57:6) and “pour out His wrath on them” (Ps. 67:22-28 ). Such “requests” were dictated not by personal vindictiveness, but by a protest against those who, being deprived of honor and conscience, respond to good with evil and betrayal (Ps. 109:4-5), and most importantly, by an ardent desire for God to condemn sin and affirm His work on earth. Of course, the prayer life of Christians is different from that of the ancient Jews. But when we pray for the fulfillment of God’s will or for the speedy coming of Christ, we also pray for judgment on the wicked and reward for the righteous. Question! The Bible says that all scripture is inspired by God, useful for edification, etc. Thus, the Bible teaches us that we need to curse those who rebel against God and do evil to good people and the righteous. But this statement cannot be true, because... it contradicts the very teaching of Christ, who called on his followers to love their enemies and not repay evil for evil. He taught to bless, not to curse. If Jewish teaching requires retribution for evil done “An eye for an eye,” then why are these non-Christian postulates recommended for Christians to read? Following the logic of the interpretation described above, one can curse a government that does evil to its people by issuing anti-people laws and not properly performing the functions of protecting and ensuring the well-being of the people. You can curse pagans, heretics, and criminals just because they do evil. When reading the psalms, which, according to the teachings of the church, are Divinely inspired scripture, Christians pass what they read through their hearts and accept the way of thinking that they see in Holy Scripture. Why, tell me, tempt people with such contradictions? Why teach people one thing and then show them the exact opposite?
Hello! Firstly, I want to tell you that Psalm 108 is traditionally considered prophetic, in it the holy prophet David predicts the betrayal of Judas Iscariot, and his curses apply both to Judas Iscariot himself and to the perpetrators of the crucifixion of Christ, which is confirmed by the holy Apostle Peter in Acts apostolic. Secondly, I will give you the words of St. John Chrysostom, who in a conversation on this psalm writes like this:
“The same can be said here, that is, under the guise of a curse, a prophecy has been compiled, which means and foretells the events that happened to Judas, and then concerns another subject, namely: it speaks against some people who are rebelling against the priesthood - so that we They knew how great the evil is to rebel against the priests of God and use deceit and untruth against them. What is said here is nothing more than a suggestion that will befall those who offend their neighbors and rebel with deceit and malice against people who have done nothing wrong. If the psalmist asks that his children also be punished, do not be embarrassed by this, beloved; he calls here children those who themselves participate in the vices of such people.”
And he further writes: “Here the power of punishment and the duration of torment are shown, and at the same time it is suggested that the misfortunes of all people come from themselves, from their own guilt, when they themselves reject goodness by their deeds and actions and subject themselves to punishment.”
So the traditional Orthodox understanding of this psalm is as follows: it is a prophecy about the betrayal of Christ by Judas Iscariot and a warning to those people who plot evil against their neighbors, in order to turn them away from sin by reminding them of God’s punishment for traitors and those who do evil to their neighbors.
Thirdly, you know that the Psalter is still the Old Testament. And we must understand what this is old life humanity, which Christ fulfilled and gave to us New Testament. And if the Church uses this psalm in worship, then it must be understood correctly. The Church, by reading this psalm, reminds us of what we have left, from which Testament Christ led us to the New, but this “Old Testament” must also be understood correctly. The prophet David may be a saint, but he also sinned. He was wrong, and his mistakes are also an example for us.
And once again I suggest you re-read the interpretation of Psalm 108 by John Chrysostom. And, in particular, the words quoted above: “Here the power of punishment and the duration of torment are shown and together it is suggested that the disasters of all people come from themselves, from their own guilt, when they themselves reject goodness and expose themselves to punishments."
