God’s Punishments Have Not Reformed Israel
“Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to your husbands, “Bring wine, let us drink!” The Lord God has sworn by His holiness: “Behold, the days shall come upon you when He will take you away with fishhooks, and your posterity with fishhooks. You will go out through broken walls, each one straight ahead of her, and you will be cast into Harmon,” says the Lord.
“Come to Bethel and transgress, at Gilgal multiply transgression; bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days. Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, proclaim and announce the freewill offerings; for this you love, you children of Israel!” says the Lord God.
Israel Did Not Accept Correction
“Also I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places; yet you have not returned to Me,” says the Lord. “I also withheld rain from you, when there were still three months to the harvest. I made it rain on one city, I withheld rain from another city. One part was rained upon,
and where it did not rain the part withered. So two or three cities wandered to another city to drink water, but they were not satisfied; yet you have not returned to Me,” says the Lord.
“I blasted you with blight and mildew. When your gardens increased, your vineyards, your fig trees,
and your olive trees, the locust devoured them; yet you have not returned to Me,” says the Lord. “I sent among you a plague after the manner of Egypt; your young men I killed with a sword, along with your captive horses; I made the stench of your camps come up into your nostrils; yet you have not returned to Me,” says the Lord.
“I overthrew some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a firebrand plucked from the burning; yet you have not returned to Me,” says the Lord. “Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!” For behold, He who forms mountains, and creates the wind, Who declares to man what his thought is, and makes the morning darkness, Who treads the high places of the earth—The Lord God of hosts is His name.”
One of the definitions of stupidity is repeating the same action over and over and expecting different results! God has been doing His best to get the Israelites to pay attention, but they have been persistently ignoring Him. Look at the ways God has been using to get through to the Israelites: 1. Hunger 2. Drought at a critical point in the growing cycle 3. Blight and mildew – fungus diseases that attack vineyards, fig trees and olive trees 4. An attack of locusts (Some translations also include palmer worms or caterpillars) 5. “A plague after the manner of Egypt” – It’s not clear what kind of sickness this might be; however, if the water supply is poor, cholera and typhoid would be two good possibilities. 6. War that destroyed horses, chariots, and young men to the point that the dead bodies raised a stench. 7. Some kind of natural disaster similar to the one that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah – Was this an earthquake? A hail storm? A lightning storm that destroyed cities? Whatever happened, the people involved have made a narrow escape.
God has done all of these things in hopes that His people would turn to Him for help and would repent. Evidently, instead, the Israelites have responded by making more sacrifices to idols and possibly even seeking out new ones. Now God is reminding the Israelites precisely who He really is. ““Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!” For behold, He who forms mountains, and creates the wind, Who declares to man what his thought is, and makes the morning darkness, Who treads the high places of the earth—The Lord God of hosts is His name.”
Reading through the Bible, there are relatively few times when God lists His qualifications. God revealed Himself to Moses, hiding Moses in the cleft of a rock while He passed by proclaiming His attributes. Exodus 34:5-7 “Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.” God is trying to remind the Israelites of His sovereignty in hopes of their remembering all He has done for them and repenting. Sadly, they are not listening.
APPLICATION: When disasters happen in our lives, what is our response? Do we turn to God, or do we struggle to find some other explanation? Do we ask God to reveal His Will or do we complain that God is punishing us for some reason? As far as the Israelites were concerned, they refused to acknowledge their God and suffered the consequences.
Yesterday I mentioned the “Border Patrol” reality TV series that shows customs and immigration officers working in various parts of the world. One of the most vigilant groups in any country is the group screening for anyone bringing in fish, meat, fruits, vegetables, or other items that might harbor insect pests and fungal diseases that could ravage a country’s crops. Those screening packages mailed into the country must be equally vigilant or their country will suffer the results. Everybody who does this screening remembers the story of the Formosan termites.
During World War II, the U.S. Navy shipped a lot of goods in wooden crates from Formosa/Taiwan to the naval base in Algiers, Louisiana, across the Mississippi River from New Orleans. Winters in Formosa are cold, so insect pests die in the winter; however, the climate around New Orleans is sub-tropical. Some people have banana trees growing in their yards in New Orleans. Those shipping crates were infested with Formosan termites, and when the termites reached New Orleans, they went crazy. Temperatures in New Orleans rarely reach freezing, allowing the termites to proliferate. New Orleans is famous for its many gracious streets shaded by huge live oaks draped in Spanish moss that reach their branches across the streets, shading them. Guess which trees these termites have found most delicious? That’s right! Formosan termites will burrow into live oaks, consuming them to such an extent that they become hollow and weak, simply waiting to collapse in the next wind storm.
As things deteriorate in Israel and Judah, God is sending His prophets to warn His people to repent. But generations of idol worship have done the same thing to the Israelites spiritually that Formosan termites do to live oaks: these people might look all right, but they are hollow, simply waiting for the first disaster to collapse. Even though God is doing everything He can to get people’s attention, nobody is listening, not even when God tries to remind them of who He is.
We need to ask ourselves if we are infested with spiritual termites. What is most important in your life? Is it work or sports or your family or some hobby? There is nothing wrong with any of these things; however, a life that is not based on God is a termite-infested life. May God protect us from spiritual termites!
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, please show us if we are placing a higher value on someone or something than we are on serving You. Help us to change, so that You come first in our lives. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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