Curses

2 Chronicles 34:21-24 – “Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the remnant in Israel and Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the Lord’s anger that is poured out on us because those who have gone before us have not kept the word of the Lord; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written in this book.” Hilkiah and those the king had sent with him went to speak to the prophet Huldah, who was the wife of Shallum son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem, in the New Quarter. She said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Tell the man who sent you to me, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am going to bring disaster on this place and its people—all the curses written in the book that has been read in the presence of the king of Judah.

Ezekiel 36:18 – So I poured out my wrath on them because they had shed blood in the land and because they had defiled it with their idols.

Proverbs 16:4 – The Lord works out everything to its proper end—even the wicked for a day of disaster.

Deuteronomy 28:53,58-59 – Because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you…If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name—the Lord your God—the Lord will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses.

Application:

• ·         Israel committed social injustices and practiced idolatrous religion.
• ·         God is sovereign in every life and in all of history. God displays his power even through the wicked, and all evil will be judged.
• ·         The repetition of the word suffering emphasizes the distress that the Israelites would suffer if they refused to obey the Lord.
• ·         The name Yahweh eventually ceased to be pronounced because later Jews thought it too holy to be uttered and feared violating.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV