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CAPTIVITY AND RESTORATION And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee, And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee. If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee: And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers (Deut. 30:1-5).
The theocentric focus of this prophecy is God as a universal God rather than a local god. Moses made it clear to the generation of the conquest that there would eventually be a time of captivity and scattering in Israel's future. This was an aspect of God's negative historical sanctions. This would not constitute a break in the covenant. On the contrary, it would visibly ratify the covenant. The covenant's authority, like God's, extended beyond the geographical boundaries of Canaan.
Immediately prior to Moses' death, God reconfirmed His prophecy regarding the future defection of Israel: "And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day. Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us? And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods" (Deut. 31:16-18). Without the promise of restoration, this passage would have constituted a prophecy of the cutting off of Israel. Moses warned them: "For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands" (Deut. 31:29). Nevertheless, there remained hope: "Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people" (Deut. 32:43).
This was a land law. It applied to Israel as a holy nation where God dwelled. It was a testimony against the theology of the ancient world: local gods that dwelt in regions. This was an affirmation of the universality of God's rule. But this universality would be demonstrated by the captivity of an entire nation and its subsequent return to the Promised Land.
Outside the Land The inheritance included the land, but it was not limited to the land. This was why God could threaten Israel with removal from the land. He would demonstrate His authority over them by removing them from the geographical confines of Israel.
This was a unique outlook in the ancient world, where local gods were tied to the soil of the family or city. The land was the place of residence of the gods. The mark of their defeat was the military defeat of the city and its destruction or captivity.(1) There could be no continuity as a people apart from the religious rites, especially rites of fire, associated with the worship of family and city gods.(2) Israel, however, was told that at some point, the nation would be sent into captivity outside the land. The people would nevertheless retain their unique status as God's people. They would maintain a separate existence abroad. They would eventually return to the land.
The restoration of the land would be a mark of their inheritance. This promise tied them to the land because it acknowledged that God's covenant involved more than land. Because it was more extensive than the land, their removal from land became a proof of the covenant's authority, just so long as there would be restoration. This is what God promised.
The mark of a broken covenant would be the dispersion of the Jews without restoration. If God ever extinguished the fires of the temple and refused to rekindle them, this would mean the disinheritance of Israel. If captivity was not followed by a return to the land, then the continuity provided by the covenant no longer was in force. This promise of restoration implied a means of disinheritance, should Israel and the temple not be restored to the land. This is why Jesus' prophecy of the transfer of the kingdom to a new nation (Matt. 21:43) constituted an assault on the temple and the nation. He was saying that the Jews would be forcibly removed from the land and not allowed to return. This took place on a preliminary basis in A.D. 70 and finally in A.D. 135, after Bar Kochba's rebellion.
The 1948 creation of the modern State of Israel has been seen by dispensationalists as a partial ratification of the Old Covenant's promises in the New Covenant era. "In the twentieth century," write the editors of the New Scofield Bible, "initial steps toward a restoration of the exiled people to their homeland have been seen."(3) What has not yet been seen is the restoration of temple sacrifices. This makes it difficult for dispensationalists definitively to connect the modern State of Israel with this passage in Deuteronomy. The hope for restored temple sacrifices is an important motivation for popular dispensational authors to predict -- and even finance -- the rebuilding of the temple, despite the fact that the site of the temple is now occupied by a Muslim mosque. They fully understand that by promoting this, they are risking war between Muslims and Jews -- all the better to create the conditions for Armageddon, three and a half years after the not-so-secret Rapture. They also know that they are promoting the restoration of the temple's sacrifices. I suppose that the thought of Christians' contributing money for the restoration of temple sacrifices is no more appalling -- and no less -- than the idea that the future kingdom era of millennial blessings will be Jewish, with temple sacrifices throughout. ". . . [T]his interpretation is in keeping with God's prophetic program for the millennium. The Church is not in view here, but rather it is a prophecy for the consummation of Israel's history on earth."(4) The implication is obvious: temple sacrifices, as "memorials,"(5) will replace the cross of Jesus Christ as the Christian memorial. Then on what basis will Passover not replace the Lord's Supper? Christian tradition perhaps, or maybe the high cost of hotel space in Jerusalem, but surely not theology. The Book of Hebrews is unlikely to play any major role in the future millennial kingdom, except possibly in memorial services for the Church Age. "Nice try, but no cigar!"
Cursing and Blessing The restoration of Israel would not only involve blessings on the people of Israel; it would also involve cursings on Israel's enemy. Both sanctions would still be in operation. Payday would come for those gentile nations that served as God's rods of iron by placing Israel under the yoke. "And the LORD thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee. And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day. And the LORD thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the LORD will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers" (Deut. 30:7-9).
Consider the implications of these verses. Because of Israel's rebellion, God would raise up pagan nations that would bring negative corporate sanctions against Israel. Isaiah announced this in advance: "O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few. For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?" (Isa. 10:5-8). God would raise up Assyria, a nation that would boast in its own power. But in that boast, Assyria would seal its doom.
Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man: And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood. Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire (Isa. 10:12-16).
God's love of Israel was the basis of His corporate negative sanctions against Israel. "If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes" (Ps. 89:30-32). This was a mark of Israel's sonship. "Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee" (Deut. 8:5). What God would do with Israel, the Israelites were to do to their own sons. "He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes" (Prov. 13:24). But this was not to give comfort to the rod. The implement is never greater than the user.
The issue, then, is obedience. The restoration of Israel would come, but only on condition of their obedience. "If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul" (Deut. 30:10). If not, then not. Without obedience, Israel would be transformed into a rod that God would use against His newly adopted sons, the gentiles. This reversal of covenantal roles took place definitively with the crucifixion of Christ. Then came the stoning of Stephen. Then came the persecution of the Jerusalem church. "And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles" (Acts 8:1). Finally came the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. The marked the final cutting off of Old Covenant Israel. With the extinguishing of the temple's fire, the Old Covenant ceased forever. The fire was applied to the temple; Roman soldiers burned it. The covenantal roles were reversed, gentile vs. Jew. The prophecy of Isaiah regarding Israel's kindling of Assyria was reversed in A.D. 70; the rod would itself be consumed: "Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day; And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standardbearer fainteth" (Isa. 10:16-18). The light of the New Israel has served as a flame. The church is now the Israel of God (Gal. 6:16). The church inherited Old Covenant Israel's status as God's son, both to suffer early chastisement by the jealous older brother, who was now disinherited, and to serve as God's fire in history.
Conclusion This prophecy continued the theme of sanctions: part four of Deuteronomy. The negative sanction of dispersal and captivity would be overcome by Israel's return to the land. The positive sanction of re-gathering would offset the negative sanction of removal from the land. There would be covenantal continuity for Israel outside the land. This continuity would be demonstrated for all to see by God's restoration of Israel to her inheritance inside the land. Israel would maintain her national identity by means of the covenant and through hope of restoration. The discontinuity of dispersion would be healed by the greater continuity of restoration. The continuity of the covenant would overcome the discontinuity of dispersion. If it ever failed in this regard, the Old Covenant would come to an end.
Footnotes:
1. Fustel de Coulanges, The Ancient City: A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome (Garden City, New York: Doubleday Anchor, [1864] 1955), Book III, Chapter XV, p. 207.
2. Ibid., I:III.
3. The New Scofield Bible (New York: Oxford University Press, 1967), p. 251n.
4. Ibid., p. 884n.
5. C. I. Scofield called these offerings "memorial." Scofield Reference Bible (New York: Oxford University Press, 1909), p. 890n.
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