This article is an excerpt from a paper I wrote on Retribution Theology In The Old Testament And How Yahweh Discipline Shapes Human Parenting Today (dated November 9, 2019).
J. Gordon McConville evaluates retribution in Deuteronomy in a peer-reviewed article on theology and ethics for the University Gloucestershire, England. He makes the statement, “Behind the manifold commands of Deuteronomy lies a sense of the rightness of things” (McConville 2).
Yahweh’s commands are not a captain barking out orders for humanity, his subjects, to obey or else face fierce retribution. His commands are an inventor outlining how his invention is intended to work if his participants, humanity, want to enjoy his invention to the fullest.
McConville goes on to say that the Hebrew word șĕdāqâ, which gets translated “righteousness” or “justice,” connotes something more than just getting people to behave rightly. Rather, they point to how things are to properly function and even a working to maintain their proper function (McConville 2).
In other words, true righteousness or justice, according to Deuteronomy, is when everything is functioning as it was designed to function; not as automated behaviors but, as active members of creation.
Punishment for Disobedience
When it comes to the consequences that await those who do not obey Yahweh’s commands in Deuteronomy, they should not be seen as merely acquitting wrong done—putting things back in proper order. While Yahweh discipline includes acquittal, McConville points out that Moses lists the consequences of disobedience within the context of a history in which Yahweh ultimately has compassion.
As we see in chapters 29 and 30 of Deuteronomy, the “blessings and curses” are not the end of the story. There is restoration after punishment, and covenant renewal (McConville 8). In fact, Yahweh’s compassion seems to be the very thing that sets him apart from the other gods who failed to be a “rock” or “refuge” (Deut. 28:31, 37) when Israel turned after them.
His punishments are not a way of getting back with people; rather, they are intended to steer people back to the best order of things.
Punishment As Course Correction
But consider these punishments a little bit further. Yahweh doesn’t pull random disciplines from a hat to enforce on Israel at whim; he brings punishment on them that points to what’s happening on a grander scale.
Why so many plagues and death?
Because throughout the Torah we learn that life is when humanity walks in a trusting relationship with Yahweh and death is when humanity trades in a trusting relationship with Yahweh for a trusting relationship with the gods of this world. If Israel continues walking away from Yahweh and in relationship with other gods, they will ultimately die as a people. So, Yahweh disciplines them on a smaller scale to help them see the trajectory in which they are heading.
For instance, consider that defeat Israel faced at Ai in Joshua 7. Thirty-six men were struck down, and this coming after defeating Jericho with some walking and trumpet-blasting. Why were thirty-six men killed? Because Achan turned away from a trusting relationship with Yahweh and coveted (and stole) some of the Babylonian cloaks and silver shekels. Yahweh had said not to take anything. After all, Yahweh provides for his people.
Achan decided Yahweh wasn’t enough, so he took some spoil for himself. Thirty-six men died so all of Israel could learn that when mankind disregards Yahweh they’re not just choosing to follow someone else, they’re choosing to end up dead.
Compassion Over Punishment
However, in Yahweh discipline, punishment is only the course correction. He wants creation to thrive, to display its full beauty and goodness—His beauty, His goodness. These punishments are intended to get humanities attention so he can pour out His compassion.
McConville asks in his article, “How can it be that YHWH in his commitment to the right ordering of things in the world should make compassion his decisive act, having the last word over punishment?
The locus classicus on this question is Hos 11:8-9, where due anger is displaced in favour of compassion, as a function of the deepest movement within the heart of YHWH” (McConville 7). Yahweh’s final acts of compassion set him apart not only from other gods, but from mankind itself.
Humanity “gets back with” others. Yahweh punishes in order to steer back on track, and then wraps such punishments with compassion for all those who accept his correction. When Joshua cried out to Yahweh, asking why this great horror had come upon them, Yahweh tells him of the sin in the camp. After dealing with Achan’s sin, Joshua leads Israel back into battle and this time defeats Ai.
Yahweh wasn’t going to go on a killing spry against Israel now that they had failed to obey. He simply wanted their attention so justice could be served in Israel—things could be put back in order and His people functioning as they were designed to function.
This is why David says to the Prophet Gad, after hearing the three choices Yahweh laid before him in light of his sin in taking the census, “I have great anxiety. Please, let us fall into the Lord’s hands because His mercies are great, but don’t let me fall into human hands” (2 Sam. 24:14).
Yahweh is serious about obedience because he is serious about humanity experiencing life. And in his love for mankind and desire to give them life, he deals mercifully if only they will admit their wrong and accept his correction.
Conclusion
While initially, it appears the Old Testament examples of Yahweh discipline show Him to be a god who doles out rewards based on behavior, a deeper look reveals He actually cares more about the eternal wellbeing of people, and any punishment given is for the purpose of helping them see where they are headed and steering them back to their right function so they can experience true life.
In the end, Yahweh does not give what humanity deserves, but he offers compassion for those who accept his correction.
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Bibliography
Atherstone, Andrew. “Divine Retribution: A Forgotten Doctrine?” Themelios (2009): 50-62.
Broadman & Holman. HCSB Free – Holman Christian Standard Bible – Free Version. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2016.
McConville, J Gordon. “Retribution in Deuteronomy: Theology and Ethics.” Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology (2015): 288-298.
Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. NET Bible®. 1996-2018.
