Jeremiah 48:10:  “Cursed [be] he that doeth the work of the LORD deceitfully, and cursed [be] he that keepeth back his sword from blood.”

I recall as a small child in grammar school the day Alan Shepherd flew into space.  Our teacher brought a television into our classroom and we watched what seemed hours and most likely seemed hours to Alan Shepherd as there was delay after delay before the launch of the first American into space.  Finally the voice of Alan Shepherd came over the TV, “Let’s light this candle.”  They did just that.  I remember picturing in my mind some white coated worker running out to the launch pad with a book of matches and lighting a fuse to set off the fire from the engines. Naturally, there was a lot more taking place than lighting a candle.  It is just a figure of speech, a metaphor. They were not really lighting a candle.  Then a couple weeks later I saw an article in the newspaper which showed,  I believe,  Alan Shepherd’s mother or some close friend or relative of the family lighting a candle in church just before the launch.  I wondered, “Maybe he was just sending a message to his mother to light a candle for him in church and the launch team took it the wrong way, or maybe it carried a double message, “Launch this bucket and light a candle for me.”

Who knows? The context, however, clearly suggest Alan Shepherd meant to launch the vehicle, just as the context in Jeremiah 48:10 says that those who fail to do the work of God in the destruction of  Moab should be cursed.  Yet, how do we know there was not a double message in there?   The prophets spoke many many messages.  Only a fraction of those messages were recorded and only a small portion of those are found in the Word of God.  The Jewish sages teach and I agree 100% that every word in the Holy Scriptures bear significance.  God has not wasted one word in Scripture and every word is carefully chosen.  This is why I devoted my life to the study of each word in the Scriptures for in each word exists a world to be entered,  a world filled  with knowledge of God that we have yet to even pursue.

Yes, Jeremiah 48:10  has a context that has no meaning for me today. Still, it is in the Word of God so there must be some meaning for me to be found despite the surface meaning, there is a message for me and you and we must just wait upon the Holy Spirit to reveal that message to us personally.

So maybe I am taking this first phrase out of context, yet I believe God carefully worded this phrase to apply to all ages and, gasp! To be used out of context: “Cursed [be] he that doeth the work of the LORD deceitfully.” I believe God not only had a context for this phrase but also wanted it to stand outside its context and when we do that, hooky smokes, that is profound.   First let’s examine this word curse.  There are a number of words in Hebrew that we render into English as curse, but they all means something a bit different so it is important not to generalize and assume it means curse like we understand the word curse in English. You know, like the Mummy’s Curse.  In English the word curse means an expression of a wish that misfortune will befall someone. As in the Mummy’s Curse the word is used to express the idea that the Mummy is somehow invoking some evil upon someone.  I have heard curse  used in the sense of one who is excommunicated from a group or and he is considered cursed that is he anyone from the group or fellowship who even talk with him is somehow tainted. So it is very important we know what type of curse God is talking about.  Here the word in Hebrew is ‘arar.  This is not used for invoking some evil upon someone but to denounce someone.  In the presidential debate we had Sunday both candidates got very heated and began denouncing each other. We would not say they were cursing each other, yet they were ‘arar denouncing each other.  That is that they were publicly condemning each other as morally corrupt or unfit to be President.  Practically every modern English translation I read says God will curse you if you deceitfully do His work. Yet even in our modern context we would not use the English word curse anymore than we would use it for what the two presidential candidates were doing to each other yesterday.  Like you my first thought is that if God is going to curse us He will invoke some bad thing to happen to us.  Actually according to the Hebrew ‘arar I don’t believe curse is correct, more precisely He will condemn as unfit to serve Him.

The work God is talking about in this context is the work to bring about the judgment upon Moab.  But look at what this word work means, the type of work we are talking about.  This word for work is melakah which is your occupation, what you do every day to feed your family and yourself. It is your job.  This is the work of the Lord, the job of the Lord. What is the job or vocation of the Lord?  Good question.  The work or occupation of Jesus is to be the Christ or the Messiah, the anointed one to die on the cross and bring life to the world.  In the Book of John we find that His job is to be the Light of God to the world.  His job is to be  The Light that brings life.

Ok that brings us to this point.  We are condemned as unfit to carry out the occupation of God of bringing This Light and life into this world if we do it deceitfully. What is deceitfully?  My first thought is to do it dishonestly.  That word rendered as deceitfully is remiyah.  It comes from the root word ramah which has the idea of being lazy, idle or slothful. It also expresses the idea of being treacherous or deceitful.  If we trance this word back to its Semitic roots we find it is an old Canaanite word used by the military for a battle wound that has been unattended and becomes infected, ugly, gangrenous  and putrid.  It is recognized as dangerous and that if not treated it will lead to death.

So what do can we conclude.  In its context the work of God is to destroy Moab, but those who practice this work of God with deadly, dangerous or putrid, impure intentions will be cursed or unfit to do God’s job.  A little odd because is that not the type of work you and I are called to, that is to bring judgment upon a nation. But what about this bloody assignment?  I believe God has chosen His words carefully to look beyond the bloody aspect of this job.  Who actually kills the prisoner with a lethal injection?  The doctor who inserts the needle?   The Judge who gives the order?  The Lawmaker who passes the law that allows the execution?  If you and I who vote for the lawmaker who passes the law to allow the execution for a crime that the judge will determine was committed to order a doctor to insert that needle made by a company that makes needles, made by a lone factory worker who  pushes the button on the machine that makes the needle, just who is doing the killing?  In the case of Moab, God is the sole responsibility for the destruction of this nation and those who carry it out are merely the executioners doing His work.

But on a personal level taking this out of context as I not a military soldier or in any position to be an executioner this verse is telling me that God will condemn me as unfit to serve Him if I do His work of bringing his life and light in a way that makes Him look putrid and ugly.   The very thought of being unfit to serve the God for whom my soul loves sounds a lot like a curse to me.