Curses into Blessings

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University

October 13, 2008
"Thy Thummin and thy Uri are with HIm whom you love." Deutoeronmy 33:8

"Simeon and Levi are brothers--their swords are weapons of violence...Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel." Genesis 49: 3-7.

Curses into Blessings

Israel had laws and customs to protect the ownership of tribes' and family's land, and inheritance--but Simeon and Levi were denied land, and scattered throughout Israel, because of their anger, deceit and murder when they avenged their sister's rape.

Some argue that the dying Jacob cursed his sons' anger, not his sons themselves, but the effect was the same. Of all Israel, they alone were denied an inheritance. Simeon's descendants lived in the territory of Judah, and the Levites were dispersed, living in 48 towns and the countryside.

But because of their later obedience and zeal for the Lord's honor, the Levite's curse was transformed into a blessing, and they were made the priests of Israel. They still had no land, but their lack of land also meant they were not tied to any one piece of land, so they had the freedom to live anywhere, and serve anywhere.

Even as God's priests, the Levites still had their struggles. In the very last book of the Old Testament, God warns the Levites (Malachi 2:1-2), that if they will not listen to Him, He will curse them, and "curse their blessings."

If we, like Levi and Simeon, have blown it, we need not dwell upon it, and allow it to define the remainder of our lives. Even curses can become blessings (though we must still reap the natural consequences of our actions). But if, once we are blessed and prosperous, we do not continue to learn and grow, and if we again disobey, our blessings can again become curses. There is no place for sitting on our laurels.

As Paul wrote in Romans 8:28, "For we know that God causes all things to work for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose." Paul did not say that all things were good; he said that God causes all things to work for the good. He also said this is only for those who love God, and who are called according to His purpose. If we are seeking our own purposes, then things will work together as we have caused them.

As the planet reels under economic turmoil, I hope we can review what has led us to this state, and if we are again blessed, in spite of ourselves, that the next time around we will be better stewards of our blessings.


F.B. Meyer writes of this verse,

"What a contrast between the blessings of Jacob and of Moses! In Jacob's farewell charge, we find the ominous words, 'Curse be Levi'; and he foretells that this tribe should be divided, and scattered in Israel. But here the curse is turned into a blessing; and the scattering is transformed into a holy ministry for the whole of Israel, 'They shall teach Jacob thy judgments and Israel thy law....They shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt-offering upon thine altar.'

"If ever there was an illustration of the power we have to turn a curse into a blessing, it is here. Step by step the results of that awful sin, for which Jacob cursed his sons, are changed into benedictions. Where sin abounded, grace has much more abounded; indeed, it has reigned, it has broken out into radiant and royal glory. Do not sit down hopeless, because of the consequences of an early sin that threaten to follow you to your grave. You may yet get honey out of the lion's carcase..."

F.B.Meyer, in "Our Daily Homily" (Megan and Scott, 1894, London; also available in an inexpensive reprint from Zondervan as "Great Verses Through the Bible").

Bill Brown
Xiamen University
www.amoymagic.com