“I think I have distilled it down to this primary error - Dysfunctionalists have bastardized Genesis 12:3 so much that it retains none of its original meaning and it now acts as the foundation of their WWGC (Who Would God Curse) jewelry set and their universal “Commerce Clause” to condemn anyone who doesn’t have an obsessive Jew fetish...From the early writers until well into the 19th century it was universally held to be a poetic way for God to say, “Abram, trust me when I ask you to leave your home country, I will take personally how you are treated and respond in kind.” Then I started reading some commentary from the non-reformed of the 20th century and while some retained this opinion, I noticed that the gratuitous opinion that “this could be extended to the Jews” was carefully added into the commentary. Reading Dysfunctionalist commentary, they completely departed from the centuries old majority view and just claimed “This means Jews”.
Furthermore, the “bless those who bless you, curse him who curses you” part was not repeated by God to Isaac yet all of the other promises were. When Isaac blessed Jacob, he personally added “bless those who bless you” but did not restore the “curse”. This is further scriptural evidence that the “blessing/cursings” promise was only to Abram and was a reward for his faith.”
If you look beyond Gen. 12:3, you can see that this promise was indeed made for the Jewish people. Take a look at Gen. 27:29 (promise to Isaac):
29 May peoples serve you,
And nations bow down to you;
Be master of your brothers,
And may your mother’s sons bow down to you
Cursed be those who curse you,
And blessed be those who bless you.”
Looks to me like the “curse” part is indeed in place.
Also, further support that God has continued this promise for the Jews is found in Numbers 24:1-10:
1When Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to BLESS ISRAEL, he did not go as at other times to seek omens but he set his face toward the wilderness.
2And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel camping tribe by tribe; and the Spirit of God came upon him.
3He took up his discourse and said,
“The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor,
And the oracle of the man whose eye is opened;
4The oracle of him who hears the words of God,
Who sees the vision of the Almighty,
Falling down, yet having his eyes uncovered,
5How fair are your tents, O Jacob,
Your dwellings, O Israel!
6”Like valleys that stretch out,
Like gardens beside the river,
Like aloes planted by the LORD,
Like cedars beside the waters.
7”Water will flow from his buckets,
And his seed will be by many waters,
And his king shall be higher than Agag,
And his kingdom shall be exalted.
8”God brings him out of Egypt,
He is for him like the horns of the wild ox
He will devour the nations who are his adversaries,
And will crush their bones in pieces,
And shatter them with his arrows.
9”He crouches, he lies down as a lion,
And as a lion, who dares rouse him?
BLESSED IS EVERYONE WHO BLESSES YOU,
AND CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO CURSES YOU.”
10Then Balak’s anger burned against Balaam, and he struck his hands together; and Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, but behold, you have persisted in blessing them these three times!”
So you see, this is not only a personal promise to Abraham, but to his descendants as well.
I leave you with Deut. 10:15:
“Yet the LORD set his affection on your forefathers and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations, as it is today.”
Everlasting.
If you look beyond Gen. 12:3, you can see that this promise was indeed made for the Jewish people. Take a look at Gen. 27:29 (promise to Isaac):
Then you might as well take the advice from Job's wife "Curse God and die." I am well aware of passages where one person passes on his blessings on to another. The passages I was interested in were those where the one making the blessing was God Himself. I can say "Bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you" to anyone, or I may even be selective, but the fact remains, the only one to have the power to make that alive is God.
So you see, this is not only a personal promise to Abraham, but to his descendants as well.
Sorry. I don't see. Quite literally I don't see it for the historical and empirical record don't support this bolt thrown down from heaven paradigm. The US has been Israel's best friend and from your associates, we only have a future of misery and failure. On the other-hand, have you been to Dubai? I have had the pleasure of being there a few times and if that is cursing, bring it on.
While speaking of the Middle East, and Islam in particular, it has long been a tradition of that culture to see success and failure directly a component of Allah's [capricious] Will. When I heard that message by TM, the mechanics, inspiration and consequences sounded remarkably similar to what the Muslims believe; replace "God" with "Allah" and swap the beneficiaries and you have Islamic doctrine. Just saying.
I think what we would be more appropriate here is to get to the heart of the matter, and that is to recognize that the LORD protects His own:
Zech 2:8-9 "For thus says the Lord of hosts: "He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye."
Now to where we would disagree is to whom does God claim as His own. Dispensationalists have no love for the Church of God and thus do not see God caring for the Church, rather that love and affection is attributed to ethnic Jews who hate God and blaspheme His Son. The rest of Faith see the Church as the "apple of God's eye". So where the ethnic sons of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob benefited until the promises were fulfilled in His Son in the first century, the apple of God's eye has always been those of Faith in His Son since Abel.
Recognizing the differences in opinion, I ask how do you square your God as Zeus theology with this passage:
Matthew 5:44-45 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Your theology runs smack dab against God's NT Law to bless those who curse you. Now you may say that this is only for Christians and not for God, but the next passage says that the LORD causes the sun to rise and rain to fall on both the evil and the good. In fact, reading the second chapter of Romans and elsewhere we know that God stores up His Wrath for the Day of Judgment, rather than having it come out in drips and drabs unexpectedly.
Therefore Dispensationalist theology is similar to Islam in that God deals out judgments spontaneously, against the innocent at times, without warning, and without the opportunity for repentance. Christian theology easily shows a God of Mercy who stores up His Wrath has set a Day for Judgment, will do so according to His Justice, and has provided messengers to convey a means of escape through Repentance. That is God's M.O.
Yet another reason why Dispensationalism is fully incompatible with God's Word and His Church.