Why did Moses tell the Isrealites that The Lord would be 'pleased to prosper them', and He is 'please to destroy them', if God is not willing that any should perish?
In Deuteronomy 28:63 (NIV), Moses writes "Just as it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess." Why would Moses define God's love and provision to be equal with God's wrath and ability to destroy humanity? And secondly, how does such a writing complement what Peter will write centuries later in 2 Peter 3:9, where he writes "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."
Deuteronomy 28:63
ESV - 63 And as the Lord took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the Lord will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you. And you shall be plucked off the land that you are entering to take possession of it.
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JD Abshire
First I would like to commend you on quoting the whole verse; most only use the last half and arrive at an incomplete understanding at best. After all, it takes two halves to equal a whole. 2 Peter 3:9 begins: "This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you..." The pronoun "you" is preceded by the antecedent "beloved". Obviously Peter is writing to the beloved, born again believers. Unbelievers are NEVER referred to as "beloved". Referring to the scoffers he described verses 3-4, Peter identifies them in verse 5 with the pronoun, "they". In verse 8 Peter draws a sharp contrast beginning with "But, beloved...". The word “but” is always used in scripture to show the flip side, opposites. It is easy to see there are two distinctly different classifications or groups of people in the context. Peter is speaking to the "Beloved" and warning the "beloved" concerning the second group which is the "scoffers", the ones he refers to as "they". Now look at the entire verse in question. 2 Peter 3:9 "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Who is the Lord longsuffering toward? “Usward” or (us, the beloved), the collective group who have and will come to a saving knowledge of God’s grace. When did believers become beloved? "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:" (Ephesians 1:4) “But if any man love God, the same is known of him.” (1 Corinthians 8:3) A true, born again believer reciprocates "We love him, because he first loved us." (1 John 4:19) “It shall greatly help you to understand Scripture if you mark not only what is spoken or written, but ask of whom and to whom, with what words, at what time, where, to what intent, with what circumstances, considering what goes before and what comes after” Miles Coverdale Myles Coverdale was a 16th-century Bible translator who produced the first complete printed translation of the Bible into English.
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