Proverbs 3:33

The curse of the Lord. God’s curses are not like the curses of men. Men curse others because they hate or fear them and wish them harm. Balaam was called to curse Israel because Balak believed that Balaam could cause affliction to an innocent people by maledictions (Num. 22-24). God’s curses are not due to hate or to a sudden loss of temper. Some of the worst curses in the Bible are found in Deut. 28, and many of them are obviously pronouncements of the natural consequences of disobedience to God’s commands.

The coming of the Babylonians to capture Jerusalem was in part the result of Hezekiah’s failure to teach the visitors from that city of the true God, whose healing power brought restored health (Isa. 39), but the destruction of the city could still have been averted in Jeremiah’s day had the descendants of Hezekiah turned to the Lord and made it possible for God to intervene in their behalf (Jer. 17:19-27). The Babylonians never forgot the treasures they had seen, and were glad of the excuse to come and plunder Israel.

A study of all the curses in the Bible shows that many of them are prophecies of the natural and inevitable outcome of rebellion against God. “The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked” because the sinner’s self-willed course has prevented the God of love from bringing him into harmony with the eternal laws of life and happiness.

That the blessing of God is upon the habitation of the righteous is equally true. The loving God enters into every heart and every home that is open to Him, and wherever He enters He brings peace and blessing (see Rev. 3:20).