The Five Stages of Deuteronomy 8

TREASURES OF WICKEDNESS

Treasures of wickedness profit nothing:
but righteousness delivereth from death (Prov. 10:2).

There are two truths taught by this proverb: (1) there are measurable treasures that are the result of wickedness; (2) righteousness delivers men from death. Both of these truths demand an explanation derived from the texts of the Bible.

1. Wealthy wicked: The problem of the covenant-breaking wealthy plagued Asaph. “For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men” (Ps. 73:3–5). But Asaph then asserted that their success is the basis of their subsequent downfall: “Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than their heart could wish. They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily” (Ps. 73:6–8). They do not believe that God sees their deeds: “And they say, How doth God know? And, Is there knowledge in the most high? Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches” (Ps. 73:11–12). The message is clear: ungodly men prosper. The exegetical challenge is to make sense of this principle in light of the outline of Deuteronomy 28, which proclaims that godly societies prosper, and rebellious societies are destroyed by the judgment of God. Does this principle not also apply to individuals? Is there a disconnect between economic causation for individuals and society? The outline in Deuteronomy 8 provides the key. It presents a stage theory of development.

First, God gives covenant-keepers His Bible- revealed law, so that they might preserve and expand their wealth. Then He gives them a capital base to work with (8:1).[1]
Second, they begin to prosper. This prosperity is supposed to confirm their faith in the reliability of God’s covenant: “. . . for it is he that giveth thee the power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day” (8:18).[2] The external blessings are to serve as spiritual reinforcement.
Third, people are tempted to forget God, and to assert their autonomy. God warns men against this sin: “And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth” (8:17).[3]
Fourth, there is a period of judgment against those who rebel against God in this fashion (8:19 –20).[4]

There is a fifth possible stage: restoration (Isa. 2). There are two kinds of negative judgment: judgment unto restoration and judgment unto oblivion. Whether a society experiences restoration depends upon the ethical response of the society to God’s judgment.

The Bible is clear: there are covenantal blessings and cursings that involve the whole society. The Bible is equally clear about the possibility of wealthy wicked people. They may be wealthy in any of the five stages, but wealth in the hands of wicked people as a class is characteristic of the third stage: autonomy and rebellion, which is the prelude to stage four, i.e., the comprehensive judgment of God.

The point made by this proverb is that the treasure held by the ungodly person profits him nothing. In other words, he has made an entrepreneurial error by thinking that the pay-off was worth the corruption necessary to obtain it. The wicked man’s efforts produce a personal loss.

Does this mean that wealth as such is unprofitable? No; it means that wealth is unprofitable for the wicked individual. There is objective value in a treasure – objective in the sense that God imputes value to it – but the wicked man does not appropriate this value without also gaining the vengeance of God. He sees only the value of the treasure and the ethical cost of attaining it; he does not see the hidden costs of rebellion. Thus, the subjective value of this treasure to the wicked is ultimately negative, what Proverbs 25:22 describes as “coals of fire” on the heads of the unrighteous.[5]

2. Mortality tables: Long life is characteristic of covenant-keeping men. Men who honor their parents have long lives (Ex. 20:12 ).[6] Long life is a universally agreed-upon blessing. Thus, all people can see this beneficial biological result of godliness in society as a whole (Deut. 4:6–8),[7] and they are thereby encouraged to enter into a covenant with God. Righteous men, in the aggregate, are delivered from death for a longer period of time than unrighteous men are. Individual righteous men may die young, and individual wicked men may die old, but in the aggregate, long life goes to the righteous. Because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23), all men eventually die, in time and on earth.[8] Nevertheless, long life points to eternal life. Men to whom the righteousness of Christ is imputed by God’s grace can expect eternal life and therefore long lives on earth. The gift of eternal life, which is publicly manifested at the final judgment, is preceded by an earthly parallel – not for every righteous man, but for men in general who adhere in general to the provisions of biblical law.

People in Third World nations have shorter life expectancies than people in Western, industrial countries. Why? Because Third World nations are characterized by such afflictions as animism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and imported Western socialism. Socialism came early to these nations during their period of Westernization, not a century after free market economics created a massive capital base, as was the case in the industrial West. The oil-rich Muslem nations are exceptions to the rule regarding paganism, but their wealth is dependent upon the productivity of the West, which has discovered valuable uses for oil. Japan also has escaped the economic curses of paganism by imitating Western law and western technology. The Japanese have also adopted a Western, linear view of time, as well as Western doctrines of thrift and hard, smart work. Japan has adopted a Protestant ethic without adopting Protestant theology. The result has been rising per capita wealth. China after 1978 imitated Japan, with similar economic results.

Humanism is steadily eroding the capital base of the West, and if State regulation of the economy continues to be enforced by Western civil governments, then the West will eventually become poor by comparison to Asia. But, in terms of external law, the legal codes of Western nations are still closer to biblical law than the law codes of Third World nations are. So is Western humanism’s view of linear time. The difference can be seen by comparing mortality tables of various societies.

Conclusion

Why do we see the wicked prosper? This question bothered Asaph. It bothers most covenant-keeping people at some point in their lives. There has to be an explanation that is consistent with what the Bible teaches about historical cause and effect.

Deuteronomy 8 presents a five-stage theory of history: from poverty to wealth to either poverty or greater wealth. Some wicked people prosper in every stage, but the third stage – wealth unto autonomy – offers the great threat to the continued success of society. Autonomy brings the historical wrath of God.

There are visible signs of a society that adheres to the principles of biblical law. One example is longer life. The West has enjoyed this since the at least mid-nineteenth century, when the social order more fully adopted biblical principles of private ownership and independence from the State. This longer life span is seen in lower life insurance rates.

Notes

1. Gary North, Inheritance and Dominion: An Economic Commentary on Deuteronomy, 2nd electronic edition (Harrisonburg, Virginia: Dominion Educational Ministries, Inc., [1999] 2003), ch. 17.

2. Ibid., ch. 21.

3. Idem.

4. Ibid., ch. 22. 107

5. Chapter 75.

6. Gary North, The Sinai Strategy: Economics and the Ten Commandments (Tyler, Texas: Institute for Christian Economics, 1986), ch. 5.

7. North, Inheritance, ch. 8.

8. The only exceptions: those alive at the time of the Second Coming (I Thess. 4:17 ).

From:

Gary North, Gods Success Manual: An Economic Commentary on Proverbs, GaryNorth.com, Inc., 2007.

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