Chapter  3

Hunger

Jesus said, “The poor ye have always with you”.  Why is this so?  We have come a long way since the simple economies and primitive agriculture of the Mediterranean world of Christ’s day.  Why can we not eliminate poverty?  Why can we not abolish hunger?  Currently in my home state there is a drive by a deluded philanthropist to make Rhode Island “the first hunger free state.”  Why is this such folly?  The reason is sin.  Hunger and poverty are the consequences of sin.  They are God’s judgments on sin.  When Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden they didn’t face the prospect of poverty and hunger.  All their needs were provided in abundance.  But after the fall into the sin, with the creation groaning under the Lord’s righteous curse, things were radically different. 

“And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;  Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;  In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Genesis 3:17-19). 

As long as there is sin, and as long as we labor under the curse of sin, there will be struggle, hunger, and death.  God gave the children of Israel a land flowing with milk and honey.  The fertility and fruitfulness of the land were remarkable.  But their tenure on the land was based on their faithful keeping of God’s covenant and the laws and statutes that it contained.  If they were faithful Moses  promised them,

“And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:  And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.  Deuteronomy 28:3  Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.  Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep...And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee” (Deuteronomy 28:1-4,11). 

But Moses also severely warned them of the consequences of forsaking God’s covenant and walking in their own ways and the ways of the heathen.

“But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:  Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.  Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.  Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.....And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.  The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.....Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it.  Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them.  Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit.....All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume” (Deuteronomy 28:15-18, 23-24, 38-40, 42)

The above quoted judgments are not merely the exclusive sanctions of the Sinaitic Covenant.  As we have seen, from Adam through Moses, these are the definitive judgments of God on sin.  Hunger and famine are not merely random circumstances, visited by chance on its innocent victims.  Rather, they are the continuing sanctions of a Holy God on his sinful creation as He maintains his prerogatives as the Moral Governor of the universe. 

We live in a scientific age.  This gives us an unprecedented understanding of the secondary causes of many of the events in God’s creation.  We are treated to detailed scientific dissertations on the causes of floods and famines; on the genesis of tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other so called “natural disasters”.  Unfortunately, this preoccupation with the means that God’s employs to bring his will to pass in history causes us to frequently overlook the elemental fact that the primary cause of all these events is the determinate will and the eternal decrees of God.  These events are not accidental; they do not come to pass by chance.  Not only are they the deliberate acts of a sovereign and omniscient God, but the scriptures teach that they are the righteous responses of a Holy God to man’s sin.  Take war as an example.  War is not only a destructive event by itself, but also a chief cause of famine.  The history books are full of the debates about the major causes of various wars.  But the ultimate cause is not in man’s actions but in the judgments of God.  Examples are legion and I will cite just one significant case from scripture.  Solomon means peace.  Solomon was designated to build the Temple in Jerusalem because he was a man of peace rather than David his father, who was a man of war.  However in his old age Solomon apostatized and worshipped idols.  The result was that God in judgment revoked the peace of the Kingdom and embroiled Solomon in foreign wars.

“For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.  For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.  And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father.  Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon.  And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods.  And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice,  And had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods: but he kept not that which the LORD commanded.  Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant.  Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father’s sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son.  Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen.  And the LORD stirred up an adversary unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite: he was of the king’s seed in Edom.....And God stirred him up another adversary, Rezon the son of Eliadah, which fled from his lord Hadadezer king of Zobah.....And he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, beside the mischief that Hadad did: and he abhorred Israel, and reigned over Syria” (I Kings 11:4-14, 23-25)

Solomon was not the only King of Israel that did not always live up to his name.  Names in the scriptures are important.  Frequently, when a man’s situation was radically changed his name was changed to reflect his new status.  A few examples are Abraham, Sarah, Israel, and Coniah.  Solomon’s name may not have been changed, but when he sinned God radically changed his situation. He was no longer the man of peace; the peaceful king.  He was now compelled to deal with the curse of war.

Another major cause of famine is drought.  Droughts are no more accidental than wars in God’s scheme of things.  Another example from Israel’s history is illustrative.  Another apostate King of Israel pushes the envelope of sin and idolatry out another notch.  The scriptures record his evil  and indicate God’s response.

“And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him.  And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him.  And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.  And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.....And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word”  (I Kings 16:30-33, I kings 17:1). 

God’s response was drought and the attendant famine in the land.  Drought and famine at least for a season, until God’s purposes were fulfilled.  In due course God relented and sent rain upon the earth.  “And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, show thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.  And Elijah went to show himself unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine in Samaria” (1 Kings 18:1-2).

We are not sure of all God’s reasons for delivering Israel from these tribulations.  But Ahab had been taught a significant lesson.  He had been taught that the God he was rejecting was sovereign over even the rain and the harvest, was the giver of life and the supplier of food.  The rain also sent deliverance to Ahab’s godly prime minister, Obadiah, who used his position in the court to protect and to provision scores of Jahweh’s faithful prophets throughout Jezebel’s persecution and the terrible famine.  But most significantly, the rain did not come, and the famine did not end, until Israel as a nation rejected Baal and reaffirmed their faith in Jahweh on Mount Carmel.

“Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.  And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.  And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.  And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain” (1 Kings 18:38-41). 

The lessons here are clear.  First, it is God that both sends and withholds rain.  Secondly, God does not act in a capricious manner when he withholds rain and precipitates famine. Rather He does so in specific response to man’s idolatry and wickedness.  Thirdly, He sends relief in response to repentance and the acknowledgment of his Lordship.  And in the light of all this it is of course somewhat hard to imagine that a little foreign aid from the Philistines was all that Israel needed to deal with the temporary capriciousness of “Mother Nature”!

Elijah was not the only prophet to confront Kings with the claims of Jahweh.  Moses. the great prophet of the Old Testament, had a similar commission when God sent him to confront Pharaoh.  Pharaoh’s response was arrogant and derisive. “And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.  And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go” (Exodus 5:1-2).  The result of Pharaoh’s refusal to submit to the Lord and obey God’s commandment was the ten plagues.  The result of these plagues was not only that God prevailed and Israel was liberated from Egyptian bondage, but also that Egypt was destroyed.  As Pharaoh’s counselors reminded him, “And Pharaoh’s servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?” (Exodus 10:7). 

Not only did these plagues destroy Egypt, but a significant number of them would have caused famine conditions in Egypt.  Without the Nile, Egypt would be almost a desert.  Its annual flooding was absolutely necessary to irrigation and agriculture.  The Egyptians were so dependent on the Nile they worshipped it as a source of fertility.  The first plague turned it into blood.  A subsequent plague killed all the livestock of the Egyptians.  Then a plague of hail destroyed all the fruit trees and the crops.  What little vegetation that may have survived was destroyed by the plague of locusts.  Not only was Egypt destroyed but she was reduced to famine conditions.  Again it is significant to note that the plagues did not end until Pharaoh relented, submitted to Jahweh, and agreed to let his people go. 

It is important to recognize that these examples span the time from Adam to Christ.  They are by no means unique to Israel or to the Sinaitic Covenant.  The relative silence of the New Testament with regard to these matters does not alter this in any way.  Silence does not repeal.  It only leaves things unchanged.  As Christ said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” (Matthew 5:17).

Finally, there is abundant testimony in the scriptures to the fact that God is sovereign over his creation and that he is in personal and continual control of what we generally refer to as the forces of nature.  To believe otherwise is to be a Deist.  The testimony of Job is an abundant one on this issue.  When tragedy upon tragedy struck Job and the Lord stripped him of everything except hope in the life to come Job did not curse “Mother Nature” or bemoan his bad luck.  Rather he testified to his friends, “Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net” (Job 19:6).  Job knew that all his tribulations came from the Lord; the Lord who is control of all aspects of his creation.  A belief that the Book of Job sets forth in great detail.

“Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.  Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?  Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;  When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?  Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?  When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,  And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,  And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?  Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place;  That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?  It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment.  And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken.  Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?  Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?  Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest it all.  Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof,  That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof?  Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born? or because the number of thy days is great?  Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail,  Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?  By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?  Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder;  To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man;  To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?  Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?  Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?  The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.  Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?  Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?  Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?  Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee?  Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?  Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart? Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven,  When the dust groweth into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together? (Job 38:4-38)

If we really believe in the God of the scriptures, let us forever be done with the foolish notion that plague, famine, and national calamity are unfortunate happenstances that engulf hosts of innocent victims.  Let us instead maintain a belief in the moral government of a Holy God.