Why are the punishments in the Old Testament so severe?
Genesis 3:14-19The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed . . .” Then he said to the woman, “I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. . . .” And to the man he said, “Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. . . .you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.”
Romans 5:12-21When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. Yes, people sinned even before the law was given. But it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law to break. Still, everyone died—from the time of Adam to the time of Moses—even those who did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam did. Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come. But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ. Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. . . . So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 8:18-25What we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)
In the original set of punishments issued by God in the Garden of Eden, the entire created order was deeply affected. The terrible punishment for Adam and Eve’s deliberate act of disobedience brought brokenness and suffering into God’s perfect and pristine creation. When we recoil at the severity of the consequences and their ongoing results, we are indicating, among other things, that we find it hard to hold ourselves accountable for our participation in the fallen human race. But if we fail to do that, we are unable to repent and receive God’s free gift of forgiveness. Truth be told, we all sin on a regular basis, confirming that we all share in the guilt of Adam and Eve. We all are in need of God’s healing forgiveness.
Genesis 4:9-16The Lord said, “. . . Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground! Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has swallowed your brother’s blood. No longer will the ground yield good crops for you, no matter how hard you work! From now on you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.”
Leviticus 20:1-27The Lord said to Moses, “Give the people of Israel these instructions, which apply both to native Israelites and to the foreigners living in Israel. “If any of them offer their children as a sacrifice to Molech, they must be put to death. The people of the community must stone them to death. . . . You must be holy because I, the Lord, am holy.”
The serpent was punished forever for tempting Eve and Adam into sin; Cain’s punishment was living alone with the guilt of murdering his brother. People who murdered their children in horrific religious practices were given the death penalty. The severity of these punishments was intended to impress upon God’s people the seriousness of this sin.
