will turn against you, and you will be defeated by all your enemies. They will rule over you, and you will run even yield no crops, and your trees will bear no fruit.’ when no one is chasing you… And if, in spite of this, you still disobey me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over. I will break down your arrogant spirit by making the skies above as unyielding as iron and the earth beneath hard as bronze. All your work will be for nothing’. Levit. 26: 14-20
The Second Option of the Choice
Following the repentance of the Israelites they were given a second option. The second choice of disobedience is offered to the Israelites in terms of freedom of choice and its consequences of disobedience:
‘” But if you refuse to listen to the Eternal your God and do not obey all the commands and laws I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overwhelm you: You will be cursed in your towns and in the country. You will be cursed with baskets empty of fruit…You will be cursed with few children and barren fields…You will be cursed wherever you go, both in coming and in going…The Eternal will strike you with wasting disease…The Eternal will cause you to be defeated by your enemies…The Eternal will exile you and the king you crowned to a nation unknown to you and your ancestors…If you refuse to listen to the Eternal your God and to obey the commands and laws he has given you, all these curses will pursue and overtake you until you are destroyed.”‘ Deut. 28: 15-17, 19-20, 25, 36, 45
These texts of the Old Testament indicate clearly the conditions of the risk of oscillation of the Israelites between belief and disbelief and between obedience and disobedience in respect of the message of