10/29/78

DOCTRINE OF CHEREM

A. The Hebrew word CHEREM means what was consecrated to God without capability of being ransomed. It refers to something given to God which could not be redeemed. This meaning is found in Lev 27:28-29.

B. Paul would like to cherem himself so that Israel could be saved in Rom 9:3. But such a wish by Paul violates the principle of self-determination in the angelic conflict.

C. The first born of Israel were redeemed by the death of another. Children and animals were under cherem. Children were redeemable by the death of an animal sacrifice. Gal 3:13 illustrates this.

D. Christ is said to be cherem, for He was cursed for our sins. Jesus Christ could not be redeemed from the cross because He was cherem for our sins. Nothing could take His place. Because He was cherem, He also had to die a physical death. He had to go to the cross as cherem. He could not redeem Himself and us at the same time.

E. Jericho is an illustration of cherem. God said that everything inside the city was cursed except Rahab and her family. Everything else was dedicated to the Lord and was to be killed. They could not be saved.

F. Cherem applies to people and to things.

1. Everything found in plunder was to be put in the treasury, Josh 6:17-19. Jericho was dedicated to the Lord as the first city in the land to be attacked. Therefore, it was dedicated in an unredeemable manner.

2. People had to be destroyed as per the principle of Lev 18:20-25; Deut 18:9-12.

3. Achon violated the ban in Josh 7:1; he stole some clothing, 200 shekels of silver, and a dagger made of gold. In Josh 7:21 Achon confesses. He stole what belonged to the Lord, so he was executed.

4. The sin of one man (Achon) was imputed to Israel because one man had violated cherem. Because of this, God could not bless Israel in battle. All Israel was under cherem until Achon died.

5. We were all under cherem until Christ died in our place on the cross. __________________________________________________________________________

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