What is the DPCD cycle, and why is it important? For one, despite the unfamiliar name, the DPCD cycle (which stands for Disobedience-Punishment-Contrition-Deliverance) is a classic pattern of behavior found in the Bible (more on that shortly) as well as numerous other religious worldviews. In fact, the cycle can be said to be at the base of all carrot-stick human behavior where compliance with standards and laws depends on punishment and enforcement mechanisms. Therefore, let us explore this cycle a bit more deeply, given its serious contemporary importance.

It is typically thought by “biblical scholars” that the “Deuteronomistic History” shown by the DPCD cycle was a late invention by priests during the time of Josiah, but historical research has found it to be present as early as the 2nd Millennium (and it may in fact be older than that) where penitents of various heathen Egyptian cults praised Amun or some other idol for healing after their disobedience to their faiths brought them into sickness or disaster, but where repentance and contrition brought them mercy and deliverance. Even societies as wicked as ours demand “contrition” from those who are caught up in evil before they are reconciled with the public. Even debased and wicked modern people know that the show of contrition is necessary if one wants to overcome a public scandal. Only God knows the heart and whether the substance is in fact repentance for sure, however.

We find the fullest account of the DPCD cycle in Judges 2:11-23. In fact, the appearance of this cycle is one of the organizing motifs of the author of Judges (perhaps Samuel), showing the careful organization work of the author in crafting a work of sublime theological history. Judges 2:11-23 reads as follows: Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals; and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed other gods from among the gods the people who were all around them; and they provoked the Lord to anger. They forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. So He delivered them into the hand of plunderers who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for calamity, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed. Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them. Yet they would not listen to their judges, but they played the harlot with other gods, and bowed down to them. They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked, in obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not do so. And when the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them and harassed them. And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers, by following other gods, to serve them and bow down to them. They did not cease from their own doings nor from their stubborn way. Then the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not heeded My voice, I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he die, so that through them I may test Israel, whether they will keep the ways of the Lord, to walk with them as their fathers kept them, or not.” Therefore the Lord left those nations, without driving them out immediately; nor did He deliver them into the hand of Joshua.”

Do we think we are better than the people of Israel during Judges? If we think so, we are sorely mistaken. The standard of obedience today, whether for Old Testament Israel or for believers today, is the entire scripture of God. We fall far short of obedience to this standard, even among those of us who boast in the fact that we know and understand keep God’s laws. Let us ask in what ways the nation of Israel was punished for their disobedience, and then ask ourselves if we too fall under condemnation for behaving likewise.

For one, Israel was condemned at the time of Samuel (1 Samuel 8) for looking to physical leaders of a centralized kind to deliver them from the threat of anarchy provided by their own disobedience to God’s way and their own inability to train up local leaders in towns and villages who were faithful to God as the Bible itself commanded (see Exodus 18, for example). Do we seek after one-man rule because of the moral anarchy around us, and because of our own lack of godly responsibility? If so, we are sinners in the same way as ancient Israel.

Are we superstitious? Do we carry around good luck charms, engage in superstitious rituals (athletes are particularly known or these), or use such heathen invocations as amulets and evil eye pendants? If we rely on superstitious habits and supposedly lucky items, we are placing our trust in idols and false gods, and come under punishment for our lack of faith in God. For the faithful at all times (Jacob–see Genesis 35:2, or Joshua–see Joshua 24:23) have called for the people of their lands to put away the foreign gods who are among them and turn their heart and mind to the worship of the True God.

Are we sexually immoral? Among the sins that have typically brought speedy judgment upon nations and peoples were sexual deviancy, rampant sexual immorality, adultery, and rape & sexual abuse. Do we engage in these behaviors? Are we pornographers? Are we fornicators or adulterers or rapists or sexual abusers? If so, we must repent of these things lest we come under divine judgment for our sins. For the sexual sins that are rampant in our society are among the most notable sins that brought condemnation upon Israel (and other societies, like Sodom & Gomorrah) by the judgment of God. When our societies seek to criminalize the condemnation of immoral sexuality, they show themselves so hardened in their evil ways that they cannot bear to accept the existence of divine standards that inhibit or criminalize their own lustful and wicked desires. And let us also note that a public appearance of moral rectitude will not eliminate condemnation for a private reality of immorality. We all have a lot to be forgiven of, myself included.

Do we exploit the poor and powerless? This is another sin that has brought speedy retribution in biblical lands. Ezekiel condemns Sodom & Gomorrah for their lack of hospitality. Amos condemns the selling of the poor for a pair of shoes, the opulence of the rich in ivory houses as “fat cows of Bashan” while the poor people suffer and struggle, and the existence of a slave trade in Tyre. The Bible condemns the withholding of wages from day laborers, lending to the poor at interest (payday loans, car title loans, credit cards, and the like), and moving the boundary markers (the use of eminent domain by cities to increase their tax base by dispossessing the poor of their property). Class warfare can be engaged in by either the poor or the rich (and it is usually the rich who start it and who do it more often and more thoroughly), and to steal is wrong, no matter who does it. If we condone or participate in the exploitation of others, we face condemnation for great evils. If we wage war on the poor or the rich on account of their weakness or wealth, we are not innocent of evil.

From the foregoing, we may gather that we are flagrantly disobedient and inviting divine punishment. For God needs no one to do his work for him, as if He was unable to defend His own legitimate authority in the universe. Nonetheless, He does not wish people to be without warning, for He wishes to allow all to repent before they are condemned. It is only those who harden their hearts against the recognition and repentance of their sins who God wishes to punish. If others who are not so hardened fall into judgment because they were not warned, those who were given the responsibility to warn and did not do so will be held accountable.

Let us not, after all, believe that the time of prophets is over and done with. For on Pentecost the Apostle Peter quoted Joel 2:28-32 in Acts 2:17-21: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out My spirit on all flesh; your sins and your daughters shall prophecy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. And on my menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My spirit in those days; and they shall prophecy. I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath: blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Do we still believe these words, and are we willing to do our job to warn those whose actions place them under divine judgment, even if it requires disobeying men that we may obey God (Acts 5:29)? If so, then let us serve as faithful watchmen, for the days are grim.