Deuteronomy 28:1-161And 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: 2And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. 3Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. 4Blessed 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. 5Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. 6Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. 7The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. 8The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. 9The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways. 10And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee. 11And 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. 12The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. 13And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them: 14And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. 15But 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: 16Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. (Deuteronomy 28:1‑16)
IN CHAPTER 28 we have both blessing and cursing, but these are not the same as we had in the last chapter. These here had to do with God’s government in their daily walk. And we as God’s children now come under His chastening hand in our daily walk. If our souls rest on what He is for us in Christ, we get the blessing. But if we choose to stand on what we do ourselves, on this ground we do not get the blessing but the curse. For even a Christian may put himself under the law and thus come under the curse, the very thing the Lord Jesus died to deliver us from. He gave Himself upon the cross, to take this curse upon Himself that it might not fall upon us.
An Israelite who kept the commandments of the Lord was blessed — his land, his children, his cattle, and all that belonged to him. All the nations should be afraid of them if they kept God’s commandments and the Lord would make them the greatest of all the nations. They would be the head and not the tail.
The Lord would open unto them His good treasure, the heaven would give rain upon the land in its season, and He would bless all the work of their hands. Under His good hand they would have such plenty that they could lend to other nations, but they must not borrow from them, because they would have more than they needed.
We can see that all these blessings were earthly and are in marked contrast with our blessings now, for we are a heavenly people. The Lord has promised to supply all our needs as we pass through this wilderness world, and oftentimes He gives us more than we need, for He is ever a free-giving God. But we are not promised earthly blessings; ours are heavenly. God has blessed us “with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:33Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: (Ephesians 1:3).)
“But it shall come to pass, that if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all His commandments,... Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field....” Moses tells them that if they turned away from God then all their blessings should become curses, because they had forsaken their God who loved them so much.
Alas, such is the natural heart. It will ever turn away from God, in the face of all His goodness and grace. May we profit from Israel’s sad history, for our hearts are no better than theirs. We cannot keep ourselves, dear young Christian; the Lord alone can keep us. May we cleave to Him with purpose off heart, and not settle down in this world, but go on quietly with Him, waiting for that blest moment when He shall come and take us to our heavenly home.
ML-01/25/1976