Deuteronomy 28

Blessings

The covenant was made with God and would be confirmed in the land between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. From the covenant would flow either blessings or curses. They bound themselves to God. From obedience would come blessing, from disobedience would come curses. God would be forever faithful to the covenant. The choice was theirs, then, whether they would be overtaken by blessings or cursing.

The blessings are portrayed as an entity that catch up with the obedient and overtake them, as though God let it loose upon them. The language speaks of a sure thing happening in due time. It was like a package that would affect every aspect of their life.

Deuteronomy 28:3-14

The blessings have no geographical boundary. It didn’t matter if you worked at a trade in the city or worked in agriculture.

They would be blessed with fertility in their family with offspring. Their land would be fertile and bear fruit, as well as their herds of animals.

The basket used to harvest or gather would be full. The kneading bowl would be full to produce bread.

They would be blessed in their coming and going. This might be the day-to-day activity of a family, but also the movement of armies. Whatever they did, whether coming or going, God would bring blessing.

Any enemy that rose against them would be defeated by the Lord. An enemy that marched against them would be found fleeing in seven directions (scattered).

If they diligently obey the Lord and walk in His ways, they will experience the blessings of being in fellowship with Him. It’s not like a reward system for obedience, it is that obedience displays faith. When they put their trust in Him, they would be overtaken with blessings.

Their storehouses and everything they set their hand to would be blessed by God. All the world would see this and be afraid of them, knowing that God was watching over them. The Lord would open to them His good treasure. The rain would fall on their crops, vineyards, orchards, and fields. They would be lenders, not borrowers. At the head and not the tail. Above and not below.

All of these together portray a wealthy, healthy, and prosperous nation. America used to be a blessed nation like this until we turned from the Lord. Not only do the blessings go away, but they are replaced by curses.

You will be blessed where ever you go.
You and your family will be blessed.
Your wealth will be blessed.
Your possessions will be blessed.
All the work of your hands will be blessed.
You shall be blessed all the time.

Deuteronomy 28:15-24

Curses (four times as many as blessing)

But… The opposite is true if they turn away from the Lord. As the blessings came on them and overtook them, so would come the curses. The curses also appear as some force or entity that will come in time as a response to the people’s heart. The curses would overtake them, showing up in every aspect of life.

The curses resemble Leviticus 26. The link is solidified between obedience, possession of the land, abundance, prosperity, and fruitfulness. Failure to trust is displayed as failure to obey. To trust in other things, causes God to life away the hand of blessing and allow the curses that come naturally in a fallen world to have their way with them.

The mirror opposite of blessing is portrayed. The only in between is via transition from one to the other.

The curse will be across the land, without boundary. It will show up in the basket and kneading bowl. They would fail to bear children, their land would not produce, nor their flocks and herds. In their coming and going, they would experience curse. Everything they put their hand to would be characterized by cursing, confusion, and rebuke.

All the curses would work toward bringing about destruction of the people and the land. The plague would consume them. They would be struck with consumption (disease that wastes away), fever, inflammation, sever burning fever (not the same as previous fever), the sword of the enemy, scorching (blight), and mildew.

Heaven would be locked away in bronze fetters to keep the rain from falling. The ground would be hard as iron in which nothing would grow. Instead of rain fall on the ground, there would only be the powder of dust.

Deuteronomy 28:25-29

The Lord is shown as causing these things. They would be defeated by their enemies. No one would fear them. The Israelite would meet the enemy and flee in seven directions. Verse 25 is fascinating as Israel, under the curse, would become troublesome to all the kingdoms of earth. This tiny land would forever be a problem.

The Lord would strike them. They would be slaughtered in war and become a feast for the birds and beasts. They would suffer the plagues of Egypt, as the unbelieving Egypt suffered under God’s hand. They would be struck with madness (ranting and raving), blindness (befuddled, disoriented – not physical because its alongside madness), and confusion of heart (lacking clear thinking, logic). Like blind men groping in the darkness for answers, for hope, for a way to live and survive, they would find only oppression and plundering.

No one would save them. No coalition or partnership would alleviate the threat.

Deuteronomy 28:30-35

There will be a new normal. Betrothal will fail to produce marriage as another will take the woman for a wife. Their houses will be taken for others to dwell in. They will not enjoy the fruit of their vines. Their ox will be slaughtered, but they won’t eat of it. Their donkey and sheep taken away. Their sons and daughters would give to another people as slaves. Their life will be characterized by longing.

They will have no strength. They will only be oppressed, crushed, and driven made. They would suffer plagues like the unbelieving Egyptians had.

Deuteronomy 28:36-37

Instead of being feared by other nations, they would be subject to them. They would serve other nations and their gods of wood and stone. Israel would be an astonishment. A proverb to be mocked and scorned among the nations.

Deuteronomy 28:38-44

Everything would be beyond their control. The locust would wipe out the crops, worms would eat the grapes, the olives would drop off the trees. Even their children would be taken captive and carted off. Locusts would strip the trees and produce of the land.

The alien would be elevated as the Israelite would sink lower and lower into the barrenness of the land. The alien would become the lender to Israel. They would be the tail, wagged by the head over them.

Deuteronomy 28:45-57

Like the blessings, the curses are presented like an entity that moves upon them and among them. The curses would “come upon” them, “pursue” them, “overtake” them, until they were destroyed. It was made clear to the people, over and over, that disobedience, unfaithfulness, and disrespect of the Lord would bring these curses in place of the blessings.

The choice:

Serve the Lord in joy and gladness. This would bring an abundance of everything.
Serve your enemies in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and in need. Live under a yoke of iron until destroyed.

Under the curse, the Lord would bring a nation against them. They would be overrun and overwhelmed. This would be a godless nation with none of the values they were used to. They would disrespect their women and children. In the siege they would bring, the Israelites would be driven to the most abominable acts: eating their own children.

I can’t imagine what these people were thinking when they heard this. They must have imagined this to be a ridiculous notion that could never happen.

The sensitive and refined man would become hostile and not share the flesh of his own children with others.
The tender and delicate woman would refuse her husband and children access to the placenta. She would eat it in secret.

All the destruction from a siege becomes prophetic of Israel being conquered by Babylon. The impossible would happen.

Deuteronomy 28:58-68

The curses just keep coming, seemingly in waves. In this if/then statement, the Lord is presented as glorious and awesome by His name. Their failures would bring plagues, disease, and sickness, along with the plagues of Egypt. There would be very few of them left that once was considered a multitude like the stars of the sky. This points back to God’s promise to Abraham. Their failure would result in them being plucked from the land.

The Lord would scatter them among the nations. They would live in fear constantly, wishing their life away, never finding comfort or having a place they called home. Fear would characterize their life. They would always be in doubt.

Assyrian kings of the seventh century coerced their vassals into supplying troops for their military campaigns. One way then for Israelites to return to Egypt in ships would be in the Assyrian campaigns launched from the Phoenician coast in which they were obliged to take part. This represents continued oppression by foreign enemies, as the curses have detailed. Another possibility would include falling victim to Egypt’s slave trade in Syro-Palestine, where the slaves were often transported by ship.

Matthews, V. H., Chavalas, M. W., & Walton, J. H. (2000).

The IVP Bible background commentary:

Old Testament (electronic ed., Dt 28:68). InterVarsity Press.

There was irony in the curse. Their rejection of God would lead them back to the place and situation from which God rescued them.

The last two-thirds of this chapter are prophetic of the destruction of Israel and Judah by the Assyrians and Babylonians. There are some incredible details that come true.

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