This is our 6th examination of the book of Deuteronomy. Only 1 more to go!
16.For perpetuity: blessings and curses
Then Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, “Keep (remember, obey) all the commandments which I am commanding you today. Dt. 27:1 AMP
Note that Moses is now bringing in the ‘elders’ (spiritual leaders) to make sure that God’s laws are carried forward into perpetuity to establish and maintain Jehovah’s holy nation – even in his absence. Moses knows his death is imminent…
Moses tells the Israelites that when they cross the Jordan River, they are to set up large stones, coated with plaster, on Mount Ebal. Upon those stones, they were to write all the laws he had put forth in Deuteronomy.
There too, the people were to build an altar to Jehovah as well, to sacrifice peace offerings. (See Dt. 27:2 – 8.)
He emphasizes again the importance of the laws:
Then Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, “Be silent and listen, O Israel! This day you have become a people for the Lord your God. So you shall obey the voice of the Lord your God, and do His commandments and statutes which I am commanding you today.” Dt. 27:9, 10. AMP
Note that now the priests are also included to insure this perpetual reminder of God’s commands.
Moses commands half of the 12 tribes of Israel to stand upon Mt Ebal when they arrive, to pronounce God’s children the curses levied for disobedience towards His laws. Most of these constitute a review of the Ten Commandments:
‘Cursed is the man who makes a carved or cast image (idol)…” Dt. 27:15 AMP (Clear violation of the first and second Commandment).
‘Cursed is anyone who dishonors father or mother.’ Dt. 27:16 NLT (Violates the fifth).
‘Cursed is anyone who steals property…’ Dt. 27:17 NLT (Violates the eight and the tenth)
‘Cursed is he who misleads a blind person on the road.’ Dt. 27:18 AMP (This could also apply to anyone taking advantage of someone who is misinformed or lacks critical knowledge).
‘Cursed is he who distorts (perverts) the justice due to a stranger, an orphan, and a widow.’ Dt. 27:19 AMP (Taking advantage of the less fortunate).
‘Cursed is he who is intimate with his father’s [former] wife…’ Dt. 27:20 AMP (Violates the seventh).
‘Cursed is anyone who has sexual intercourse with an animal.’ Dt. 27:21 NLT (Violates Lv. 18:23)
‘Cursed is anyone who has sexual intercourse with his sister’… or… ‘with his mother-in-law.’Dt. 27:22, 23. NLT (Violates the seventh).
‘Cursed is anyone who attacks a neighbor in secret.’ … or … ‘who accepts payment to kill an innocent person.’Dt. 27:24, 25. NLT (Violates the sixth).
‘Cursed is he who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them [keeping them, taking them to heart as the rule of his life].’ Dt. 27:26 AMP
And there is no doubt that God is big on obedience to His word. (See Ex. 20:6; Lv. 18:4, 5, 26:14, 15 & 21; Dt. 4:2).
However, no one in the history of humankind has been able to completely obey all of Jehovah’s laws, except His Son. That is the reason that Christians look to Him for salvation.[1]
So, what does Israel get from being obedient to their Creator? Blessings!
Moses tells the other 6 tribes of Israel to stand upon Mount Gerizim in Canaan to proclaim the blessings that God relays to him:
“If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the world. You will experience all these blessings if you obey the Lord your God: Dt. 28:1 – 2. NLT
Again, Moses is stressing the importance of adhering to God’s laws. Thus, God will show the entire world that Israel will be blessed over any other nation. What kinds of blessings?
Your towns and your fields will be blessed. Your children and your crops
will be blessed. The offspring of your herds and flocks will be blessed.
Your fruit baskets and breadboards will be blessed.
Wherever you go and whatever you do, you will be blessed.
“The Lord will conquer your enemies when they attack you. They will attack you from one direction, but they will scatter from you in seven!
“The Lord will guarantee a blessing on everything you do and will fill your storehouses with grain. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.
“If you obey the commands of the Lord your God and walk in his ways, the Lord will establish you as his holy people as he swore he would do. Then all the nations of the world will see that you are a people claimed by the Lord, and they will stand in awe of you.
“The Lord will give you prosperity in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, blessing you with many children, numerous livestock, and abundant crops. The Lord will send rain at the proper time from his rich treasury in the heavens and will bless all the work you do. You will lend to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them. If you listen to these commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today, and if you carefully obey them, the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never at the bottom. Dt. 28:3 – 13. NLT
Thus, blessings rain down upon the Israelites in all aspects of their lives when they keep the Mosaic Covenant.
You must not turn away from any of the commands I am giving you today, nor follow after other gods and worship them. Dt. 28:14 NLT
This warning is a big one. To engage in paganism and idolatry, brings yet more curses. It wipes out those same blessings, changing them to similar curses, which follow them everywhere. Crops, flocks, descendants, will be affected. Disease, famine, external invasions will cause great panic and mental sickness. The Israelites will be captured and carried away (See Dt. 28:15 – 68.)
Moses is now beginning his wrap-up:
These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant which He made with them at Horeb (Sinai). Dt. 29:1 AMP
He starts by reviewing the events that occurred, including God’s miracles, that led the Israelites up to this day – how He clothed them, fed them, fought their battles, and freed them from Egyptian slavery. (See Dt. 29:2 – 16.)
Once more, Moses warns the people of the severity of God’s punishment laid upon those who reject Him:
“…the Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but then the anger of the Lord and His jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse which is written in this book will rest on him; the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven. Then the Lord will single him out for disaster from all the tribes of Israel [making an example of him], according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this Book of the Law. Dt. 29:20, 21. AMP
I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of that! Yowza!
Moses prophesizes that because of their future disobedience, God will allow them to be conquered and banished to other nations. Yet, when His children return to Him, Jehovah will graciously take them in:
“So it shall be when all these things have come on you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind in all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, and you have returned to the Lord your God and have listened to and obeyed His voice with all your heart and with all your soul, in accordance with everything that I am commanding you today, you and your children, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes [in your return from exile], and have compassion on you, and will gather you together again from all the peoples (nations) where He has scattered you. Even if any of your dispersed are at the ends of the earth, the Lord your God will gather you together from there, and from there He will bring you back.” Dt. 30:1 – 4. AMP
Keep in mind that God is love:
Then the Lord your God shall make you abundantly prosperous in everything that you do, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your land; for the Lord will again delight over you for good, just as He delighted over your fathers, if you listen to and obey the voice of the Lord your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul (your entire being). Dt. 30:9, 10. AMP
“…the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may obey it.” Dt. 30:14 AMP
“Listen closely, I have set before you today life and prosperity (good), and death and adversity (evil); in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk [that is, to live each and every day] in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments (precepts), so that you will live and multiply, and that the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to possess.” Dt. 30:15, 16. AMP
And lastly, Moses charges his people:
“I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse; therefore, you shall choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding closely to Him; for He is your life [your good life, your abundant life, your fulfillment] and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord promised (swore) to give to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Dt. 30:19, 20. AMP
Amen.
Next time, we finish Deuteronomy, which finishes the Torah, and bid farewell to its author!
[1] Gal. 3:10 – 14.