Declaration of Blessings And Curses
August 26, 2020
Commentary
Moses gives Israel an exhortation to obey God’s commands because success and longevity in the land depends on it (vv. 16-25). The problem wasn’t with God or the land; it was in the hearts of the people (v. 16). Israel had been told to keep God’s statutes, judgements, and commandments. As a reward they would receive the land, live there forever, have fruitful crops and be able to expel their enemies. On the other hand, a curse would fall on them if they broke this agreement and they would be in danger of crop failure, invasion and driven from the land (v.v. 22-25).
Moses emphasizes that the history of Israel would be determined by her relationship to the Lord. The heart of the whole matter was that the nation had to make a choice whether to obey God and enjoy His blessing or disobey Him and experience His chastening (vv. 26-32). They could enjoy the land, endure chastening in the land, as seen in Judges, or be evicted from the land, as seen in the Babylonian Captivity. It is amazing that God gave them a choice between blessing and cursing. However, it is even more amazing that most of them through disobedience chose the curse.
God’s dispensations change but His principles never change, and one of those principles is that God blesses us when we obey and chastens us when we disobey. Obedience offers a personal, wonderful, glorious relationship with God. The opposite is also true. Disobedience brings with it a curse.
Application
I have the same fundamental choices today that the Israelites had back then. I can choose to either live for self or serve God.
Deuteronomy 11:16– 32 (NET)
16 Make sure you do not turn away to serve and worship other gods! 17 Then the anger of the Lord will erupt against you, and he will close up the sky so that it does not rain. The land will not yield its produce, and you will soon be removed from the good land that the Lord is about to give you. 18 Fix these words of mine into your mind and being, tie them as a reminder on your hands, and let them be symbols on your forehead. 19 Teach them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road, as you lie down, and as you get up. 20 Inscribe them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates 21 so that your days and those of your descendants may be extended in the land that the Lord promised to give to your ancestors, like the days of heaven itself. 22 For if you carefully observe all of these commandments I am giving you and love the Lord your God, live according to his standards, and remain loyal to him, 23 then he will drive out all these nations ahead of you, and you will dispossess nations greater and stronger than you. 24 Every place you set your foot will be yours; your border will extend from the desert to Lebanon and from the River (that is, the Euphrates) as far as the Mediterranean Sea. 25 Nobody will be able to resist you; the Lord your God will spread the fear and terror of you over the whole land on which you walk, just as he promised you.
26 Take note—I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing if you take to heart the commandments of the Lord your God that I am giving you today, 28 and the curse if you pay no attention to his commandments and turn from the way I am setting before you today to pursue other gods you have not known. 29 When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are to possess, you must pronounce the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. 30 Are they not across the Jordan River, toward the west, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the rift valley opposite Gilgal near the oak of Moreh? 31 For you are about to cross the Jordan to possess the land the Lord your God is giving you, and you will possess and inhabit it. 32 Be certain to keep all the statutes and ordinances that I am presenting to you today.
Illustration: Col Sanders Gets Saved at Age 79
In his autobiography, Col. Harland Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame says that he was always a God-fearing man. In every venture he gave God a tenth of the profits. Yet he knew that if he died, God probably wouldn’t take him to heaven. Worried, he traveled to Australia to a special church convention for the answer. He didn’t find it. One day, Sanders was walking down a street in Louisville, Kentucky, when Rev. Waymon Rodgers of Louisville’s Evangel Tabernacle invited him to some evangelistic services. Several days later, Sanders went. At age 79, he claimed the promises of (Rom. 10:9). (Encyclopedia of Illustrations #1854).