Deuteronomy 31:30 - 32:18 - Proclaim the Greatness of His Name!

Deuteronomy 31:30 - 32:18

The Song of Moses

30 Then Moses spoke in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song until they were ended:

1 “Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak;
And hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

2 Let my teaching drop as the rain,
My speech distill as the dew,
As raindrops on the tender herb,
And as showers on the grass.

3 For I proclaim the name of the LORD:
Ascribe greatness to our God.

4 He is the Rock, His work is perfect;
For all His ways are justice,
A God of truth and without injustice;
Righteous and upright is He.

5 “They have corrupted themselves;
They are not His children,
Because of their blemish:
A perverse and crooked generation.

6 Do you thus deal with the LORD,
O foolish and unwise people?
Is He not your Father, who bought you?
Has He not made you and established you?

7 “Remember the days of old,
Consider the years of many generations.
Ask your father, and he will show you;
Your elders, and they will tell you:

8 When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations,
When He separated the sons of Adam,
He set the boundaries of the peoples
According to the number of the children of Israel.

9 For the LORD’s portion is His people;
Jacob is the place of His inheritance.

10 “He found him in a desert land
And in the wasteland, a howling wilderness;
He encircled him, He instructed him,
He kept him as the apple of His eye.

11 As an eagle stirs up its nest,
Hovers over its young,
Spreading out its wings, taking them up,
Carrying them on its wings,
12 So the LORD alone led him,
And there was no foreign god with him.

13 “He made him ride in the heights of the earth,
That he might eat the produce of the fields;
He made him draw honey from the rock,
And oil from the flinty rock;

14 Curds from the cattle, and milk of the flock,
With fat of lambs;
And rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats,
With the choicest wheat;
And you drank wine, the blood of the grapes.

15 “But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked;
You grew fat, you grew thick,
You are obese!
Then he forsook God who made him,
And scornfully esteemed the Rock of his salvation.

16 They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods;
With abominations they provoked Him to anger.

17 They sacrificed to demons, not to God,
To gods they did not know,
To new gods, new arrivals
That your fathers did not fear.

18 Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful,
And have forgotten the God who fathered you.

We read this song of Moses given to encourage and warn the people of the LORD (Deuteronomy 31:22-23) as he was about to go to his God and Joshua was to lead them into the promised land with this song on their lips.  Moses read the words of this song first in its entirety, from beginning to the finish, to teach them before they would sing it together and teach their children and their children throughout the coming generations.  It began as a witness to God in the heavens above and all those with Him there as well as ever on earth below.  It was to bring life and growth as the rain does by God’s hand from heaven to the world beneath as God greatness was to be proclaimed and His name honored by all who sang and listened attentively with the heart and soul to the words.  He is the Rock, our solid and unmoving foundation whose works are perfect, whose ways are completely fair and true, who is righteous and true in all He is and what we see Him do.  Unfortunately, that generation as many others to follow, wandered off the path of righteousness into a crooked path of idolatry and immorality due to the blemish of the sin nature that had corrupted their souls with this sin-filled bent that had been acquired from birth (Romans 5:12, 17) as sons of Adam.  This phrase, “A perverse and crooked generation” was later repeated by the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 17:17 and Luke 3:5 (and again in Acts 2:40, Philippians 2:15) as a warning to those rejecting Him and the Word of the Lord (John 1:14) made flesh to turn (repent) from sin and turn towards Him in the obedience of faith.  The song of our salvation we now sing (Ephesians 5:14, 1 Timothy 3:16) is of our deliverance from that corruption and the consequences of sin as we are bound for the heavenly promised land.  Even Israel was warned and called to deal faithfully and wisely with their Father who bought them at a price and made them in His image as His chosen ones to establish them as His people, looking back to consider and respond in thankful obedience to His work in calling them and leading them along life’s narrow way, just as He continues to do for we His people in Christ.  The Lord’s portion remains His people.  We are all called to be His inheritance and are promised a place (John 14:2-3) in His heavenly kingdom to come (Matthew 6:10) with Him as foreshadowed by the earthly inheritance of Canaan promised to Israel which many of them rejected by their response of sin in serving other gods and living immoral lives that further marred the ones created in His holy image.  This is also a warning to teach us to lead holy lives and not put anything or anyone above Him.  May we learn to highly esteem and appreciate the Rock (Psalm 18:2, 46, Luke 8:13, 1 Corinthians 10:4) of our salvation and never forget Him or His work to draw us out of sin (John 6:44, 65) to Him!  Sing praise to our Lord as we continually remember our calling as we look back and in the future to our election made certain by promise in His work on the cross of our sin’s curse.  Proclaim the greatness of His name!

Deuteronomy 31:14-29 - Stiff-Necked Rebellion

Deuteronomy 31:14-29

Prediction of Israel’s Rebellion

14 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, the days approach when you must die; call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tabernacle of meeting, that I may inaugurate him.”

So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tabernacle of meeting. 15 Now the LORD appeared at the tabernacle in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood above the door of the tabernacle.

16 And the LORD said to Moses: “Behold, you will rest with your fathers; and this people will rise and play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land, where they go to be among them, and they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them. 17 Then My anger shall be aroused against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured. And many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?’ 18 And I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods.

19 “Now therefore, write down this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for Me against the children of Israel. 20 When I have brought them to the land flowing with milk and honey, of which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and filled themselves and grown fat, then they will turn to other gods and serve them; and they will provoke Me and break My covenant. 21 Then it shall be, when many evils and troubles have come upon them, that this song will testify against them as a witness; for it will not be forgotten in the mouths of their descendants, for I know the inclination of their behavior today, even before I have brought them to the land of which I swore to give them.”

22 Therefore Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the children of Israel. 23 Then He inaugurated Joshua the son of Nun, and said, “Be strong and of good courage; for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land of which I swore to them, and I will be with you.”

24 So it was, when Moses had completed writing the words of this law in a book, when they were finished, 25 that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying: 26 “Take this Book of the Law, and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there as a witness against you; 27 for I know your rebellion and your stiff neck. If today, while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the LORD, then how much more after my death? 28 Gather to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth to witness against them. 29 For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you. And evil will befall you in the latter days, because you will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands.”

After Moses heard of his imminent demise and inaugurated Joshua as general over the armies (Exodus 12:41) of the LORD, Moses was taught a song of remembrance and witness of God’s promises which he in turn taught the children of God to pass down through the generations as a reminder of His faithfulness.  As he and Joshua met the LORD in the pillar of fire and cloud in the meeting place, they heard how the people would enter the land promised to them through faithful father Abraham (Galatians 3:6, 9) as are we in the perfect sense of the heavenly one by the same trust in the promise of God.  They also heard how the people would turn away to dead gods of stone and wood and indulge in the immorality of the ungodly of that land.  The people would be held accountable to God for turning away from Him as He would also continue to call them to turn back (repent) for mercy and forgiveness.  This song was given to them, therefore, that they would have no excuse if they did not heed the message they mouthed to music along the way.  It would testify of their coming rebellion so they would be without excuse (Romans 1:20) in spite of His grace seen all around them as He led them into the promised land of plenty to give them His best.  Those now who likewise count the gospel as nothing and rebel against the word of the Lord in disbelief and disobedience (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9) will also be reminded in word and song of their rebellion in rejecting Him and be kept from the promised land to come.  Jesus warned of the consequences to the people of Israel who rejected with stiff necked rebellion to His gospel word and of the eternal results of not hearing and heeding the warnings and not wanting the promises.  To we who do hear and heed as Joshua did, we are comforted and encouraged to stay strong and courageous that we may stand firm to fight the good fight of the gospel by the sword of the Lord (which is the gospel of Jesus Christ) and the helmet of our certain salvation with protective armor (Ephesians 6:11, 13, 19) to repel the enemy and lead the lost into the promised heavenly land.  He has promised to be with (Joshua 1:9, Matthew 28:19-20) us as with Joshua in the words of this passage.  His written words are our warning and certain (Hebrews 6:11, 19, 1 Peter 1:3, 13) hope as we wage (2 Timothy 4:7) spiritual war on the souls of men and women under the sway of the adversary. 

Deuteronomy 31:1-13 - Enter into the Kingdom!

Deuteronomy 31:1-13

Joshua the New Leader of Israel (Numbers 27:12–23)

1 Then Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. 2 And he said to them: “I am one hundred and twenty years old today. I can no longer go out and come in. Also the LORD has said to me, You shall not cross over this Jordan.’ 3 The LORD your God Himself crosses over before you; He will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua himself crosses over before you, just as the LORD has said. 4 And the LORD will do to them as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites and their land, when He destroyed them. 5 The LORD will give them over to you, that you may do to them according to every commandment which I have commanded you. 6 Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”

7 Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and of good courage, for you must go with this people to the land which the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it. 8 And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”

The Law to Be Read Every Seven Years

9 So Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 And Moses commanded them, saying: “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of release, at the Feast of Tabernacles, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Gather the people together, men and women and little ones, and the stranger who is within your gates, that they may hear and that they may learn to fear the LORD your God and carefully observe all the words of this law, 13 and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God as long as you live in the land which you cross the Jordan to possess.”

Here we see the transfer of leadership from Moses to faithful general Joshua as they are about to enter the promised land.  Though this faithful leader and conduit to bring the Law was kept from entering due to his disbelief and disobedient behavior when he hit the rock instead of speaking to it as directed by faith (Numbers 20:8, 11, 12), he was still blessed to have come so far and done so much for his people and would be long remembered as the father of the nation even until the days of Jesus Christ who fulfilled the Law (Matthew 5:17, Hebrews 3:3, 5) as one far greater.  He was faithful to the end.  Therefore a lead needed to take the place of Moses to lead the people into their inheritance and Joshua who had borne a true testimony of faith to enter the first time (Numbers 14:6, 30, 38) when others feared and lied, he was elected by the LORD through His mouthpiece Moses to take on this immense responsibility.  Moses encouraged them all to trust the LORD to guide them as promised saying, “Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”  This exhortation applies to we who are now in Christ the greatest ever more to trust and obey without reservation through this life into the promised heavenly country of His Kingdom to come.  He will never forsake us because of the promise of unending salvation in His Son who has kept the entirety of His word for us and made us righteous and accepted in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:6) and whose word keeps us in His hand (John 10:28,29, Ephesians 1:13, 14) into eternity and beyond this life, even when we fail as Moses did.  He will lead us across the figurative river of death as in Pilgrim’s Progress, the shadow pictured by the Jordan River crossed by Israel into the promised land at last to possess the kingdom (Daniel 7:18, Luke 12:32) of God at last, where the Son who is our righteousness leads us until we will finally hear (Matthew 25:34), ‘Enter into the Promised Kingdom of God!

Deuteronomy 30:1-20 - Repentance is Life or Death Decision

Deuteronomy 30:1-20

The Blessing of Returning to God

1 “Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God drives you, 2 and you return to the LORD your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 that the LORD your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the LORD your God has scattered you. 4 If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you. 5 Then the LORD your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. 6 And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

7 “Also the LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. 8 And you will again obey the voice of the LORD and do all His commandments which I command you today. 9 The LORD your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your land for good. For the LORD will again rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers, 10 if you 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.

The Choice of Life or Death

11 “For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.

15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 16 in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, 18 I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20 that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

Repentance is a life or death decision as we see here.  The people of God were called to turn back to God from sin for obedience to His word as laid out in His Law to receive blessings and enter the promised land, or suffer the consequences of continued disobedience which is the curse (Galatians 3:10) of the Law.  Such repentance was rewarded with God circumcising their hearts as promised to we who are in Christ (Deuteronomy 10:16, 30:6, Galatians 3:13, Romans 2:28, 29) now by His Spirit as we head towards the promised heavenly kingdom to come to earth in all its fullness.  Now to keep His commandments and His statutes written in this Book of the gospel means if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul by trusting God’s work on the tree of our sin’s curse you will be delivered from the curse and enter into eternal blessings and at peace with God, reconciled.  This is the true choice of life or death, of forever living in God’s presence to worship Him as the blessing or spend eternity in torment as the curse not lifted by the grace of the sacrifice of Christ and the cleansing of sin by His lifeblood for ours.  This very passage here is explained in Romans 10:8-9, 10-11 to demonstrate the choice of God’s chosen to hear and respond to the gospel of life that is set plainly in front of us and needs no great explanation, just a great surrender of the will in repentance by faith in His word of the gospel for salvation from the curse.  The gospel message remains unchanged, even as it was hidden before in the Old Testament as God’s unchanging grace planned from the (Genesis 3:15) beginning at the fall of man.  His word of hope therefore stands before us all in the gospel of Christ to receive (John 1:12) or reject with eternal consequences at stake.  Do not let your heart hear and turn away as Israel was warned here by worship of other gods or self-serving desires.  Obey His voice and cling to,Him for hope and peace when you hear the call instead!  Only then can we inherit the promised heavenly country (Hebrews 11:16) promised by faith to the patriarchs and to us by that same (Genesis 15:6, Galatians 3:6, 9, James 2:23) faith in God’s word and work.  Repentance by faith is an eternal life or death decision! 

Deuteronomy 29:1-29 - The Secret Things of God

Deuteronomy 29:1-29

The Covenant Renewed in Moab

1 These are the words of the covenant which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He made with them in Horeb.

2 Now Moses called all Israel and said to them: “You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land— 3 the great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs, and those great wonders. 4 Yet the LORD has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day. 5 And I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet. 6 You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or similar drink, that you may know that I am the LORD your God. 7 And when you came to this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us to battle, and we conquered them. 8 We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh. 9 Therefore keep the words of this covenant, and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do.

10 “All of you stand today before the LORD your God: your leaders and your tribes and your elders and your officers, all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones and your wives—also the stranger who is in your camp, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water— 12 that you may enter into covenant with the LORD your God, and into His oath, which the LORD your God makes with you today, 13 that He may establish you today as a people for Himself, and that He may be God to you, just as He has spoken to you, and just as He has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

14 “I make this covenant and this oath, not with you alone, 15 but with him who stands here with us today before the LORD our God, as well as with him who is not here with us today 16 (for you know that we dwelt in the land of Egypt and that we came through the nations which you passed by, 17 and you saw their abominations and their idols which were among them—wood and stone and silver and gold); 18 so that there may not be among you man or woman or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations, and that there may not be among you a root bearing bitterness or wormwood; 19 and so it may not happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall have peace, even though I follow the dictates of my heart’—as though the drunkard could be included with the sober.

20 “The LORD would not spare him; for then the anger of the LORD and His jealousy would burn against that man, and every curse that is written in this book would settle on him, and the LORD would blot out his name from under heaven. 21 And the LORD would separate him from all the tribes of Israel for adversity, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this Book of the Law, 22 so that the coming generation of your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, would say, when they see the plagues of that land and the sicknesses which the LORD has laid on it:

23 ‘The whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His anger and His wrath.’ 24 All nations would say, Why has the LORD done so to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?’ 25 Then people would say: ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt; 26 for they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they did not know and that He had not given to them. 27 Then the anger of the LORD was aroused against this land, to bring on it every curse that is written in this book. 28 And the LORD uprooted them from their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.’

29 “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

The secret things of God are not all revealed to we mortal men and women as we have seen with Jesus Christ and the gospel of grace in Ephesians 3:5, 9 and 1 Corinthians 2:7, as well as Colossians 1:26 for us to look back and marvel at God’s unveiling word given to us.  Some things clearly are to remain hidden until they are revealed as they happen as we see in Revelation and Daniel especially as well as in Matthew chapter 24, which things remain veiled in their fullness right now.  We can be at peace in not knowing everything since that is told us here and in other parts of scripture.  What is important is the covenant of grace in the Son of God which secures our present and future, having covered our past lives of sin (Hebrews 7:25) with the guarantees of eternal forgiveness (Isaiah 45:23, 1 John 1:9) to follow.  The old covenant of works required unattainable perfection (Leviticus 18:5, Romans 10:5) that only God could accomplish (Romans 10:8-9, 10-11, 13) in keeping the Law perfectly for us and so these requirements here are a picture of that that point us to the need of grace for salvation in this new covenant of God’s work of grace to impute righteousness to us in Christ.  The common elements here are God’s leading out of bondage of Egypt to the Law in Sinai as representing deliverance from sin’s enslavement of us all from birth to then hear His word and need of righteousness.  It also shows us how we now stand before the Lord in the new covenant that He makes with us as with the old one here, but this one is predicated on His obedience for our continued deliverance and not our own perfection which is impossible apart from Him and His work.  The people of God then could not keep this covenant and suffered the consequences; we have Christ who kept all points of the Law of that covenant for us so we are no longer required to in order to be saved from our just due of His wrath on our sin.  What grace!  The curse of the Law has been lifted from our shoulders and has been once had for all been nailed to the cross (Galatians 3:13, Colossians 2:14) of our curse!  This then shows us these secret things hidden (Luke 24:26-27, 31-32) since the be but now unveiled to the eyes of our hearts with more to follow as time unwinds and events unfold before His return.  We then should stand in awe and live with joyous obedience for Him in holiness until then. 

Deuteronomy 28:45-68 - Observe the Word with Joy!

Deuteronomy 28:45-68

45 “Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. 46 And they shall be upon you for a sign and a wonder, and on your descendants forever.

47 “Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, 48 therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you. 49 The LORD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand, 50 a nation of fierce countenance, which does not respect the elderly nor show favor to the young. 51 And they shall eat the increase of your livestock and the produce of your land, until you are destroyed; they shall not leave you grain or new wine or oil, or the increase of your cattle or the offspring of your flocks, until they have destroyed you.

52 “They shall besiege you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls, in which you trust, come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you at all your gates throughout all your land which the LORD your God has given you. 53 You shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you. 54 The sensitive and very refined man among you will be hostile toward his brother, toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the rest of his children whom he leaves behind, 55 so that he will not give any of them the flesh of his children whom he will eat, because he has nothing left in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates. 56 The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and sensitivity, will refuse to the husband of her bosom, and to her son and her daughter, 57 her placenta which comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of everything in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates.

58 “If you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, THE LORD YOUR GOD, 59 then the LORD will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues—great and prolonged plagues—and serious and prolonged sicknesses. 60 Moreover He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. 61 Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in this Book of the Law, will the LORD bring upon you until you are destroyed. 62 You shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven in multitude, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God. 63 And it shall be, that just as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good and multiply you, so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you and bring you to nothing; and you shall be plucked from off the land which you go to possess.

64 “Then the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known—wood and stone. 65 And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul. 66 Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life. 67 In the morning you shall say, ‘Oh, that it were evening!’ And at evening you shall say, ‘Oh, that it were morning!’ because of the fear which terrifies your heart, and because of the sight which your eyes see.

68 “And the LORD will take you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which I said to you, You shall never see it again.’ And there you shall be offered for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”

The command to obey stays the same in its intended end, that we observe His word with joy (Psalm 119:10-11, 27, 32, 34-35) and not (1 Corinthians 7:19, 9:16-17, 1 Peter 2:2, 5:2) compulsion.  Do we then feed daily on the scriptures (Jeremiah 15:16, Job 23:12), even putting them above all our other appetites?  These commands in Moses’ time were followed by these warnings of the consequences of sinful disobedience to His word; they were curses pronounced and the specifics were expanded on.  Disobedience would result in destruction and a lasting legacy of shame to those around them who observed the results of defying the LORD in these commands given for their own good as well as the good glory of His name, the glorious and awesome name, THE LORD YOUR GOD (יְהוָֹה YHWH אֱלֹהִים Elohim), the Supreme and Eternal One.  We are now called to willingly follow the same word with joy to his glory and our good in awe, not under fear of eternal consequences, but of His displeasure and our loss of fellowship and relationship with Him.  In those days k disobedience led to being ruled over by their enemies, loss of their livelihoods, strife and conflict in family and society, unfruitfulness, sickness and suffering, unrest, fear of death, and failing hearts knowing they had failed God and were suffering the promised consequences.  Such fears of life and death, of suffering and want, these could be avoided by simple obedience to the commands they are not burdensome (Matthew 11:29-30, 1 John 5:3) as Jesus told us and John repeated to encourage us.  We do not want to be slaves of disobedience (Romans 6:15, 16-17, 18) which is sin anymore but doers (James  1:22, 4:17, 1 John 3:18) of the word to be (John 13:17) blessed.  As we consider these blessings and curses, may we learn (Romans 15:4, 1 Corinthians 10:11-12) from their example to stand in obedience and not fall in disobedience to all we have been told.  Observe the word of God with joy! 

Deuteronomy 28:15-44 - Redemption from The Curse of Sin

Deuteronomy 28:15-44

Curses on Disobedience (Leviticus 26:14–46)

15 “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

16 “Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country.

17 “Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

18 “Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.

19 “Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

20 “The LORD will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me. 21 The LORD will make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess. 22 The LORD will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever, with the sword, with scorching, and with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish. 23 And your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron. 24 The LORD will change the rain of your land to powder and dust; from the heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.

25 “The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth. 26 Your carcasses shall be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and no one shall frighten them away. 27 The LORD will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors, with the scab, and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed. 28 The LORD will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart. 29 And you shall grope at noonday, as a blind man gropes in darkness; you shall not prosper in your ways; you shall be only oppressed and plundered continually, and no one shall save you.

30 “You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall lie with her; you shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it; you shall plant a vineyard, but shall not gather its grapes. 31 Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat of it; your donkey shall be violently taken away from before you, and shall not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have no one to rescue them. 32 Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, and your eyes shall look and fail with longing for them all day long; and there shall be no strength in your hand. 33 A nation whom you have not known shall eat the fruit of your land and the produce of your labor, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually. 34 So you shall be driven mad because of the sight which your eyes see. 35 The LORD will strike you in the knees and on the legs with severe boils which cannot be healed, and from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.

36 “The LORD will bring you and the king whom you set over you to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods—wood and stone. 37 And you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations where the LORD will drive you.

38 “You shall carry much seed out to the field but gather little in, for the locust shall consume it. 39 You shall plant vineyards and tend them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. 40 You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olives shall drop off. 41 You shall beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours; for they shall go into captivity. 42 Locusts shall consume all your trees and the produce of your land.

43 “The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. 44 He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.

The curses of disobedience to God’s word are really curses caused by sin, both original in the Fall of Adam and Eve which brought us all as their offspring after their own kind into our corrupted nature, as well as our ongoing disobedience of sin in our daily lives.  The curses mentioned specifically here for God’s people of the Old Testament, the children of Israel, are many consequences spelled out, some that directly or indirectly translate and apply to us, but mostly were intended just for them in their unique position as a theocratic nation called as a channel of redemption for all nations as promised to Abraham by faith and guided by the Paw given through Moses.  They were told if they did not obey the voice of the LORD their God and  carefully observed all His commandments and His statutes commanded them, this litany of consequential curses would come on them and completely overtake them as they were warned.  We who are now in Christ, Jew and Gentile, are not so devastated by harsh judgment for our sin because the grace of God has shone on us (Romans 3:24, Ephesians 2:8) and we are in Christ and His righteousness now.  This certainly gives us no excuse to continue to sin (Romans 6:1-2), and there are mortal consequences in this life (Romans 6:23, Galatians 6:7-8), yet we are assured of forgiveness in this grace that covers our sins both original and ongoing, and we have hope in our final deliverance of eternal salvation and standing before the Lord forever in spite of the loss (1 Corinthians 3:12-13, 14-15) of rewards.  The curses pronounced on the disobedience under the Law in the covenant based on works had dire consequences affecting all aspects of life wherever the disobedient lived, whatever they did, and resulted in unfruitful lives apart from godliness in their thoughts and deeds.  They would love livelihoods, loved ones, sons and daughters, and serve others as slaves of sins like immorality and idolatry that they had first run after and would then catch up to them.  Other nations would then overtake them and rule over them as they sunk lower in sin and their oppressors rose higher over them.  Such is true today in the sense that those who give themselves over to serve sin are ruled by it and forget their first love (Mark 12:30, Revelation 2:4) with blurred spiritual vision.  The only ones who are eternally cursed are those whose disobedience is against believing and receiving the (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9) gospel of God’s righteousness (John 16:8-9, 10, Romans 11:30) that blesses us by grace and forgiveness.  The curses of sin are covered by grace in the atoning redemption through repentance and faith in God’s Son.  Receive Him then (John 1:12) and obey His gospel to have peace with God (Romans 5:1) and eternal blessings (Romans 4:7-8) by the faith as of Abraham (Galatians 3:9) forevermore.  This is our redemption from the curse of sin.

Deuteronomy 28:1-14 - Be Careful to Follow His Word!

Deuteronomy 28:1-14

Blessings on Obedience (Leviticus 26:1–13; Deuteronomy 7:12–24)

1 “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God:

3 “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.

4 “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.

5 “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

6 “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

7 “The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.

8 “The LORD will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you.

9 “The LORD will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways. 10 Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they shall be afraid of you. 11 And the LORD will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you. 12 The LORD will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. 13 And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them. 14 So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

The people of God under the law of Moses are not so different from we who are in Christ today.  We are all called to hear and heed God’s word in the scriptures written for our admonition (1 Corinthians 10:11, Romans 15:4) to know Christ (John 5:39, Luke 24:27, Hebrews 10:7) and to (2 Timothy 3:16-17) be taught and corrected of His will for us, to mature in faith that we may do the works prepared for us (Ephesians 2:10) from our inception in God’s mind (2 Timothy 1:9, Ephesians 1:4) even before the beginning of time.  Obedience from a willing and thankful heart in Christ is not forced, even if commanded, because the joy in being and doing what we were created for in worship of our Creator and Redeemer far outweighs any doubt or uncertainty of why we obey.  Under the Law of Moses, however, the impetus was to do or die as a seemingly forced command.  In reality, the Law still had hidden grace of willingness but was quickly obscured by the fallen human nature making it all about rules and not about pleasing the LORD as intended.  Only in Christ where the mind of God was revealed to us by His indwelling Spirit is this clarity unveiled 1 Corinthians 2:10, 12, 16) to our renewed minds and cleansed hearts and the underlying truth of willing obedience to His word made known.  True and lasting blessings are more than just checking boxes of obedience to the requirements of the Mosaic Law; these blessings forevermore (Psalm 133:3) are of eternal life in Jesus Christ through obedience (Romans 10:16-17, 2 Thessalonians 1:8, 2:13, Hebrews 5:9, 2 Corinthians 9:13) to the gospel.  We are therefore blessed in these ways listed here and in far greater and eternally lasting ways.  We are blessed to hear His words and believe enough to pursue Him in the direction of obedience in our lives as we are conformed to His image and see our real enemy defeated in the end.  He makes us prosperous in our innermost being and some in our outward lives as well (though not guaranteed and often strained through trials).  The most important blessing is as we read here, to be a holy people to Him now known as being found in the righteousness of Christ (Romans 3:21, 5:17, 10:3-4, Philippians 3:9) and not earned by works as the treasures of heaven are opened to us in heavenly places to behold His glory!  We are therefore all the more careful to obey the commandments of God from a willing heart to be pleasing children of grace and not slave of works vainly attempting to earn the grace of favor in God’s eyes by our efforts.  Be careful to follow His word!

Deuteronomy 27:1-26 - God’s Word and Consequences of Disobedience

Deuteronomy 27:1-26

The Law Inscribed on Stones

1 Now Moses, with the elders of Israel, commanded the people, saying: “Keep all the commandments which I command you today. 2 And it shall be, on the day when you cross over the Jordan to the land which the LORD your God is giving you, that you shall set up for yourselves large stones, and whitewash them with lime. 3 You shall write on them all the words of this law, when you have crossed over, that you may enter the land which the LORD your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey,’ just as the LORD God of your fathers promised you. 4 Therefore it shall be, when you have crossed over the Jordan, that on Mount Ebal you shall set up these stones, which I command you today, and you shall whitewash them with lime. 5 And there you shall build an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones; you shall not use an iron tool on them. 6 You shall build with whole stones the altar of the LORD your God, and offer burnt offerings on it to the LORD your God. 7 You shall offer peace offerings, and shall eat there, and rejoice before the LORD your God. 8 And you shall write very plainly on the stones all the words of this law.”

9 Then Moses and the priests, the Levites, spoke to all Israel, saying, “Take heed and listen, O Israel: This day you have become the people of the LORD your God. 10 Therefore you shall obey the voice of the LORD your God, and observe His commandments and His statutes which I command you today.”

Curses Pronounced from Mount Ebal

11 And Moses commanded the people on the same day, saying, 12 “These shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you have crossed over the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin; 13 and these shall stand on Mount Ebal to curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

14 “And the Levites shall speak with a loud voice and say to all the men of Israel: 15 ‘Cursed is the one who makes a carved or molded image, an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’
“And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen!’

16 ‘Cursed is the one who treats his father or his mother with contempt.’
“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

17 ‘Cursed is the one who moves his neighbor’s landmark.’
“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

18 ‘Cursed is the one who makes the blind to wander off the road.’
“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

19 ‘Cursed is the one who perverts the justice due the stranger, the fatherless, and widow.’
“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

20 ‘Cursed is the one who lies with his father’s wife, because he has uncovered his father’s bed.’
“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

21 ‘Cursed is the one who lies with any kind of animal.’
“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

22 ‘Cursed is the one who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.’
“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

23 ‘Cursed is the one who lies with his mother-in-law.’
“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

24 ‘Cursed is the one who attacks his neighbor secretly.’
“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

25 ‘Cursed is the one who takes a bribe to slay an innocent person.’
“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

26 ‘Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law by observing them.’
“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’”

The commandments of God’s Word to His people was inscribed on stone before it was written on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33, Hebrews 8:10, 10:16) as we read here.  Then the consequences of disobedience were spelled out in this chapter and later blessings of following that word be given in the same one.  They were first reminded to keep all of His law according to the word given on these tablets of stone on the mountain through Moses and then told to inscribe them by their own hands on stones set up as a remembrance when they crossed the Jordan into the land promised to them.  There they were to also make a stone altar by their own hands without tools of their own and offer sacrifices with burnt and peace offerings to rejoice in His deliverance and words as they ate (Jeremiah 15:16) of both the offering and His grace while meditatively reading and taking the words of His hand into their hearts.  That day they became people of the LORD, called to hear and follow His word, just as we are in Christ by the same grace according to His word written in the scriptures and by His Spirit’s hand on our tablets (2 Corinthians 3:3) of flesh.  The consequences of disobedience under that covenant of works to earn righteousness (which of course was impossible to do as we read in Romans 3:23 and James 2:10) was severe without the covering of sin by the lifeblood of God’s Son under the covenant of grace.  We see how these curses of disobedience were given as warnings of the consequences of disbelief leading to disobedience.  These summed up various laws of the Ten Commandments and the results of not following them in disregard to both God and their neighbors.  This is why Jesus summed up the law as two overarching commandments in Mark 12:29, 30, 31 as love in obedient action to the Lord and others.  This then is God’s word to us in our hearts and minds to be followed by His enabling Spirit from the heart where the words of God now are inscribed by grace for obedience (Romans 1:5, 1 Peter 1:2) by faith in the gospel (2 Thessalonians 1:8) because His obedience (Romans 5:19) makes us righteous (Romans 10:3-4) and acceptable in his sight, accepted in the Beloved by grace through repentance and faith.  There are consequences of disobedience to those who are His, but these are losses of rewards to His glory (1 Corinthians 3:12-13, 14-15) and not for our (Ephesians 2:4-5, 8-9, Romans 8:1, 33) condemnation because we are safe in His grace from that fate we were born under (Romans 6:23) and saved from by Him who wrote these laws on our hearts and minds as living testimonies to that grace which are not found on cold stone tablets.  The consequences of disobedience to believe the gospel are the only ones which endure for eternity.