Deuteronomy 27-28

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Deuteronomy 27:1-26

“And Moses with the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, Keep all the commandments which I command you this day. 2 And it shall be on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt set thee up great stones, and plaister them with plaister: 3 and thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over, that thou mayest go in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey; as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee. 4 Therefore it shall be when ye be gone over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaister them with plaister. 5 And there shalt thou build an altar unto the LORD thy God, an altar of stones: thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them. 6 Thou shalt build the altar of the LORD thy God of whole stones: and thou shalt offer burnt offerings thereon unto the LORD thy God: 7 and thou shalt offer peace offerings, and shalt eat there, and rejoice before the LORD thy God. 8 And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law plainly. 9 And Moses and the priests the Levites spake unto all Israel, saying, Take heed, and hearken, O Israel; this day thou art become the people of the LORD thy God. 10 Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the LORD thy God, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day. 11 And Moses charged the people the same day, saying, 12 These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are come over Jordan; Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph [Ephraim & Manasseh], and Benjamin: 13 and these shall stand upon mount Ebal to curse; Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. 14 And the Levites shall speak, and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice, 15 Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen. 16 Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen. 17 Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour’s landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen. 18 Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way. And all the people shall say, Amen. 19 Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen. 20 Cursed be he that lieth with his father’s wife; because he uncovereth his father’s skirt. And all the people shall say, Amen. 21 Cursed be he that lieth with any manner of beast. And all the people shall say, Amen. 22 Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen. 23 Cursed be he that lieth with his mother in law. And all the people shall say, Amen. 24 Cursed be he that smiteth his neighbour secretly. And all the people shall say, Amen. 25 Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say, Amen. 26 Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen.”

Introduction

[Audio version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED609]

“Deuteronomy chapter 27 and 28 bring us to a series of blessings and curses that are pronounced as the children of Israel are headed into the Promised Land. God is clear to tell them that there is a process of cause and effect. But he says in relationship to that, that it isn’t a natural law that cause and effect relative to his people are directly related to himself. He talks about blessings that will pursue them and overtake them, and then in the same context of disobedience, he talks about curses that will pursue them and overtake them. So there’s cause and effect, yes, but in regards to God’s Kingdom, he’s never benign in regards to those things, he’s sovereign, it’s his providence and he metes those things out for the benefit of his people. [Comment: Karma, the belief that your evil deeds will catch up with you, is based on these two chapters. In that sense, I guess you could say Karma is real. But real “karma” is God-activated, God-produced.] Now we are not under the law, we are under grace [see https://unityinchrist.com/whatisgrace/whatisgraceintro.htm and https://unityinchrist.com/newcovenant/whichcovenant.htm and https://unityinchrist.com/whatisgrace/whatisgrace.htm ]. But certainly there are things for us to learn. Again, Paul says ‘Whatsoever things are written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.’ He tells us in 1^st Corinthians 10 that their failings, their mistakes, their sin, God dealing with them, those were to be examples to us, upon whom the ends of the ages have come, that we would learn, we would take heed to ourselves. So certainly as we look at this, there are lessons for us. We are living in a world that is relativistic, that is post-modern, where the lines of simple truth of right and wrong, you know, it used to be that that wasn’t so confusing. There were actually things that were right, and things that were wrong. And all those lines are being blurred by relativism and political correctness and a bunch of nonsense. Not as far as God is concerned, there is still right and there is still wrong. And he desires for you and I, for us to put our feet on the right path, for his Word to be a lamp unto our feet, a light onto our path, because there’s a place of blessing, that he would bless us, and because we’re his children he chastens us in our disobedience. We are not under the law that Moses and the children of Israel were under, we are under grace [see those links, they really explain what grace is], but there still is for us a lesson here, we still are chastened if we disobey, there still is a place of blessing that is ours as we walk, in obedience to the Lord, there’s a place there where he pours out of his Spirit, where we know that we have his fellowship even if things are difficult. And then there’s a place in disobedience where we’re a prodigal, we certainly have the relationship with him, because of the blood of Christ, but the fellowship has broken down, because we’re not walking in the Light as John tells us. So as we look at these things, we want to make application, we want to understand there are things here that apply to our lives. [Also, these blessings and cursings still apply to the Israelis, the Jews, and also, as most do not understand yet, they still apply to whoever the lost 10-tribes of Israel are today, whatever nations of the world make up those 10 other tribes of Israel. This was brought out in that companion expository study of Leviticus 26 (see https://unityinchrist.com/Leviticus26-27.html ).]

Moses Explains How The Curses & Blessings Are To Be Proclaimed From Mount Ebal & Mount Gerizim

So it says in verse 1 of chapter 27, “And Moses with the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, Keep all the commandments which I command you this day. And it shall be on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt set thee up great stones, and plaister them with plaister:” put plaister, whitewash them, “and thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over, that thou mayest go in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey; as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee.” (verses 1-3) And we’re going to hear this over and over, “as he has promised,” “as he has declared,” he had made that commitment to them. “Therefore it shall be when ye be gone over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaister them with plaister.” (verse 4) We’re going to find out that they stand on mount Gerizim and on mount Ebal. At the bottom of those mountains is Shechem, where Abraham had come into the land, where God had made promises to him. About 35 miles north of Jerusalem, archaeologists believe they have uncovered mount Ebal, they’ve identified it, but they believe they’ve uncovered an altar there that was built by Joshua. In Joshua chapter 8, and I’ll read to you, it says “Then Joshua built an altar unto the LORD God of Israel in mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lifted up any iron; and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings. And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel.” now it seems the stone might differ from the altar. “And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, as well the stranger, as he that was born among them; half of them over against mount Gerizim, and half of them over against mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel. And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law.” now we’re assuming it’s not the entire Pentateuch, the five Books, but probably speaking of the Book of Deuteronomy [or it could be Leviticus chapter 26 being read]. “There as not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them.” (verses 30-35) So Joshua will fulfill this, this commandment that is being given, ‘When you come into the land, there are these two mountains, mount Ebal,’ which the word means “barren,” and by the way if you see it today, it’s a rocky crag, there’s nothing there, ‘and mount Gerizim,’ Gerizim means “beautiful,” you go there today, there’s streams, there’s trees. It’s very interesting to see the names of these mountains, they still stand there today, a mute testimony to all of this. And the priests and the Levites, with the heads of the tribes, we’re going to read that, some would stand on Gerizim and some would stand on mount Ebal, and then from those places they would cry out the curses, and all the children of Israel with their little ones standing there listening, a natural kind of amphitheater, they would cry ‘Amen! So be it’ They’re going to cry out ‘Cursed be, whosoever does this,’ then everybody screams ‘Amen!’ and then they’re going to scream out the blessings on the other mountain. They’re coming into this land, and for the first time they’re going to have prosperity. These are people who had been slaves in Egypt, they’ve come out, they’ve had this long difficult wilderness journey, a whole generation has died off, and now their children have grown up in their place. And this will be the first time they’ve come in, they’ve become landowners, they’re no longer going to be moving about, God is going to prosper them, he’s going to bless them. And look what happens to people, look what’s happened to our nation in 300 years, we’ve forgotten our foundations, we’ve forgotten what God has blessed us with in the beginning. Abraham Lincoln in his day said that the nation had already forgotten to be dependent on a loving God who had blessed our nation, and that we had already in his day imagined that the blessings on our nation were because of some effort or some worth on our own. And God is warning them as they come in, and by the end of chapter 28, he’s prophecying, and all of these things actually take place [again, read over Leviticus 26 (see https://unityinchrist.com/Leviticus26-27.html )]. So God, no doubt in great pathos, great emotion, through Moses sets these warnings before them. He says in verse 4, “Therefore it shall be when ye be gone over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaister them with plaister. And there shalt thou build an altar unto the LORD thy God, an altar of stones: thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them.” (verses 4-5) besides this wall with the Book of Deuteronomy it seems written upon it. Now if you go back to Exodus chapter 20, you find out there that the LORD tells them when they build an altar, that no iron tools shall come upon it, they shouldn’t build steps, because the sacrifices made there and the blood that’s shed, has nothing to do with man’s sweat and man’s work and man’s ability. The atonement that takes place there is strictly by God’s mercy and God’s grace. So the altar that they will build here, unlike the altar that would be in Solomon’s Temple, and unlike where they sacrifice in the Tabernacle, when they built an altar like this, no human sweat was to be involved, it was all to be of grace. So, “thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them.” it’s not to be ornate or distracting, it’s supposed to be the place of the shedding of blood. “Thou shalt build the altar of the LORD thy God of whole stones: and thou shalt offer burnt offerings thereon unto the LORD thy God:” (verse 6) That’s what we just read in Joshua chapter 8, those are offerings of consecration, “and thou shalt offer peace offerings, and shalt eat there, and rejoice before the LORD thy God.” (verse 7) He wants them there to rejoice. Revelation chapter 19, when the day comes, it’s the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, there’s great rejoicing when we’re all finally gathered to his Feast [our wedding to the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, as we’re rising up in the 1^st Resurrection to immortality (cf. Revelation 19:7-9; 1^st Corinthians 15:49-54) rising up to the New Jerusalem where this Wedding Feast will take place, before we head back down to the battle of Armageddon (cf. Revelation 19:10-21). How long that Wedding Feast will last is anyone’s guess, but during it, the 10 Last Plagues are delivered to earth. Some have speculated that the 7^th Trumpet blows at the Feast of Pentecost, and we the firstfruits rise, and attend this Wedding Feast for four months, and then head back down to earth with Jesus Christ on the Feast of Trumpets, we all being immortal beings, to fight the armies of the Beast and the world at the 2^nd coming of Christ (cf. Zechariah 14:1-15). From there, we’ll rule with Christ for 1,000 years over mankind in what’s called the Millennial Kingdom of God. This whole Torah Law of God will then become the Constitutional Law of the land for the entire world (see https://www.unityinchrist.com/kingdomofgod/MillennialKingdomofGod.pdf ). So be sure to read through this whole section of the Torah, Exodus through Deuteronomy, these are the laws we’ll be administering to that future agrarian society, as we guide them into the Church and salvation]. So when he brings them into the land, he says ‘I want you to pronounce these blessings and these cursings, but when you sacrifice there I want you to rejoice.’ Things are put out in front of them so plainly and so easy. He says he doesn’t want them complicated. In verse 8 he says “And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law plainly.” very plainly, the Word of God, don’t complicate it. “And Moses and the priests the Levites spake unto all Israel, saying, Take heed, and hearken, O Israel; this day thou art become the people of the LORD thy God.” (verse 9) ‘Watch yourself,’ your parents used to say that when you were growing up. “Hearken,” which is an attitude of obedience, leaning towards to hear [“hearken” Middle English, taken from two words, “to hear” and “ken” “to know,” from the German “Kennenzulernen” “know-to-learn”] Notice what he’s saying “thou art become the people of the LORD thy God.” Now it wasn’t at 24-hour day, but he’s saying they’re finally going to stand in this place, inheriting their land, the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they’re finally going to be there with so much of God’s Word being fulfilled on them. And he said when that’s taking place I want you to take heed, and I want you to hearken, because you have become the people of the LORD your God. “Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the LORD thy God, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day. And Moses charged the people the same day, saying, These shall stand upon mount Gerizim” now that is the mountain the blessings were recited from, Gerizim means “beautiful,” to bless the people, when ye are come over Jordan;” and he says whose to be there, and this is not the whole tribes, but the heads of the tribes “Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar,” which were all of Leah, “and Joseph [Ephraim & Manasseh], and Benjamin:” which were of Rachel, “and these shall stand upon mount Ebal” which means “barren,” “to curse; Reuben,” the firstborn of Leah, which would sin, “Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan,” of the concubines “and Naphtali.” (verses 10-13) “Naphtali” I think the last one of Leah, I’m not sure if there is any specific purpose in the way they are arranged there. But it is interesting that the blessings are recited on mount Gerizim, the curses are recited on mount Ebal, but the altar is built upon mount Ebal, interesting, the place where the cursings are recited will be the place where there would be the flowing of blood, and how remarkable, God in all of these things projects a picture of his Son, what he’s accomplished on the cross for us and so forth.

The Curses

Verse 14 says this, “And the Levites shall speak, and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice,” now here’s the Curses, so you got to imagine this, they’re going to start to scream these out, you got 2 million people down in the valley, with your little kids saying ‘What are they doing up there? why did they build a fire up there?’ ‘Sshhh!’ all the kids are there, and the children of Israel, and they’re going to scream with a loud voice, the priests, the Levites, half the elders of the tribes on the mount of Blessing, half the elders of the tribes on the mount of Cursing. And these are the curses that we hear right off the bat, listen. Now as these guys are screaming this, and everybody can hear it in the valley, “Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.” (verse 15) they shall scream “Amen!” So the priest, the Levites, half the leaders of the tribes up there ‘Cursed is anybody that makes a molten image, a graven image and thinks they can worship in a secret place in their house where nobody sees, because God will see,’ and everybody screams ‘Amen!’ And of course this is the 2^nd Commandment, ‘Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.’ They’re coming into a land of graven images, they had left a land of graven images, Egypt, now they’re coming into Canaan where all of this would be so prominent. So the first thing he says ‘Don’t do it, and don’t even think you can do it in secret and get away with it.’ And we’re going to see that several times here. It isn’t as though this is just the people agreeing ‘Hey, if the leaders catch us, we’re in trouble,’ no, what they’re saying here is ‘Let the curse fall, even when this takes place in secret, and nobody sees with the human eye.’ David, when he finally confessed his sins in Psalm 51, he said ‘Before thee and thee only have I sinned and done this great evil in thy sight.’ He wasn’t aware of that when he was in adultery, he wasn’t thinking of that, when he murdered Bathsheba’s husband he wasn’t thinking about that. But when he repented he realized ‘LORD you were watching.’ It says in Hebrews ‘All things are open and naked before the One we have to do with.’ (Hebrews 4:13) So you and I in our homes, we’re not saying ‘Amen, curse me God,’ but we should be remembering all the time, that we’re operating, we’re moving, we’re living before his gaze. Now that’s a comfort to me, because he loves us so much he can’t take his eyes off of us. We’re not under the law [no, we’re over the law (see https://unityinchrist.com/galatians/Galatians5-1-26.htm )], he’s not making a list, checking it twice, he’s going to find out who’s naughty or nice, you can get the wrong idea, he’s not the godfather, he’s Father God. The idea here is, the people are agreeing, nobody should sin secretly, God knows that, there shouldn’t be secret idolatry in their lives. Listen to the second one now, “Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen.” (verse 16) ‘that mocks, or holds in contempt by his father or his mother,’ and all the kids are looking at their mom and dad screaming ‘Amen!’ Cursed is anybody who mocks or treats their parents disrespectfully, and all the parents are looking at their kids going ‘Amen!’ Look, family is so important in this, God understands it doesn’t take a village to raise a child, it takes a mom and dad, God is completely clear about this as he brings the children of Israel into the Promised Land. “Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour’s landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen.” (verse 17) Now they were going to have their inheritance for the first time, and that was going to fall out by lot, which is a Divine decree unto the people, and everybody screams ‘Amen!’ “Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way. And all the people shall say, Amen.” (verse 18) Why did he even have to say that? Isn’t it sad that he knows us that well. This one and the next one, “Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.” (verse 19) You know, part of God’s nature is kindness and mercy. And for his people, you are now become the people of the LORD your God, so he says ‘I want them to cry out, Cursed is he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way. And all of the people shall scream, Amen!’ God knows us, doesn’t he. “Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger,” or the foreigner, “fatherless, and widow.” the less fortunate, “And all the people shall say, Amen.” (verse 19) Now by the way, the blind person might not see whose leading them out of the way, but the point is here, God sees. And when they try to do something in secret. My grandmother, whose gone now, she was 96, went to heaven years ago, but growing up in Germany, their grandfather was blind and deaf, but he loved to go to church. Now he couldn’t hear anything, he couldn’t see where he was at, and the churches, some of them were still bombed out from World War I, so their church was an old stone church with stone pews, no windows, and the wind was blowing through, and he would love to go there. So sometimes the kids would get the assignment to take grandpa to church on Sunday, and if none of the adults were there to watch, they would take him to the barnyard and sit him on the wall, and they would play, and he would think he was in church. So God knows, he had to write this in here, it’s not my gene pool. And I’m sure he worshipped, and God bless, he was in church anyway. But isn’t it amazing how well God knows us, that he has to say this, ‘Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way. And all the people shall say, Amen.’ “Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.” (verse 19) “Cursed be he that lieth with his father’s wife; because he uncovereth his father’s skirt. And all the people shall say, Amen.” (verse 20) that has intimacy with his father’s wife. Because he’s uncovering his father’s skirt, he’s brining shame upon his father’s house. And all of the people shall say ‘Amen!’ You know, isn’t it something that he would have to say this. “Cursed be he that lieth with any manner of beast. And all the people shall say, Amen.” (verse 21) Bestiality. And if you read, again, you can go to the University of Pennsylvania, to the museum down there and their bookstore, and you can read about the habits of some of the Canaanite tribes, and how sick they were sexually and so forth. And God here commanding them not to get involved in any of those things, they cried ‘Amen!’ God’s nature is holy, he’s pure, and none of this certainly would reflect him through his people in any way. “Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen.” (verse 22) incest. Amen? What about, if you’re dating a Christian girl, remember, she’s your sister, remember who her Father is. You think that spirit is less important than blood? You would never think of doing certain things with your physical sister. Don’t you dare think about doing anything with your spiritual sister, until you’re married, then you’re husband and wife. And spiritual sisters, you feel always the freedom just to say ‘Close your eyes, honey,’ and punch that person in the nose if he’s getting out of line, just you learned it here. But remember that, that’s spiritual incest. And we’ll all yell Amen, and I’m glad I got you there. “Cursed be he that lieth with his mother in law. And all the people shall say, Amen.” (verse 23) “Cursed be he that smiteth his neighbour secretly. And all the people shall say, Amen.” (verse 24) Now if you punched the guy in the nose, it’s not secretly, we talked about it openly here in the Bible study, so you don’t have to worry about this verse. Again, it’s because it’s before the eyes of the LORD. And all the people shall say ‘Amen!’ “Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say, Amen.” (verse 25) Hitmen, who’d have thought. And all the people shall say ‘Amen!’ Look in all of this, there’s purity, slaughtering someone, beating your neighbour, God is a God of forgiveness, and grace, none of these things reflect him. Family is important to him, purity in a culture. Imagine what our culture would be like, without Desperate Housewives, without Dirty Money and Sex, whatever is out there now, with X-rated and R-rated movies, imagine what our culture would be like without pornography, imagine what our culture would be like without some of the lyrics in the entertainment industry that are constantly going through our heads with images. Imagine, God cares about us, he cares about his people, he cares about their families, he cares about their lives, he cares about their purity, he cares about whether they’re being violent to one another or not. And they all cry ‘Amen’ here. And then he says “Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen.” (verse 26) Now not just the ones he just said, ‘all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen.’ Now Paul brings this up in Galatians chapter 3, he says that ‘no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident, for the just shall live by faith, and the law is not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall live in them.’ And here he says “Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them.” so God was certainly laying out his warnings, his cursings and his blessings to them. This altar would be on mount Ebal. When someone amongst the children of Israel would make a mistake, they could bring a sin offering, they could come to the LORD, they could come back with a consecration of burnt offering and say to the LORD, ‘I’ve blown it.’ But it was in faith that God would then would deal with them, because Hebrews tells us it was impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin, that that was a picture of something, it was looking forward to the coming of Christ. But notice it says “all of the words of this law,” God is putting that all in front of them, they’re to take heed to it.”

Deuteronomy 28:1-68

“And 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: 2 and all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. 3 Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. 4 Blessed 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. 5 Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. 6 Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. 7 The 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. 8 The 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. 9 The 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. 10 And all the people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee. 11 And 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. 12 The 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. 13 And 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: 14 and 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. 15 But 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: 16 Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. 17 Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. 18 Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. 19 Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out. 20 The LORD shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me. 21 The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it. 22 The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword [margin: “drought”], and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish. 23 And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. [cf. Leviticus 26:19] 24 The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed. 25 The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. 26 And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away. 27 The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed. 28 The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart: 29 and thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee. 30 Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof. 31 Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them. 32 Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand. 33 The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway: 34 so that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. 35 The LORD shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head. 36 The LORD shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone. 37 And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee. 38 Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it. 39 Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. 40 Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit. 41 Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity. 42 All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume. 43 The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low. 44 He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail. 45 Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee: 46 and they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever. 47 Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; 48 therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee. 49 The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; 50 a nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young: [Rome, then Germany] 51 and he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee. 52 And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the LORD thy God hath given thee. 53 And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee: 54 so that the man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave: 55 so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat: because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates. 56 The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter, 57 and toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates. 58 If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD; 59 then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance. 60 Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee. 61 Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed. 62 And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the LORD thy God. 63 And it shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. 64 And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. 65 And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind: 66 and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life: 67 In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. 68 And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.”

The Blessings

“And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God,” notice “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:” (verse 1) Now again, these are conditional promises. There are unconditional promises in the Old Testament, listen to what he’s saying. The reason that we have Bible studies is not just so that we can learn more about Prophecy, not more so we can argue about our theology. The primary reason is, to enhance our personal walk with Jesus Christ, so we can hear these things and we can do them. “that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:” Now he starts to reiterate The Blessings. “and all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.” (verse 2) They don’t sound like mindless blessings, do they. They’ll come on you, they’ll overtake you, they will be chasing you down. “if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.” these will be the blessings. “Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.” (verse 3) “the field,” that is where their labour took place. Today you may labour in a different field, the medical field, the computer field, blessed shalt thou be in the field, if you hearken to do, and you’re obedient and you listen. “Blessed 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.” (verse 4) You’ll be blessed in reproduction, your cattle, children and everything. “Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.” (verse 5) you’re kneading trough. “Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.” (verse 6) That sounds like a lot of good blessing to me. “The 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. The 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.” (verses 7-8) Listen, “the LORD shall command the blessing upon thee,” that’s why it says back in verse 2, it says “these blessings shall come upon thee, they shall overtake thee,” because it says the LORD is the one whose commanding the blessing to come upon them. So they’re not just benign, not just karma or something here [I call is Divine Karma], this is God’s personal involvement in his blessing. Verse 9 says “The 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. And all the people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.” (verses 9-10) Now there were parts of this, as they came into the Promised Land. Rahab there in Jericho said ‘The land is terrified of thee, we’ve heard what your God did to the Egyptians, we know about what happened in the wilderness, we know how you slew Sihon king of the Amorites and Og king of Bashan, we know what’s going on, and the land is ready to melt before you.’ The very thing that the LORD had said here he would do. “And 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. The 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.” (verses 11-12) You will be the creditor nation, and the United States needs to get back on its knees, we’re the greatest debtor nation in the world now. And for decades that was not true. But you’re not allowed to pray in school anymore, they’re wondering whether we can say ‘One nation under God’ anymore. I mean, when I was a kid, elementary school, you whippersnappers listen to this, when I was a kid in elementary school, every morning they would get us in the assembly hall, and they would read a Psalm, to the whole school. And then we’d say the Pledge of Allegiance, One Nation Under God. They would read the Bible to us five days a week. You can imagine that. Can you imagine that? ok. And how we’ve changed, look what we’re embracing, we no longer know the difference between right and wrong, everything’s relative, no longer can there be prayer, no longer do we want the Ten Commandments on the halls of power, and courthouses, we’ve so changed. But I’m not hopeless, I’m not hopeless, we can pray for Revival, we can ask God to break hearts and touch our nation again [see https://unityinchrist.com//prophets/Zephaniah/REVIVAL.html and https://unityinchrist.com/prophets/Zephaniah/RestorationAndRevival.htm ]. We can know as we do that, that we’re praying according to his will, we lift the name of Jesus before him as we pray according to his will. We can be assured that there are times when God will alter human government and natural law, and he will do things that are supernatural, just like all of this is supernatural. So, we need not to be depressed, we need to be praying. “thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.” “And 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: and thou shalt not go aside from any of the words” plural “which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.” (verses 13-14) Notice, God considers turning to the right or to the left from his Word idolatry. He says if you turn to the right hand or to the left hand from the Word, it’s because you have another god in your life. As we get to verse 58 he’s going to say “If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written” he’s even more specific, now “in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD;” Jehovah Elohim. So here he says, not to turn to the right or to the left from the things in his Word, because if they do that, as far as he’s concerned, it’s idolatry, they are worshipping other gods. Disobedience is idolatry. Samuel will challenge Saul with this, when Samuel said ‘Hath the LORD such a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices instead of obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, to hearken better than the fat of rams, for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD he hath also rejected thee from being king.’ He says that specifically to Saul, it’s because you’ve rejected the Word of the LORD, that’s why rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is like idolatry, you’ve rejected the word of the LORD. Here it tells us, if we’ve turned aside. Look, if God says ‘This is what morality is for a single Christian man,’ and when we turn and get involved in sexual sin or something, it’s because we’ve put some other god centerstage instead of the True and Living God. If it says this is the way we should handle our finances, we shouldn’t be stealing, that we shouldn’t be ripping anybody off, and we do those things, that’s because we’ve made mammon our god instead of the LORD God. I mean, over and over and over, we can go, even today as Christians, if we disobey, it’s because we’re bowing the knee to something else. You know, certainly as Christians, we would say ‘I would never bow down in front of a stone or brass statue,’ and I probably don’t think you would. But we do it to some desire that we have within ourselves, and we let that take precedent over the written Word of God, and God says as far as I’m concerned, that’s another god, it’s an idol, it’s idolatry. And his challenge specifically to the children of Israel, because all of their disobedience would be relative to the idolatry in the land that they’re going into. “thou shalt not go aside from any of the words” plural “which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.” (verse 14)

The Curses, National--Then Historic--Now Prophetic

“But 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:” (verse 15) Now we’re going to see he’s given us 13 verses on his blessing, and the rest of the chapter on the trouble that we’re in. If you’ve ever raised kids, you understand this. You don’t have to talk to them a whole lot about blessing, ‘If you do this, you get ice cream,’ it’s short and sweet, it’s to the point, it’s right in there were we want to get. But over and over and over you have to say ‘Don’t do that. Now what did I tell you? what’s going to happen if you do that? Now look at me. I’m going to say it again, are you listening?’ and over and over. And we were those, we’re grown up now, we’re just bigger [no different though]. “But 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: Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out.” (verse 15-19) Now look, that’s the exact opposite of what he had said before, exactly. He had said before ‘Blessed shalt thou be in the city, blessed shalt thou be in the field, blessed shalt be the fruit of the body, the fruit of the ground, the fruit of the cattle, of thy kine and flocks of sheep, blessed shall be thy basket and thy store, blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and goest out,’ this is just a complete reversal now. He’s saying if you walk away from me, if you live in disobedience, this is the other side of the same thing, this is the only way God can be. God can’t bless disobedience and rebellion. If you’re raising kids you know that. There’s always this question, ‘When do we challenge them? when do we tell them, if you keep this up you’re going to have to move out?’ When do I become an enabler? Yes, I love them, but I can’t finance this sin and rebellion. And there’s terrible, heartbreaking decisions that parents have to make, and I believe God says this with more heartbreak than any of us could ever imagine, I really do. “The LORD shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.” (verse 20) He wants us in fellowship with himself. “The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it. The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword [margin: “drought”], and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.” (verses 21-22) I don’t like they way any of this sounds.

National Drought & The Loss Of The Pride Of Power

“And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. [cf. Leviticus 26:19] (verses 23) Relative to rain, this is not speaking about prayer here. When he shuts up the heavens, it effects the cattle, the flocks, it effects the herd, the vineyards, crops, everything. “The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.” (verses 24) No Nile to worship here in this land. “The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.” (verse 25) And how prophetic was that for the nation of Israel [log onto and read through this Old Testament history series: https://unityinchrist.com/kings/1.html and https://unityinchrist.com/kings/2.html and https://unityinchrist.com/kings/3.html and https://unityinchrist.com/kings/4.html and https://unityinchrist.com/kings/5.html and https://unityinchrist.com/kings/6.html ] And look, as we listen through this, and we read through, the tenor of it is going to change. At the beginning of chapter 28 he’s saying to them ‘Now if you do this,’ and by the end when we get to the end of the chapter he’s saying ‘When you turn away,’ and it becomes very Prophetic, and the history of Israel tells out the truth of God’s Word [just read through the survey of Old Testament history above]. Verse 25, “The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray” take “them away.” (verses 25-26) Now it is interesting that he separates you from your carcase, by the way. Sometimes we forget to do that. Man was given dominion over all the beasts of the earth, that’s what we find in the Book of Genesis. But by this time man is bowing down before the beasts of the earth, and God says ‘I’m going to give your carcases to them for food, this is the way this is going to be.’ Now again, your carcase, it means that God understands the difference between who they are, and the spacesuit that they live in. We should always remember that, because there are people that are really consumed with their carcase. There’s people that spend a lot of time working on their carcase, dressing it up, getting it nipped and tucked, and brightened up and sewed up and trimmed down, it’s a big job, and the older the carcase gets the harder the job is. It’s wonderful just to keep it in perspective though, hopefully I encouraged somebody. Listen to verse 27, “The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.” I don’t like anything in that verse, I don’t want the botch, the emerods [hemorrhoids], the scabs, the itch, none of it. You don’t get away with anything, the LORD’s saying. I want to go back to the blessings. “The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart:” (verse 28) If all of verse 27 happens, I’m going to be crazy, no doubt. “and thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee.” (verse 29) There’s cause and effect here, but it’s Divine. “Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof.” (verse 30) There’s not going to be any self-assured blessing. He’s saying ‘Don’t think that you’re going to deny me and live in idolatry, and then you’re going to huff and puff, and bring your own blessings to bear, it’s not gonna happen, because I’m not going to allow it to happen. “Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them. Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand.” (verses 31-32) And completely discouraging on how that happened with the Assyrians [with the 10 northern tribes of Israel, called the House of Israel] and it happened with the Babylonians [with the Jews, the House of Judah to the south], as we go on, more and more it becomes clear, the very thing God warned them of is the very thing that they fell into, when God wanted them to be above all of the nations of the world, God wanted them to be the creditor, God wanted to bless them, but in their stubbornness they would turn away. “The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway:” (verse 33) No blessing without obedience. “so that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.” (verse 34) And I’m sure Moses is warning with great brokenness as he’s doing this. “The LORD shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head.” (verse 35) I wonder if the LORD is saying ‘Am I making my point?’ “The LORD shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.” (verse 36) Now verse 36 tells us very specifically that this is prophetic now. [This is national captivity, for the House of Israel, the 10-northern tribes, and for the House of Judah, made up of the Jews, half tribe of Benjamin and the Levites and some Simeonites. Also, these prophecies, as shown in the transcript on Leviticus 26, probably apply also to whomever the 10 lost tribes of Israel are today. For a hint as to who they might be, or at least the two most prominent of those tribes are see, https://unityinchrist.com/Genesis47-48.html ] No doubt looking at Babylon and Assyria. “And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee.” (verse 37) Some of that no doubt, through the centuries, rose to antisemitism, not understanding that God was dealing with his people [read “A History of The Jews, From Earliest Times Through The Six Day War” by Cecil Roth.] “Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it. Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them.” (verses 38-39) So God’s in charge of the locusts and the worms in disobedience. “Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit. Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity. All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume. The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low.” (verses 40-43) Now so sad, because when they were in Egypt, God drew a line between his people and the Egyptians. When they were in Egypt, there were times [during the 10 plagues] when darkness was over all the land of Egypt, and Goshen was in the sunlight, there were times in Egypt when the curses came upon the Egyptians, and God spared, he drew the line between his people and the Egyptians. Now he’s saying, ‘If you live like the Egyptians, if you become idolators like the Egyptians and Canaanites, if you turn away from me, if you live like the world, if you want to live like the heathen that are out there, and you want to live by their standards, with their morality, and you want to live the way they live, and you want to compromise, and you don’t want to walk with me, and you don’t want anything to do with me, with the Word I’ve given you and the blessings I’ve offered to you, and forgiveness.’ If God has a prodigal that leaves and goes out there, God can’t bless that prodigal, because he loves that prodigal, he wants that prodigal to be miserable until he turns his heart towards home again. Because he loves the prodigal, and the Bible says he loves the backslider, and it’s remarkable to read through these things, because I think with great brokenness God remembers how he divided between his own people and the Egyptians when he judged the entire land of Egypt, the mightiest nation in the world, and brought his people out with his own outstretched hand. “He” the foreigner “shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail. Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee,” notice now, instead of the blessings, “and overtake thee,” you’re not going to get away, I know some Christians sometimes think they’re getting away with it, they’re not, because he loves us, “till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee:” (verses 44-45) We make everything so complex, there’s such simplicity here. And I believe again, Moses is warning in love, and not in contempt. “and they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever. Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.” (verses 46-48) He says you didn’t serve the LORD with joyfulness and gladness in the prosperity that he brought upon your lives, you refused. And what they were doing is they were turning away to idols saying, you know, they worshipped Baal because Baal provided rain, and was god over the crops of the field and all of this stupid stuff. I know that sounds like ancient history, but hey, I’m a Discovery Channel guy, I love to watch those things, I love to watch Monster Quest, I love strange stuff, but I love the Discovery Channel…but you watch this stuff, and you see people so given Mother Earth, it’s worshipping the creation more than the Creator whose blessed forever. And it goes on around us today, don’t think that it doesn’t.

National Captivity & Deportation

And here, the LORD said, ‘you didn’t hearken, you didn’t listen to the things I said, when you were in prosperity and blessing, you didn’t serve me with joyfulness and gladness,’ “therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.” (verse 48) Now here’s what he says, it’s interesting, here’s your choice, you can serve the LORD, in prosperity, in blessing, in joyfulness, or you can serve your enemies in wont, and in need, and in barrenness. I mean, it’s a no-brainer, it’s a no-brainer. A yoke of iron, some think this is pointing forward to Rome, Daniel chapter 2. “The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; a nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young: [Assyria, Rome back then, Germany in the near future, leading a United States of Europe (see https://unityinchrist.com/prophecies/2ndcoming_4.htm )] and he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee. And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down,” notice this, “wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.” (verses 49-52) They were so misguided by that time, the believed in their own strength [and we do now, in our modern weaponry, since World War II up to now], the walls of their cities. We see in the history of Israel, their strength had always been relative to the LORD. Now listen to this, of course it’s terrible, I’ll read down to verse 57, but all of this is part of their history, and the LORD warned them before any of it took place. “And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee:” now they did that under the siege of Samaria with the Assyrians, and the siege of Jerusalem under the Babylonians, and they did it in 70AD when Titus Vespasian surrounded the city. The Romans would set a siege and they would be content to be there 20 years, that was the Roman Empire, and they would win, the Jews would loose. And there was such cannibalism in Jerusalem in 70AD and so much disease and the plague come in the city, that Titus Vespasian, who was not a believer, actually lifted his hands up to heaven and said ‘God, don’t hold me responsible for this,’ so furious that the Jews would not surrender. But all of these things took place, “so that the man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother,” you’re seen the cartoons where the guy’s looking at another guy on an island, he turns into a hotdog in a roll, he’s so hungry, “and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave: so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat: because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates. The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter, and toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.” (verses 53-57) Listen this all became very prophetic for the nation of Israel [both the House of Israel to the north and the House of Judah to the south]. God starts out by saying, they’re in the Plains of Moab, looking across, they can see Jericho, all of the blessings of God are right in front of them. And that’s the picture for us. God has promised us so many things, you and I are still growing in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, you and I are still learning to take the blessings and the promises of God to apply them to our lives. Sometimes that’s in great distress and difficulty, and you in his grace there, though his grace is sufficient, and we discover things about him in difficulty we’d never discover about him when things are going fine. Much of our life is just so blessed as Americans in the land we live in, and there’s so much in front of us, and we can forget daily that it comes from him. I don’t think any time we say grace over our meals, while we’re saying grace, we should be aware that there’s people starving all over this world that we live in. And God continually sets a table in front of us, and we should ask him to sanctify the food, to strengthen our physical frame, so that we can serve him. And we should never take for granted his blessings, because they’re in front of us. They’re there, looking across Jordan, the city of Jericho, the walls are going to fall down, all of the Promises he made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were sitting there in front of them, and God is saying ‘This is all yours, if you walk with me, if you listen to me, I’ll bless you, you’ll be raised up above all the nations of the world, I’ll take care of you, I’ll take care of your children, I’ll take care of your homes, your farms, my blessing will be there. But don’t think you can do anything, even secretly, because I’ll see. And when you come into the land there will be two mountains, and neither of them are movable, one of them is mount Ebal, where the curses shall be pronounced, the other is mount Gerizim where the blessings shall be pronounced, and I want you to cry Amen when you hear, I want you to understand that you have a choice, I haven’t removed your will.’ And as this goes on it becomes very prophetic, God looking down through the years and seeing his nation drug away by the Assyrians, the Babylonions, the Romans, and it becomes all too clearly told out as we look at this. All these terrible things, look at verse 58, “If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD; then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful,” not wonderful in the sense of wonderful, but “awesome” “and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance. Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee.” notice this, “Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.” things you never heard of, “And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude;” that was the promise to Abraham, “because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the LORD thy God. And it shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind:” he would never let them be blessed outside of fellowship with himself, “and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life: In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.” (verses 58-68) Very interesting, when Titus Vespasian besieged the city of Jerusalem in 70AD, over a million people died, 97,000 people were carried away slaves, and 17,000 Jews were put in ships and sent to Egypt to be sold in the slave markets, isn’t that remarkable, 17,000 taken aboard ships and sent back to Egypt to be sold in the slave markets. So we don’t end on a depressing note, God over and over said ‘As I promised, as I said, as I promised, as I said.’ The great lesson is, his promises are yea and amen. And for you and I under a better covenant this evening, his promises are yea and amen. He’s the God that calls things that are not as though they were. He’s the God that looks at you and I and says that we’re justified, sanctified and glorified through the blood of Jesus Christ. He’s the God that said ‘Whomsoever will may come.’ If you’re here this evening and you don’t know Christ, we have better promises, if you’re willing to come to Jesus and ask forgiveness, this God who always upholds his Word and his promises has made promises to us today, that for Jesus Christ and his death on the cross, all of our sins can be forgiven. Instead of the botch, whatever that is, we can have forgiveness…[transcript of a connective expository sermon on Deuteronomy 27:1-26 and Deuteronomy 28:1-68, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]