Deuteronomy 28-29

In this passage, God lists the blessings (or curses) that Israel can expect if they obey (or disobey) His commands. Moses then exhorts Israel to hew to the Lord's covenant with them, because the consequences for failing in this regard are too horrible to be contemplated.

1. Blessings for Obedience
If the Israelites are careful to obey all of the Lord's commands, He will bless them as follows:

• their blessings will not be limited by geography


• their children will be blessed


• they will not go hungry - in fact, they will have a surplus of food


• their livestock will be blessed


• their blessings will not be restricted by the time of day


• they will be blessed in their military endeavors.

As a result of these blessings, all other nations will fear Israel - and by extension, the Lord. They will be in a dominant position relative to other nations.

2. Curses for Disobedience
Now if the Israelites fail to obey all of the Lord's commands, He will reverse all of the aforementioned blessings. In addition, He will curse them as follows:

• they will be afflicted with all kinds of unpleasant diseases


• drought, blight, mildew, locusts and worms will strike their land


• they will be afflicted with mental illnesses and blindness


• they will lose their families and possessions, and other nations will be able to put them to good use


• they will be driven into exile and forced to serve their enemies and worship their gods


• they will be in debt to the aliens living among them


• they will resort to cannibalism during long sieges of their fortified cities


• they will lack peace of mind.

3. Renewal of the Covenant
Now that the Lord has presented His new covenant with Israel, Moses reminds them of His faithfulness to them - which should motivate them to honor it. In particular, he reminds them of how God led them out of Egypt, how He sustained them during 40 years of wandering in the desert, and how He helped them to defeat Sihon and Og. He then establishes the fact that all Israel - including future generations - is entering into this new covenant with God. Now he reminds them that serving other gods will lead to disaster, so he warns Israel against this sin. Finally he reminds them that the Lord will punish individuals for their sins, so they cannot hide from Him in the midst of the community. Moreover, Israel should not sin corporately, as this will cause the Lord to strike their land for many generations to come. Other nations would see the resulting destruction and know that the Lord was punishing His people for their sins - especially that of idolatry.

Deuteronomy 26-27

The Israelites are about to enter the Promised Land!!

Through Moses, God instructs the Israelites "once you have entered the promised land and settle in it, take the first fruits of your crop and give it as an offering to God." This money shall then be used for the Levites (priests), the fatherless, and the widow "so that they may eat and be satisfied."

God truly cares about taking care of the priests (in our case, pastors, ministers, etc), the fatherless and the widow (poor, hungry, etc).

God then tells them to keep his commandments. In fact, he tells them to write the commandments on a stone. He asks them to build an alter without using iron tools! In fact, he asks them to build it out of fieldstones! Man, that's a lot more work!

Almost ominously, Moses then tells them that the tribes of Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin will stand on Mount Ebal to bless the people while Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali will pronounce curses. (!)

Then the Levites will pronounce what kinds of curses will befall a member if he commits a series of sins (such as sleeping with your father's wife, setting up idols, leading the blind astray, killing your neighbor, moving a boundary stone, dishonoring parents, immoral sexual relations). He ends with

He ends with the following general statement:

“Cursed is the man who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out.”
Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”