September 06, 2025
Moses has just spent 15 chapters reviewing the law. Now, to impress upon the people the seriousness of what they have promised to do,
Deuteronomy 26:17 - You have declared this day that Yahweh is your God and that you will walk in his ways, that you will keep his decrees, commands and laws, and that you will obey him.
he will spend some time telling them about the consequences of obedience/disobedience.
God wants them to take their faithfulness as seriously as he takes his faithfulness.
Deuteronomy 27 interrupts the flow between chapters 26-28.
Once the people crossed the Jordan, they were to have a covenant renewal service from the tops of Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. To help underscore the permanent nature of the law, they were also to build stone monuments, cover them with plaster, and inscribe them with the entire law. Beyond that, the Levities were then to recite before the people a list of 12 sins and their accompanying curse.
The word “curse” often trips us up. Here is one of the English definitions:
“A curse is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to one or more persons, a place, or an object.”
Let’s step back for a moment. Based on the evidence so far, do we really think that the same God who has been wandering around in the desert for 40 years with these people, expressly wishes for some calamity or misfortune to fall upon them?
Of course not!
This is another great example of why understanding the original meaning of a word is so important.
Here the word “curse” in the Hebrew is ’arur ???? . It is the idea of being without God, without His protection, presence or covering.
Let’s take the 1st “curse” in 27:15
“Cursed is the man who carves an image or casts an idol – a thing detestable to Yahweh, the work of the craftsman's hands – and sets it up in secret."
What that is literally saying is, “Without God is the man who carves an image or casts an idol – a thing detestable to Yahweh, the work of the craftsman's hands – and sets it up in secret."
I would go a step further and suggest that is not a statement of what happens to a person who does these things so much as it is a statement of what the person who does these things has already become – a person without God.
Then all the people shall say, "Amen!" – “Let it be so” – in other words they were stating their agreement with God’s verdict.
That brings us to chapter 28, which is divided into 2 sections:
Blessings for those who are faithful to the covenant.
Curses for those who persistently rebel.
Deuteronomy 28:1-7 - If you fully obey Yahweh your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, He will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you if you will obey the LORD your God: You will be blessed in the city and in the country. Your families will be blessed. Your land will be blessed. Your livestock will be blessed. Your food will be blessed. You will be blessed when you go in and when you go out.
The blessings highlight the fact that Yahweh is the originator of the benefits. The people will not be able to take credit for any of their success. They are experiencing the blessings God has promised to give them within the covenant relationship.
Deuteronomy 28:15 - However, if you do not obey Yahweh your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
Here is another Hebrew word for “curse” – qelalah ??????. This word indicates placing an individual or community or object under divine disfavor and stands in deliberate contrast to “blessing.” It is related to the rule of law and the administration of justice which rests ultimately in the hands of God.
Let’s look at Deuteronomy 28:16-20:
“You will be ‘without God’ in the city and in the country. Your food will be ‘without God.’ Your families will be ‘without God.’ Your land will be ‘without God.’ Your livestock will be ‘without God.’ You will be ‘without God’ when you go in and when you go out.”
Choosing rebellion will bring about an “undoing” of the covenant blessings.
“Yahweh will send upon you curses, confusion, and rebuke, in all you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken Me.”
Here is another Hebrew word for curse - “meerah.” This word indicates a divine judgment – a lawful response to a covenant violation.
The covenant between Yahweh, the people and the land would be dissolved.
Deuteronomy 28:45-48 - All these curses will come upon you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey Yahweh your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you. They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever. Because you did not serve Yahweh your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies Yahweh sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.
Deuteronomy 29:1 - These are the terms of the covenant Yahweh commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in Moab, in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Horeb.
Law is impersonal, but the Children of Israel did not enter into an impersonal relationship with law, they entered into a personal relationship with the God of the Universe. The law was an extension of God’s character of love and therefore played an important role in the life of the people – who were called to be holy just as God is holy. The covenant was also a legal contract between God and Israel, which included consequences for disobedience.
Let us be clear. The threat of “curses” was not a knee-jerk reaction on the part of a vindictive God. They were not arbitrary. They were God’s holy response to rebellion and they were written into the Covenant that Children of Israel willingly entered into.
As we know, in the future Israel will be so certain of their “special people” status that they will believe that they can do anything they want without consequence:
Micah 3:9-11 - Hear this, you leaders of the house of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel, who despise justice and distort all that is right; who build Zion with bloodshed, and Jerusalem with wickedness. Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money. Yet they lean upon the LORD and say, "Is not the LORD among us? No disaster will come upon us."
and the covenant will become so meaningless that they will wonder why God is doing all these things to them:
Jeremiah 5:19 - And when the people ask, 'Why has Yahweh our God done all this to us?' you will tell them, 'As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.'
900 years before however – on the east side of the Jordan River, God provided very clear expectations and the associated consequences, which brings us to Moses’ final speech - #3
Moses begins his final speech by reminding the people of Yahweh’s work on their behalf and his faithfulness to his side of the covenant. Then he urged Israel to accept and be faithful to the terms of the Covenant:
Deuteronomy 29:10-15 - All of you are standing today in the presence of Yahweh your God – your leaders and chief men, your elders and officials, and all the other men of Israel, together with your children and your wives, and the aliens living in your camps … You are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with Yahweh your God, a covenant Yahweh is making with you this day and sealing with an oath, to confirm you this day as his people, that he may be your God as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I am making this covenant, with its oath, not only with you who are standing here with us today in the presence of Yahweh our God but also with those who are not here today.
Deuteronomy 29 ends on a note of sorrow, because God knew that despite His best efforts, His people would not remain faithful. A time would come when the Land of Plenty would become a wasteland and the surrounding nations would ask, “Why has Yahweh done this? Why this fierce burning anger?”
Deuteronomy 29:25-27 - And the answer will be: "It is because this people abandoned the covenant of Yahweh, the God of their fathers, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt. They went off and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, gods they did not know, gods he had not given them. Therefore, Yahweh's anger burned against this land, so that he brought on it all the curses written in this book.
Here’s the thing. God was prepared to follow through with the discipline written into the Covenant and He was also prepared, anxious even, to forgive and restore the people, so this is how we will conclude today:
Deuteronomy 30:1-20 - When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come upon you and you take them to heart wherever Yahweh your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to Yahweh your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then Yahweh your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there Yahweh your God will gather you and bring you back. He will bring you to the land that belonged to your fathers, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. Yahweh your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live. Yahweh your God will put all these curses on your enemies who hate and persecute you. You will again obey Yahweh and follow all his commands I am giving you today. Then Yahweh your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land. Yahweh will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your fathers, if you obey Yahweh your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and Yahweh your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love Yahweh your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For Yahweh is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Until Next Time…………….
