Deuteronomy 11:28, commentary and pictures

Moses set before Israel a solemn choice between blessing for obedience and curse for disobedience, the curse falling if they would not obey the commandments of the Lord their God but would turn aside from His commanded way to follow other gods they had not known. The curse means the Lord's wrath is kindled against the disobedient, heaven is shut so there is no rain in due season, the land withholds corn and wine and oil and grass for cattle, and people perish quickly from the good land, while obedience brings food and fullness, life and prosperity for present and future good. God thereby makes a decided difference between the obedient and the disobedient, so that whom He blesses is blessed and whom He curses is cursed according to the course chosen. The warning was verified when disobedient Israel fell in the wilderness and only two adults who left Egypt entered Canaan, showing the law given for blessing becomes a curse when light is disobeyed. To escape the curse His words must now be lived by in every word from His mouth, laid up in heart and soul and bound on hand and forehead, taught diligently to children at home and by the way and written on doorposts and gates, charging parents to prepare their households for the Lord's coming and calling all to choose loyalty to His government and His holy seventh day rather than other counsel.

Curse Set Before Israel

The verse belongs to the rehearsal given to the generation about to enter Canaan, repeating the conditions of the law for those on the verge of the promised land. It was proclaimed as a solemn choice between blessing and curse at Shechem, with the mountains as the setting for that decision, the blessing set opposite the curse. As part of the expressed will in Deuteronomy 11:26-32, the requirements of blessing and curse were to be framed into song and sung in the congregations lest they be forgotten.

The curse is set before the people if they will not obey the commandments of the Lord their God but turn aside out of the way commanded them to go after other gods which they have not known. Refusing obedience and turning from the commanded path to follow other gods is rejection of His commandments. It stands as the opposite of the blessing set before them for obedience, love, and service to God with all heart and soul. Obedience or disobedience is thus a choice with serious consequences.

The curse means the Lord's wrath is kindled, heaven is shut so there is no rain, the land does not yield its fruit, and the people perish quickly from the good land given them. It reaches people, animals, and the earth's produce through drought and loss of crops and failure of the land, and their suffering results from departing from the law. Faithful love and service bring prosperity, including rain and harvest, whereas turning to other gods brings anger, drought, loss of crops, and danger of perishing from the land. Obedience brings rain in due season, corn and wine and oil, grass for cattle, food and fullness, which is life and prosperity as against death. Obedience is for present and future good.

God makes a decided difference between those obedient to His commandments and those disobedient, blessing following obedience and a curse following disobedience and idolatry. If He blesses a person that person is blessed, and if He curses a person that person is cursed according to the course chosen. A person alone makes himself weak and brings the curse on himself.

Warning Heeded Today

The curse upholds the sacredness of God's law, and transgression brings its sure result. The warning was verified when Israel disobeyed and only two of the adults who left Egypt entered Canaan while the rest died in the wilderness. The law intended as a blessing becomes a curse when people turn from God and fail to obey the light they have received, and disobedience and departure forfeit the spiritual blessings offered.

God's word is His voice addressed now, to be lived by in every word proceeding from His mouth, with no human right to decide what will please Him. Applied to the seventh day He sanctified and commanded to keep holy, this forbids concluding that observance of another day in its place will be acceptable. Safety is only in laying up His word in heart and soul and applying it to daily life, and in doing what is right and good in His sight that it may be well, for blessing follows obedience and curse follows disobedience.

To escape the curse the words must be laid up in heart and soul, bound as a sign on the hand and as frontlets between the eyes, taught diligently to children at home and on the way and night and morning when sitting and walking and lying down and rising up, and written on doorposts and gates. So doing multiplies days as the days of heaven on earth in the land given. The curse itself means wrath kindled, heaven shut so there is no rain, the land not yielding its fruit, and perishing quickly from the good land, while loving obedience with all heart and soul brings rain in due season, corn and wine and oil, grass for cattle, food and fullness.

The lessons of the eighth and eleventh chapters belong to God's people today as truly as to Israel. God remains particular about obedience and will vindicate His word today if leaders depart from His commandments. The warning applies across generations and to its readers against forsaking God's instruction for other counsel and false teaching, against turning aside to worship other gods, with blessing for obedience and curse for disobedience and idolatry. Carelessness can prevent receiving His blessing and bringing glory to His name, and Israel's history showed disobedience led to destruction.

In the household the warning charges parents with responsibility to obey God and prepare their children for the Lord's coming, since choices have serious consequences for parents and children. Parents and children who obey God's word receive the promised blessings and avoid the sure result of disobedience. The warning falls on parents who raise children to despise God's commandments and on religious teachers who encourage disobedience, for blessing rests on obedience and curse on turning from God's commands to follow other gods.

Disloyalty to God's government brings the curse in contrast with the faithful who keep His commandments. People must urgently choose their side, purify their minds by obeying the truth, and not disregard God's authority and fail to act as He requires. Refusing to let selfish interests control and obeying God's will about leaving Battle Creek would bring blessing, spiritual experience and spiritual knowledge, while remaining contrary to His will forfeits favor, loses that experience and knowledge, congests the heart of the work, and after long warning unheeded proves hearts and minds not under the Holy Spirit but asleep to how much work there is to do. If God blesses a person that person is blessed and if He curses a person that person is cursed according to the course chosen, and a person alone makes himself weak and brings the curse on himself. The curse comes by not fearing God and working righteousness but harboring jealousy, distrust, envy, petulance, factious independence, discouragement, stubbornness and folly and defiling the soul temple, while blessing and peace come by emptying the soul of that rubbish and cleansing the soul temple, fearing God and working righteousness, getting away from self, looking continually to Jesus, connecting the soul with God, laying hold on eternal life, having God's cause at heart, and laboring disinterestedly here or there or anywhere in humbleness, meekness and lowliness of mind, and a soul thus connected has strength and fortitude which nothing can shake.