28:1Deuteronomy 28:1

The verse pledges that diligently hearkening to the voice of the Lord and observing and doing all His commandments will be rewarded with being set on high above all nations of the earth.SG4 122.2–123.2+2 The voice to be obeyed is the voice of Christ, who was Israel's invisible leader, deliverer, protector and healer, and His commandments include the statutes and judgments that make the principles of His kingdom specific so no mind is left in ignorance.RH Dec 25, 1900+3 For such obedience God promised honor above the nations, establishment as a holy people, His defense and protection, prosperity and provision in fields, flocks and all the work of the hand, and health and preservation from disease.SG4 122.2–123.2+4 Disobedience brings the opposite curse, loss and fearful results, including scattering, weakness before enemies, withdrawing of blessing from land and body, and forfeiture of the promised favor through distrust and rebellion.PP 466.1–3+4 This exaltation was entrusted as a sacred mission to preserve the knowledge of God and display the superiority of His government by righteous lives, a covenant principle that remains in force so that obedience still brings blessing and disobedience still brings a curse.ST Oct 21, 1886+4

The setting on high above all nations is conditional, pledged only if there is diligent hearkening to the voice of the Lord and observing and doing of all His commandments, with blessing as the reward for obedience and with the following verses spelling out prosperity, fruitful land, health, establishment as a holy people, provision in daily life, set against curses, scattering with fear and sorrow, and dealing with the people as apostates if they refuse to obey.SG4 122.2–123.2+4 The voice to be hearkened to is the voice of Christ, Israel's invisible leader, deliverer, protector and healer, who shelters all who do His will.RH Dec 25, 1900+2 The commandments to be observed are statutes and judgments expressing the principles of the law of God's kingdom made specific so that no mind is left in ignorance and uncertainty, given for present and future good.RH Dec 25, 1900+1

The precepts came from God and not from Moses or any human mind, proclaimed at Sinai, preserved written in books to be carefully studied and obeyed, and read aloud by Moses from the book he had written together with the record of past history to all the people assembled before him.SG4 53.2+2 Every specification of the law is the character of the infinite God, so that to abolish it would be as impossible as abolishing God Himself, and this calls God's people to stand as His peculiar people by keeping rather than trampling it as not binding.Ms 12, 1894, par. 16 A covenant is an agreement between parties based on conditions which God verifies only when Israel fulfills its part by obeying the divine law, so to expect blessing while violating the conditions upon which alone it can be bestowed is presumption.ST Dec 22, 1881

The sacred ark held the law contained in the sacred chest, but possession of it or its mere presence brought no blessing, sacredness, power, protection or deliverance from enemies apart from obedience to the law that alone gives it sacredness, with prosperity and adversity sent according to obedience or transgression.ST Dec 22, 1881+2 Obedience means walking in God's ways and not turning aside from His words.Ms 81, 1898, par. 28–32 It is to shape daily life even when inconvenient, preserving harmony and bringing safety, and professions of loyalty or words of praise cannot replace it.ST May 13, 1886 Past faithfulness and God's special love do not excuse later sin, and disobedience alters His purpose toward His people, as seen when the adult army that left Egypt lost the promised land because they did not wholly follow Him.Lt 106, 1897, par. 21–24+1

The blessings are conditional on diligently hearkening to the voice of the Lord and observing and doing all His commandments, and those who obey are set on high above all nations of the earth.Ms 81, 1898, par. 28–32+1 Obedience is for present and future good, bringing prosperity, happiness, favor, provision in daily life, and temporal and spiritual prosperity as life and happiness itself.Ms 68, 1900, par. 3–5+2 The benediction rests on commandment-keepers in fields, flocks, herds, vineyards, and all they put their hand to, with the blessings described in the following verses given in daily life.Ms 81, 1898, par. 28–32+1 Obedience means walking in God's ways and not turning aside from His words, for the commandments express the principles of His kingdom stated plainly so no mind is left in ignorance and uncertainty.Ms 81, 1898, par. 28–32+1

Obedience would establish Israel as a holy people, with God going before them to prosper them and acting as their defense and shield of protection.SG4 122.2–123.2+2 Their faithfulness would make them a power in the world and always a terror to the heathen nations around them.5T 454.2+1 Obedience would enable them to occupy the land God had specified and to expand their borders as their numbers grew.Ms 134, 1899, par. 5–6 God would teach and bless them with skill, wisdom, vigor of intellect, and protection.Ms 134, 1899, par. 5–6

The promised blessings included health and preservation from the diseases brought upon Egypt and afflicting other nations.Ms 38, 1898, par. 8+2 Listening carefully to His voice and doing what is right and obeying His commandments and statutes brings blessing, healing and preservation, while obedience preserves health and holiness and cures the evils of the human heart.Ms 63, 1899, par. 3–6+1 Jesus was their hope and tree of life, with Christ Himself as invisible leader, deliverer, protector and healer sheltering all who do His will.15MR 29.3–30.2+1

In the wilderness He provided manna rather than flesh meat because He knew flesh would promote disease and insubordination.Ms 38, 1898, par. 8 This diet was intended to shape disposition and strengthen the higher powers of the mind.Ms 38, 1898, par. 8 Honoring Him with substance and firstfruits brings abundance, while withholding tithes and offerings robs God and themselves.Lt 39, 1874, par. 2–4 In a world unfavorable to right and truth this calls for putting the whole business into serving God and seeking first His kingdom and righteousness.Ms 12, 1894, par. 16+1

The chapter places blessing for obedience opposite cursing for disobedience, so that diligent hearing and doing of all the commandments brings exaltation above the nations while refusal to obey brings a curse, loss, and fearful results between which all must choose.Ms 40, 1898, par. 2–4+4 Refusal to meet the condition means being dealt with justly as apostates, with the divine purpose toward the people altered.Ms 40, 1898, par. 2–4+1 The adult army that left Egypt is the proof, for they lost the promised land because they did not wholly follow Him.Lt 106, 1897, par. 21–24

The threatened curses include being scattered among other peoples with fear and sorrow.PP 466.1–3 After departure from God into idolatry, distrust of His goodness and mercy, and forgetfulness of His care and great love, He departs, leaving the people weak and a prey to enemies and suffering them to be overcome by other nations to humble and punish them.1SP 354.1 Even then, when in affliction they cry out, they are heard and given a ruler to deliver them from their enemies, though blindness keeps many from acknowledging that sin caused their weakness and leads them wrongly to blame the lack of one with kingly authority to command their armies.1SP 354.1

Continued violation of the commandments and of the laws of health brings increasing disease and human degeneracy as the prospering hand is withdrawn.SG4 122.2–123.2 The curse grows upon people, animals, and vegetation as humanity continues to forget God and break His commandments.SG4 122.2–123.2+1 When the law is degraded through wickedness and violence, blessings are withdrawn from the land, including from orchards and vineyards.Ms 64, 1899, par. 11 Departing from the commandments brings the curse upon the earth itself, upon cattle, upon fish and upon all flesh, with disease and suffering as the sure result.Lt 59, 1898, par. 9–11

Being set on high above all nations was not an honor for its own sake but a sacred trust to preserve the knowledge of God and make His truth known among the nations.ST Jan 25, 1910 Obedience would have lifted Israel to honor among the nations so that the people would represent His goodness, mercy and love.Ms 40, 1898, par. 12 In that condition they would bear His character of purity, goodness and benevolence, and by true worship and righteous lives restore His moral image in humanity.ST Mar 3, 1881+1 Jesus Himself was their hope and tree of life, while choosing independence placed them under Satan's control.Ms 40, 1898, par. 12

Their faithfulness would have made them a power in the world, with God as their defense, letting His light and truth shine through them.5T 454.2 That distinct position was meant to make them an example of the superiority of His rule over idolatry and a call to other peoples to serve the living God.5T 454.2+1 Their prosperity was to display His glory and help extend Christ's kingdom over the earth, with obedience enabling them to occupy the specified land and expand their borders as their numbers grew.Ms 134, 1899, par. 5–6 God would have taught them and blessed them with skill, wisdom, vigor of intellect and protection from the diseases afflicting other nations.Ms 134, 1899, par. 5–6

Had they as a nation submitted to His authority and as individuals walked in His ordinances, free from Canaanite sins and maintaining purity, holiness, love, fear and obedience, they would long ago have been settled in Canaan as a prosperous, holy, happy people.ST Mar 3, 1881 Had they remained faithful to the covenant, God would have defended them, and their life under His rule would have shown the superiority of His government and displayed His glory.ST Mar 3, 1881+1 When God specially favors and blesses His people's work, they are to publicly acknowledge His goodness, which glorifies His name and testifies that His words are faithful and true.Ms 67, 1907, par. 6 That acknowledgment leads others to consider the truths they teach and to recognize the value of their methods.Ms 67, 1907, par. 6+1

The presence of people who keep His commandments restrains His judgments, for He extends mercy because of the righteous who love and fear Him.Ms 64, 1899, par. 11

God was faithful to His promises, and none of the good things pledged would have failed if the conditions of diligently hearkening and obeying had been met, so He is not chargeable for Israel's misfortunes.ST Mar 3, 1881 They broke their pledge and transgressed His requirements and forfeited His favor and the blessings He longed to give through distrust, unbelief, pride and disobedience.ST Mar 3, 1881+1 After leaving Egypt they failed to continue in obedience to His righteous law, but followed their own rebellious hearts into idolatry, distrusting His goodness and mercy and forgetting His care and great love, until He departed from them and left them weak and a prey to their enemies and suffered them to be overcome by other nations to humble and punish them.1SP 354.1 Choosing independence from God instead of representing His goodness, mercy and love placed them under Satan's control, and when they turned from God and accepted human maxims and ceremonies as divine the principles He had given were distorted.Ms 40, 1898, par. 12+1

Their perversity and delay in entering Canaan made it impossible for God to manifest His power for them and dishonored God and detracted from His glory before the surrounding nations.ST Mar 3, 1881 After such privilege, imitating heathen iniquity made their guilt greater than that of idolatrous nations.ST Mar 3, 1881 Their blindness kept them from acknowledging that their sins caused their weakness, and they wrongly reasoned it was because they had no one with kingly authority to command the armies of Israel.1SP 354.1 Yet when in affliction they cried to God He always heard them and raised them up a ruler to deliver them from their enemies.1SP 354.1

The living God who created heaven and earth and gave His law upon Sinai sends prosperity and adversity according to obedience or transgression of His law contained in the sacred chest, and blessing does not come from merely possessing the ark itself.1SP 403.2 The Philistines did not know this when they thought the ark was the Israelites' god.1SP 403.2 The wilderness generation who obeyed received the blessings promised in God's covenant.Ms 80, 1903, par. 3

The covenant principle stands unchanged: diligent obedience brings blessing and disobedience brings a curse, for present and future good, and what held for ancient Israel holds now, so that obedience brings heaven's richest blessings and great blessing to individuals and nations today, while Israel's history teaches avoidance of the sins that brought wrath.ST Oct 21, 1886+2 The generation in the wilderness that obeyed received the blessings promised in the covenant, proving the condition at work.Ms 80, 1903, par. 3 When special favor is shown, it is to be publicly acknowledged, for this glorifies the divine name and testifies that the words spoken are faithful and true.Ms 67, 1907, par. 6 The message has not grown weak with age, but the claims remain just as binding now and just as fresh in importance as the gifts bestowed remain fresh and continual.RH Dec 25, 1900 The voice to be hearkened to is the voice of Christ, and the statutes, judgments and commandments to be observed and done plainly state the blessings of obedience, expressing the principles of the law of God's kingdom made specific so that no mind is left in ignorance and uncertainty.RH Dec 25, 1900 This lays a never-ceasing obligation on all blessed with life and health and temporal and spiritual advantages to give gifts and offerings and to bring the tithe strictly, honestly and faithfully to sustain the messengers sent, calling followers to consecration, self-denial and self-sacrifice.RH Dec 25, 1900

The law contains promises for those who obey as part of belonging to the royal family of heaven.Lt 90, 1898, par. 14–16 Obedience is not forced, but the law is made known so it can be understood and followed, retained in the heart and obeyed throughout life.Lt 90, 1898, par. 14–16 The promised blessing of temporal and spiritual prosperity is conditional on diligently hearing and obeying, for obedience to the Word is life and happiness.Ms 64, 1899, par. 11 Therefore it is to be taught diligently in families, taught clearly to children and passed from one generation to the next.Ms 64, 1899, par. 11+1 The presence of those who keep the commandments restrains judgment, for mercy is extended because of the righteous who love and fear God, while degrading the law through wickedness and violence withdraws blessing from the land, including from orchards and vineyards.Ms 64, 1899, par. 11

Those who take God at His word and obey His commandments with a whole heart will be blessed and have Him as a shield of protection, while distrust, disobedience and alienation from His will and way place the sinner where divine favor cannot be given.Lt 59, 1898, par. 9–11 Departing from the commandments brings a curse upon the earth itself, upon cattle, upon fish and upon all flesh, with disease and suffering as the sure result.Lt 59, 1898, par. 9–11 Diligent obedience is tied to favor and protection, and the chapters containing this promise are to be read in connection with the covenant lesson to Israel that obedience preserves health and holiness.Ms 63, 1899, par. 3–6 Listening carefully to the divine voice and doing what is right and obeying the commandments and statutes brings blessing, healing and preservation from the diseases brought upon Egypt, with Christ Himself as invisible leader, deliverer, protector and healer sheltering all who do His will.15MR 29.3–30.2 Disease comes from transgressing the law and breaking down the barriers erected, while obedience preserves health and holiness and cures the evils of the human heart, as illustrated by the waters of Marah.15MR 29.3–30.2