Deuteronomy 28:10, commentary and pictures

God sets His obedient people apart as His holy people who openly carry His name so that all nations can see they belong to Him and stand in awe of them and of His mighty power shown in their deliverance. This honor belongs to the blessings promised for obedience in contrast to the curses for disobedience, and it comes only on condition of keeping His commandments and walking in His ways, for He fulfills His promises only when their conditions are met. That exaltation above the nations in praise and honor was His chosen means to reveal His glory, power and favor, restore His moral image in humanity, and prove the superiority of His way through their worship, prosperity and distinction. The same blessing still brings temporal and spiritual prosperity to individuals and nations who honor Him, giving visible success in teaching children and in daily work that leads outsiders to recognize the superiority of His methods, while unfaithfulness forfeits the honor and brings adversity and humiliation instead.

Blessing Conditioned on Obedience

The promise stands among the blessings for obedience in Deuteronomy 28, set against the curses that follow disobedience, between which people must choose. It is part of the account of the blessings that follow obedience to God's commands. When God's people obey Him they are publicly identified as belonging to Him, and the peoples of the earth see this and fear them.

Moses read this promise aloud, with its curses, to all the people assembled before him from the book he had written recording their past history. The chapter is the voice of Christ from the enfolding pillar of cloud, not the voice of man. Its directions express the principles of the law of God's kingdom, made specific so that minds are not left in ignorance and uncertainty.

It presents the never-ceasing obligation of all whom God has blessed with life and health and advantages in temporal and spiritual things, including gifts, offerings, and the tithe. Its message has not grown weak because of age, for God's claims are just as binding now and just as fresh in their importance as God's gifts are fresh and continual. The promise stands only on condition of obeying God's commandments, judgments, ordinances and statutes and walking in His ways.

God verifies His promises only when the conditions are fulfilled, and a covenant is an agreement based on conditions. To expect the blessing while violating the conditions on which alone it can be bestowed is presumption. Disobedience causes the altering of His expressed purpose, as seen when the adult generation and adult army that left Egypt was refused entrance into the promised land. Obedience to God's law was the condition for Israel to receive the promises and blessings offered, and obedience brings blessings to individuals and nations now as it would have brought them to the Hebrews.

God wanted to bring Israel into immediate possession of Canaan to display His power and to settle them as a prosperous, holy, happy people governed by His judgments and walking in His ordinances. Not one good thing God promised would fail if Israel complied with the conditions. To fulfill this Israel had to represent a people whose God is the LORD by bearing His character of purity, goodness, and benevolence. They were to show in all words and acts that they loved, feared, and obeyed the great Ruler of the universe, maintaining a high standard of purity and holiness free from the sins of the Canaanite nations whom God's angels would drive out for wickedness.

Distrust, unbelief, pride, and disobedience left them unprepared to enter and made it impossible for God to manifest His power in protecting them. This dishonored God and detracted from His glory in the sight of surrounding nations. Imitating heathen iniquity after great light and privilege would make Israel's guilt greater than that of idolatrous nations.

The law was erected as barriers to preserve the people from disease that they might live in health and holiness and learn obedience. Disease comes upon human beings because of sin and transgressing the law of God. If Israel would diligently listen to the voice of the Lord, do what is right in His sight, hear His commandments and keep all His statutes, God would put none of the diseases of the Egyptians upon them, for He is the Lord who heals them. Christ, enshrouded in the pillar of cloud, leads, delivers, protects, preserves under His sheltering wing, and cures the evils of the human heart for all who will do His will.

Health is presented as a reward of obedience, and God promised blessing to Israel if they obeyed His commandments and lived as His special people. In the wilderness He provided manna rather than flesh meat, knowing that such a diet would promote disease and insubordination. This provision was intended to shape the people's disposition and bring their higher mental powers into active exercise.

Called by God's Name

When God's people obey His commandments and walk in His ways, He establishes them as His holy, special people who bear the Lord's name openly so it can be seen that they belong to Him. That distinctive standing among the nations was part of the promised blessing of obedience associated with teaching and training children according to His plan. Israel's failure to fulfill God's purpose meant losing blessings that could have been theirs.

All peoples of the earth then see that they are called by the name of the LORD and fear them, standing in awe of them and of His mighty power displayed in their deliverance. This public identification as belonging to Him belongs to the positive promises attached to obedience to God's law, and obedience is part of belonging to the heavenly King's royal family. Obedient Israel would be set high above all nations in praise and name and honor, standing in a position of honor and blessing as part of the promised reward. That was God's original purpose for Israel if they had remained true to Him and walked in the ways of obedience.

That exaltation was the means by which God desired to reveal Himself, display His glory, power and favor, restore His moral image in humanity, and extend Christ's kingdom throughout the earth. Israel's worship of the true God with obedience to His law, with its resulting prosperity and distinction among the nations, would demonstrate the superiority of His way. Their public recognition as bearing His name glorifies Him and testifies to the truth of His word as a visible witness to the world, while the chapter sets obedience as bringing prosperity and disobedience as bringing a curse.

The fear of the peoples belongs to God's name and power, not to the ark itself, which the Philistines wrongly thought was Israel's god because they did not know Him. The ark was sacred only because it contained His law given upon Sinai, and its presence could bring prosperity and deliverance from enemies only as Israel obeyed that law. A covenant is an agreement based on conditions, and God verifies His promises only when the conditions are fulfilled by obeying the divine law, so to expect the blessing while violating the conditions on which alone it can be bestowed is presumption. Because of unfaithfulness Israel failed to receive these blessings and lost that way of honor, dishonoring God before the nations, so His purpose could be worked out only through continued adversity and humiliation; but faithful living can still produce like results.

The same blessing applies now: obedience to God's law brings temporal and spiritual prosperity to individuals and nations. God's commandment-keeping people receive His mercy, and for the sake of the righteous who love and fear Him He restrains His judgments. Blessing is proportionate to benevolence, so honoring God with substance and firstfruits brings abundance while withholding tithes and offerings robs themselves and brings straitening and curse. When God's people make Him supreme in teaching and training children and in their work, He blesses them and gives success that people on earth can see. That visible blessing causes outsiders to consider the truths taught and to recognize that God-guided methods are superior to the methods commonly used in the schools of the world, exerting a powerful influence for the truth, since success depends on the blessing of God and not on the ideas and views of men who oppose the requirements of God's law.