Deuteronomy 28:14, commentary and pictures

It commands wholehearted loyalty to every word God gives, keeping all of it without turning to the right or the left to follow and serve other gods. It stands in Moses' warning to Israel where blessing rested on obedience and disobedience would bring the curses, scattering among the nations and service to other gods. All God's promises of prosperity, blessing, support and guidance are given on condition of obedience, of submitting to His authority, doing His judgments and keeping His ordinances and statutes in love, fear, purity and holiness, for a covenant rests on conditions and to expect the blessing while breaking them is presumption. If those conditions were met not one of the good things promised would fail, and obedience still brings blessing to individuals and nations now, while disobedience forfeits it and brings curses, disease, want, adversity and loss of His favor. That obligation has not grown weak with age but binds just as firmly now upon all blessed with life, health and temporal and spiritual advantages, and success in work for truth still depends on making Him supreme and keeping all His words without turning aside to human ideas opposed to His law.

Meaning and Setting

The verse commands complete loyalty to every word God commands, keeping all of them without turning aside to the right hand or to the left to go after other gods to serve them. Obedience means not turning aside from any of His commands or pursuing other gods, but keeping His commandments and walking in His ways as the condition for receiving His promised blessings. The surrounding verses show that obedience brings God's blessing and prosperity, while disobedience, forsaking Him and refusing obedience bring curses, disease, and loss of His sustaining favor. It stands with the contrast between the fearful results of disobedience and the blessings of obedience, and people must choose which outcome they will receive. The law containing these promises is to be clearly proclaimed, understood, remembered and obeyed, and parents are to teach it in their families and set an example so it is retained in their hearts, as part of proclaiming the third angel's message.

It belongs to Moses' warning and reading to Israel in Deuteronomy 26-28, where blessings depended on obedience and disobedience would bring the curses. Moses read to Israel both the promises for obedience and the curses for disobedience. Disobedience would bring the curses, including scattering among the nations and serving other gods.

The statutes and judgments to which it belongs were spoken by Jesus Christ from the infolding pillar of cloud, stating plainly the blessings of obedience with all the heart and soul. They express the principles of the law of the kingdom of God, made specific so minds are not left in ignorance and uncertainty. Their precepts came from God and were proclaimed by Him at Sinai, not from human thought or Moses. These directions were given for present and future good and show a continuing obligation to honor God for all blessed with life and health and temporal and spiritual advantages, including gifts, offerings and tithe. The message has not grown weak with age but God's claims are just as binding now and fresh in importance as His gifts are fresh and continual.

Blessing on Condition

God's promises of prosperity, blessing, support and guidance are upon condition of obedience, of doing His judgments and keeping His ordinances and statutes without turning to the right hand or to the left to go after other gods to serve them. The conditions are submitting to His authority as a nation governed by His judgments and as individuals walking in His ordinances, loving, fearing and obeying Him and maintaining purity and holiness free from the sins of surrounding nations. A covenant is an agreement between parties based upon conditions, so to expect the blessing while violating the conditions is presumption. Keeping His commandments and walking in His ways are the conditions for receiving His promised blessings, while turning aside and refusing obedience brings the curses described in the surrounding verses.

Not one of the good things promised in Deuteronomy 28:1-14 would fail if the conditions were met. God was faithful to His promises and was not chargeable for Israel's misfortunes and delay in entering Canaan. Obedience brings blessings to individuals and nations now as well, and Israel's history thus warns against the sins that bring God's wrath.

Obedience brings temporal and spiritual prosperity, national exaltation, plenty, health, protection from the diseases of other nations, and God's sustaining favor. Disobedience, forsaking Him and refusing obedience, brings curses, disease, want, adversity and loss of His favor. Prosperity or adversity depended on obeying or transgressing the law, and people must choose which outcome they will receive.

Obedience kept the barriers God erected to preserve His people from disease, that they might live in health and holiness and learn obedience under Christ's special direction and sheltering preservation. Under His covenant of mercy, if they diligently hearken to His voice, do what is right in His sight and keep His commandments and statutes, He will put none of the diseases of Egypt upon them, for He is the Lord who heals them. Transgressing the law breaks down those barriers and brings disease of every kind, as taught by the object lesson of the waters of Marah. Christ, Israel's invisible leader and mighty healer, can cure both bodily disease and the evils of the human heart for those who look to Him and do His will.

The ark of the covenant was sacred only because the law of God was in it, and its presence could bring prosperity only as Israel obeyed that law. The ark itself did not guarantee success, for when Israel obeyed the divine law and did not turn aside from the words commanded to go after other gods, Israel fulfilled the conditions of the covenant, and God then verified His promises of blessing, support and guidance.

Failure to wholly follow Him forfeited the promised blessing, which is why the adult generation and army that left Egypt was refused entrance into the promised land and left to fall in the wilderness. They broke their solemn pledge and transgressed His holy requirements through distrust, unbelief, pride and imitation of heathen iniquity, kindling His wrath and dishonoring Him and detracting from His glory before the nations. Had they obeyed they would long ago have been settled in Canaan as a prosperous, holy, happy people.

Obedient worship and lives were to reveal God's moral character and serve as a means of restoring His image in humanity. The blessing is for those who diligently heed God's law, for obedience is their life and happiness. By contrast human wickedness and violence bring withdrawal of blessing from orchard and vineyard, while God extends mercy and restrains judgment because of the righteous who love and fear Him.

Honoring God with substance and first fruits brought plenty. Withholding tithes and offerings robbed them and brought want, and God called them to answer His gifts with generous returns.

Present Duty and Application

The directions to keep every word without turning to the right or left after other gods were given for present and future good, expressing the principles of the law of God's kingdom made specific so that minds are not left in ignorance and uncertainty. They were spoken by Christ from the enfolding pillar of cloud, plainly stating the blessings of obedience with all the heart and soul. They lay a never-ceasing obligation on all blessed with life and health and temporal and spiritual advantages to honor God, including by gifts, offerings, and tithe. The message has not grown weak with age, but God's claims are just as binding now and just as fresh in importance as His gifts are fresh and continual.

The same disobedience, unthankfulness, and unholiness now hinders God's work and prolongs time. Failure to wholly follow Him forfeits the promised blessing, as when the adult generation that left Egypt was refused entrance into the promised land and left to fall in the wilderness. The delay continues the sealing of God's servants while the last message of mercy is given opportunity to reach all people.

The law is to be clearly proclaimed, understood, remembered, and obeyed as containing promises for the obedient, for obedience brings temporal and spiritual prosperity and is life and happiness. Parents are to diligently heed it, teach it in their families, and set an example of obedience so it is retained in their hearts. This teaching is part of proclaiming the third angel's message. By contrast human wickedness and violence bring withdrawal of blessing from orchard and vineyard, while God extends mercy and restrains judgment because of the righteous who love and fear Him.

Success in work for the truth depends on the blessing God gives to those who make Him supreme and keep all His words without turning aside. That faithfulness includes not depending on the ideas and views of men opposed to the requirements of God's law. When He is thus made supreme He blesses and gives success to the work. That seen blessing leads people to consider the truths taught and compels many to recognize those methods as superior to those commonly employed in the schools of the world.