The basket and store mean stored food and provisions and material prosperity given on every side. Disobedience to God's commandments and forsaking His covenant brings a curse upon them, while obedience brings blessing, for prosperity follows obedience and adversity follows transgression. All of God's promises rest upon the condition of obedience, and His directions are given for the present and future good of His people. Transgressing His law brings a curse upon temporal provision and bodily health and upon the earth and every living thing, with disease coming because the barriers He erected for health and holiness in obedience are broken down. His claims are just as binding now as when Moses read the curses to Israel, laying a never-ceasing obligation on all blessed with life and temporal and spiritual advantages, and withholding in ingratitude what He requires in return turns His blessings into a curse.
Words and Historical Setting
The basket and the store mean stored food and provisions kept for use. They denote material prosperity itself, the thousands of worldly substance and benefits placed on the right hand and on the left. Their curse is the threatened consequence for refusing and forsaking the commandments, set in contrast with the blessings promised for obedience. The verse stands among the curses Moses read to the people, part of the curses to come upon Israel for disobedience.
Those curses connect transgression of the law with being left a prey to enemies. The verse belongs to the plain statement in Deuteronomy 26, 27 and 28 that sets out the principles of the law of God's kingdom made specific, so that minds are not left in ignorance and uncertainty. Read together with the first chapter of Deuteronomy, the chapter shows why the grown men of the army that left Egypt were refused entrance into the promised land.
Obedience Decides Blessing or Curse
Refusal to obey the commandments brings a curse upon stored food and provisions, while obedience brings blessing upon them. The basket and store stand among the things cursed for disobedience, in direct contrast to the blessings promised for obedience. Forsaking the covenant and transgressing the law turns prosperity to adversity, for prosperity follows obedience and adversity follows transgression.
All divine promises rest upon the condition of obedience, with blessing for obedience and curse for disobedience. This conditional order explains why the grown men of the army that left Egypt were refused entrance into the promised land.
Obedience to the commandments brings prosperity, while disobedience brings a curse, because the directions given are for present and future good. The chapter plainly states blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience to leave no uncertainty about the outcome.
Transgression of the law brings a curse upon temporal provision and upon bodily health. Disease of every stripe and type comes because human beings break down the barriers erected in providence to preserve them from disease, that they might live in health and holiness and learn obedience. Diligently hearkening to the voice of the Lord, doing what is right in His sight, giving ear to His commandments and keeping all His statutes brings mercy, deliverance, protection and healing under special direction and sheltering preservation. The One who thus preserves cures the evils of the human heart and relieves all perplexities.
Departing from the commandments brings the curse upon food and provision, resting upon the earth itself, upon man, upon cattle and beasts, upon the fish of the sea, and upon all flesh, so that human beings and animals suffer the result of transgression. Disease in cattle makes meat eating dangerous, and diseased flesh sold in marketplaces spreads disease among men, so that there is no safety in eating the flesh of dead animals. In a short time the milk of cows and anything coming from animal creation will not be safe to use, and God's people will come to the position where they will not touch nor taste flesh. As transgression becomes almost universal the curse will become as broad and as deep as the transgression. 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 place the sinner where divine favor cannot be given.
Present Obligation and Warning
The chapters of Deuteronomy 26, 27 and 28 give a plain statement of the blessings of obedience that expresses the principles of the law of God's kingdom made specific so that minds are not left in ignorance and uncertainty. That statement lays a never-ceasing obligation on all who have been blessed with life and health and temporal and spiritual advantages. Its message has not grown weak because of age, for God's claims are just as binding now and just as fresh in importance as His gifts are fresh and continual.
Basket and store mean material prosperity, thousands of worldly substance and benefits on the right hand and on the left that God gives. God requires in return the small sacrifice of attending the yearly gatherings to worship Him and small offerings in accordance with the blessing bestowed. Those who remain at home year after year engrossed in worldly cares and interests, withhold from God what He requires, and love to serve themselves turn His blessings into a curse. Their souls become like the unrefreshed desert without the dew or rain of heaven. This ingratitude denies the precious blessing of grace, deliverance from the slavery of sin and the bondage of error, and the glorious light of present truth opened to darkened understandings. Those who profess to believe that the end of all things is at hand yet are blind to their own spiritual interest and live for this world and this life alone neglect their eternal interest, which with spiritual strength comes only through effort, sacrifice, and gratitude in return for God's love and mercy.
The basket and store mean stored food and provisions and material prosperity given on every side. Disobedience to God's commandments and forsaking His covenant brings a curse upon them, while obedience brings blessing, for prosperity follows obedience and adversity follows transgression. All of God's promises rest upon the condition of obedience, and His directions are given for the present and future good of His people. Transgressing His law brings a curse upon temporal provision and bodily health and upon the earth and every living thing, with disease coming because the barriers He erected for health and holiness in obedience are broken down. His claims are just as binding now as when Moses read the curses to Israel, laying a never-ceasing obligation on all blessed with life and temporal and spiritual advantages, and withholding in ingratitude what He requires in return turns His blessings into a curse.
Words and Historical Setting
The basket and the store mean stored food and provisions kept for use. They denote material prosperity itself, the thousands of worldly substance and benefits placed on the right hand and on the left. Their curse is the threatened consequence for refusing and forsaking the commandments, set in contrast with the blessings promised for obedience. The verse stands among the curses Moses read to the people, part of the curses to come upon Israel for disobedience.
Those curses connect transgression of the law with being left a prey to enemies. The verse belongs to the plain statement in Deuteronomy 26, 27 and 28 that sets out the principles of the law of God's kingdom made specific, so that minds are not left in ignorance and uncertainty. Read together with the first chapter of Deuteronomy, the chapter shows why the grown men of the army that left Egypt were refused entrance into the promised land.
Obedience Decides Blessing or Curse
Refusal to obey the commandments brings a curse upon stored food and provisions, while obedience brings blessing upon them. The basket and store stand among the things cursed for disobedience, in direct contrast to the blessings promised for obedience. Forsaking the covenant and transgressing the law turns prosperity to adversity, for prosperity follows obedience and adversity follows transgression.
All divine promises rest upon the condition of obedience, with blessing for obedience and curse for disobedience. This conditional order explains why the grown men of the army that left Egypt were refused entrance into the promised land.
Obedience to the commandments brings prosperity, while disobedience brings a curse, because the directions given are for present and future good. The chapter plainly states blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience to leave no uncertainty about the outcome.
Transgression of the law brings a curse upon temporal provision and upon bodily health. Disease of every stripe and type comes because human beings break down the barriers erected in providence to preserve them from disease, that they might live in health and holiness and learn obedience. Diligently hearkening to the voice of the Lord, doing what is right in His sight, giving ear to His commandments and keeping all His statutes brings mercy, deliverance, protection and healing under special direction and sheltering preservation. The One who thus preserves cures the evils of the human heart and relieves all perplexities.
Departing from the commandments brings the curse upon food and provision, resting upon the earth itself, upon man, upon cattle and beasts, upon the fish of the sea, and upon all flesh, so that human beings and animals suffer the result of transgression. Disease in cattle makes meat eating dangerous, and diseased flesh sold in marketplaces spreads disease among men, so that there is no safety in eating the flesh of dead animals. In a short time the milk of cows and anything coming from animal creation will not be safe to use, and God's people will come to the position where they will not touch nor taste flesh. As transgression becomes almost universal the curse will become as broad and as deep as the transgression. 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 place the sinner where divine favor cannot be given.
Present Obligation and Warning
The chapters of Deuteronomy 26, 27 and 28 give a plain statement of the blessings of obedience that expresses the principles of the law of God's kingdom made specific so that minds are not left in ignorance and uncertainty. That statement lays a never-ceasing obligation on all who have been blessed with life and health and temporal and spiritual advantages. Its message has not grown weak because of age, for God's claims are just as binding now and just as fresh in importance as His gifts are fresh and continual.
Basket and store mean material prosperity, thousands of worldly substance and benefits on the right hand and on the left that God gives. God requires in return the small sacrifice of attending the yearly gatherings to worship Him and small offerings in accordance with the blessing bestowed. Those who remain at home year after year engrossed in worldly cares and interests, withhold from God what He requires, and love to serve themselves turn His blessings into a curse. Their souls become like the unrefreshed desert without the dew or rain of heaven. This ingratitude denies the precious blessing of grace, deliverance from the slavery of sin and the bondage of error, and the glorious light of present truth opened to darkened understandings. Those who profess to believe that the end of all things is at hand yet are blind to their own spiritual interest and live for this world and this life alone neglect their eternal interest, which with spiritual strength comes only through effort, sacrifice, and gratitude in return for God's love and mercy.