Deuteronomy 7:15, commentary and pictures

The Lord promises to remove all sickness from His obedient people and to keep from them the evil diseases they knew in Egypt, laying them instead upon their enemies who hate them. This protection is given as the reward of obedience under His covenant mercy, conditional on hearkening to His voice and keeping and doing His commandments, statutes and judgments. Health is the reward of obedience to His natural and spiritual laws, for Christ as Israel's guide and Physician taught definite habits of life for physical and spiritual well-being, and every prohibition in physical or moral law carries the promise that blessing follows obedience. The promise was verified in the wilderness when the conditions were met, so that there was not one weak or feeble person among the tribes, with feet kept from swelling, clothing preserved, manna and water provided, and preservation from many evils. Israel's health and prosperity were meant to show other nations the benefits of living by righteous principles, and the same blessing or curse now stands before all who would preserve health by learning God's laws, cooperating with Him for restoration of body and soul, and pointing the sick to Christ as the Great Healer.

Covenant Promise of Health

The Lord will take away all sickness from the obedient, will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt which they knew upon them, but will lay those diseases upon all who hate them, that is, upon their enemies. This freedom from sickness and from Egypt's evil diseases stands among the covenant blessings of His faithfulness and care, given in connection with heeding and keeping His judgments. The removal of sickness and the protection from Egypt's diseases were promised through Moses after Israel was told what they must do, as the reward of obedience under the covenant mercy sworn to their fathers. That reward comes only on condition of hearkening to His voice and keeping and doing His commandments, statutes, and judgments, loving Him and keeping His commandments.

The promise belongs to making Israel a holy, special people chosen and blessed above all people because of love and the oath to their fathers. With it stand love, blessing, and multiplication, blessing to a thousand generations, blessing in basket and in store, no barrenness among people or cattle, vigor of intellect, preservation from the diseases afflicting other nations, and the supply of every necessity for happiness. Guarding against idolatry and loving Him with all heart, soul, and might brings that abundant blessing and removal of sickness, while being led away from serving the living God brings His curse. The same blessing or curse now stands before modern Israel, a blessing if they come out from the world and are separate and walk in humble obedience, and a curse if they unite with the idolatrous.

His patience with persistent rebellion has a boundary, and punishment follows transgression. Disobedience breaks down the protections intended to preserve health and holiness. Disregarding His words to follow one's own ways brings sickness, disease, and plagues, and uniting with the idolatrous brings curse, sickness, disease, and plagues. The sins, wilderness deaths, and fall of rebellious Israel stand as a warning not to imitate their transgression and depart from God.

When the conditions were fulfilled the promise was verified, so that there was no sickness and not one weak or feeble person among the tribes. He prepared the way before them and preserved them from many great evils, including the poisonous serpents infesting the wilderness, so they were not harmed. There was no sickness among them, their feet did not swell on the journeys, their clothes did not wear out, and He gave them manna and water out of flinty rock. If Israel had made His requirements first and physical wants secondary by submitting to His choice of proper food instead of indulging perverted appetite and passion and clamoring for flesh meats, not one would have fallen in the wilderness, but would have been established in Canaan as a pure, holy, happy people with not a feeble one in all their tribes. When they murmured needlessly about hardships, He permitted the serpents to bite them to show what they would suffer if He let evils come upon them and to make them realize His past merciful care, warning that with all these tokens of love continued complaint and ingratitude would bring His judgments upon them.

The same assurance belongs to the people of God through their earthly pilgrimage to the heavenly Canaan, where an abundant inheritance is prepared for all who love God and keep His commandments. The instruction of Deuteronomy 4-8 is to be read with profit now, and the chapter is to serve as admonition for those living at the end of the world. This is while the world nears the great final review in the time of investigation when every character will have been investigated and every case decided for eternity. Only tried commandment keepers who love God supremely will be translated when He comes, the dead called forth and raised, the King seen in His beauty, and the nations that have kept the truth welcomed by Christ Jesus through the opened gates of the holy golden city. No disobedient father or mother or child will be brought in to spoil the heavenly courts, because there has been one rebellion and there will never be another.

Health Laws and Witness

Christ was Israel's guide and teacher, speaking from the pillar of cloud, and He is the great Physician and Israel's Physician who gave definite instruction about habits of life for physical and spiritual well-being. Health is the reward of obedience to God's laws, both natural and spiritual, and sickness is removed when the conditions are fulfilled. When those conditions were met the promise was verified, so that none among their tribes was weak or feeble. The promise joined protection from Egypt's diseases and laying them upon haters to hearkening to God's voice and keeping His commandments.

The way of God's commandments is the way of life, for He made known laws for physical and spiritual well-being with removal of disease promised on condition of obedience. God's laws of nature are not arbitrary exactions, and every Thou shalt not in physical or moral law implies a promise that blessing will follow obedience. God seeks to save from evil and lead to good without forcing anyone to do right. Disease comes through transgression of God's law, while God is the healer who can protect and cure, as shown by His power to remedy human ills illustrated in the healing of the waters of Marah. The full blessing of obedience comes only by receiving the grace of Christ, which gives power to obey, and by learning the principles of life revealed in Scripture and nature and cooperating with God in restoring health to body and soul. That cooperation reaches toward the standard of perfection made possible by the gift of Christ and the restoration of the divine image.

The promise belonged to God's care in the wilderness to teach healthy habits and to establish Israel in Canaan as a pure, holy, happy people with no feeble person among their tribes. It shows that flesh was not essential to their health. If Israel had made God's requirements first and physical wants secondary, submitting to God's choice of proper food instead of indulging perverted appetite and passion and clamoring for flesh meats, not one would have fallen in the wilderness. The conditional promise of removing all disease so there would not be one feeble person does not permit trusting Christ as healer while indulging animal appetites, because the conditions of obedience must still be kept. Disregarding the conditions by forgetting God's words and following one's own ways dishonors God and brings suffering of sickness and disease and plagues.

Obedience to God's law would preserve Israel from the diseases that afflicted other nations, as part of the prosperity and vigor promised to His people. That health and prosperity were given to make Israel a light and example to the world, to show other nations the benefits of living by God's righteous principles and to stand as a model of what His church should be. Guarding against idolatry and loving Him with all heart, soul, and might brings abundant blessing in basket and in store and removal of sickness, while being led away from serving the living God brings His curse. The same blessing or curse now stands before modern Israel, a blessing if they come out from the world and are separate and walk in humble obedience, and a curse if they unite with the idolatrous, with the sins, wilderness deaths, and fall of rebellious Israel as a warning not to imitate transgression and depart from God.

The lesson belongs to the present and binds all who would preserve health. Ignorance of God's natural and spiritual laws is not pleasing to Him, and all are to learn those laws and work together with God for restoration of health to body as well as to soul. That work includes teaching others how to preserve and recover health, using the remedies God provided in nature for the sick while pointing them to Christ alone for restoration. The sick are to be presented to Christ in faith, taught to believe in the Great Healer, to lay hold on His promise and to pray for manifestation of His power. Restoration is the very essence of the gospel, first spoken from the pillar of cloud and later demonstrated in healings in Palestine.