And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:
These are words given through Moses by Christ. They threaten a sevenfold intensified punishment if Israel still would not listen after terror, disease, defeat by enemies, and fleeing when none pursued. To break the pride of power is to crush proud reliance on human strength and power.
To make heaven as iron and earth as brass is to shut the sky so it gives no rain and to harden the ground so it yields no crop, so that the land gives no increase, the trees give no fruit, the land is left unproductive, and strength is spent in vain. The curse is the reverse and opposite of the promised blessing for obedience, by which obedience brings favor while stubborn disobedience brings punishment and withdrawal of prosperity. Instead of giving rain in due season, increase of land and trees, prolonged threshing and vintage, bread to the full, safe dwelling, defeat of enemies, and His abiding presence to walk with them as their God, God deals entirely contrary to a disobedient people.
The chapter containing the verse is an admonition for people living at the end of the world, applying to God's people now as well as to ancient Israel, and its warning is to be heeded. It warns of God's displeasure when those managing His work do not follow His direction. It applies to those who selfishly withhold means that should support God's work, warning that God may remove their prosperity and scatter what was entrusted to them through losses including squandered wealth or failed crops.
It warns that those who neglect their duty to a brother may themselves be brought into the same kind of trouble. When from selfishness and covetousness people feel capable of managing without God's wisdom, regard the land as their own, and refuse to give it its sabbath, the land loses its vigor and dearth and sickness testify to disobedience. This is the reverse of those who feel entire dependence on God and obey His laws for tilling the soil, whose cooperation with God restores diseased land to health, prosperity and beauty. The verse shows God's sure punishment for disregarding His commands and not doing them, as the result of disobedience and transgression, and it makes every difference to a people whether they are obedient or disobedient.
These are words given through Moses by Christ. They threaten a sevenfold intensified punishment if Israel still would not listen after terror, disease, defeat by enemies, and fleeing when none pursued. To break the pride of power is to crush proud reliance on human strength and power.
To make heaven as iron and earth as brass is to shut the sky so it gives no rain and to harden the ground so it yields no crop, so that the land gives no increase, the trees give no fruit, the land is left unproductive, and strength is spent in vain. The curse is the reverse and opposite of the promised blessing for obedience, by which obedience brings favor while stubborn disobedience brings punishment and withdrawal of prosperity. Instead of giving rain in due season, increase of land and trees, prolonged threshing and vintage, bread to the full, safe dwelling, defeat of enemies, and His abiding presence to walk with them as their God, God deals entirely contrary to a disobedient people.
The chapter containing the verse is an admonition for people living at the end of the world, applying to God's people now as well as to ancient Israel, and its warning is to be heeded. It warns of God's displeasure when those managing His work do not follow His direction. It applies to those who selfishly withhold means that should support God's work, warning that God may remove their prosperity and scatter what was entrusted to them through losses including squandered wealth or failed crops.
It warns that those who neglect their duty to a brother may themselves be brought into the same kind of trouble. When from selfishness and covetousness people feel capable of managing without God's wisdom, regard the land as their own, and refuse to give it its sabbath, the land loses its vigor and dearth and sickness testify to disobedience. This is the reverse of those who feel entire dependence on God and obey His laws for tilling the soil, whose cooperation with God restores diseased land to health, prosperity and beauty. The verse shows God's sure punishment for disregarding His commands and not doing them, as the result of disobedience and transgression, and it makes every difference to a people whether they are obedient or disobedient.