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Okay, we're going to look at 
Deuteronomy chapter 28 this evening, and I thought we would just look 
at the blessings of verses 1 to 14, and then I thought we should 
look at the whole chapter, since we're not going to have Bible 
study next Wednesday night, and it is a unit, it does go together. 
Just to give you a bit of an overview, blessings are indicated 
in verses 1 to 14, and cursings from verses 15 to 68. So quite 
a much larger section dealing with curses. From what I understand 
in the commentaries, this is not uncommon in ancient Near 
Eastern treaties, covenants, the cursings far outweigh the 
blessings. Remember that in chapter 27 it 
was looking ahead to this ratification ceremony when they actually entered 
into Canaan. I don't personally think that 
28 goes with that. I think 28 sort of resumes Moses' 
exhortation there on the plains of Moab where he does develop, 
where he amplifies what is involved in the blessings and the cursings. 
So that ratification ceremony that is in the future in Canaan 
in chapter 27, probably is just chapter 27. Chapter 28, again, 
just resumes the exhortation, the flow of thought that Moses 
has as he continues his discourse and as he starts to bring it 
to a conclusion. So it is a long chapter. We're 
not going to look at every detail in the chapter. I think that 
I hope that after just reading the chapter, you'll have a fresh 
appreciation for the new covenant. So I was working through Deuteronomy 
28 this afternoon, especially those curses. I was quite happy. that we live in light of Hebrews 
7.22, Jesus is the surety of a better covenant, and in light 
of Hebrews 8.6, and the remainder of chapter 8, 7-13, where it 
develops or applies those new covenant blessings. And so I'll 
just start reading here in verse 1 of chapter 28. Now it shall 
come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your 
God, to observe carefully all his commandments which I command 
you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all 
nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall 
come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of 
the Lord your God. Blessed shall you be in the city, 
and blessed shall you be in the country. Blessed shall be the 
fruit of your body, the produce of your ground, and the increase 
of your herds, the increase of your cattle, and the offspring 
of your flocks. Blessed shall be your basket 
and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you 
come in and blessed shall you be when you go out. The Lord 
will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before 
your face. They shall come out against you 
one way and flee before you seven ways. The Lord will command the 
blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your 
hand. and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your 
God is giving you. The Lord will establish you as 
a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you. If you 
keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His 
ways, then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are 
called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. 
And the Lord will grant you plenty of goods in the fruit of your 
body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce 
of your ground, in the land of which the Lord swore to your 
fathers to give you. The Lord will open to you His 
good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in 
its season and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall 
lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. And the Lord 
will make you the head and not the tail. You shall be above 
only and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the 
Lord your God, which I command you today and are careful to 
observe them. So you shall not turn aside from 
any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or 
the left, to go after the gods to serve them. But it shall come 
to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to 
observe carefully all his commandments and his statutes which I command 
you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake 
you. Cursed shall you be in the city, 
and cursed shall you be in the country. Cursed shall be your 
basket and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the fruit of 
your body, and the produce of your land, the increase of your 
cattle, and the offspring of your flocks. Cursed shall you 
be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. 
The Lord will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke. and all 
that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until 
you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings 
in which you have forsaken me. The Lord will make the plague 
cling to you until he has consumed you from the land which you are 
going to possess. The Lord will strike you with 
consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning 
fever, with the sword, with scorching, and with mildew. They shall pursue 
you until you perish. and your heavens which are over 
your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you 
shall be iron. The Lord will change the rain of your land 
to powder and dust. From the heaven it shall come 
down on you until you are destroyed. The Lord will cause you to be 
defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against 
them and flee seven ways before them, and you shall become troublesome 
to all the kingdoms of the earth. Your carcasses shall be food 
for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, 
and no one shall frighten them away. The Lord will strike you 
with the boils of Egypt, with tumors, with the scab, and with 
the itch from which you cannot be healed. The Lord will strike 
you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart, and you 
shall grope at noonday as a blind man gropes in darkness. You shall 
not prosper in your ways, you shall be only oppressed and plundered 
continually, and no one shall save you. You shall betroth a 
wife, but another man shall lie with her. You shall build a house, 
but you shall not dwell in it. You shall plant a vineyard, but 
shall not gather its grapes. Your ox shall be slaughtered 
before your eyes, but you shall not eat of it. Your donkey shall 
be violently taken away from before you and shall not be restored 
to you. Your sheep shall be given to 
your enemies and you shall have no one to rescue them. Your sons 
and your daughters shall be given to another people and your eyes 
shall look and fail with longing for them all day long. and there shall be no strength 
in your hand. A nation whom you have not known shall eat the 
fruit of your land and the produce of your labor, and you shall 
be only oppressed and crushed continually. So you shall be 
driven mad because of the sight which your eyes see. The Lord 
will strike you in the knees and on the legs with severe boils 
which cannot be healed, and from the sole of your foot to the 
top of your head. The Lord will bring you and the 
king whom you sat over you to a nation which neither you nor 
your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods, 
wood and stone, and you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, 
and a byword among all nations where the Lord will drive you. 
You shall carry much seed out to the field, but gather little 
in, for the locusts shall consume it. You shall plant vineyards 
and tend them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor 
gather the grapes, for the worms shall eat them. You shall have 
olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not 
anoint yourself with the oil. for your olives shall drop off. 
You shall beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, 
for they shall go into captivity. Locusts shall consume all your 
trees and the produce of your land. The alien who is among 
you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come 
down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, but you 
shall not lend to him. He shall be the head, and you 
shall be the tail. Moreover, all these curses shall 
come upon you and pursue and overtake you until you are destroyed 
because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God to 
keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded you. 
And they shall be upon you for a sign and a wonder and on your 
descendants forever because you did not serve the Lord your God 
with joy and gladness of heart for the abundance of everything. 
Therefore, you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send 
against you in hunger and thirst and nakedness and in need of 
everything. And he will put a yoke of iron 
on your neck until he has destroyed you. The Lord will bring a nation 
against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as 
the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand, 
a nation of fierce countenance, which does not respect the elderly 
nor show favor to the young. and they shall eat the increase 
of your livestock and the produce of your land until you are destroyed. They shall not leave you grain 
or new wine or oil or the increase of your cattle or the offspring 
of your flocks until they have destroyed you. They shall besiege 
you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls, in 
which you trust, come down throughout all your land. And they shall 
besiege you at all your gates throughout all your land, which 
the Lord your God has given you. You shall eat the fruit of your 
own body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters, whom the 
Lord your God has given you, in the siege and desperate straits 
in which your enemy shall distress you. The sensitive and very refined 
man among you will be hostile toward his brother, toward the 
wife of his bosom, and toward the rest of his children whom 
he leaves behind. so that he will not give any 
of them the flesh of his children whom he will eat, because he 
has nothing left in the siege and desperate straits in which 
your enemy shall distress you at all your gates. The tender 
and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set 
the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and 
sensitivity, will refuse to the husband of her bosom, and to 
her son and her daughter, her placenta which comes out from 
between her feet, and her children whom she bears. For she will 
eat them secretly for lack of everything in the siege, and 
desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all 
your gates. If you do not carefully observe 
all the words of this law that are written in this book, that 
you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God, 
then the Lord will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary 
plagues, great and prolonged plagues, and serious and prolonged 
sicknesses. Moreover, he will bring back 
on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and 
they shall cling to you. Also, every sickness and every 
plague which is not written in this book of the law will the 
Lord bring upon you until you are destroyed. You shall be left 
few in number, or as you were, as the stars of heaven in multitude. 
because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God. And 
it shall be that just as the Lord rejoiced over you to do 
you good and multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice over you 
to destroy you and bring you to nothing. And you shall be 
plucked from off the land which you go to possess. Then the Lord 
will scatter you among all peoples from one end of the earth to 
the other. And there you shall serve other gods, which neither 
you nor your fathers have known, wood and stone, And among those 
nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot 
have a resting place. But there the Lord will give 
you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul. Your 
life shall hang in doubt before you. you shall fear day and night 
and have no assurance of life. In the morning you shall say, 
oh, that it were evening, and at evening you shall say, oh, 
that it were morning, because of the fear which terrifies your 
heart and because of the sight which your eyes see. And the 
Lord will take you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which 
I said to you, you shall never see it again. And there you shall 
be offered for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but 
no one will buy you. Amen. very sober passage of Scripture, 
a terrifying passage of Scripture. Obviously, we're in the sanctions 
portion of this covenant document, the covenantal structure. There 
was a preamble in chapter 1, a historical prologue, chapters 
1 to 4, stipulations, which is the largest section of this book. 
chapters 4 to 26, and now sanctions take up 27.1 to 30.20. Within the covenant, the law 
is given, the stipulations are made, and if you obey those stipulations, 
there will be blessing. If you disobey, there will be 
cursing. And the curses are spelled out 
in very serious detail. Remember that Moses is exhorting 
this generation that as they go into the Promised Land, they 
are to be careful to obey the Lord God Most High. If they obey, 
they will reap benefit. If they obey, they will enjoy 
the blessing of the land. If, however, they violate the 
covenant, the Promised Land will indeed become a terrifying house 
of horrors for them to endure. As well, as we look through these 
particular curses, you will see that exile is hinted at in most 
of them and it's fully developed and it's fully explained in verses 
49 to 57. There is a statement concerning 
the exile that is to come. There's actually successive exiles 
in Israel's history. probably the one that's in view 
here deals with the Babylonian one, but because of this, because 
back on the plains of Moab, Moses is giving what the history of 
Israel is going to look like, naturalistic interpreters, those 
who deny the supernatural origin of the scripture, argue for a 
later date for the Book of Deuteronomy. They say that there's no way 
that Moses could have spoken these things on the plains of 
Moab because he was so accurate in terms of predictive prophecy. 
And because these interpreters exclude predictive prophecy and 
supernaturalism, they say that the Book of Deuteronomy was written 
much later. But obviously, God used Moses 
to tell the people what was going to become of them should they 
disobey in the land that the Lord God gave them. Now, by way 
of introduction, just reading those curses, they're hardcore. I don't think any of us would 
say, wow, that sounds like a walk in the park. Remember, however, 
that when they get into the land, as soon as they get into the 
land, they begin to disobey. It took a long time before God 
would avenge his covenant in terms of the sorts of things 
that were indicated in this particular chapter. As well, living in the 
New Covenant era, we have the promise of hell as well. Now 
certainly they did also in the Old Covenant, but hell in many 
ways makes what we find here in Deuteronomy 28 look like a 
walk in the park. So as bad as what we find in 
Deuteronomy 28 might strike us or might seem to be for us, we 
ought to remember that we preach the eternal wrath of God in the 
lake of fire. So whatever our understanding 
of these great curses is, or how we understand these great 
curses from God, we ought to have that earnestness and that 
prayerfulness for people with whom we come into contact with, 
because they're going to suffer something far greater than what 
we even see indicated here in Deuteronomy chapter 28. But it 
is a very intense passage, a very heavy passage. Let's look first 
of all at the covenantal blessings. The covenantal blessings verses 
1 to 14. Notice the command is reiterated 
in verses 1 and 2. Now it shall come to pass, if 
you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe 
carefully all his commandments which I command you today." So 
you see that emphasis again, and again, and again, and again, 
and again, on obedience to the Covenant Lord. The Lord enters 
into this with them, they are his people, they are his subjects, 
they are to maintain fidelity and loyalty with reference to 
their place in the land. This is a conditional covenant, 
at least this aspect of it. Happy life in the land of promise 
is conditional upon their obedience to the law. We see that in verse 
1, that reality, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord. Notice 
in verse 9, the Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, 
just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments 
of the Lord your God. And then again, in verse 13, 
and the Lord will make you the head and not the tail. You shall 
be above only and not be beneath if you heed the commandments 
of the Lord your God, which I command you today and are careful to 
observe them. That's the condition of blessed 
life in the promised land. It is obedience to the covenant 
Lord. If we do what He says, then all 
of these blessings will come upon us. Again, we can't help 
but think about that blessed reality with whom is the covenant 
of grace made. The covenant of grace is made 
with Christ and in Him all the elect as His seeds. We ought 
to praise God that in the new covenant Our covenant head swears 
loyalty to all of the obligations given to him, and he fulfills 
it perfectly. Remember that obedience, according 
to God's Word, is to be personal, entire, exact, and perpetual. And so, on the plains of Moab, 
as Moses is reading these things out, or as Moses is rehearsing 
these things, Moses knows good and well, as he's going to articulate 
in chapter 30, that they're not going to do this. And anybody 
with any semblance of reality, anybody that understood anything 
about the Decalogue in their own heart would have to realize 
that there is no way that I'm going to engage in personal, 
entire, exact, and perpetual obedience. So the very law itself, 
or these curses involved, would bring a heaviness upon this congregation, 
no doubt. But with reference to the corporate 
people of God, with reference to this covenant community, we 
do see their life in the land. When the nation did well, they 
did experience blessing. When the nation as a whole was 
seeking to be obedient to the Lord, they did reap benefit. We can look at the reign of David 
and Solomon. we can look at some other kings 
in the line of Judah where there was a righteous man at the helm 
and the nation as a whole did benefit to some degree or other. So then there is this command 
reiterated, this promise in verse 2, and all these blessings shall 
come upon you and overtake you because you obey the voice of 
the Lord your God. If you look over at the curses 
there, the same sort of language is used in verse 45. In much 
of what we see in the curses, it's an absolute reversal of 
what we see in the blessings. Notice, if you compare verse 
2, all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you 
because you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Notice at 
verse 45, moreover all these curses shall come upon you and 
pursue and overtake you until you are destroyed because you 
did not obey the voice of the Lord your God. So everything 
indicated in the blessings has its reverse in the cursings, 
and then it's amplified as well. So the command is reiterated, 
and then the blessings are indicated in verses 3 to 13. There's a 
statement, verses 3 to 6, and then some amplification in verses 
7 to 13. There would be blessing In the 
city and country, there would be blessing with fertility. Perhaps 
there was a polemic here against Baal. Baal was the god, the storm 
god, that would bring fertility. It would be Baal who would reign 
upon the Canaanites. Not really, I'm not suggesting 
there really was a Baal, but Canaanites thought it was Baal 
that reigned upon their crops and brought provision. The Lord 
God Almighty is saying it's Yahweh that brings fertility, it is 
Yahweh that brings rain, it isn't Baal. So there'd be blessing 
in the city and country, there'd be blessing with fertility with 
reference to children, ground, herds, cattle, and flocks. There 
would be blessing with food. Verse 5, blessed shall be your 
basket and your kneading bowl. Each and every day you will have 
food, those things that you need for daily sustenance. And then 
verse 6, blessed shall you be when you come in and blessed 
shall you be when you go out. The blessing of God upon the 
daily rhythms of life. When you go out, when you come 
in. When you go to work, when you come home. When you go out 
to the fields, when you go back to your family. There is that 
blessing to be found in the daily rhythms of life. And remember, 
one of the promises throughout the book of Deuteronomy in chapter 
3, chapter 12, and I think again in chapter 25, is that they would 
have rest in the land. When we get to the latter part 
of the curses, that is what is prohibited. Verse 65, And among 
those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of 
your foot have a resting place. But there the Lord will give 
you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul. Your 
life shall hang in doubt before you. There's that turmoil, there's 
that frustration, there's that panic. You all know when life 
is going well and the rhythms of life are being blessed of 
God, and you don't have lots of turmoil, and lots of stress, 
and lots of trial, and lots of difficulty. You call that a happy 
time in the land. Well, the absence of that is 
just the opposite. That is a curse. And so God, 
again, is showing us the blessings, and it finds its... a curse and 
the reversal of those particular things. And then there is this 
amplification in verses 7 to 13, and there's what's called 
a chiastic form, an A-B-C, C-B-A sort of a pattern here. There's 
a couple of patterns in the curses as well. It's hard to find one 
sort of overall pattern, at least for, you know, Dummy like me, 
I'm sure somebody could do it. But in this particular instance, 
notice foreign relations, they'll be blessed, verse 7. Domestic 
affairs, blessed, verse 8. Their relation to ship to Yahweh, 
blessed, verse 9. Their relationship to Yahweh, 
verse 10. Their domestic affairs, verses 
11 and 12. Their foreign relations, verses 
12 and 13. So basically, the entirety of their lives, in terms 
of foreign relations and in terms of domestic affairs, will be 
blessed. And that hinges upon this relationship 
with Yahweh, verses 9 and 10. The Lord will establish you as 
a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you 
keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His 
ways. Then all peoples of the earth 
shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and 
they shall be afraid of you. is central in terms of their 
reception of this blessing, is the blessing of God Himself. 
When you walk with the Lord, when you're close to the Lord, 
when you walk in His ways, then all the people shall see that 
and they shall be afraid of you. There will be that effect upon 
the nations surrounding Israel. Just like what we saw in Deuteronomy 
chapter 4. When they obey, the surrounding 
nations are to look upon Israel and to see that this is a great 
nation with great laws and a great God. Meredith Klein says, Israel, 
if faithful to the covenant oath, would come out on top in every 
military and commercial encounter with other nations. And that 
is what is elaborated here. in verses 7 to 13, the sorts 
of things that we would like to have if we were a nation in 
covenant with God and we were walking with the Lord. The Lord 
will command the blessing, or excuse me, verse 7, the Lord 
will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before 
your face. What happens when we get to the 
curses? The enemies win. Verse 8, the Lord will command 
the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your 
hand. What happens when we get to the curses? You're not going 
to have food. You're going to grow stuff and 
the locusts are going to eat it. You're going to grow things 
and you're not going to get the benefit as a result of that. 
Verses 9 and 10, they have that closeness, that relationship 
with Yahweh. Well, according to verses 20 
and 21, this is the foundational sin upon which the curses flow. 
Notice in verse 20, because of the wickedness of your doings 
in which you have forsaken me, Because you have forsaken me, 
these curses of the law will come upon you. Remember that 
pattern we've seen before in the book of Romans in chapter 
1. What precedes all of the particular 
vices? Because they know God, but they 
don't honor Him as God, nor were their hearts thankful. So theology 
precedes ethics. When we banish God from our thoughts, 
minds, and hearts, then all those wicked acts follow. Well, the same sort of idea is 
here. Because you forsake me, because 
you have thrown me out of your community, therefore you break 
my law, and as a result of that, you will reap the curses associated 
with this covenant. Notice in verse 11, of His gift in terms of the land. 
We see those two elements of the Abrahamic blessing involved. 
We see land, we see seed. When they're in the land, if 
they're faithful to the Lord, they will have a great seed. 
There will be fertility. Verse 12, the Lord will open 
to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to 
your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand. 
It's a blessing from God, the rain that falls to water the 
crops. It is a curse when there's drought. It is a curse when the ground 
is like iron. It is a curse when there is dust 
storms. Those things do not promote fertility 
upon the land of Canaan. Verse 12, B, you shall lend to 
many nations, but you shall not borrow. The Lord will make you 
the head and not the tail. You shall be above only and not 
beneath. What's he speaking of here? He 
is saying there will be a preeminence. This small nation of Israel will 
be preeminent among the nations of the earth. They will land. 
They will be the head. They will be the ones that are 
above. they are the ones that will ultimately mediate the blessing 
of God upon the nation surrounding Israel. So you see there's lots 
of benefits and lots of good things if you obey. So then verse 
14 ends with an exhortation, so you shall not turn aside from 
any of the words which I command you this day to the right or 
the left to go after other gods to serve them. So If we reject 
the covenant Lord, if we disobey His covenant word, then we will 
indeed reap the curses. So what is prohibited is idolatry, 
what is prohibited is disobedience to His law. So that's the blessings. Interestingly as well, I neglected 
to mention this by way of introduction, you see blessings and cursings 
in Leviticus 26, and then you see blessings and cursings in 
Exodus 23 verses 20 to 33. Now, in the Exodus passage, you 
know what? The majority is blessing. The 
most indicated thing in Exodus 23, 20 to 33, is blessing. Why do you think curses predominate 
as you get into Leviticus and Deuteronomy? They've already 
started, right, right. Experience, right? The school 
of hard knocks. The reality. They leave Sinai, 
or they no sooner leave Sinai than they're already engaged 
in sin. Remember, after the ratification 
of the covenant in Exodus 24, we get to Exodus 32, and they're 
dancing around a golden calf. and ascribing to it the power 
of the Exodus. So the wilderness was a lesson. The wilderness was a time to 
instruct the people of Israel that curses are predominating 
in your future because you're not obedient to the living God. 
And so that's what then we find in verses 15 to 68. There is 
a contrast. Notice in verse 1, it's the exact 
opposite... I'm sorry, verse 15 is the exact 
opposite of verse 1. If you put them side by side, 
you will see the similarities. But it shall come to pass, if 
you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe 
carefully all his commandments and his statutes, which I command 
you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake 
you." And again, this is a conditional covenant. If you disobey, then 
you will reap the benefits, or you will reap the curses involved 
in this particular arrangement. Notice the condition in verse 
15, notice as well in verse 20. This because of the wickedness 
of your doings in which you have forsaken me. Notice in verse 
45, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God. 
Verse 47, because you did not serve the Lord your God with 
joy and gladness of heart. And then again in verse 62, because 
you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God. So blessings 
for obedience, cursings for disobedience, that is what is presented here 
in Moab. The curses are stated again in 
verses 16 to 19, the exact opposite or contrast, there is a little 
bit of a shift I think in the third or fourth, in terms of 
order, but it's the same exact thing. Notice in verse 16, Cursed 
shall you be in the city. Verse 17, Cursed shall be your 
basket and your kneading bowl. Verse 18, Cursed shall be the 
fruit of your body. Verse 19, Cursed shall you be 
when you go in, or come in, and cursed shall you be when you 
go out. So that's the same sort of an arrangement that we find 
in the blessings. Now, the amplification from 20 
to 68 is a lot more detailed. Again, I think one of the purposes 
here on Moab is to encourage the people to pay close attention. It is to encourage the people 
to make sure they understand, to understand the obligations, 
to understand the law, to understand the threat of these curses. It is a great motivator, hopefully, 
for them to go and obey the Lord God Almighty. We ought to fear 
the Lord. We ought to be... I mean, obviously 
the love of God, the kindness of God, the mercy of God, those 
are all wonderful enticements and incitements to us to obey 
and to honor Him. But, as well, those curses or 
those warnings are given to us so that we will take heed and 
we will fear. You see similar things in the 
book of Hebrews. You see in Hebrews 6, a warning 
against apostasy. You see in Hebrews 10, a warning 
against apostasy. Warnings in the scripture are 
helpful to us to take heed to the reality that our God is a 
consuming fire, and we need to understand that. And so in this 
amplification, I think there's five sections. Verses 20 to 26, 
verses 27 to 37, verses 38 to 48, verses 49 to 57, and verses 
58 to 68. And again, we're not going to 
explain every jot and tittle, it's pretty obvious, right? As 
you read through these things, I hope there is a bit of fear, 
I hope there is a bit of wow, I hope there is a bit of appreciation, 
a great bit of appreciation for what we have in terms of the 
New Covenant. But let's just kind of move through 
these. Notice in verses 20 to 26. Verse 20, the Lord will send 
on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke. Now, when we trace through 
these curses, you'll see a lot of historical means that are 
employed. You see locusts. You see invading 
armies. You see a lack of rain. But ultimately, 
it is Yahweh who sends these things. It is God the Lord who 
will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke. and all that you 
set your hand to do until you are destroyed and until you perish 
quickly. And then again, here's the fundamental 
reason. Because of the wickedness of 
your doings in which you have forsaken me, the Lord will make 
the plague cling to you until he has consumed you from the 
land which you are going to possess." Meredith Klein again says this, 
it was the right and duty of the forsaken Lord himself, the 
one to whom and by whom Israel swore the covenant oath, to avenge 
the oath. Remember, when they stood on 
Ebal and said, Cursed be, or they said, Amen, They were invoking 
upon them that malediction. They were saying, if we disobey, 
we swear by the Lord himself that he brings his wrath and 
curse upon us. That's why it is very important 
that we understand these sorts of things. I think there is at 
least a bit of sideline observation with Jesus calling upon us to 
count the cost of discipleship, to look at what's involved in 
these sorts of things. Imagine standing at Ebal. That 
was a call to count the cost of discipleship with your very 
life. I mean, it's very, very severe, 
very strong. He goes on to say, whatever the 
human or earthly origin of the several curses, the Lord was 
their ultimate author. And then in that section, in 
verses 20 to 26, swift judgment is highlighted. There is epidemic 
in verses 21 and 22. The Lord will make the plague 
cling to you. Verse 22, the Lord will strike 
you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe 
burning fever, with the sword, with scorching, and with mildew. 
They shall pursue you until you perish. Verses 23 and 24 highlight 
drought. There's going to be drought. 
God will withhold rain. The heavens which are over your 
head shall be bronze. The earth which is under you 
shall be iron. It won't be this rich, fertile 
land that you can grow lots of good things in. Rather, it will 
be like iron. The Lord will change the rain 
of your land to powder and dust. From the heaven it shall come 
down on you until you are destroyed. Crops can't grow from dust storms. Crops need rain from on high. There will be war, verses 25 
and 26. Remember in the blessings, you 
will defeat your enemies. Here in the curses, your enemies 
will defeat you. The Lord will cause you to be 
defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against 
them, and flee seven ways before them." Just the opposite of verse 
7. Remember verse 7, the Lord will 
cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your 
face. They shall come out against you 
one way and flee before you seven ways. But if you disobey, that 
is going to be your portion and your lot. You shall become troublesome 
to all the kingdoms of the earth. There is the intimation there 
of exile. Again, you see it hinted at over 
and over and over again and then it's amplified and explained 
in full detail in verses 49 to 57. Exile would be the curse 
of God upon the people of God for their violation of the law 
of God. It happened a couple of times 
in their history. Syria invaded, Assyria invaded, 
Babylon invaded, and then ultimately the people of Israel as a people, 
as a body politic, again fell in A.D. 70 when the Romans sacked 
Jerusalem. So what God specified here in 
Deuteronomy 28 most assuredly came to pass in their history. So verse 26 as well, your carcasses 
shall be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of 
the earth, and no one shall frighten them away. This could indicate 
one of two things. Remember in Genesis 15, that 
ratification ceremony where the animals are split? down the side 
and the two parties walk through those pieces saying essentially 
that if I break covenant, may what happened to these animals 
happen to me. That's probably what is being referred to, that 
this idea. But then as well in Ezekiel 39 
and in Revelation 19, there seems to be this birds of the air feasting 
upon the dead bodies of the covenant breakers against God. It's sort 
of an eschatological feast. not the marriage supper of the 
Lamb, but the curse of God upon those who violate His laws. So there could be, you know, 
this sort of going both ways here. Then notice in verses 27 
to 37, what you have is incurable disease, madness, hopelessness, 
frustration, hopelessness, madness, incurable disease. Again, that 
chiastic structure. We have an A, B, C, D, and then 
a C, B, A. Incurable disease, verses 27 
and 35. Madness, verses 28 and 34. Hopelessness. Notice in verse 
29. You shall grope at noonday, as 
a blind man gropes in darkness. You shall not prosper in your 
ways, you shall be only oppressed and plundered continually, and 
no one shall save you." That's hopelessness. I mean, if you 
underwent judgment for a time with the thought that some deliverer 
was going to come, then perhaps you could motor through. But 
God says when you violate the covenant, when these curses come 
upon you, it is a hopeless situation. There will be this frustration 
in marriage, frustration in labor, verses 30 to 32. Craigie recognized, 
and I think rightly, verse 30, you shall betroth a wife, but 
another man shall lie with her. You shall build a house, but 
you shall not dwell in it. You shall plant a vineyard, but 
shall not gather its grapes. Remember earlier in Deuteronomy, 
those were the three exemptions that would keep a man from going 
to war. But in the midst of these curses, you can't stay at home. The Lord is not fighting for 
Israel. There is no respite. Every soldier must go out to 
ultimately be defeated by the enemies. And then exile is hinted 
at again in verse 32. and your daughters shall be given 
to another people. Your eyes shall look and fail 
with longing for them all day long, and there shall be no strength 
in your hand. A nation whom you have not known 
shall eat the fruit of your land and the produce of your labor, 
and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually. It's 
a hopeless situation. So you shall be driven mad because 
of the sight which your eyes see. The Lord will strike you 
in the knees and on the legs with severe boils which cannot 
be healed, and from the sole of your foot to the top of your 
head. The Lord will bring you and the 
king whom you sat over you to a nation which neither you nor 
your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods, 
wood and stone. So you see the idea there. Again, 
similar to what we find in Romans 1. What happens when men exclude 
God from their thoughts? God gives them over. It's as if the Lord God Almighty 
says, if you want to be idolaters, then I will give you over to 
idolatry. And that is what is specified 
here in verse 36. You're going to go into other 
nations and there you shall serve other gods. You shall be a thing 
of horror. You shall be a proverb and a 
byword among all nations where the Lord will drive you." You 
see, they were supposed to shine as a light in a crooked and perverse 
generation. They were to mediate the blessing 
of the Lord upon the nations around them. The peoples, according 
to Deuteronomy 4, were to look at this nation and marvel at 
how great they were. But what's happened in this reversal, 
God is giving them over and they have become an astonishment, 
a proverb, and a byword among all nations where the Lord their 
God is sending them. That's the second set. The third, 
verses 38 to 48, Plague, reversal of blessing, and notice again 
the reason. We've got plague, verses 38 to 
42. Dissimilar to what they had in 
Exodus chapter 12, when God sent the plague upon Egypt. What did 
he do? He spared His people. Well, here 
it's going to be a reversal. Now they will be the recipients 
of plague. They will be the ones that see 
the locusts destroy everything. They will beget sons and daughters, 
but they shall not be theirs, for they shall go into captivity. 
Verse 43 and 44 completely reverses what we saw in verses 12 and 
13. The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher 
above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. He shall 
lend to you, but you shall not lend to him. He shall be the 
head and you shall be the tail. Remember in the blessing phase, 
if they obeyed the Lord, they would lend to many nations. They 
would be the head. They would be above. They would 
be the ones preeminent. in this curse everything has 
been reversed and they are reaping the curse of God Almighty. Verses 
45 to 48 again gives the reason, because you did not obey the 
voice of the Lord your God. And then notice in verse 47, 
because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness 
of heart for the abundance of everything. What's the implication 
there? You ought to be thankful for 
the benefits that God gives you. You don't go into the promised 
land and start eating and drinking and benefiting and not bow in 
thankfulness to the living God who gave you these things to 
enjoy. There ought to be a gladness 
of heart. When the Lord gives us things, we ought to serve 
Him with joy, we ought to have gladness of heart. Because we 
don't do that, notice what happens in verse 48. The Lex Talionis 
implies, if you don't serve the Lord, then you shall serve your 
enemies, whom the Lord will send against you in hunger, in thirst, 
in nakedness, and in need of everything, and he will put a 
yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you. So you 
see, all of this intimation, all of this explanation about 
what happens ultimately if you disobey. And then verses 49 to 
57 develop this theme of exile. Develops this theme of exile. Notice the covenant Lord is the 
avenger according to verse 49. The Lord will bring a nation 
against you from afar. How does 2 Chronicles end? How 
does Daniel begin? It is the Lord who brings Babylon 
to Israel. You know, it's interesting in 
Jeremiah, the prophet, God refers to Nebuchadnezzar as my servant. He refers to Cyrus, the king 
of Persia and the prophet Isaiah as my Christ. He calls him my 
Messiah, my anointed one, Cyrus. So you see, the Lord God is sovereign. He uses enemy nations to bring 
judgment to bear upon Israel. Notice in verse 49, the Lord 
will bring a nation against you from afar. from the end of the 
earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language 
you will not understand, a nation of fierce countenance, which 
does not respect the elderly, nor show favor to the young." 
We see that in Assyria, but we see it in Babylon as well. In 
fact, when you look at 2 Chronicles 36, 17, you will see Babylon 
described in that particular manner. But it's not so much, 
well it is so much, the external enemy that's a threat to Israel, 
isn't it? That's what he's saying here. 
Verse 51. They shall eat the increase of your livestock and 
the produce of your land until you are destroyed. They shall 
not leave your grain or new wine or oil. or the increase of your 
cattle and the offspring of your flocks until they have destroyed 
you. They shall besiege you at all your gates until your high 
and fortified walls in which you trust come down throughout 
all your land. And they shall besiege you at 
all your gates throughout all your land which the Lord your 
God has given you." That's the external enemy in this time of 
siege. There's also an internal enemy 
in this time of siege. Notice who that is. The remaining 
verses. Sensitive men and tender women. 
What are they going to do? They're going to cannibalize 
their children. It's terrible, isn't it? They're going, that's 
not metaphor. This isn't some sort of language 
for some other sort of a reality. This is cannibalism. 2 Kings 
chapter 6, when Syria comes, the people cannibalize their 
children. The Book of Lamentations, chapter 
2, verse 20, chapter 4, verse 10. The prophet lamenting over 
the siege of Jerusalem by Babylon intimates and indicates that 
the tender women boiled their babies and ate them. That's what 
the siege would bring to these particular people. Again, Meredith 
Klein says, but the inhumanity of the enemy warrior pales beside 
the bestiality of even the tenderest Israelite mother turned cannibalistic 
in the horror of the siege. Notice how the sensitive man 
is described there in verses 54 and 55. He won't share. He won't share that baby that 
he's eating with the wife of his buzza. The same thing is 
true with this tender woman. What is God doing through Moses? He is telling them that there 
are severe ramifications for breaking my law. When you break 
my law and the siege comes upon you, it is going to be the case 
that you turn on the children. You're going to eat your babies. 
Josephus records, I didn't have time to check him, but I'm pretty 
confident that in the siege of Jerusalem in AD 70, the same 
sort of thing took place. Cannibalism. Cannibalism. And it wasn't just people eating 
their children. Soldiers would rip open the stomachs 
of dead people and take out whatever food was in their stomachs to 
eat. I mean, that's the horror of 
war. That's what he's indicating here. This is the curse for breaking 
the covenant of God Most High. And then the latter segment, 
verses 50 to 68, basically summarizes, basically rehearses, basically 
conveys these same sorts of things. The reason is repeated, verses 
58 and 59. If you do not carefully observe 
all the words of this law that are written in this book, that 
you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God, 
then the Lord will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary 
plagues and serious and prolonged sicknesses. There would be plague 
and illness. There would be a reversal of 
the Abrahamic promise. Notice what we find there. in 
verses 62 and 63. You shall be left few in number, 
whereas you were as the stars of heaven in multitude, because 
you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God. And it 
shall be that just as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good 
and multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice over you. I don't 
think the rejoice over you here is other than a rhetorical intent. In other words, I think as God 
rejoices to plant you in the land, with the same sort of gusto 
and the same sort of earnestness, he curses you. I don't think 
he does it with a smile on his face. The prophet Ezekiel, God 
says he has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He doesn't 
have this big, fat smile on his face as he does this. I think 
it indicates the degree to which or the earnestness or the zeal 
with which he blesses is the zeal with which he curses. And that ought to terrify us 
in and of itself. But this is a reversal of the 
Abrahamic blessing. They will be few in number, and 
they will be plucked from off the land which you go to possess. 
The land which the Lord your God is giving you, which was 
key to the Abrahamic promise, seed and land, gone. Blessing, 
gone. All these things, gone, because 
you have violated the covenant. Harman says, all the promises 
to Abraham will in effect be reversed, the large nation reduced 
to a remnant, the promised land occupied by others. And instead 
of being a blessing to all the nations, Israel is to become 
the object of scorn and ridicule. Verse 64 indicates again this 
idea of exile, dispersion going all over the earth, The absence 
of rest we've already indicated in verses 65 to 67. And then in another interesting 
reversal, we almost have a reversal of the exodus. Notice in verse 
68, the Lord will take you back to Egypt. God brought them out 
of Egypt. What happens in covenant breaking? 
God's going to put you back in Egypt, and you're going to be 
so nasty. You're going to be so horrible, you won't even be 
able to sell yourself into slavery. The Lord will take you back to 
Egypt in ships, by the way of which I said to you, you shall 
never see it again. And there you shall be offered 
for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one 
will buy you. So break the covenant, Israel, 
and this is what you have to look forward to. So there is 
blessing for obedience, there is cursing for disobedience, 
and hopefully all of you will say, praise God for the new covenant. Praise God for the book of Hebrews. Praise God for Matthew 26. Praise 
God for John 19 30. Praise God that our head, our 
mediator, our Lord, our surety came and obeyed perfectly that 
covenant of works placed upon him. He executed everything with 
that sort of obedience, that personal, entire, exact, and 
perpetual obedience that was necessary to please His Father. He does that on behalf of His 
people. He dies as a sacrifice at Calvary. He becomes a curse, according 
to Galatians chapter 3. in order that the blessing of 
Abraham or the promise of Abraham may come upon us Gentiles. If 
Deuteronomy 28 doesn't make you praise God for the Lord Jesus 
Christ, may I suggest you go home and read it again. because 
this is a terrifying chapter. Harmon says it is a frightening 
picture of a life of utter distress leading even to a loss of sanity. Madness is what would be the 
result. frustration, confusion, no rest, 
every sort of bad thing, destruction, hopelessness, any miserable thing 
you could imagine is associated with breaking this law of God. Chapter 29, they'll renew the 
covenant in Moab. Chapter 30 will essentially say 
you're going to break this, bad things are going to come upon 
you, but chapter 30 already points to the new covenant and redemption 
in our Lord Jesus Christ. Went quick tonight, 68 verses. We'll close in prayer, and then 
if anyone has any comments or questions. Father, we thank you 
for your Word, and God, we confess this is a terrifying chapter 
of Holy Scripture. It is a terrifying thing to fall 
into the hands of the living God. How we thank you for our 
Lord Jesus, how we thank you that He is the surety of a better 
covenant, How we praise You, God, that You have blessed us 
richly and that You have given us every spiritual blessing in 
the heavenly places in Him. We know as well, God, that believers, 
there were believers in this old covenant system. They were 
saved by the same grace, through the same faith in the Lord Jesus 
Christ. How we thank You for His work 
on behalf of the entirety of the Church, how we thank you 
for his redemption, and how we thank you that you have blessed 
us richly in giving us this wonderful Lord. We just ask now that you 
would go with us. Again, we pray for your people. 
We pray for Mr. Van Schaik, that all would go 
well in this surgery, and that he would heal well and recover 
well. And we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.