Deuteronomy 27-28

CHAPTER 27:
         Moses, now joined by the elders of Israel, begins his third address to the nation. (v.1) The presence of the elders is significant because they are the ones who will assist Joshua in carrying out the ceremony described in this chapter. Their standing with Moses also affirms his leadership and faithfulness as mediator and messenger between God and the people. Moses is demonstrating to the people that his authority and leadership is being transferred to them as well as Joshua. (Numbers 27:22-23)
 
          Verses 2-8: Moses commands the people to do two things immediately after passing over the river Jordan into the promised land: 1) construct a pillar of stones upon which they will write the words of the law of God; and 2) build an altar upon which to make burnt offerings and peace offerings to God in thankfulness and rejoicing for all that He’s done thus far and all that He will do for them as they conquer the land.
           The word “plaister” in verse 2 refers to a type of lime or whitewash that would make it possible to write on the stones. (Joshua 8:32) While verse 3 states that “…all the words of this law…” are to be written on the pillar, it’s unclear from the text if that refers to just the ten commandments or that plus everything Moses has expounded upon to the people since Mount Sinai. Whatever the case, this directive seems to be primarily a ceremonial function since the lime and the words would eventually be washed away by rain and other natural elements as time goes on.
            The altar that’s to be built next to that pillar is to be made of stones that are uncut or shaped by the hands of man. This hearkens back to God’s command to Moses at Mount Sinai in Exodus 20:25. God considered any attempt by the men to cut or shape the stones so that they fit together more perfectly to be a pollution or a profanity upon His holy altar.
            Both the pillar and the altar are to be constructed at Mount Ebal. (v.4)
 
           Verses 9-13: Moses now stands with the Levitical priests, again to show to the people that his authority, given by God, is being transferred to them as well as the elders and Joshua. Once again, Moses implores the people to listen and to remember that they are a chosen people, and that because of this they are to obey all the commandments and statutes of the LORD their God. (v.9-10) (Deuteronomy 26:18) Next, he commences with the instructions for the blessing and cursing ceremony that is to follow the erection of the monument and the sacrificial offerings that were described in the first section of this chapter. Half of the tribes will stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, and the other half will stand on Mount Ebal to recite the curses for disobedience of the covenant. (v.12-13) (Deuteronomy 11:29, Joshua 8:33, Judges 9:7)
           Commentators have noted that the tribes pronouncing the blessings were all born of Leah and Rachel, except for Reuben and Zebulun. The rest were born of the handmaids Bilhah and Zilpah. Some have suggested that the tribe of Reuben was selected to pronounce the curses because of Reuben’s sin of incest with Bilhah. (Genesis 35:22, 49:3-4) While this is possible, there is no clear reason given in the text, and so we should not read too much into what isn’t there. What is important to note here is that just because a tribe is selected to pronounce the curses doesn’t mean that God has cursed that tribe.
 
           Verses 14-26: There is a total of twelve curses, eight of which can be connected directly to one of the ten commandments. (v.15-17, 20, 22-25) After each curse is read aloud all the people on both mountains are to respond with “Amen!”, once again pledging to uphold the commandments of the law. Note that some of these curses can be violated in secret which means that the one committing the act will be punished even if there are no witnesses. This is a reminder to the people that God sees all, and He will punish the guilty accordingly.
            All of the curses pertain directly to the “Thou shalt not” laws/commandments given in Exodus and Leviticus and reviewed by Moses in his first two sermons to the people here in Deuteronomy. These verses can be viewed as a review of what God expects of the nation regarding their relationship to Him, and then to each other, specifically the poor, the blind, the orphan, the widow, and one’s own family. Note that, once again, Moses emphasizes sexual purity more than any other law. (v.20-23) And while homosexuality is not specifically mentioned in any of those four verses, the fact that it’s listed in the same verses with bestiality in Leviticus means that we can logically presume it's also implied here in verse 21.
      Verse 26 is meant to be a summary curse for any violation of any of the commandments in the whole law of God. (Psalm 119:21, Jeremiah 11:3, Galatians 3:10) This is why Paul refers to the curse of the law in that verse from Galatians. God expects His chosen people to obey every single statute and judgment, and when they do not they must immediately perform the expected sacrificial atonement. Those who do not are cursed and subject to God’s wrath and judgment.
         While the same applies to the NT believer today, we have the final act of Jesus Christ on the cross to plead with God as the atonement for our sins. God still expects us to obey His law and strive for holiness, and when we fail we must ask for forgiveness and plead the blood of His only son as the payment for our sin.

CHAPTER 28:
         Given the instructions in the previous chapter regarding the blessing and cursing ceremony, one would expect this chapter to be a continuation, with Moses describing the blessings that the tribes on Mount Gerizim will give following the curses pronounced by the tribes on Mount Ebal. But that is not the case. While Moses does begin by describing the blessings that God will bestow upon the Israelites for their obedience, the bulk of this chapter focuses on God's judgment and punishment should Israel turn away from Him and fail to keep the law.
 
          Verses 1-14: This section, presumably, is the same ceremonial blessings that the tribes on Mount Gerizim will pronounce in response to the curses listed in the previous chapter. As always, Moses makes clear to the people that God’s blessings come with a condition: “…if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments…”. (v.1) (Exodus 15:26, Leviticus 26:3, Deuteronomy 7:12, 11:13) Only by this will the nation of Israel be set “…on high above all nations of the earth.” (Deuteronomy 26:19, 1 Chronicles 14:2)
            Moses then lists all the blessings that God will pour out on His chosen people. (v.2-8) Not only will God ensure victory against all of Israel’s enemies, thus creating lasting peace throughout the land, but He will continue to multiply their offspring, their harvests, and their livestock. Every home and every storehouse will be overflowing with bounty, and whatever each Israelite sets his hand unto will be blessed “…in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.” (v.8) (Genesis 22:17, 39:5, Leviticus 25:21, 26:7-8, Psalm 121:8, 128:1, 4)
            Israel will be a holy nation (v.9), and all other nations of the world will recognize her status as God’s chosen people. (v.10) (Exodus 19:5-6, Numbers 6:27, 2 Chronicles 7:14, Isaiah 63:19, Daniel 9:18-19) They will be afraid of her, and the bounty of God’s blessings upon Israel will allow her to lend to other nations, thus indebting them to her. (v.10-12) As long as Israel continues to “…hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God…” (v.13) He will pour out on them “…His good treasure…” (v.12), and Israel will always be “…the head, and not the tail…”. (v.13) (Isaiah 9:14-15) But all of this is predicated on Israel never straying off the path God has chosen for them by obeying all his commandments and statutes and worshiping Him only. (v.14) (Deuteronomy 5:32, Joshua 1:7)
 
            The remainder of this chapter is lengthy and detailed exposition of curses that will fall upon Israel if, instead, she chooses not to “…hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God…” (v.15) by disobeying “…all His commandments and His statutes…”. (Joshua 23:15, Daniel 9:10, Malachi 2:2) Just as there are bountiful blessings for obedience, so is there bountiful curses and judgment upon Israel if she fails to uphold her part of the covenant.
 
            Verses 16-19: Rather than blessing Israel’s offspring, harvests, and livestock, God will instead curse them, causing barrenness of the womb for both woman and beast and famine in the land. These four verses deliberately mirror verses 3-6.
 
            Verses 20-22, 27, 33-35: Everything that the Israelites put their hand to will fail or be destroyed. (v.20) All manner of sickness and deadly diseases will befall them. (v.21-22) (Exodus 15:26, Leviticus 26:16, Amos 4:9) The death toll from war, famine, and disease will be so great as to wipe out the whole nation from the promised land. (v.21-22) The physical descriptions in these three verses indicate clearly that God will use not only the heathen nations outside the promised land but also the very elements of nature itself to pour out His righteous judgment upon His people. (Jeremiah 5:15, 17)
 
            Verses 23-24, 38-40, 42: God will stop the rain and harden the earth so that nothing will grow. (v.23) Locusts and worms will consume the crops and vineyards, and the fruit of the olive trees will fall from their boughs before they’re ripe, making the olives useless for the production of oil. (v.38-40) (Exodus 10:4, Joel 1:4, Micah 6:15, Zephaniah 1:13, Haggai 1:6)
 
            Verse 25-26: This is the opposite of verse 7. Now it is Israel who is fleeing from her enemies seven different directions. (Deuteronomy 32:30) The death toll will be so great as to provide a bountiful feast for the ravens, vultures, and other wild animals. (v.26) (1 Samuel 17:44, Psalm 79:2)
 
            Verses 28-29: God will even blind the hearts and minds of the people, so that they “…grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness…”. (v.29) (Job 5:14) This is the same judgment which Jesus speaks of in Mark 4:12. For some, like Pharaoh in Exodus, God hardens their hearts because of their unbelief so that the truth is foreign to them. If Israel turns from God to worship idols and practice the abominations of the heathen nations around them, God will give them over to the same judgment as Pharaoh and the people of those foreign nations. Furthermore, Israel will be continually enslaved and plundered, and no one will come to her rescue.
 
            Verses 30-32, 41: These echo the curse of verse 20 where Moses stated that all which Israel attempts to do will be for naught. Here he goes into specifics. The betrothed daughter will either be raped or willingly engage in premarital relations with a man other than her future husband. (2 Samuel 12:11, Job 31:10, Jeremiah 8:10, Amos 5:11, Zephaniah 1:13) All attempts to establish a home, family, and occupation will be thwarted. (v.30) (Deuteronomy 20:6, Job 31:8, Jeremiah 12:13, Lamentations 1:5, Micah 6:15) A man’s livestock will be slain or plundered, preventing him from making a living. (v.31) His children will be enslaved and forced to marry foreigners, causing deep sorrow and regret for him and his wife. (v.32) (2 Chronicles 29:9, Nehemiah 5:5) All of this will result in utter weakness and despair for every Israelite.
 
            Verses 36-37: Much of this chapter is a prophecy, and here Moses foretells of Israel’s desire for a king. If the nation persists in their disobedience and apostasy, God will deliver them and their king into captivity by a people that is foreign to them. Israel will be slaves once again, forced to serve false gods by their captors. (Deuteronomy 4:28, 1 Kings 9:7-8, 2 Kings 17:4-6, 24:12-14, 25:7, 11, 2 Chronicles 36:1, Jeremiah 16:13, 24:9, 25:9) The name of Israel will be reduced to a byword and thing of horror among all the other nations outside the promised land. (v.37) (Psalm 44:14) They will marvel at Israel’s downfall.
 
            Verses 43-44: Instead of being the head, Israel will now be the tail. The entire nation will be brought low, enslaved and in debt to a foreign people.
            Verse 45-46: One would expect this verse to the end of this chapter as it sums up Moses’ central point. All the curses detailed in the preceding verses will come upon Israel if she fails to obey God’s law and honor her part of the covenant. It’s important to note here that although Moses states clearly that the nation will be destroyed, he does not use any adjectives here that say the destruction will be complete. God will not – and cannot, in fact – renege on His promise to Abraham.
           Verse 46 confirms this, for Moses adds that the consequences of these curses will stay with Israel “…for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed forever.” In other words, the name of the LORD will still be glorified in Israel’s judgment and condemnation. (Numbers 26:10, Isaiah 8:18, Ezekiel 14:8)
 
          Verses 47-57: But Moses doesn’t end with that dire warning and prediction. As if all that wasn’t bad enough, he now gives a detailed description of God’s judgment against Israel for her apostasy that makes the previous curses pale by comparison. Moses expounds on his earlier mention of Israel’s captivity by a foreign power, describing exactly what will happen among the Israelites while they under siege by their enemies.
           Because Israel fails to serve the Lord by joyfully acknowledging Him as the source of their daily providence and blessings (v.47) God will deliver her back into bondage at the hands of her enemies. (Deuteronomy 12:7, Nehemiah 9:35) Israel will go naked and hungry and destitute, with “…a yoke of iron upon thy neck…”. (v.48) (Lamentations 4:4, Jeremiah 28:13-14) This is an interesting point that Moses brings up in verse 47. What God is saying here is that He will bring judgment upon His chosen people because their heart attitude is not right before Him. They are ungrateful for His daily providence and protection, and they fail to properly worship and honor Him as the sole source of all their wealth and prosperity. This ingratitude will result in the sin of pride among the nation, and this will cause them to turn from the Lord to idolatry and many other transgressions from which God has commanded them to abstain.
         Therefore, a nation whom the Israelites have never heard of, whose language is unknown to them, will invade the promised land. (v.49) (Isaiah 5:26, 7:18, Jeremiah 5:15) The enemy will be great and powerful, showing no mercy to the old or the weak (v.50), and will seize all of Israel’s crops and livestock. (v.51) (2 Chronicles 36:17) They will besiege her cities, causing mass starvation for the people within, causing them to resort to cannibalism in order to survive. (v.52-53) (Leviticus 26:29, 2 Kings 6:28-29, 25:1-2, Jeremiah 19:9, Lamentations 2:20, 4:10) The reason such depravity will come about is because every Israelite man and woman will be so desperate in their hunger that they will forsake their civilized behavior and resort to not only killing their own children to consume as food, but will hide it from their neighbors for the sake of their own survival. (v.54-57) The women will even consume their own afterbirth. (v.57) All of this, sadly, came true, and many Biblical scholars have suggested that God gave Moses divine prophetic insight in order to deliver this specific warning.
 
           Verses 58-68: As if all that wasn’t enough, Moses hammers his central point home even harder. War, disease, famine, death, captivity and slavery – all of it will befall God’s chosen people if they fail to “…fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD…”. (v.58) God will no longer take delight in blessing and caring for Israel, instead rejoicing in His wrath and judgment upon them. (v.63) (Deuteronomy 30:9, Proverbs 1:26, Isaiah 1:24, Jeremiah 12:14, 32:41, 45:4) All of the blessings described at the beginning of this chapter will be reversed. Instead of being as numerous as the stars in the heaven, Israel will be reduced to a very small number. (v.62) Instead of peace and rest, she will experience nothing but fear, dread, sorrow, and despair as she is scattered among the heathen nations. (v.64-65) (Leviticus 26:36, Lamentations 1:3, Amos 9:4) Her despair will be so great, in fact, that every morning the people will long for night, and at night they will long for the dawn, but there will be no hope or salvation forthcoming. (v.66-67) (Job 7:4) And, in the end, Israel will return to the foreign land where she began, but this time not even the Egyptians will take them back as slaves. (v.68) (Jeremiah 43:7, Hosea 8:13) Israel will be left utterly alone and destitute, a fragmented and scattered remnant with no home or land to call their own.
          Verse 63 echoes Deuteronomy 18:12, and many people, including Christians, find this troubling. (Refer back to that chapter and my comments on that verse.) But it should not surprise the true believer that God’s holiness and His justice demand punishment for sin, including the disobedience of His chosen people. The Israelites, remember, promised to obey all of God’s law and uphold their part of the covenant numerous times, starting with the ten commandments at Mount Sinai. (Exodus 24:3) God, therefore, has every right to pass judgment on Israel for her disobedience, apostasy, and rebellion. The same holds true for all of mankind today, even us believers. We are His creation (Psalm 24:1), and He has every right to do with us as He so pleases.
          This final passage of Moses’ third address to the people is extremely depressing, to say the least. But it underscores the importance of Israel’s obedience to God and His covenant. There will be no excuse for this second generation’s descendants when God’s judgment and wrath come upon them for their disobedience and apostasy. Their fathers were warned of the punishment for not keeping and honoring all of the law of God, and that warning was passed down from generation to generation in the words of Moses recorded in this book. Even when the books of Moses were long forgotten and buried in the archives of the temple, God still sent His warning to His chosen people in the words of the prophets such as Isaiah and Jeremiah. Israel and Judah still refused to listen, and all the prophecy of Moses in this chapter came true. God always keeps His word, for both blessing and judgment.