Holy Bible Online 
In Deuteronomy 28, Moses presents to the people of Israel a series of blessings and curses that result from obedience or disobedience to God’s Law and will.
The blessings include prosperity, health, victory over enemies, fertility, and personal fulfillment. The curses include diseases, defeat in battles, loss, scarcity, exile, and distress.
Blessings for Obedience - Deuteronomy 28:1-14
This passage is an invitation to obey God. It shows a series of benefits that would flow over the people of Israel if they remained faithful to their covenant with God. The text describes a reality of abundance and protection that awaits those who decide to follow the Lord faithfully.
Moses stated that God’s people would be blessed if they obeyed and faithfully kept His commandments.
He described many blessings that would result from obedience, including prosperity, success in endeavors, fertility, a large offspring, security, victories over enemies, and personal fulfillment.
Here’s how these blessings resulting from obedience are described in the Bible:
Deuteronomy 28:1-14
1 If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God:
3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.
4 The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock - the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
5 Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.
6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.
7 The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.
8 The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.
9 The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in obedience to him. 10 Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will fear you. 11 The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity - in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground - in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.
12 The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. 13 The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. 14 Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.
- Deuteronomy 28:1-14
These blessings serve as encouragement and motivation for obedience and loyalty to the will of the Lord.
Curses for Disobedience - Deuteronomy 28:15-68
In this passage, we are reminded of the serious consequences of disobeying God. It teaches us that living in opposition to God will only bring harm and suffering. Disobeying God is sin, and as such, it will be punished.
Moses describes a series of curses that would fall upon the people if they turned away from God’s commandments. From plagues and diseases to military defeats, famine, and slavery, the text paints a grim picture of the adversities that would await those who chose the path of rebellion against God.
These curses serve as a stern reminder of the importance of obedience and faithfulness to the covenant with God. Here are some verses from this section:
Deuteronomy 28:15-68
15 However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you:
16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.
17 Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.
18 The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.
20 The Lord will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him. 21 The Lord will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess.
33 A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression all your days. 34 The sights you see will drive you mad. 35 The Lord will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.
36 The Lord will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your ancestors. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone. 37 You will become a thing of horror, a byword and an object of ridicule among all the peoples where the Lord will drive you. 38 You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it.
43 The foreigners who reside among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. 44 They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, but you will be the tail.
45 All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you. 46 They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever.
66 You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life.
- Deuteronomy 28:15-21, 33-38, 43-46, 66
In the Old Covenant, obedience was the indispensable condition for Israel to receive God’s blessings: protection, health, peace, growth, provision, and physical and spiritual security.
The passage in Deuteronomy 28 teaches us how God’s children were expected to live in the past, in obedience. It not only warns us about the seriousness of rejecting and opposing the Lord, but it also encourages us to live a life of obedience and faithfulness to God.
Obedience and Disobedience in the New Testament
In the New Testament, we are also taught about the blessings of obedience:
Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!
- Acts 5:29
Jesus taught that obedience is the proof of our friendship with Him:
"You are my friends if you do what I command."
- John 15:14
However, we are also warned about the consequences of disobedience and the need to repent in order to receive God’s forgiveness and mercy. According to the apostle Paul, the disobedient:
They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
- Romans 1:29-32
Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you.
- Romans 11:30-31
Examine Your Level of Obedience to God
As Christians, we can all ask ourselves: Are we living according to God’s principles and commandments in our lives? Am I seeking His will in every area, or am I straying to follow my own paths?
Although Deuteronomy 28 reminds us of the serious consequences of disobedience, it also points us toward God’s grace and mercy. Even when we fail to fully obey, God remains faithful and offers forgiveness and restoration to those who turn to Him in repentance.
Jesus was fully perfect in obedience. Through Him, we receive forgiveness for our disobedience. We are also purified and perfected, by His grace, to become more obedient and Christlike.
If you have been challenged and encouraged by the message of Deuteronomy 28, seek a life of obedience, trusting in God’s Word to guide you in every aspect of your life.
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