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Blessings and Curses

“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.” Deuteronomy 28:1-2 (NKJV)

The Lord God spoke specifically and clearly to the people of Israel about His conditions and promise to bless them when they obeyed, and the consequences of disobedience.

According to Moses, the promise of blessings from the Lord God to His people are based on the following conditions:

Listen closely, pay attention to the voice of the Lord.

^“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.” (v.14)

^“According to the Collins Dictionary, blessing can mean favor, special gift, benefit, help” or “something good that one is grateful for”[1]

Here are the promises of blessings to those who choose to obey the Words of God:

The 12 Blessings of Obeying the Lord God

1. Blessed in the city and the country (v.3)
2. Blessing of children – “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body” (v.4)
3. Blessing of produce of the land or agricultural blessing (v.4)
4. Blessing of livestock – For those who are in agriculture, “the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.” (v.4) And for those who are in business and other professions, it’s the blessing of productivity and success
5. Blessing of provision, food, or economic blessing “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.” (v.5)
6. Blessing of protection and travelling mercies “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.”  (v.6)
7. Blessing of victory over enemies – “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.” (v.7)
8. Blessing of Abundance – “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. (v.8)
9. The blessing of the favor of the Lord – “The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you. (v.9)
10. The blessing of favor and respect of people – “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. (v.10)
11. The blessing in the work, job and projects  – “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 (v.12)
12. The blessing of helping others- You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. (v.12)
13. The blessing of leadership – ^“And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath.” (v.13)  The Lord God declared numerous blessings if the people obeyed, but He also pronounced numerous curses as consequences of disobedience or sin.
     
    “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.” (v.15)
     
    The Curses of Disobedience:
    Curse or having misfortunes in the dwelling place or wherever they live
    • “Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country.  Deuteronomy 28:16 (NKJV)
    •  Hunger or not having enough food
    • “Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.” (v.17)
    • The misfortune of barrenness
    • “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.  (v.18)
    • The misfortune of not having protection from accidents, etc.
    • “Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. (v.19)
    • All kinds of misfortunes, confusion (perhaps mental illness, depression) etc.
    • “The Lord will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in 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.  (v.20)
    • The misfortune (curse) of serious illness, disease, and untimely death
    • The Lord will make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going topossess. 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. (v.21-22)
    • Misfortune or curse in agriculture, produce, and livestock, with drought and famine
    • ^“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.”  (v.23-24)
    • Misfortune or curse of defeat by enemies
    • “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.” (v.25-27)
    • The misfortune or curse of serious illness and diseases
    • “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.” (v.27-28)
    • The misfortunes of poverty, blindness, oppression, etc.
    • “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.” (v.29)
    • The misfortunes of losses; wife, children, house
    • “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.” (v.30-32)
    • Agricultural loses (unproductive land)
    • “You shall carry much seed out to the field but gather little in, for the locust 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.” (v.38-42)
    • The curse of being a slave in their own land or oppressed by other nations
    • “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.” (v.33-34)
    • “The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. ⁴⁴ He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.”  (v.43-44)
    • Total loss and destruction
    • “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. (v.45-46)There are more curses or terrible misfortunes listed in this chapter of Deuteronomy 28 for those who do not obey the words of God:
    • “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.” (v.58-59)
    • These Words in Deuteronomy chapter 28 about blessings and curses, written more than four thousand years ago, were specifically for the people of Israel. However, this still applies today to the people of Israel and to all people. The good news is that Jesus Christ came, and through His death on the cross and resurrection, broke the curse of sin and death!
    •  ^“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”  Galatians 3:13-14 (NKJV)
    • ^“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”  Galatians 3:26-29 (NKJV)
    • Compared to the ancient people, we now have the advantage of having the Word of God written in our language. We can know God through His written Word. And we can hear His voice because the power of the Holy Spirit is available to every follower of Jesus.
    • When we receive Jesus in our hearts as our Lord and Savior, when we read and study the written Word of God in the Bible, when we know Him and His will, we still have the option to obey or not to obey. The Lord God has given us minds and freewill to choose. When we obey His Words, then we have all the blessings mentioned above. For those who choose not to believe, worship, and obey the Lord God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the curses are not punishment but consequences of sins. “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.”  Galatians 6:7 (NKJV)
    • God loves everyone in the world – the people of Israel, Arabs, Americans, Asians, everyone. The free gift of salvation and eternal life through faith in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is available to all people in the world.
    • “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  John 3:16 (NKJV)
      

[1] https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/blessing