Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Deuteronomy 28:1 - 28:14

Online Resource Library

Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | Download

Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Deuteronomy 28:1 - 28:14


(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)

This Chapter Verse Commentaries:



The Blessings of Obedience

v. 1. And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord, thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord, thy God, will set thee on high above all nations of the earth, this being the thought which is developed in the description of the blessings, as it now follows;

v. 2. and all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee,
so as to surround every obedient Israelite with their fullness, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord, thy God, for that is always the condition whose fulfillment may not be evaded.

v. 3. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field,
out in the country, these two designations including the spheres in which life ordinarily moves.

v. 4. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
The rich blessing of many children, always represented so in the Bible, would be equaled by the number and the quality of all other products.

v. 5. Blessed shall be thy basket,
the place where the products of farm and orchard are stored for immediate use, and thy store, the kneading-trough, Exo_12:34, where the bread was prepared from day to day.

v. 6. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out,
Num_27:17, the blessing thus extending to all undertakings.

v. 7. The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face,
said in the form of a sincere wish: May the Lord deliver thine enemies smitten before thy face! the obligation of obedience thus being brought out once more. They shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways, in hopeless confusion, in utter rout.

v. 8. The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses,
literally, place it at their disposal in causing their granaries and elevators to he full to overflowing, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto, in business of every kind; and He shall bless thee in the land which the Lord, thy God, giveth thee.

v. 9. The Lord shall establish thee,
set thee up on high, an holy people unto Himself, as He hath sworn unto thee, Exo_19:5-6; Gen_22:16, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord, thy God, and walk in His ways. Thus the destiny of Israel would be realized.

v. 10. And all the people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord,
this conviction would be impressed upon them by the evidence before their eyes, the life of the entire people serving as an object-lesson, showing that Israel was in intimate fellowship with Jehovah; and they shall be afraid of thee, filled with awe and fear of the almighty power of Jehovah as shown in His dominion over Israel.

v. 11. And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods,
give them more than enough for good fortune and prosperity, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee.

v. 12. The Lord shall open unto thee His good treasure,
the storehouse of His rich blessings, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, Lev_26:4, and to bless all the work of thine hand; and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow, Deu_15:6.

v. 13. And the Lord shall make thee the head and not the tail,
always first and never last; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath, having the advantage in every undertaking, always the victor in every war, if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord, thy God, which I command thee this day to observe and to do them;

v. 14. and thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand or to the left,
the slightest deviation from the path of God's commands being regarded as unfaithfulness to the covenant between them and Jehovah, to go after other gods to serve them. There is always that suggestive and impressive reminder of the necessity of keeping the covenant with all strictness, in that perfection which the holiness of God demands. This applies also today. Where the fear of God dwells in a country, the blessing of the Lord is usually in evidence, for righteousness exalteth a nation.