Deuteronomy 28:36-68
Q.1. Under what conditions would Israel be driven out of the Promised Land? What message would this send to the nation? – (Dt.28:36-48)
The Sinaitic Covenant was conditional. God would bless His people, provided they obeyed His commands. Even before Israel had possessed the land, there was a clear warning of the curses that God would pour out on the nation, should they turn to other gods. With God’s foreknowledge on display, He predicted that the nation and their king (which was yet a future development) would be removed from the Promised Land, when as yet they had not even conquered it (Dt.28:36-37). All the promised blessings would be turned into curses – 47 “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and a glad heart, for the abundance of all things; 48 therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in the lack of all things; and He will put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you (Dt.28:47-48). As God always keeps His promises, these blessings that had become a curse to the nation because of their unfaithfulness – shall become a sign and a wonder on you and your descendants forever (Dt.28:48). No one, neither Jew nor Gentile, will deny that what has happened to Israel, makes it stand out as ‘a sign’ for every other nation of the world (Dt.28:46). Israel has been singled out for special treatment – of both blessing and cursing. This should make the believer both humble and sober (Rom.11:17-24).
Q.2. How low would Israel go because of her captivity? What reversal of fortunes would the nation experience? Why? – (Dt.28:49-68)
God prophesied that Israel would be all but destroyed as a nation – “If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, to fear this honoured and awesome name, the Lord your God (Dt.28:58). Instead of experiencing the abundant blessing of God – 62 Then you shall be left few in number, whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, because you did not obey the Lord your God. 63 It shall come about that as the Lord delighted over you to prosper you, and multiply you, so the Lord will delight over you to make you perish and destroy you; and you will be torn from the land where you are entering to possess it. 64 Moreover, the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth … (Dt.28:62-64). God’s special people would live in fear under the strange gods of other nations (c.f. Dt.26:18-19). This was because God is a God Who never lies (c.f. Num.23:19). If God blessed unrighteousness, He would be an unjust God.