Sermon - AudioDeut 28-29 - Audio
Deut 28-29 - Daily Reading
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Chapter 28
Background Notes:
28.2: “blessings come upon you” The rabbis say that we should not chase after blessings, but rather follow God’s Torah and blessing will chase after us. We may hear some of this verse in the words of Jesus in Matthew 6.33, “Seek first his kingdom of heaven and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.”
28.2: Blessing to not automatically flow the people of Israel, they are dependent on the people being faithful to the covenant.
28.3: “in the city…in the country” To be blessed in both places means that you will be blessed wherever you go. One fascinating teaching by the rabbis is that to be blessed in the city is to have a home close to the synagogue. Remember the synagogue is more than a place of worship. It is a place where people come together to study Torah, to pray together etc. It is the center of Jewish life. So to be close to the synagogue is to be close to the heart of Jewish life and piety.
28.3 “blessed” = prosperous The Jewish people viewed prosperity as a sign of God’s favor for keeping his covenant. One of the struggles that we find later in the book of Isaiah is that the people are prosperous and so believe they are being faithful. God points out that their prosperity stems from injustice rather than his favor.
28.3: The blessing of prosperity were also seen as a sign that if following Torah brought physical blessings that it would bring even greater spiritual blessings.
28.6: The words of this verse imply that people will be safe when they travel.
28.7: Since 7 is the number of completeness the idea is that they will flee in every direction. The fact that they come down one road shows an overwhelming confidence that they can defeat Israel, but with God on her side, Israel is unassailable.
28.8 “The LORD your God” is a technical terms in these chapters that basically means “Yahweh, who has kept his promises to you and who you are now obligated to obey.”
28.10: “fear you” i.e. they will learn to revere God by seeing how you live. Israel is a city on a hill that as they shine forth and as God blesses them others will desire to learn of Yahweh and live for him.
28.11-12: Yahweh will so bless them that they have more than enough food, supplies, herds etc. They will have so much that they will be able to lend to others without noticing a drop in their own good.
28.14: The key provision is that the people have no idols.
For Thought, Reflection and Application:How seriously do you take Jesus’ words to seek first God’s kingdom and then trust God for what you need in life?
How do you discern if your wealth is a sign of God’s favor?
28.15: “overtake you” i.e. you can’t outrun these curses, the will catch up with you
28.16-19: The curses reflect the opposite of the blessings
28.22: Seven diseases are mentioned here indicating that God will uses every disease imaginable as a punishment for his wayward people.
28.24: One rabbi says that this means a little rain will fall and then mix with blowing dust to form a film over crops that kills the crops.
28.26: Burial in the Ancient Near East was considered to be a very important deal. To not be buried meant your soul would never enter the netherworld.
28.30: In Dt. 20.5-7 men were allowed to go home from war so that they would not die in battle and miss the good things mentioned in
28.30. Here the fall of the people is so great that these things that are so precious are lost.
28.30-35: These verses ring with connections to the book of Job, including Job being covered with sores over his whole body (Job 2.7). The difference is that Job is righteous and suffering these things. The importance of this for both Job and us is that we should not assume that calamity is because of sin any more than we should assume our prosperity is because of righteousness. In both cases we need to look carefully at our lives and determine why we are experiencing either good or evil. Is the calamity because of sin or are we experiencing injustice or is God at work seeking to teach us something?
28.37: “scorn and ridicule” i.e. people will use you as an example of the terrible things that happen to people (cf. how we speak of Sodom and Gomorrah) and they will keep talking about you and your fall (cf. how people still talk about Nazi Germany).
28.47: the danger of prosperity is that it causes us to lose our thankful hearts.
28.49-57: The Rabbis note that the words of these verses became reality when Rome laid siege to Jerusalem in 66 A.D.
28.63: Because it seem so improbable that God would be pleased to destroy his people, some Jewish interpreters read this verse as referring to the invaders who will destroy Israel i.e. that God makes it possible for them to rejoice, but God himself does not rejoice.
28.68: The irony is that the Egyptians who would not let Israel go at the time of the Exodus now want nothing to do with them. Again, the Rabbis note that this was the situation when Rome took over Israel. Many of the Israelites tried to sell themselves as slaves in Egypt rather than face death—but no one would buy them. For Thought, Reflection and Application:God takes faithfulness to his covenant very seriously. How seriously does God take our faithfulness to him in our day to day living? Why?Do you think that the Rabbis are right, that God could not possibly rejoice over the destruction of his people?
Chapter 29
As the people enter the land they are called once again to renew the covenant.
29.4: This verse means that until this day God had not fully revealed himself, but now he has.
29.5-6: God provides for the people in the desert manna which is no common food so they will see his hand and care in their lives.
29.7: The people show that they trust God by taking on the nations that their fathers refused to fight.
29.10: “all of you” Moses makes it clear that this covenant is being made by the entire community and each person is responsible for upholding it. No one can say that they have no responsibility in keeping the covenant.
29.15: “those not here today” i.e. future generations. All Israelites to come were bound by this treaty. This was typical of treaties of the day. Future generations were included in them.
29.18: “bitter poison” A poison that brings about deadly consequences for he person and the community.
29.19: This verse is hard to understand. But it seems to say that some in the crowd might be tempted to remain silent when the call to confirm the covenant is given. They believe that in being silent they are not bound by the covenant and can do as they wish.
29.20: Moses makes it clear that spoken or not the curses fall on all who are there.
29.26: “gods they did not know” i.e. god’s who have done nothing for them.
29.29: “secret things…” The idea seems to be that God will punish secret sins (cf. Dt. 27) while the people are to punish sins done in the open.For Thought, Reflection and Application:Moses puts a strong emphasis on the responsibility of each person in maintaining the covenant for the good and blessing of the entire community. Does God still concern himself with the faithfulness of an entire community or is he concerned only with the faithfulness of each individual i.e. whether the individual is faithful or not does not impact the community as a whole?
28.15: “overtake you” i.e. you can’t outrun these curses, the will catch up with you
28.16-19: The curses reflect the opposite of the blessings
28.22: Seven diseases are mentioned here indicating that God will uses every disease imaginable as a punishment for his wayward people.
28.24: One rabbi says that this means a little rain will fall and then mix with blowing dust to form a film over crops that kills the crops.
28.26: Burial in the Ancient Near East was considered to be a very important deal. To not be buried meant your soul would never enter the netherworld.
28.30: In Dt. 20.5-7 men were allowed to go home from war so that they would not die in battle and miss the good things mentioned in
28.30. Here the fall of the people is so great that these things that are so precious are lost.
28.30-35: These verses ring with connections to the book of Job, including Job being covered with sores over his whole body (Job 2.7). The difference is that Job is righteous and suffering these things. The importance of this for both Job and us is that we should not assume that calamity is because of sin any more than we should assume our prosperity is because of righteousness. In both cases we need to look carefully at our lives and determine why we are experiencing either good or evil. Is the calamity because of sin or are we experiencing injustice or is God at work seeking to teach us something?
28.37: “scorn and ridicule” i.e. people will use you as an example of the terrible things that happen to people (cf. how we speak of Sodom and Gomorrah) and they will keep talking about you and your fall (cf. how people still talk about Nazi Germany).
28.47: the danger of prosperity is that it causes us to lose our thankful hearts.
28.49-57: The Rabbis note that the words of these verses became reality when Rome laid siege to Jerusalem in 66 A.D.
28.63: Because it seem so improbable that God would be pleased to destroy his people, some Jewish interpreters read this verse as referring to the invaders who will destroy Israel i.e. that God makes it possible for them to rejoice, but God himself does not rejoice.
28.68: The irony is that the Egyptians who would not let Israel go at the time of the Exodus now want nothing to do with them. Again, the Rabbis note that this was the situation when Rome took over Israel. Many of the Israelites tried to sell themselves as slaves in Egypt rather than face death—but no one would buy them. For Thought, Reflection and Application:God takes faithfulness to his covenant very seriously. How seriously does God take our faithfulness to him in our day to day living? Why?Do you think that the Rabbis are right, that God could not possibly rejoice over the destruction of his people?
Chapter 29
As the people enter the land they are called once again to renew the covenant.
29.4: This verse means that until this day God had not fully revealed himself, but now he has.
29.5-6: God provides for the people in the desert manna which is no common food so they will see his hand and care in their lives.
29.7: The people show that they trust God by taking on the nations that their fathers refused to fight.
29.10: “all of you” Moses makes it clear that this covenant is being made by the entire community and each person is responsible for upholding it. No one can say that they have no responsibility in keeping the covenant.
29.15: “those not here today” i.e. future generations. All Israelites to come were bound by this treaty. This was typical of treaties of the day. Future generations were included in them.
29.18: “bitter poison” A poison that brings about deadly consequences for he person and the community.
29.19: This verse is hard to understand. But it seems to say that some in the crowd might be tempted to remain silent when the call to confirm the covenant is given. They believe that in being silent they are not bound by the covenant and can do as they wish.
29.20: Moses makes it clear that spoken or not the curses fall on all who are there.
29.26: “gods they did not know” i.e. god’s who have done nothing for them.
29.29: “secret things…” The idea seems to be that God will punish secret sins (cf. Dt. 27) while the people are to punish sins done in the open.For Thought, Reflection and Application:Moses puts a strong emphasis on the responsibility of each person in maintaining the covenant for the good and blessing of the entire community. Does God still concern himself with the faithfulness of an entire community or is he concerned only with the faithfulness of each individual i.e. whether the individual is faithful or not does not impact the community as a whole?
4 comments:
We don't hear much about obeying God's word and expecting results. So can we say my God blesses me because I'm obedient to his commands or is it more relevant to say you can't just believe that God will do these things. Do we have a belief of God might or God could than a belief that God will? When we believe that God might or could, is that being double minded? Instead of believeing that God will and being sure of what we hope for? It seems we are more at ease telling people you can't believe that God will bless/prosper you than we currently are.
It's interesting in this Christmas season to read about the angels appearing to the Shepards and having them say that God's favor rests on men. When people ask "how are you", wouldn't it be great to say "God's favor rests on me". We sure would get funny looks if we answered that way.
Chris P.
"Blessed shall you be in the city" Deut.28:3
I have taken it for granted that all my life I have lived close to the church I attended. What a great reminder of a blessing. I think it would be safe to say that none of us travel an hour away to attend a church. Would you? Join me in PRAISING God for that today!!!
Hi Chris,
The concept that God blesses us because we follow his commands needs to be nuanced in several ways. First, when God blesses us he blesses us to be a blessing to others. The blessing that flows our way is never the final word. We find that in places like Genesis 12 and also 2 Corinthians 9.10 "He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God." The second nuance is that doing God's will or following his commands is not an instant promise of blessing. It's not an instant promise of blessing because God's plan or, if you will, God's story always trumps our being blessed in the way we want to be. We see this over and over again in the Bible. John the Baptist says to Jesus, "are you the one or should we expect another" which means "are you going to get me out of prison and bring judgment". Jesus' answer is that his mission is different than John imagined and so John, in spite of being phenomenally faithful, is executed. Along with that think of John the Baptist's words in the gospel of John "he must increase, I must decrease". John understood that Jesus and his mission are paramount. The third nuance is that we live in a world of the kingdom of God being already and not yet. This means that while many good gifts of God’s kingdom are among us and available to us that this world is still fallen and broken and that brokenness gets in the way of everything being perfect, including our experiencing a perfect blessedness from God. The Psalmists note this when they wonder why the wicked prosper and the righteous struggle. The writer of Proverbs in the second half of Proverbs points out this same truth telling us that righteousness does not always equal blessings. The lives of the apostles testify to this as they suffer for the sake of the gospel and even die for it
Hi Chris (con't)
The fourth nuance is that we need to learn to understand that God gives us what is necessary to move his story forward. It is the same with prayer. Prayer is the way that God gives us what he wants, not the way we get what we want. If prayer were simply the way to get what we wanted then faithful Christians, like Paul, would always have their thorns removed, Christians like Wycliffe would not die for their faith, and reformers like John Calvin would have easy lives. But none of these things are true. People stay sick, people suffer and die for their faith, people are abused for their faithfulness. Indeed when you think about it such abuse is what gets a person called blessed by Jesus, Matthew 5.10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” The fifth nuance is that the blessing we receive flows not from our faithfulness but rather from God’s grace. This is especially true in the New Testament scheme where we find that all of God’s good gifts come to us through Jesus Christ. Come through Christ because it is his sacrifice that converts us, and it his Spirit who empowers us to live in obedience. Those are just a few of the nuances Scripture puts to the idea that obedience =s blessing.
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