Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 28: God keeps His covenant warnings

Begin in prayer

Before reading the blessings and curses, let us humble ourselves before the God who keeps His word. Ask Him to give our family reverent attention to His warnings and faith in Christ’s deliverance.

With the merciful you will show yourself merciful. With the perfect man, you will show yourself perfect. With the pure, you will show yourself pure. With the crooked you will show yourself shrewd.

Psalm 18:25-26

Father in heaven, Your kindness calls for grateful obedience, and Your warnings deserve our fear. Help us hear this chapter without turning away from its severity. Show us the mercy found in Christ and teach us to receive Your word. Please open our eyes as we read Your Word, make us more like Christ, and bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

If Israel obeys the LORD, His blessing will reach their households, harvests, work, and defense against enemies. He will establish them as His holy people and give them abundance in the promised land. If they refuse His commands, curses will overturn these blessings through disease, drought, defeat, and loss. Enemies will take their possessions and children, and the people and king will be carried into exile. Siege will bring such starvation that parents will eat their own children. The LORD will bring fearful plagues, reduce their numbers, and rejoice to destroy them as He once rejoiced to bless them. Scattered among nations, they will live in dread, ending with a return to Egypt and an attempted sale into slavery that finds no buyer.

As you read Deuteronomy 28, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

God keeps His word to bless and to curse, and Christ bore the curse for His people.

These blessings were for Israel in the land of Canaan, if they listened to the LORD and kept His commands (verses 1 and 2). They are not a promise that every obedient child will be rich or never sick. The curses are much longer than the blessings, and Moses knew the people would turn away (Deuteronomy 31 verse 29). The curses came true when Israel served other gods, and Babylon carried the king and the people far away (verse 36). Siege, hunger and scattering among the nations all came just as God had said (verses 49 to 64). Israel did not keep the condition of verse 1, and only Jesus ever obeyed God perfectly. Yet He hung on a cross and took the curse His people deserved (Galatians 3 verse 13). So every blessing God gives His people comes through Christ, never as wages for our obedience.

How does Deuteronomy 28 show us that God keeps His word to bless and to curse, and that Christ bore the curse for His people?

God promised Israel blessing in the land if they obeyed.

Israel’s crops, households, and work all depend on the LORD’s blessing. He promises abundance as they hear His voice and obey His commands. They must remain loyal instead of turning to other gods. Christ bore the curse for His people, so every blessing reaches them through Him.

God’s warnings describe real judgment.

Disease, drought, defeat, and captivity will undo the nation’s prosperity. Siege, hunger and exile would come, just as the LORD warned. The LORD Himself declares that His curse will pursue them for refusing His commands.

Rejecting God’s goodness brings bondage.

Israel must serve the LORD with joy because He gives abundance. Rebellion will instead leave them serving enemies in hunger and need. Their return toward Egypt ends with offered slavery and no buyer.

Memorise

All these blessings will come upon you, and overtake you, if you listen to Yahweh your God’s voice.

Deuteronomy 28:2

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, what gift do I enjoy while ignoring God, and why do I need Jesus?

God says His curses will overtake Israel “because you didn’t listen to Yahweh your God’s voice”. Blessing cannot make rebellion safe. The dreadful losses in this chapter show the seriousness of rejecting His goodness and authority.

Christ became a curse for His people, as Paul explains (Galatians 3 verse 13). Jesus took the curse in their place at the cross, and He rose again. His saving work is finished, and the curse against His people has been answered in full.

Do not take comfort in gifts while refusing the Giver. Turn from sin and trust Christ. Everyone who trusts Him is forgiven, and every blessing God gives His people comes through Him.

Parent's note

Tell your children that these blessings and curses concern Israel under this covenant in the promised land. Explain the deaths and starvation with care, and show how God calls His people to joyful service. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God for Christ who bore the curse, and bring the resisted obedience in the heart question before Him. Every child can pray, so welcome each one’s request for mercy.

But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

Father in heaven, keep us from enjoying Your gifts while despising Your commands. Bring each of us to trust Christ’s finished sacrifice and receive the pardon He secured. Give those who believe grateful hearts that fear Your warnings and serve You with gladness. In Jesus' name, Amen.