The 5th and final part of the Deuteronomy overview with commentary on chapters 28-32. This is the final part of the Torah series.
Deuteronomy Chapter 28:
Moses gives the conditions for the blessing vs the curse.
If Israel keeps all of the commands they are given, they will receive these blessings: Blessings in their towns and in their fields, on their crops, fruit baskets, breadboards, and livestock, as well as their children. Wherever they go and whatever they do, they will be blessed. When enemies attack, the Israelites will have victory, and their enemies will scatter in seven directions. Their storehouses will be filled with grain. The nations will be in awe of Israel because the true God is on their side and his blessing on them makes them untouchable. They will see how God gave them prosperity in the land with many children and livestock, and an abundant harvest of crops. The rains will always come at the right time to water their lands. They will lend to many nations and not borrow. They will be the head and not the tail, above and not beneath. All of this will happen for them if they stay faithful to the covenant and don’t break it by chasing after false gods and committing acts of wickedness in the land.
Otherwise, if they do break the covenant they will get the curse:
Curses will be on their towns and fields, crops, fruit baskets, breadboards, and livestock, as well as their children. Wherever they go and whatever they do, they will be cursed. God will send disaster, confusion, and frustration to them when they break the covenant until they are destroyed. Their populations will be dissolved from various plagues like wasting diseases, fever, inflammation, scorching heat, drought, as well as blight, and mildew. These disasters will continue until they perish. The skies will not yield rain and the ground will dry up, instead only dust will pour down from the sky. When their enemies attack the Israelites will lose and will flee in seven directions. Their nation will become an object of horror to other nations and their carcasses will become food for the wild animals, and no one will chase the scavengers away. They will be afflicted with the boils of Egypt, tumors, scurvy, and itching, and there will be no cure or relief. The curse will also bring madness, blindness, and panic. At noon they will stumble about as if it were midnight because of the blindness.
They will constantly be oppressed and robbed and no one will come to rescue them. When men get engaged to women, someone else will take their fiancés. When they build their houses someone else will take them and live in them. They won’t be able to enjoy the fruits of their vineyard because someone else will harvest them. Likewise, their oxen will be butchered in front of them but they will never take a bite. Their donkeys will be taken by their enemies and there will be nothing they can do about it. Unknown foreign nations will come and eat the crops they worked so hard to grow. Their children will be taken captive as slaves, and they will be powerless to rescue them. They will be oppressed and mistreated. They will go mad from all of the tragedy and they will be covered in boils. Everything they plant will only yield a little harvest because locusts will devour everything in their fields and worms will destroy everything in their vineyards. The olives on their olive trees will drop before they ripen and their trees will be destroyed by swarms of bugs. The foreigners living among them will rise and become the heads while the Israelites the tails, and they will lend to Israel and not be the borrowers.
If they fail to serve God for all he has done for them and keep his commands, their enemies will destroy and oppress them and they will be left hungry, thirsty, naked, and lacking in everything. Far away nations will come against them like a vulture and devour their crops and livestock. They will show no mercy to the young or old and will leave them no crops and no livestock, and they will starve to death. The enemy nation will destroy all of their trusted fortified walls and the towns within them. The siege and terrible distress of the enemy’s attack will be so severe that they will be tempted to eat their own children. Men will grow stingy and won’t share whatever food they have with their relatives, even when eating with their own children. Women will hide their newborns and the afterbirth so that they can devour them.
For their disobedience and failure to reverence their God, there will indescribable plagues that overtake them. The plagues will be intense and there will be no relief, and the people will become miserable. God will use the same plagues he used on Egypt and will send new plagues. God multiplied them greatly since the time of Jacob, but under the curse, only a small remnant will remain. God enthusiastically prospered and multiplied them, and will enthusiastically destroy them for their sins if they break his covenant. They will be removed from the land and scattered among the nations where they will be submitted to foreign gods made of wood and stone. There will be no peace or rest for the Israelites while in exile as a slave amongst the nations, just anguish and despair while their eyesight fails. They will live in terror day and night. They will be sent back to Egypt in ships where they will beg to be bought as slaves, but no one will purchase them.
These are the terms of the covenant God commanded Moses to make with the Israelites while they were in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Mount Sinai.
Deuteronomy Chapter 29:
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Moses says that in the future they will experience the blessing and the curse. Under the curse, while a remnant is living in exile, they will feel shame for their punishment. After experiencing devastation and ruin, they will remember the covenant with God that they are agreeing to now and return to him after their rebellion. Then at this point, God will show mercy and restore them by bringing them back from the nations they have been scattered to in exile. When they are restored to the land God will bless them and make them prosperous. Then God will circumcise (soften) their hard hearts so that they can love him truly and submit to his covenant so that they will live on and be blessed. God then will inflict the curse on their enemies who hated and persecuted them. Meanwhile, they will obey God and keep his commands. Once restore and renewed in their hearts the blessing will return and they will be successful and prosperous with abundant harvests, good health, and many children and livestock. God will delight in them if they keep his commands and love him with all their heart and soul.
Moses says the task at hand is not too difficult for them since the law will be on their lips and in their heart. The goal is not kept in the skies, under the sea, or in faraway lands across the sea, they can do this. They must choose between life and death, blessings and cursing. If they keep the commands they will be blessed and multiply. However, if they break the covenant to worship false gods the curse will bring them to ruin. Moses implores them to choose life, by loving God and keeping his commands. Then they will have an abundant life in the land that God promised their ancestors would be an inheritance.
He says under the curse, both the next generation and foreigners come to the land they will say, “The whole land is devastated by sulfur and salt and is now a wasteland with nothing growing, not even a blade of grass. It is like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which God destroyed in his intense anger.” When the Gentile nations ask, why did God do this, what was he angry about? The answer will be, “because the people of the land abandoned their covenant with God of their ancestors, that he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. Instead, they turned away to serve and worship gods they had not known before, gods he told them not to worship. That is why the Lord’s anger has burned against this land, bringing down on it every curse recorded in this law. In great anger and fury, God uprooted his people from their land and banished them to another land, where only a remnant lives today!”
Lastly, Moses says that no one is accountable for secrets that only God knows, but they all are accountable for everything that has been revealed to them and their children so that they can observe all the words of his teaching.
Deuteronomy Chapter 30:
Moses says that in the future they will experience the blessing and the curse. Under the curse, while a remnant is living in exile, they will feel shame for their punishment. After experiencing devastation and ruin, they will remember the covenant with God that they are being told to follow today and return to him. Then at this point, God will show mercy and restore them by bringing them back from the nations they have been scattered to in exile. When they are restored to the land God will bless them and make them prosperous. Then God will circumcise (soften) their hard hearts so that they can love him truly and submit to his covenant so that they will live on and be blessed. God then will inflict the curse on their enemies who hated and persecuted them. Meanwhile, they will obey God and keep his commands. Once restore and renewed in their hearts the blessing will return and they will be successful and prosperous with abundant harvests, good health, and many children and livestock. God will delight in them if they keep his commands and love him with all their heart and soul.
Moses says the task at hand is not too difficult for them since the law will be on their lips and in their heart. The goal is not kept in the skies, under the sea, or in faraway lands across the sea, they can do this. They must choose between life and death, blessings and cursing. If they keep the commands they will be blessed and multiply. However, if they break the covenant to worship false gods the curse will bring them to ruin. Moses implores them to choose life, by loving God and keeping his commands. Then they will have an abundant life in the land that God promised their ancestors would be an inheritance.
Deuteronomy Chapter 31:
Moses gives some final instructions. He says, “I am now 120 years old, and I am no longer able to lead you. God has told me that I will not cross the Jordan River, but God himself will cross over ahead of me. He will destroy the nations living there, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua will lead you across the river, just as God has promised.” He continues saying that God will destroy the rest of the Canaanites just like he destroyed Kings Sihon and Og of the Amorites. God will hand them over to the Israelites just as he promised so they should not panic and fear. Instead, they should be strong and courageous. God will never fail nor abandon them. Moses turned to Joshua and told him the same thing so that he would lead the people fearlessly by trusting in God.
Moses took the written Torah and handed it to the priest and instructed them to read it to the whole community, young and old, Israelites and foreigners. They are to do so at the end of each shmita (the sabbath year), during the Sukkot (Festival of Tabernacles). This way every one will hear and remember what the Torah says.
Since Moses was about to die soon, God had Moses call Joshua to the Tabernacle so that he could be commissioned as their next leader. God warned Moses that after he dies they will be tempted to worship other gods and break the covenant. In doing so they will enact the curse and they will be destroyed and God will hide his face from them as punishment. Therefore God prescribed this solution, he had Moses write a song so that they wouldn’t forget their covenant. God commissioned Joshua by saying, “Be strong and courageous, for you must bring the people of Israel into the land I swore to give them. I will be with you.”
When Moses finished writing the Torah he gave it to the Levites and told them to put it next to the Ark of the Covenant. That way, the Torah can function as a witness against the people because he knows how stubborn they are, and he expects them to be worse after his death. Moses summons the elders and tribal leaders and tells them that he expects them to fail after his death because of their stubbornness, in an attempt to warn them one last time.
Deuteronomy Chapter 32:
Moses recited this song that God had him write as a reminder to follow the commands and stay in covenant with God:
The song:
“Listen, O heavens, and I will speak! Hear, O earth, the words that I say! Let my teaching fall on you like rain; let my speech settle like dew. Let my words fall like rain on tender grass, like gentle showers on young plants. I will proclaim the name of the Lord; how glorious is our God! He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect. Everything he does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright he is! “But they have acted corruptly toward him; when they act so perversely, are they really his children? They are a deceitful and twisted generation. Is this the way you repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Isn’t he, your Father who created you? Has he not made you and established you? Remember the days of long ago; think about the generations past. Ask your father, and he will inform you. Inquire of your elders, and they will tell you. When the Most High assigned lands to the nations, when he divided up the human race, he established the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel [or sons of God].
The people of Israel belong to the Lord; Jacob is his special possession. He found his people in desert country, in a howling, wasted wilderness. He protected him and cared for him, guarded him like the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up her nest, hovers over her young, spreads out her wings, takes them, and carries them as she flies. The Lord alone led his people; no false god was with him. He made them ride on the heights of the earth. They ate the produce of the fields. He had them suck honey from the rocks and olive oil from the crags, curds from the cows and milk from the sheep, with lamb fat, rams from Bashan and goats, with the finest wheat flour; and you drank sparkling wine from the blood of grapes.
But Jeshurun (a term of endearment for Israel) soon became fat and unruly; the people grew heavy, plump, and stuffed! Then they abandoned the God who had made them; they made light of the Rock of their salvation. They stirred up his jealousy by worshiping foreign gods; they provoked his fury with detestable deeds. They sacrificed to demons, non-gods, gods that they had never known, new gods, to gods their ancestors had never feared. You neglected the Rock who had fathered you; you forgot the God who had given you birth. The Lord saw this and drew back, provoked to anger by his own children.
God said, ‘I will abandon them; then see what becomes of them. For they are a twisted generation, children without integrity. They have roused my jealousy by worshiping things that are not God; they have provoked my anger with their useless idols. Now I will rouse their jealousy through people who are not even a people; I will provoke their anger through the foolish Gentiles. For my anger blazes forth like fire and burns to the depths of the grave. It devours the earth and all its crops and ignites the foundations of the mountains. I will heap disasters upon them and shoot them down with my arrows. I will weaken them with famine, burning fever, and deadly disease. I will send the fangs of wild beasts and poisonous snakes that glide in the dust. Outside, the sword will bring death, and inside, terror will strike both young men and young women, both infants and the aged. I would have annihilated them, wiping out even the memory of them. But I feared the taunt of Israel’s enemy, who might misunderstand and say, “Our own power has triumphed! The Lord had nothing to do with this!”’
But Israel is a senseless nation; the people are foolish, without understanding. Oh, that they were wise and could understand this! Oh, that they might know their fate! How could one person chase a thousand of them, and two people put ten thousand to flight unless their Rock had sold them unless the Lord had given them up? But the rock of our enemies is not like our Rock, as even they recognize. Their vine grows from the vine of Sodom, from the vineyards of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poison, and their clusters are bitter. Their wine is the venom of serpents, the deadly poison of cobras. The Lord says, ‘Am I not storing up these things, sealing them away in my treasury? I will take revenge; I will pay them back. In due time their feet will slip. Their day of disaster will arrive, and their destiny will overtake them.’
Indeed, the Lord will give justice to his people, and he will take pity on his servants when he sees their strength is gone and no one is left, slave or free. Then he will ask, ‘Where are their gods, the rocks they fled to for refuge? Where now are those gods, who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their offerings? Let those gods arise and help you! Let them provide you with shelter! Look now; I myself am he! There is no other god but me! I am the one who kills and gives life; I am the one who wounds and heals; no one can be rescued from my powerful hand! Now I raise my hand to heaven and declare, “As surely as I live, when I sharpen my flashing sword and begin to carry out justice, I will take revenge on my enemies and repay those who reject me. I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword will devour flesh— the blood of the slaughtered and the captives, and the heads of the enemy leaders.”’ Sing out, [you angels of heaven], and Gentile nations, about his people! For he will avenge the blood of his servants. He will render vengeance to his adversaries and make atonement for the land of his people.”
Moses finished reciting the words of this song along with Joshua son of Nun. Afterward, Moses said, “Take to heart all the words of my testimony against you today, so that you can use them in charging your children to be careful to obey all the words of this Torah. This is not a trivial matter for you; on the contrary, it is your life! Through it, you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
Later that day God told Moses to ascend Mount Nebo in Moab, across from Jericho. God had him look out over the land of Canaan so he could see the land the Israelites were due to inherit in order to fulfill the promise to their ancestors. God reminds him that he will die on that mountain just like Aaron did on Mount Hor. This is because of his and Aaron’s failure to demonstrate God’s holiness back at Meribah at Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin. So Moses got to see the land but couldn’t enter it.
Deuteronomy Chapter 33:
Before Moses climbed the mountain to die he gave Israel one final blessing.
He says this about Israel: “The Lord came from Mount Sinai and dawned upon them from Mount Seir; he shone forth from Mount Paran and came from Meribah-kadesh and with him were myriads of holy ones; at his right hand was a fiery law for them. He truly loves the people, all his holy ones are in his hand; sitting at his feet, they receive your instruction, Moses gave the Lord’s instruction, the special possession of the people of Israel (or Jacob). The Lord became king in Israel (or Jeshurun) when the leaders of the people assembled when the tribes of Israel gathered as one.”
Moses said to the tribe of Reuben: “Let the tribe of Reuben live and not die out, though they are few in number.”
For Judah: “O Lord, hear the cry of Judah and bring them together as a people. Give them strength to defend their cause; help them against their enemies!”
For Levi: “Let your thummim and urim be with your pious one, whom you tested at Massah, with whom you struggled at Meribah Spring. Of his father and mother he said, ‘I don’t know them’; he didn’t acknowledge his brothers or children. For he observed your word, and he kept your covenant. They will teach Jacob your rulings, Israel your Torah. They will set incense before you and whole burnt offerings on your altar. O Lord, bless his possessions, accept the work he does; but crush his enemies hip and thigh; may those who hate him rise no more.”
For Benjamin: “The people of Benjamin are loved by the Lord and live in safety beside him. He surrounds them continuously and preserves them from every harm.”
For Joseph: “May their land be blessed by the Lord with the precious gift of dew from the heavens and water from beneath the earth; with the rich fruit that grows in the sun, and the rich harvest produced each month; with the finest crops of the ancient mountains, and the abundance from the everlasting hills; with the best gifts of the earth and its bounty, and the favor of the one who appeared in the burning bush. May these blessings rest on Joseph’s head, crowning the brow of the prince among his brothers. Joseph has the majesty of a young bull; he has the horns of a wild ox. He will gore distant nations, even to the ends of the earth. This is my blessing for the multitudes of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh.”
For Zebulun and Issachar: “May the people of Zebulun prosper in their travels. May the people of Issachar prosper at home in their tents. They summon the people to the mountain to offer proper sacrifices there. They benefit from the riches of the sea and the hidden treasures in the sand.”
For Gad: “Blessed is the one who enlarges Gad’s territory! Gad is poised there like a lion to tear off an arm or ahead. The people of Gad took the best land for themselves; a leader’s share was assigned to them. When the leaders of the people were assembled, they carried out the Lord’s justice and obeyed his regulations for Israel.”
For Dan: “Dan is a lion’s cub, leaping out from Bashan.”
For Naphtali: “O Naphtali, you are rich in favor and full of the Lord’s blessings; may you possess the west and the south.”
For Asher: “May Asher be blessed above other sons; may he be esteemed by his brothers; may he bathe his feet in olive oil. May the bolts of your gates be of iron and bronze; may you be secure all your days.”
The final blessing of God: “There is no one like the God of Israel (or Jeshurun). He rides across the heavens to help you, across the skies in majestic splendor. The eternal God is your refuge, and his everlasting arms are under you. He drives out the enemy before you; he cries out, ‘Destroy them!’ So Israel will live in safety, prosperous Jacob in security, in a land of grain and new wine, while the heavens drop down dew. How blessed you are, O Israel! Who else is like you, a people saved by the Lord? He is your protecting shield and your triumphant sword! Your enemies will cringe before you, and you will stomp on their backs!”
Deuteronomy Chapter 34:
As God instructed him to do before, Moses went to Mount Nebo in Moab and climbed Pisgah Peak. There, God showed him all of the lands the Israelites would inherit from the promise to his ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He saw the land from Gilead all the way to the Mediterranean Sea that would be taken by Dan, Naphtali, Ephraim, Manasseh, and Judah. From the Mediterranean sea to the Negev; the Jordan Valley with Jericho, and as far as Zoar. Just as God promised Moses had seen all the land even though he couldn’t enter it. Then Moses died at 120 and was buried by God in a valley near Beth-peor in Moab, but no one knows the exact place. When he died his eyesight was clear and he was strong and healthy. The Israelites mourned on the plains of Moab for the customary 30 days.
Now Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him as God commanded. So the people of Israel obeyed him, as he took Moses’ place in leading them. There has never been another prophet like Moses who talked to God, face to face and partnered with him in executing signs and wonders like the ones in Egypt. What great terror he evoked before the eyes of all Israel!