

God would separate an obedient Israel unto Himself, speaking of a special relationship. The LORD will establish you as a holy people to Himself: Perhaps the best blessing had to do with Israel’s own relationship with God. This degree of blessing speaks of a clearly Divine blessing.Ĭ. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways: An obedient Israel would be blessed in warfare. An obedient Israel would be blessed in their homes and in their farms, and in their kitchens ( the fruit of your body… the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds… Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl).ī. Blessed shall you be: An obedient Israel would be blessed everywhere: I n the city… in the country… when you come in… when you go out. So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.Ī. And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. The LORD will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. And the LORD will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you. Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they shall be afraid of you.

The LORD will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways. The LORD will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you.

The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. (3-14) God will richly bless Israel’s obedience to the covenant.īlessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.īlessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.īlessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.īlessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. They wouldn’t be able to escape the blessings. That the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth: Therefore, if Israel would obey the LORD, He would set them high above all nations of the earth, and the blessings would be so powerful that they would come upon you and overtake you. “In the ancient Near East it was customary for legal treaties to conclude with passages containing blessings upon those who observed the enactments, and curses upon those who did not.” (Harrrison)ī. As a literary form, this chapter is similar to ancient treaties between a king and his people this is God the King, making a covenant with His people, Israel. He would do this either by making them so blessed that the world would know only God could have blessed them so or by making them so cursed that only God could have cursed them and cause them to still survive. The idea behind the choice is that God was determined to reveal Himself to the world through Israel. The covenant God made with Israel contained three major features: The law, the sacrifice, and the choice. In this chapter, Moses exhorted the nation with choice. If you diligently obey the voice of the LORD: The word “ if” looms large. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God:Ī. Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth.
