Page 118 - Pentateuch

We read on and are greatly encouraged by the blessings listed in 28:1-14. City and country, children and
livestock, home and work will all be blessed (vv. 3-5). The rewards of obedience are so great that other
nations will see (v. 10). When the bounty of heaven is opened, and Israel becomes a lender instead of a
borrower, the head instead of the tail, how can they help but see and be impressed with YHWH! The only
thing required is obedience. Do not turn aside to the right or to the left (v. 14). All of this sounds great until
we read the curses.

The opposite of the blessings are listed and then considerably more. City and country, children and
livestock, home and work will be cursed (vv. 16-19). These “rewards” seem both gruesome and endless:
disease (vv. 21, 22, 27), natural disasters (v. 23, 38-42), invasion (vv. 25, 26), mental illness (vv. 28, 29), the
overturning of all hopes (vv. 30-38), and even slavery (v. 48). Yet a once-over description isn’t enough.
More details are coming. A foreign nation will lay siege to the cities (vv. 49-53). The siege will be so bad that
people will resort to cannibalism (vv. 53-57). The result will be exile from the land with no rest. “In the
morning, you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and in the evening, ‘If only it were morning!’ – because of
the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see (v. 67).”

The future is not pretty. Disaster waits solely due to disobedience (27:1, 4, 8, 10, 11, 26; 28:1, 9, 12, 14, 15,
45, 58, 61). We know that all these things happened to Israel. Jeremiah records some of the worst in the
book of Lamentations. “With their own hands compassionate women have cooked their own children who
became their food when my people were destroyed (4:10).” How could this be? Why would God set up a
system doomed to fail in such an obvious and painful way? Is this really the intention of the covenant
established at Sinai?

The history of Israel confirms the impossibility of following the covenant. Yes,
Joshua and the generation of Israelites who entered the Promised Land experienced
a measure of success. They defeated the nations living in the land and divided it for
themselves. Yet “after that generation had been gathered to their ancestors,
another generation grew up who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for
Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals (Judg.
2:10-11).” The book of Judges is a record of the downward spiral of the nation. Even
though God sent judges to deliver them time after time, the nation became worse and worse. Toward the
end, we read about a gruesome incident of a woman abused all night long (19: 20-26) in a clear reference
to Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:3-11). Israel has become just like the nations they were sent to
destroy. 136

With the coming of the kings, the covenant did not change. The worship book of Israel reaffirms the law
constantly. “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners
take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the LORD (Ps. 1:1-2a). “LORD, who
may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain? The one whose walk is blameless,
who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart (Ps, 15:1-2a).” “The precepts of the
LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes (Ps.
19:8).” Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the LORD (Ps.
119:1).”

136 A careful study of these two chapters reveals a deliberate comparison by the author of Judges. He uses much of the
language of Genesis 19:4-8 in his account in 19:22-24. I owe the details of this observation to Daniel I. Block in class
notes for an Old Testament course on Judges through Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, MN.
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