Deuteronomy 28:15-46 - God’s Curses for Disobedience

<p>Deuteronomy 28:15-46 - The Lord’s Cursings</p> <p>     Having already presented God’s blessings for obedience (Deut 28:1-14), Moses turned to the cursing section of the covenant, saying, “But it shall come about, if you do not obey the LORD your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you” (Deut 28:15). The responsibility fell upon Israel to abide by the terms of the covenant. They were to abide by “all His commandments and His statutes”, and failure to do so would bring God’s curses. Earl Radmacher states:</p> <ul><li>"A curse is the opposite of a blessing. It wishes or prays for ill or injury on a person or an object. God cursed the serpent and the ground after the sin of Adam and Eve (Gen 3:14, 17). Jeremiah, in despair, cursed the man who brought news of his birth (Jer 20:14, 15). The seriousness of God’s covenant with His people is illustrated by the threat of a curse on any who violate it (Deut 28:60, 61)."<a href='#_ftn1'>[1]</a></li> </ul> <p>     The curses would reverse all God’s blessings and would overtake His people wherever they were. Moses wrote:</p> <ul><li>"Cursed shall you be in the city and cursed shall you be in the country. 17 Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 18 Cursed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. 19 Cursed shall you be when you come in and cursed shall you be when you go out" (Deut 28:16-19).</li> </ul> <p>     What follows in Deuteronomy 28:20-68 spelled out God’s curses in specific detail and were intended to produce a healthy fear in the Israelite who might be tempted to turn away from the Lord and His clear directives. Moses informed his people that the curses would pursue them in stages until they were destroyed (Deut 28:20-22, 24, 45, 48, 51, 61). Daniel Block states, “By means of a seemingly endless catalogue of secondary agents of doom, Moses warns that Yahweh will