And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail. thou shalt lend unto many nations, and not borrow. The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give rain unto the land in his season. And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle. And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD and they shall be afraid of thee. He shall establish thee an holy people unto himself. The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in your storehouses, and in all that you set your hand to do the Lord shall bless your land which he gives to you. The LORD will cause your enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee from thee seven ways. You'll be blessed when you come in, and blessed when you go out. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of your cows, your flocks, your sheep. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. That God will set thee on high above all the nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. This was the condition of God's blessing it was the obedience to the commandments of God. Whereby they could have this land and dwell there. You get this over and over again because this was the condition of the covenant. It shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and do all his commandments ( Deuteronomy 28:1 ) Many would be shipped as slaves to Egypt, where they would so flood the slave market that no one would want to buy them (58-68).Ĭhapter 28 Now as we come into chapter twenty-eight, There they would be treated worse than animals and meet horrible deaths. Eventually, the nation would be destroyed and the people taken captive into foreign countries. People would be so desperate for food that they would eat even their own children (47-57 cf. ![]() The cruelty of foreign invaders and the horrors of siege warfare are vividly described. Finally, the nation that God had chosen to be the leader of all nations would go into humiliating captivity (36-46). In general these would take the form of diseases and plagues upon their families, flocks, herds and crops (15-24) and repeated defeat in war (25-35). Corresponding to the blessings for obedience were the curses for disobedience. They were not to look for family increase or agricultural productivity by worshipping the Canaanite nature gods (11-14). God’s assurance that he would supply their needs was linked to a warning. The blessings mainly concerned agricultural prosperity, family happiness, victory over enemies and honour in the eyes of other nations (28:1-10). These were connected more with the life of the people as a whole and were directly dependent on the people’s obedience or disobedience. Nor does it mean that no Jewish person, prior to then, can come to faith-but most will not.Further blessings and curses are now listed. This does not mean, necessarily, that every Israelite will come to faith in Christ, but perhaps that a representative proportion of living Israelites will do so. The "fullness of the Gentiles" means "as many as will believe," or "the complete number." When that mysterious point has been reached, the Jewish people will no longer be hardened in their unbelief in Christ. Does this mean that God is waiting for all Gentiles to believe in Jesus? That's not likely, nor does it fit the words used here. Israel's hardening will end when the "fullness" of the Gentiles has come to God through faith in Christ. However, Paul now states outright that this is a temporary season. Why has God done this? As Paul has made clear, it was to make room for the non-Jewish people of the world to come into relationship with God through faith in Christ. God has brought upon Israel a "partial hardening." In other words, most Israelites have been hardened to faith in Christ by God, keeping them from receiving God's righteousness. He wants them to understand one of the central mysteries of God's relationship with Israel and humanity at large. He doesn't want them to reach the wrong conclusion about the truth by being wise in their own sight. ![]() Paul continues to talk to the Gentile Christians with a cautioning tone.
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