Cursed shall be thy basket and thy kneading-trough.
Moses is listing what will happen to Israel if they refuse to listen to God. The curses run item by item through ordinary life: city, field, children, livestock. Here they reach two containers no household could do without. So is this a threat against a nation's daily bread, or a sentence on the soul?
The basket carried the food in. The kneading bowl turned it into the day's bread. One writer reads this line as a curse on the household's provisions.
If Israel would not obey God's commandments and statutes, the curse would follow them wherever they went. It would reach the cities, the country (v.16), their house provisions (v.17), their children, the produce of their land and the offspring of their livestock (v.18). Whether coming in or going out (v.19) — that is, changing from one to the other would not ease the misery.
Another writer compares this list with the curses of the chapter before it.
In the previous chapter it is no question of where we are cursed, but rather of the person cursed. Here it is a particular curse that falls on a particular sphere.
These curses belong to God's rule over a nation living in His land. Commentators keep that apart from a second question: how a person stands accepted before God.
In Deuteronomy 28 we have the principles of God's government among that people. We also have the immediate consequences of obedience or disobedience. Those consequences were solemnly fulfilled in the fate of that unhappy people, still loved for the fathers' sakes. Now the law can be taken as the principle of relationship with God — as the way to a righteousness good enough for God to accept us. Do not confuse the consequences of breaking it in that sense with the temporary consequences of disobedience under the government of God. It is to this second kind that chapter 28 refers… As to Israel, universal history presents to us the fulfilment of the threats of the chapter.
The chapter does not give blessing and curse equal room. One writer suggests the reason.
This section dealing with curses occupies a far larger place than the one speaking of blessings. The reason is likely this. God knew full well that Israel would soon depart from Him in hard-hearted disobedience. So they would have no opportunity to experience the blessings promised on condition of obedience. They would have every opportunity to experience the many curses, which they had chosen for themselves.
The chapter is not only Israel's story. Others are meant to read it and take the warning.
The whole chapter gives an impressive commentary on the government of God, and a most forceful illustration of the fact that "our God is a consuming fire." All the nations of the earth may learn something from Israel's remarkable history. God must punish disobedience, and He punishes it first of all in His own people. And if He has not spared His own people, what shall be the end of those who do not know Him?
An empty basket is a real loss, but it is not the deepest human problem. One writer contrasts the chapter's blessings with what a guilty conscience actually needs.
"Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field." This is not what a poor soul wants. It in no way meets a sense of guilt or a dread of judgment. The sinner needs something that will stand for ever. He wants what will be in heaven, not just in the field or in the city. He wants acceptance for himself with God, not just a full basket and a full store. There is nothing of that sort here.
So what blessing reaches the nations through Christ? One writer answers from Galatians 3.
True, we read in Galatians 3 that "in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive" — what? Blessings in the city and in the field? Blessings in our basket and store? No. We receive "the promised Spirit through faith."
- Kitchen. The curse lands on the basket and the bowl — the household's food supply. God's government touches the most ordinary things people handle every day.
- Government. The curse is a temporary consequence of disobedience under God's rule of a nation. It does not settle how God accepts a person as righteous.
- Length. Curses fill far more of the chapter than blessings. God knew which of the two Israel would experience.
- Limit. An empty basket cannot meet a sense of guilt or a dread of judgment. The soul needs acceptance with God, and this chapter does not offer it.
- Lesson. God did not spare His own people when they disobeyed. Every nation that reads Israel's history should tremble — and look for a blessing no basket can hold.
Cursed shall be the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy ground, the offspring of thy kine, and the increase of thy sheep.
Moses is still setting out the terms on which Israel would hold the land. Here the curse falls on the very things blessed earlier in the chapter: children, crops, cattle and flocks.
The curses are not vague threats. They run through every part of daily life, and verse 18 names what a farming family lived on.
If Israel would not obey God's commandments and statutes, they would be cursed wherever they went. The curse would touch them in the cities and in the country (v.16), and in the food stored in their houses (v.17). It would touch their children, the produce of their land and the offspring of their livestock (v.18). Whether they were coming in or going out (v.19) — that is, changing from one to the other — would not ease the misery.
Fourteen verses earlier the same items carry the opposite verdict. One writer draws a lesson from that for today.
They would also find blessing in regard to their children and the produce of their crops, in the increase of their herds, of their cattle and of their flocks (v.4). This natural increase pictures the spiritual increase believers receive when they live in a spirit of devoted obedience to the Lord. There will be lasting results from their labors.
The last phrase, "the young of your flock," rests on an unusual Hebrew word: ashteroth. Translators have never agreed on how to render it.
"Ashteroth" is found four times in Deuteronomy (Deut. 7:13; Deut. 28:4, 18, 51). The King James Version translates it "flocks," and the Revised Version "young." Others give (much better) "ewes," while Young's translation gives "multiplications."
Chapter 27 also ends in curses, but commentators keep the two chapters apart.
Chapter 27 is — to put it as plainly and briefly as possible — moral and personal. Chapter 28 is dispensational and national. Chapter 27 deals with the great root principle of man's moral condition: a sinner completely ruined and unable to meet God on the ground of law. Chapter 28 takes up the question of Israel as a nation, under the government of God.
That said, the warning was never meant for Israel alone.
The whole chapter is an impressive commentary on the government of God... All the nations of the earth may learn from Israel's remarkable history that God must punish disobedience — and that He punishes it first of all in His own people.
One writer finds the reason in what God already knew.
This section dealing with curses takes up a far larger place than the section speaking of blessings. Likely the reason is that God knew full well that Israel would soon turn away from Him in callous disobedience. So they would have no opportunity to experience the blessings promised on condition of obedience, but every opportunity to experience the many curses — curses that were really their own choice.
Everything in the chapter hangs on "if you will not obey." One writer says plainly what Israel found on that ground.
Israel thought that blessing lay in the law, but the curse was there. Instead of life they found death. Instead of righteousness they found condemnation. Moses had said that the man who did the things commanded would live by doing them, but no man ever did them... They would have found blessing if they had obeyed. But they disobeyed, and the curse became their portion.
Deuteronomy does not leave the fruit of the womb under a curse for ever. The same words come back later in the book.
Long before, the Lord had foretold Israel's scattering, repentance, and final return and blessing. He had said, "The LORD your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground, for good" (Deut. 30:9).
One writer closes the chapter by pointing to who took that curse.
"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree'" (Galatians 3:13).
- Same list — children, crops and flocks are blessed in verse 4 and cursed in verse 18. Obedience decides which verdict falls.
- Same word — the closing phrase rests on a Hebrew term rendered "flocks," "young," or better "ewes."
- National, not personal — chapter 28 deals with Israel as a nation under God's government. Chapter 27 stands on other ground: moral and personal.
- Longer curse — the curses fill far more space than the blessings, because God knew which side Israel would take. Law promised blessing, but it gave them condemnation.
- Reversed at last — Deuteronomy 30 promises the fruit of the womb, cattle and ground blessed again "for good." And Christ, made a curse for us, redeems from the curse of the law.
Cursed shalt thou be in thy coming in, and cursed shalt thou be in thy going out.
Verse 19 closes the first group of curses, and it removes the last place Israel might have hoped to escape. One commentator takes the phrase as a picture of movement — leaving home and returning — and points out that a change of scene changes nothing.
If Israel would not obey God's commandments and statutes, they would be cursed wherever they went. The curse would fall on their cities and their fields (v.16), on the food stored in their houses (v.17), on their children, the crops of their land and the young of their livestock (v.18). Whether coming in or going out (v.19), moving from one to the other would not ease the misery.
The same writer reads the matching blessing in verse 6 the same way, and applies it to believers today.
God's blessing too would be consistent, whether in their coming in or going out (v.6). We can apply this to the blessing of private life, or of shared life among God's people. Coming in means enjoying the privileges of fellowship with the saints of God. Going out means carrying the gospel of God's grace to people in the world.
These curses are not about how God accepts a sinner. Commentators draw a sharp line between chapter 27 and chapter 28.
To put it as sharply and briefly as possible, chapter 27 is moral and personal. Chapter 28 is national: it belongs to God's dealings with Israel as a people. Chapter 27 deals with the great root principle of man's moral condition — a sinner completely ruined, and unable to meet God on the ground of law. Chapter 28 takes up the question of Israel as a nation, under the government of God.
Another writer warns against mixing the two questions. He also notes that these threats came true.
In Deuteronomy 28 we have the principles of God's government among that people, and the immediate results of obedience or disobedience. History has solemnly fulfilled those results in the fate of that unhappy people, who are still loved for their fathers' sake. The law can also be looked at as the principle of relationship with God, where everything turns on a righteousness good enough for God to accept a person. Do not confuse the results of breaking the law in that sense with the temporary results of disobedience under God's government.
William Kelly puts the same point from the reader's side. Blessing in the field or the city never answers a guilty conscience.
This is not what a poor soul wants. It in no way meets a sense of guilt or a dread of judgment. The sinner needs something which will stand for ever. He wants what will be in heaven, and not merely in the field or in the city. He wants acceptance for himself with God.
The blessings take six verses. The curses run to the end of the chapter. One writer traces this to what God knew was coming.
This section on curses takes up far more room than the section on blessings. The reason is likely this: God knew that Israel would soon turn away from Him in hard-hearted disobedience. So they would have no chance to enjoy the blessings promised for obedience, but every chance to meet the many curses that came by their own choice.
The chapter warns, but the book does not stop there. Moses goes on to promise a way back.
He warns Israel in even greater detail, and with deeper solemnity. If they would not listen to His voice, the LORD would send curses on them to consume Israel out of the land and to chase them elsewhere. They would become a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all nations… In Deuteronomy 30 Moses goes further. When Israel come to repentance among the nations where they are driven, and return to the LORD their God, and obey His voice, then He will bring them back from captivity. In His compassion He will gather them and bring them into the land. He will not only bless and multiply them there, but put all the curses on their enemies and persecutors.
The curse is not the last word for those under it. One writer pictures it as a sword.
Think of the curse as a great sword hanging by a thread over my head. It may fall at any moment and destroy me. Christ came above me, between me and the sword. The sword fell on Him; He received the blow that must have taken us down to hell; He took us out from under the curse.
- Everywhere. The curse in verse 19 covers every movement — going out and coming back. No change of place or work brings relief.
- Mirror. Verse 6 is the exact reverse. There obedience meant steady blessing over the same daily round.
- National. Chapter 28 governs Israel's standing as a nation in the land. It is not how God accepts a guilty person.
- Weighted. The curses outrun the blessings many times over. God knew what the nation would choose.
- Answered. God promises to restore Israel when they turn back to Him. And the curse itself fell on Christ, who bought His people out from under it.
Jehovah will send upon thee cursing, confusion, and rebuke, in all the business of thy hand which thou doest, until thou be destroyed and until thou perish quickly, because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.
Moses has just listed the blessings that follow obedience. Now he turns to the curses, and verse 20 opens the list by naming what God will send, how far it reaches, and why.
One writer draws a careful line here. This chapter is about how God ruled a people on earth, not about how God accepts a soul.
In Deuteronomy 28 we have the principles of God's government in the midst of that people, and the immediate consequences of obedience or disobedience. Those consequences were solemnly fulfilled in the fate of that unhappy people, whom He still loves for the sake of their fathers. Breaking the law as the principle of relationship with God raises the question of a righteousness good enough to be the ground of God's acceptance. We must not confuse the consequences of that with the temporary consequences of disobedience under the government of God. Chapter 28 speaks of these latter ones.
So the chapter offers nothing to a person troubled about guilt. Its blessings and curses fall in the field and in the city.
This is not what a poor soul wants. It in no way meets a sense of guilt or a dread of judgment. The sinner needs something that will stand for ever. He wants what will be in heaven, and not merely in the field or in the city. He wants acceptance for himself with God.
The curse is not aimed at one part of life; it follows a person into whatever he does. Older translations render the verse's "frustration" as "rebuke."
The Lord would send on them cursing, confusion and rebuke in whatever they were busy with (v.20), and there would be no relief before they died early. Plagues would afflict them until they were consumed, either by death or by scattering them from the land (v.20).
There is a reason the curses fill so much more of the chapter than the blessings.
This section dealing with curses occupies a far larger place than that speaking of blessings. The likely reason is that God knew full well that Israel would soon turn away from Him in hard-hearted disobedience. They would have no chance to enjoy the blessings promised for obedience, but every chance to feel the many curses that were really their own choice.
Some read the word "destroyed" as wiping the nation out. The passage itself rules that out.
Yet we find it used to predict the curse on Israel. They are still under that penalty as a nation, and it is not "utter extinction," as the very passage shows. "Every sickness also and every affliction that is not recorded in the book of this law, the LORD will bring upon you, until you are destroyed. Whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, you shall be left few in number" (Deut. 28:61-62) — that is, not utterly extinct at all. Chapter 30 adds, "And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse… and you call them to mind and return to the LORD your God… then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes" (Deut. 30:1-3). Here is national repentance and restoration predicted, after what is called "utter extinction." This is the place in all Scripture where the word is used most often: Deuteronomy 28:20, 24, 45, 48, 51, 61 and 63.
The verse ends by naming the cause. Later chapters give the same answer when the nations ask what happened.
In Deuteronomy 28 He warns Israel in still greater detail, and still more solemnly. If they will not listen to His voice, the LORD will send curses on them to consume Israel from off the land and to pursue them elsewhere. They would become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations. In Deuteronomy 29 He pictures all the nations asking why the LORD had so ruined the holy land, and why such fierce anger. The answer is: because Israel forsook the covenant of the LORD for false gods. So the curse fell, and He rooted them out of their land in great anger.
Moses was not making a vague threat. He wrote the nation's later history before it happened.
This is one of the most solemn chapters in the Pentateuch. Orthodox Hebrews read through the entire five books of Moses in their synagogues each year. When they read this chapter, the Rabbi reads in a subdued voice. And well may they read it quietly and think it over. Here, written long before it happened, is the sad and sorrowful history of that remarkable nation.
The same writer applies it beyond Israel:
What a warning this chapter is to Gentile Christendom! "For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you" (Rom. 11:21).
- Cause. They had forsaken Him. When the nations later ask why the land lies waste, that is still the answer.
- Curse. This is God's government of a nation on earth. It is the temporary consequence of disobedience, not the question of how God accepts a soul.
- Reach. The curse follows them into whatever they take up. No corner of life escapes it.
- Limit. "Until you are destroyed" is not extinction. The same chapter says they will be "left few in number," and chapter 30 promises restoration to those who return.
- Result. The long list of curses matches what history did to the nation. The warning is not for Israel alone.