Because thou servedst not Jehovah thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything,
Deuteronomy 28 lists the disasters that would fall on Israel. Here Moses names the reason behind them all: they had everything, and still would not serve God with a glad heart.
Commentators keep two things apart. One is God's government of Israel in this chapter. The other is the question of 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. The fate of that unhappy people, still loved for the fathers' sakes, fulfilled those consequences in a solemn way. Breaking the law, as a principle of relationship with God, had consequences for the question of a righteousness that was an adequate ground of God's acceptance. Do not confuse those with the temporary consequences of disobedience under the government of God. Chapter 28 has to do with the latter. We may notice for ourselves the deep instruction of verses 47, 48.
All the curses in this chapter trace back to one cause.
All of this would be true because of their not serving the Lord with joy and gladness of heart when they had every reason to do so (v.47).
The nation had once known what glad service sounded like. After God brought them out of Egypt they sang.
Then they began to serve by singing TO HIM who had saved them; and they sang, "The Lord is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation!" ... But the Lord soon had to say about the national "son" He had set free from Egypt: "You did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things" (Deut. 28:47). Their singing gave place to murmuring and backsliding; but they were under the law.
Deuteronomy keeps coming back to one picture: God gathering His people around Himself.
Then again we have what is always brought out in the book of Deuteronomy. It is Jehovah gathering the people round Himself. In the delight of His people He delights. He would have them happy in Himself, and enjoying all He had given them to enjoy.
The next verse turns their sin into their sentence. They will still serve, but under a new master.
In refusing to serve God they would become servants to their enemies, and in this would suffer hunger and thirst and nakedness. The yoke of law on their necks was hard enough. Instead of it they would have a yoke of iron — bondage to cruel enemies (v.48).
One writer takes this verse as a warning for us. The danger starts in the heart.
Failing in joy, there is practical loss of the possession — here, in our tested path. Is there not danger for us? ... What need of diligent, watchful keeping of the heart against the first weakening of joy! This shows that decline has begun, and the descent is easy and rapid once the heart begins to go.
The same verse also explains why God lets trouble come to His people.
If we are not separated from the world by affection, we shall be separated by discipline in the world. He will trouble our souls to get us separate, if in spirit and in heart we are not separate. "Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart … therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord your God will send against you."
Glad service does not depend on easy circumstances.
Surely our thankful hearts gladly respond to the sweet singer's stirring words — "Serve the Lord with gladness!" Our wretched lost state is left behind for ever. It is not fitting to serve with sadness! The apostle Paul had plenty of trials, weaknesses, persecutions and imprisonments to sadden him. But he had in Christ what nothing could rob him of. So he wrote, "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice!"
- Abundance — the failure came in a time of plenty, not hardship. They had every reason to serve God with joy and gladness of heart.
- Gladness — this is what God wanted all along. He gathers His people around Himself, delights in their delight, and wants them happy in Him.
- Silence — the song after Egypt gave way to murmuring and backsliding. Lost joy is the first sign that decline has started.
- Yoke — refusing to serve God did not end their service. They traded the yoke of law, hard enough already, for a yoke of iron under enemies, in hunger, thirst and nakedness.
- Government — these are the temporary consequences of disobedience under God's government. They are not the question of the righteousness that makes a person accepted. What affection will not do, discipline will.
thou shalt serve thine enemies whom Jehovah will send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of everything; and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.
The verse opens with "therefore." It points back to the charge just made against Israel: they had not served the LORD gladly while they had everything. So service does not stop here. It only changes master, and the new master brings hunger, thirst, nakedness and iron.
The chapter is not weighing whether Israel is accepted by God. It is describing how God rules His people in this world, and one writer marks this verse pair as the heart of the chapter's lesson.
In Deuteronomy 28 we have the principles of God's government among that people. We also have the immediate consequences of obedience or disobedience — consequences solemnly fulfilled in the fate of that unhappy people, still loved for the sake of their fathers. The law was a principle of relationship with God, and breaking it touched the whole question of a righteousness good enough for God to accept. Those consequences must not be confused with the temporary results of disobedience under God's government. Chapter 28 speaks of the latter. We may notice for ourselves the deep instruction of verses 47, 48. As to Israel, universal history presents to us the fulfilment of the threats of the chapter.
God is not punishing open rebellion here. He is punishing joyless service — duty done with a sigh while the barns were full. The same weariness surfaced in Israel again long after.
This is what God loves to see in His people. Yet the day came when their poor wayward hearts said, "What a weariness this is!" (Malachi 1:13). All their sorrows came upon them because they did not serve the LORD their God "with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things."
Deuteronomy itself keeps calling the people to be glad. That makes the charge sting.
Deuteronomy has seven distinct places calling on the people to rejoice. And the charge the Lord has against them is that they did not serve Him "with joyfulness and gladness of heart."
The punishment matches the sin. They had served without joy while they had everything; now they would serve while lacking everything. They refused the lighter yoke, so a heavier one took its place.
In refusing to serve God they would become servants to their enemies, and in this would suffer hunger and thirst and nakedness. Instead of the yoke of law on their necks — hard enough in itself — they would have a yoke of iron, that is, bondage to cruel enemies.
The verse assumes something the writers see everywhere in Scripture: a person does not choose whether to serve, only how.
So it must be, thank God: everyone must serve the glorious Lord we acknowledge. Willing or unwilling, free or slave — that is the only choice allowed. But how weighty the results of that choice are!
These two verses hold a warning for us as well. When joy fades, something has already slipped away.
When joy fails, we lose in practice what we possess — here, on the path where we are tested. Is there not danger for us? ... May not heavenly things lose their power over our hearts? Are we not aware how everything around us tends to drag us down to the level of the world we walk in? How carefully we need to guard the heart against the first weakening of joy! For this shows that decline has begun, and the descent is easy and rapid once the heart begins to go.
Another writer names the two ways a believer can be kept apart from the world.
If we are not separated by affection from the world, we shall be separated by discipline in the world. He will trouble our souls to get us separate, if in spirit and heart we are not separate.
The threats of this chapter end with Israel scattered among the nations. Yet Moses also spoke of the way back.
Further, in Deuteronomy 30 Moses declares what will happen when Israel repents among the nations where they have been driven. If they return to the LORD their God and obey His voice, He will turn their captivity. In His compassion He will gather them back and bring them into the land. He will not only bless and multiply them there, but also put all the curses on their enemies and persecutors.
- Serve gladly. The charge is not that Israel did nothing, but that they served without joy while they had everything.
- Serve someone. Refusing to serve God does not end service. It only hands your neck to another owner. Everyone serves someone.
- Serve under iron. The yoke of law was hard; the yoke that replaced it was iron, and it brought hunger, thirst and nakedness.
- Serve or be separated. What affection will not do, discipline will; fading joy is the first sign that decline has begun.
- Serve again. The iron is discipline, not final rejection. Repentance among the nations brings compassion, gathering and blessing.