The LORD will cause the enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you. They will march out against you in one direction but flee from you in seven. Sermons
I. THE SPHERE OF THE BLESSING. The covenant rested largely on temporal promises. Jehovah was doubtless felt by the believing soul to be a better portion than any of his gifts (Psalm 16.; 73.), and the relation which he sustained to his worshipper could not but be thought of as subsisting beyond death, and yielding its appropriate fruit in a future life (Psalm 16:11; Psalm 17:15; Psalm 48:14; Psalm 49:14, 15; Hebrews 11:9-17). Yet, inasmuch as "life and immortality" had not been clearly brought to light (2 Timothy 1:10), his favor was specially exhibited in the abundant communication of earthly blessings. A higher order has supervened, and the temporal promises of these verses are swallowed up in better and more enduring ones (Hebrews 8:6). The gospel does not sever the connection between godliness and prosperity. It gives it a new sanction (1 Timothy 4:8). Were the obedience of God's children more uniform and perfect, and piety more widely diffused in communities, the connection would be more manifest than it is. But on the whole, temporal prosperity occupies a lower relative place in the New Testament than in the Old. 1. The spiritual man, serving Christ, and witnessing for him amidst the evil of the world, is more frequently exposed to persecution (Matthew 5:11; Matthew 10:24, 25; John 4:15-21). He has more occasion to take up the cross (Matthew 16:24). He may require to sacrifice all he has, with life itself, for Christ's sake and the gospel's (Mark 10:29, 30). 2. Temporal prosperity is in every case subordinated to spiritual good (2 Corinthians 12:7-10 3John 2). Bacon's saying has, therefore, truth in it, "Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity is the blessing of the New, which carrieth the greater benediction, and the clearer revelation of God's favor." Adversity, however, even in the New Testament, is but a step to something higher. Spiritual compensations now; hereafter, "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory "(Mark 10:30; 2 Corinthians 4:17). II. THE OPERATION OF THE BLESSING, It is viewed as pervading every department of the earthly life. It mingles itself with all the good man is, with all he does, with the circumstances of his lot, with the powers of the natural world which constitute his environment. It rests on his person, on his household, on his possessions. It helps him against his enemies, making him wealthy and powerful (Abraham, Job), and exalting him to a position in which others are dependent on him. It attends him in city and field, in his coming in and going out, so that whatever he does prospers (Psalm 1:3). These promises demonstrate: 1. That the providence of God, in the sphere of the outward life, is free, sovereign, all-embracing. 2. That there is under this providence a connection between outward events and circumstances and spiritual conditions. 3. That, subordinately to higher ends, piety and virtue, under this providence, will be rewarded by prosperity. (See a valuable treatment of this subject in M'Cosh's 'Method of the Divine Government,' bk. 2. Deuteronomy 2.) Yet glorious as these promises are, they "have no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth" of the promises of the New Testament. Promises: 1. Of salvation (Romans 5:9, 10). 2. Of spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3). 3. Of a heavenly inheritance (1 Peter 1:3, 4). 4. Of "riches" of goodness which will remain unexhausted through eternal ages (Ephesians 2:6, 7). 5. Of perfected transformation into the moral image of God (Psalm 17:15; 1 Corinthians 4:49; Colossians 1:22; 1 John 3:2). III. THE CONDITION OF THE BLESSING. Obedience (vers. 1, 2, 9,13, 14). 1. Legally, perfect obedience. 2. Evangelically, obedience habitual and sincere, albeit imperfect. The meritorious ground of a believer's acceptance, and of the blessings he receives, is the obedience unto death of Christ (Romans 5:19-21). Christ expiates his sins, and fulfils de novo the condition of the covenant. It is well to remember, as explaining anomalies in the histories of righteous men under the old covenant, that the promises in these verses were primarily national. They could be realized to the individual only in connection with the obedience of the nation as a whole. When apostasy provoked God's judgments, pious individuals suffered in the general calamities. They suffered, too, as drawing upon themselves the hatred of the wicked. Hence the development in the Psalms and Prophets of the idea of the "Righteous Sufferer" - One whose afflictions are entailed on him by the hatred and injustice of the wicked, or who, innocent himself, suffers as a member of the body politic. This idea, which has throughout a Messianic reference, culminates in the prophecy of the" Servant of Jehovah" (Psalm 52., 53.), who, by the holy endurance of sufferings for others, makes their sin his own, and vicariously atones for it. - J.O.
Would God it were even! This chapter is an awful communication: it threatens the Israelites with every conceivable evil if they departed from serving the Lord their God; it leaves them absolutely without hope unless they turned with all their hearts, and repented them of their disobedience. So the Israelites entered Canaan and took the lands of the heathen into possession, not without much to sober their prides and to make them not high minded, but fear. The severe judgments spoken of ill this chapter declare also another great law of God's providence, that "to whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required." It was because the Israelites were God's redeemed people, because He had borne them on eagle's wings and brought them to Himself; because He had made known to them His will, and promised them the possession of a goodly land, flowing with milk and honey; it was for these very reasons that their punishment was to be so severe if they at last abused all the mercies which had been shown to them. For theirs was to be no sudden destruction, to come upon them and sweep them away forever: it was a long and lingering misery, to endure for many generations, like the bush which burned, but was not consumed. We know that Ammon, Amalek, Moab, Assyria, and Babylon have long since utterly perished; the three former, indeed, so long ago, that profane history does not notice them; its beginnings are later than their end. But Israel still exists as a nation, however scattered and degraded; they have gone through for ages a long train of oppressions, visited on them merely because they were Jews. Nay, even yet the end is not; however much their condition is bettered, still, taking them the world through, they have even now much to bear; their hope is still deferred, and as far as their national prospects are concerned, the morning dawns on them with no comfort, the evening descends upon them and brings no rest. This is one remarkable part in their history; and there is another which deserves notice. It is declared in this chapter that amongst the other evils they should suffer for disobedience, they should endure so long a siege from their enemies as to suffer the worst extremities of famine (ver. 56). Now, this has, in fact, befallen them twice over. Of the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar we have, indeed, no particulars given; it is only said, in general terms, that after the city had been besieged for eighteen months the famine prevailed in it, and there was no bread for the people of the land, so that the king and all the fighting men endeavoured to escape out of the town as the only resource left them. But of the second siege, by Titus and the Romans, we have the full particulars from Josephus, a Jew, who lived at the time, and had the best authority for the facts which he relates. And he mentions it as a horror unheard of amongst Greeks or barbarians, that a mother, named Mary, the daughter of Eleazar, from the country beyond Jordan, was known to have killed her own child for her food, and to have publicly confessed what she had done. Now, we know that the horrors of war have been felt by many nations; but such an extremity of suffering occurring twice in the course of its history, and under circumstances so similar, as in the two sieges of Jerusalem, there is hardly another nation, so far as I am aware, that has experienced. Indeed, the history of the calamities of the last siege of Jerusalem, as given by Josephus, is well worthy of our attentive consideration: it is a full comment on our Lord's words (Luke 23:28, 30; Matthew 24:22). Eleven hundred thousand Jews perished in the course of the siege, by the sword, by pestilence, or by famine. I do not believe that the history of the world contains any record of such a destruction within so short a time, and within the walls of a single city. I said that this dreadful story was well worth our studying; and it is so for this reason. These miseries, greater than any which history mentions, fell upon God's Church, upon His chosen people, with whom He was in covenant, to whom He had revealed His name, while all the rest of the world lay in darkness. To us, each of us, belongs in the strictest sense the warning of the text. For us, each of us, — if we do fail of the grace of God, if Christ has died for us in vain, if, being called by His name, we are not walking in His Spirit, — there is reserved a misery of which, indeed, the words of the text are no more than a feeble picture. There is a state in which they who are condemned to it shall forever say: "In the morning would God it were even," etc. There is a state in which the tender and delicate woman shall hate those whom once she most loved; in which they who lived together hero in friendship wherein God was no party, will have their eyes evil against one another forever. For when selfishness has wrought its perfect work, and the soul is utterly lost, there love is perished forever, and the intercourse between such persons can be only one of mutual reproaches and suspicion and hatred. An eternal restlessness and eternal evil passions mark the everlasting portion of the enemies of God; just as an eternal rest and a never-ending life of love and peace are reserved for those who remain to the end His true children.(T. Arnold, D. D.). People MosesPlaces Beth-baal-peor, EgyptTopics Arms, Cause, Defeated, Direction, Enemies, Face, Flee, Flight, Giveth, Overcome, Power, Rise, Rising, Seven, Smitten, StruckOutline 1. The blessings for obedience15. The curses for disobedience Dictionary of Bible Themes Deuteronomy 28:7 1335 blessing Library A Choice of Masters'Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; 48. Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies ... in want of all things: and He shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until He have destroyed thee.'--DEUT. xxviii. 47, 48 The history of Israel is a picture on the large scale of what befalls every man. A service--we are all born to obedience, to depend on and follow some person or thing. There is only a choice of services; and … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Blessing and Cursing Strength Profaned and Lost The Sin of Unbelief Promises and Threatenings Secondly, for Thy Words. Vehicles of Revelation; Scripture, the Church, Tradition. The Third Commandment That Whereas the City of Jerusalem had Been Five Times Taken Formerly, this was the Second Time of Its Desolation. A Brief Account of Its History. The Second Coming of Christ. Paul's Departure and Crown; Writings of St. Ambrose. Backsliding. The Hindrances to Mourning Destruction of Jerusalem Foretold. The Right Understanding of the Law In Death and after Death The Prophet Amos. Covenanting Provided for in the Everlasting Covenant. The True Manner of Keeping Holy the Lord's Day. Deuteronomy Links Deuteronomy 28:7 NIVDeuteronomy 28:7 NLT Deuteronomy 28:7 ESV Deuteronomy 28:7 NASB Deuteronomy 28:7 KJV Deuteronomy 28:7 Bible Apps Deuteronomy 28:7 Parallel Deuteronomy 28:7 Biblia Paralela Deuteronomy 28:7 Chinese Bible Deuteronomy 28:7 French Bible Deuteronomy 28:7 German Bible Deuteronomy 28:7 Commentaries Bible Hub |
    |