"Curses of Disobedience" pt 2 Deuteronomy 28:36-57

Introduction

Years ago, I remember seeing anti-drug adds being played on tv. It would show an egg in the shell and they would say, “This is your brain”, then they would show a hot cast iron skillet and say “this is drugs”. Then they would crack the egg and drop it into the hot cast iron skillet. The egg would immidiatly begin to fry and pop. Then they would focus on the frying egg and say, “This is your brain on drugs. Any Questions?”

Another commercial would show a car upside down, clearly having been in a car accident. The camera would slowly zoom in and laying at an odd angle amidst the wreckage would be a mangled body. The message “Don’t Drink and Drive”. There have been thousands of these types of commercials in dozens of countries to help people realize the destructive nature of doing drugs or of drinking and driving. And this is placed out there in an effort to try to get people to see the destructive end that doing drugs or of drinking and driving will bring about. Oh you may have done some drugs and it’s fine or gotten drunk and driven home safely a hundred times, but each of these commercials is trying to get the public to realize the destructive and deadly curse of drugs or of driving drunk.

As we come to today’s text, we pick up in the middle of something very similar. We pick up in the middle of God telling His people that these are the destructive ends of disobeying the Lord. In the end, disobedience to the Lord, by disobey His Law and breaking their Covenant would end only in the most destructive, heart-rending and painful ways. So today, we continue with these dire warnings.

Text Read

36 “The Lord will bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known. And there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone. 37 And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the Lord will lead you away. 38 You shall carry much seed into the field and shall gather in little, for the locust shall consume it. 39 You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them. 40 You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives shall drop off. 41 You shall father sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for they shall go into captivity. 42 The cricket shall possess all your trees and the fruit of your ground. 43 The sojourner who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. 44 He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him. He shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.

45 “All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you. 46 They shall be a sign and a wonder against you and your offspring forever. 47 Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, 48 therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you. 49 The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping down like the eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand, 50 a hard-faced nation who shall not respect the old or show mercy to the young. 51 It shall eat the offspring of your cattle and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; it also shall not leave you grain, wine, or oil, the increase of your herds or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish.

52 “They shall besiege you in all your towns, until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land. And they shall besiege you in all your towns throughout all your land, which the Lord your God has given you. 53 And you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you. 54 The man who is the most tender and refined among you will begrudge food to his brother, to the wife he embraces, and to the last of the children whom he has left, 55 so that he will not give to any of them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because he has nothing else left, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in all your towns. 56 The most tender and refined woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because she is so delicate and tender, will begrudge to the husband she embraces, to her son and to her daughter, 57 her afterbirth that comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears, because lacking everything she will eat them secretly, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your towns.

Text Explained

As we continue to paint a dark and deflating picture, we see that the curses of disobedience continue to be laid before the children of Israel. If they would follow other gods, if they would disobey the Law of the Lord, then they would be cursed. Today we look at how they would be cursed with Captivity, Futility, being Conquered, and by horrendous Siege.

Cursed with Captivity 36 “The Lord will bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known. And there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone. 37 And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the Lord will lead you away. So here we see the Israelites at a future point with a king of their own, and at that future point, they are being taken into captivity and in this foreign place, the Lord gives them their desire. They would serve gods of wood and stone. Remember verse 14 promised blessing if they did not go after other gods. Yet here we find that if they do go after other gods, then they will get what they so desired and they will be taken into captivity by the nations that serves those other gods.

Cursed with Futility 38 You shall carry much seed into the field and shall gather in little, for the locust shall consume it. 39 You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them. 40 You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives shall drop off. 41 You shall father sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for they shall go into captivity. 42 The cricket shall possess all your trees and the fruit of your ground. 43 The sojourner who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. 44 He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him. He shall be the head, and you shall be the tail. Here we find that they will not only be cursed with captivity, but they are cursed with the futility of work. If they obeyed, they would receive tremendous increase of all they plant and tend, yet if they go after other gods, if they disobey the Law of the Lord, then they will still work and plant and have children, but no matter how hard they work, they will always be scraping by, borrowing from those who are passing through the land and having their children taken away into captivity. They will always be living hand to mouth.

Conclusion 45 “All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes that He commanded you. 46 They shall be a sign and a wonder against you and your offspring forever. 47 Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, 48 therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you. At this point the Israelites may feel like asking the question why? Why would such dark and terrible things be brought upon them? Verses 45-48 give a bit of a concluding thought part way through this parade of dark promises. You see, all of these terrible things will happen if… If they turn to other gods and disobey the Law they had covenanted with God to obey. These verses make it clear that it is not because God is spiteful or evil, but because the people had disobeyed the Lord and all these curses are the result of that disobedience. All the horrible things would happen because of the choices they would make. If they did not want to serve their God, then they would serve the enemies of God And both paths would lead to different consequences. This here feel like it should be enough. The curses have been clearly explained, but our text does not stop here. In fact it dives right back in to the parade of curses.

Cursed by Conquest 49 The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping down like the eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand, 50 a hard-faced nation who shall not respect the old or show mercy to the young. 51 It shall eat the offspring of your cattle and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; it also shall not leave you grain, wine, or oil, the increase of your herds or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish. 52 “They shall besiege you in all your towns, until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land. And they shall besiege you in all your towns throughout all your land, which the Lord your God has given you. So once again the Israelites are have the threat of being conquered placed in front of them. Lest someone think these people might be benevolent and free them from the oppressive Laws of God, the text makes it clear that they will not be. They will not respect the old or show mercy to the young and there will be no safe place to flee to in all the land. Every walled and fortified city will be placed under siege. And this leads us to the last curse of disobedience we will examine today. Those who flee from this conquering nation to a fortified city will not receive a reprieve, but rather the place they think of as safe will turn into an even greater source of pain and suffering.

Cursed by Siege 53 And you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you. 54 The man who is the most tender and refined among you will begrudge food to his brother, to the wife he embraces, and to the last of the children whom he has left, 55 so that he will not give to any of them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because he has nothing else left, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in all your towns. 56 The most tender and refined woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because she is so delicate and tender, will begrudge to the husband she embraces, to her son and to her daughter, 57 her afterbirth that comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears, because lacking everything she will eat them secretly, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your towns. Those who seek safety in the walled cities built by their own hands will find that their safety is nothing more than a cage where the people will slowly die of starvation and resort to cannibalism. Those who did not seek the Lord but rather trusted in other gods and in the strength of their own might would be left to see if those other gods and their own strength is enough, and it will be found severely lacking.

Text Applied

Jesus Christ offers Salvation: First, I want to offer hope. You see, we are not the Israelites, yet the destructive nature of sin is the same. All sin brings destruction and death to every individual. If you have never repented of your sin and turned to Christ for salvation, you are on your way to eternal separation from Him. And do not be deceived, Hell will not be a place of fun and freedom. It cannot be b/c only in God can true joy and peace be found. The Lake of Fire will be terrible. This is the ultimate end of all sin and evil, and it is the end each of us deserves. Isaiah 53:6 “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” God is Merciful and Loving and made a way. 1 Timothy 2:3–6“... God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.” This is the Gospel. Each of us were born heading to that eternal separation, yet God has offered salvation. Because of that, we can be forgiven, justified, and clothed in Jesus’ perfect righteousness. Through Christ, there is salvation. As He said, John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

When God’s People do not Follow God’s commands, a nation crumbles. We know from Job 12:23 “He (God) makes nations great, and He destroys them; He enlarges nations, and leads them away.” Yet as we examine the history of the Church in the USA, we find that in the early 20th century, many Christians began to turn away from the foundational truths of the Scripture. In an effort to make the Scripture appetizing to the lost, many Christians gave up their confidence in the inspired sufficiency of Scripture. In fact some historians point to the Scope’s Monkey Trial in 1925 as the major turning point in American Christianity. So people began to look for truth in other areas and soon enough truth is no longer objective, but subjective, people are no longer innately valuable because they were made in the image of God, but rather they are all simply intelligent animals with opposable thumbs who should eat bugs and have fewer children because our presence is killing the Earth. So, many Christians today look at the USA and think about how bad it is. We can see the moral decline of the USA. We find the darkness of hell pushing against our homes and churches. Yet it is wrong for us to say “I’m going to hunker down and just wait for Jesus to return.” Yes we should eagerly await the return of Christ, but God did not leave us with the command to get in our bunker and wait. Jesus gave us a command Matthew 28:18–20 “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Dear Christian God did not command you to hide but to go out and fight. Just as the Apostle Paul told Timothy 1 Timothy 6:12 “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” The people of God need to be actively obedient to the commands of their Lord. How do you do that? Love God and Love Others. Romans 12:9 “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” Jesus said in Matthew 16:18 “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” This is not a picture of hell moving against the people of God it is a picture of God’s people moving against the Gates of Hell. Dear one, When God’s people do not follow God’s commands, a nation crumbles. Yet we take comfort in 2 Chronicles 7:14 “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” Now this promise was given to the Israelites and not to the USA, yet we know from scripture that God is merciful and we see time and again where He is merciful to different nations. Yet even if this nation should crumble you have your marching orders. But what does this look like? There is a song I learned in choir back when I was a teenager that I believe expresses this: It all starts with just one voice That takes a stand, that makes a choice To live for God and not hesitate To tell the world about amazing grace One day that seed somehow breaks through Where there was one, there now stands two And soon another takes his hand A ray of hope that spreads across the land. Across the mountains. Across the sea. Soon other's join in harmony. They've found the cross still standing strong. And soon a mighty chorus sings along. Go reach the world, touch one more soul Bring one more lamb back to the fold. Each soul another flag unfurled. Each voice another chance to reach the world. Don't let me pray, Lord, for wealth or fame. A spark that sets the world aflame. But help me reach the lost and alone Tell of joy and hope where hope was gone.