Moses directs the Israelites that when they cross the Jordan, they are to separate into two groups. The tribes of tribes of Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin are to ascend Mount Gerizim to pronounce blessing and Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Napthali are to ascend Mount Ebal to pronounce curses. Blessings for obeying the Lord, their God completely, and following his commands, and curses for not obeying God and following his commands.
It's difficult to read these chapters without thinking of our country, or any other country for that matter, which once labored under the blessing of our God, and which is now experiencing what happens to the fortunes of those countries when the people turn to other gods. There's no doubt we have chosen other gods. We worship celebrity, technology, the media, our political system and even our own intellect. These are the things we rely on to save us, just as the ancients relied on their baals and asheroth poles.
Past generations have experienced the blessings, "You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to..."Deuteronomy 28:3-8 NIV
And the same curses will befall us as befell the Israelites if we continue our wayward ways. "The LORD will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him...A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression all your days...You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it...The alien who lives among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower...You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the LORD your God. Just as it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. Deut. 28:20-62 NIV
The choice was shouted from the mountain tops. They can be blessed with abundance or cursed with total devastation. The choice will be their's and and the choice of generations to come.
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