And all the people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord ,.... Called his children, his people, his portion, and his inheritance; and that they are his, and he is theirs, by the care he takes of them, the provision he makes for them, and the protection they have from him: and they shall be afraid of thee ; as not only the Canaanites were, but all other nations; see Deuteronomy 11:25 . read more
And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods ,.... In all temporal good things, give them an affluence of them, even all things richly to enjoy; the Targum of Jonathan is,"the Word of the Lord shall, &c.;" in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground : increase their children, cattle, and substance, as before, Deuteronomy 28:4 , in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee ; the land of Canaan, often thus... read more
The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure ,.... The Lord has his treasures of snow and of hail, and of wind, Job 38:22 ; but here his good treasure, as appears by what follows, is his treasure of rain. In the Targum of Jonathan it is said, "there are four keys in the hand of the Lord of the whole world, which he does not deliver into the hands of any prince; the keys of life, and of the grave, and of food, and of rain:" the heaven, to give the rain unto thy land in its season ;... read more
And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail ,.... Give them dominion over others, and not make them subject to them; the head signifies rulers and governors, and the tail the common people that are subjects; or the one such that are honourable and in high esteem, and the other such that are mean and base; see Isaiah 9:14 ; the Targum of Jonathan is,"the Word of the Lord shall make thee, &c.;" and thou shalt be above only, and thou shall not be beneath ; which explains... read more
And thou shall not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day ,.... Depart from them as a rule to walk by, turn out from them as a path to walk in, neglect and disobey them, and go into practices contrary to them: turning to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them ; which to do was to break the first and principal table of the law, than which nothing was more abominable and provoking to God. read more
The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure - The clouds, so that a sufficiency of fructifying showers should descend at all requisite times, and the vegetative principle in the earth should unfold and exert itself, so that their crops should be abundant. read more
Thou shalt not go aside - to the right hand or to the left - The way of obedience is a straight way; it goes right forward; he who declines either to right or left from this path goes astray and misses heaven. read more
Verse 12 12.The Lord shall open to thee his good treasure. He again repeats, that the goodness of God shines forth in many ways in the life of men, since He not only supplies the bread that they eat, but that the rain which descends from heaven waters the earth; and that thus He produces whatever is required for food from His plenteous store-house or treasure. Let us learn, therefore, both above and beneath, as well in the temperature of the atmosphere, in the quickening heat of the sun, in the... read more
God's blessing promised to the obedient. The aged lawgiver was finishing his course. Ere the end comes he would open up to the people once more the dread alternative of blessing and cursing, and would show them that they must accept either one or the other. And so, before the Holy Land is taken possession of, they are reminded how very much the realization of the promises of temporal good depends on what they are. We cannot be too frequently reminded of the fact, however, that, though ... read more
Get Bible verse every day in your inbox
Read on Mobile
Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Deuteronomy 28:1-14
The blessings are here put before the curses, to intimate, 1. That God is slow to anger, but swift to show mercy: he has said it, and sworn, that he would much rather we would obey and live than sin and die. It is his delight to bless. 2. That though both the promises and the threatenings are designed to bring and hold us to our duty, yet it is better that we be allured to that which is good by a filial hope of God's favour than that we be frightened to it by a servile fear of his wrath. That... read more