Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. In all their business and employments of life whether within doors or without; in the administration of every office, whether more public or private; and in all their journeys going out and coming home; and particularly when they went out to war, and returned, all should be attended with success. read more
The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face ,.... As the Philistines, Moabites, Syrians, Edomites, and Ammonites were, especially in the times of David: they shall come out against thee one way : in a body, all together, in large numbers, marching in great order, to give them battle: and flee before thee seven ways ; be entirely routed, and flee some one way, and some another, even every way they could take to make their escape. The... read more
The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses ,.... Barns, granaries, and cellar, where their corn, wine, and oil, were laid up; by preserving the corn from being devoured by vermin, and the casks of wine and oil from bursting and running out: and in all thou settest thine hand unto ; in all their manufactures, occupations, and trades, in which they were employed, and in the culture of their vines, olives, and other fruit trees: and he shall bless thee in the land... read more
When thou comest in - From thy employment, thou shalt find that no evil has happened to the family or dwelling in thy absence. When thou goest out - Thy way shall be made prosperous before thee, and thou shalt have the Divine blessing in all thy labors. read more
The Lord shall cause thine enemies, etc. - This is a promise of security from foreign invasion, or total discomfiture of the invaders, should they enter the land. They shall come against thee one way - in the firmest and most united manner. And flee seven ways - shall be utterly broken, confounded, and finally routed. read more
The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee - Every thing that thou hast shall come by Divine appointment; thou shalt have nothing casually, but every thing, both spiritual and temporal, shall come by the immediate command of God. 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
The blessing. Blessing and curse, as Keil says, are viewed in these verses "as actual powers, which follow in the footsteps of the nation, and overtake it" ( Deuteronomy 28:2 , Deuteronomy 28:15 , Deuteronomy 28:22 ; Zechariah 1:6 ). The blessing of God is a vera causa in human life. It is not to be resolved entirely into natural tendencies. A cheerful mind conduces to health; virtuous habits tend to prosperity, etc. But this is not the whole. Conspiring with natural tendencies,... read more
The purpose of temporal blessing. After the "Amens" from Mount Ebal had been faithfully given, the Levites turned to Gerizim with the detail of blessings , and received from the assembled thousands the grand "Amen." We have in these verses before us the purpose of the blessing. The children of Israel had been brought out of Egypt by a Divine deliverance, they were about to settle in Canaan as the people of the Lord. They were a spectacle, therefore, to the rest of the world of how a... read more
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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