A Hedge of Curses: Deuteronomy 27 (6)

Opening Prayer: Psalm 128.1, 2
Blessed is every one who fears the LORD,
Who walks in His ways.
When you eat the labor of your hands,
You shall be happy, and it shall be well with you.

Psalm 128.1, 2
(Fountain: There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood)
How blessed are they who fear You, Lord, who walk within Your ways!
Rejoicing in Your bounteous Word, they prosper all their days!
They prosper all their days, they prosper all their days!
Rejoicing in Your bounteous Word, they prosper all their days!

Today’s Text: Deuteronomy 27.24-26

Preparation
1. Which of the commandments lies back of these first two curses?

2. Who is cursed in the last curse?

Meditation
The curses issued in these verses have been aimed at particularly egregious offenders against the Law of God. Here that trend continues, but with an exception, as we shall see.

How wicked must a person be who secretly plots against His neighbor, to attack him for no apparent reason (v. 24)? Wicked enough to earn the curse of the Lord. We are to love our neighbors, not plot secretly to attack them, or in any other way to offend against them.

Even worse is the person who takes money to kill an innocent person (v. 25). Both these cases are violations of the sixth commandment. The calculation that goes into them makes them particularly heinous in the eyes of the Lord. We are to consider how to stimulate one another to love and good works, not to plot and plan and contrive against one another (Heb. 10.24).

Then Moses drops the bomb on the people. The people have been saying “Amen!” to especially heinous violations of God’s Law. Now they are to do the same for anyone “who does not confirm all the words of this law by observing them” (v. 26). Lawbreakers of any kind are just as guilty as the worst fornicator, conspirator, bully, or murderer.

God hates sin. All sin. Do we (Ps. 97.10)?

Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
The stage is set. The fog is rising from the ground. It is dark with merely a hint of light from the moon. There, almost hidden, waits the wicked villain: “He sits in the lurking places of the villages; in the secret places he murders the innocent; his eyes are secretly fixed on the helpless. He lies in wait secretly, as a lion in his den; he lies in wait to catch the poor; he catches the poor when he draws him into his net. So he crouches, he lies low, that the helpless may fall by his strength. He has said in his heart, ‘God has forgotten; He hides His face; He will never see.’” He skulks away, after brutalizing his victim, thinking he got away with his evil. “But You have seen, for You observe trouble and grief, to repay it by Your hand. The helpless commits himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless” (Ps. 10.8-11, 14). We can thank the psalmist for this fearful bit of writing. And we can thank God that He does care, and He does see, and He will vindicate. Someday. “Amen!”

Reflection
1. How can you see that all these curses are really expressions of God’s love for His people?

2. How should these curses encourage us where the Law of God is concerned?

3. How much of God’s Law should we obey? Do we obey the Law to be saved? Why should we obey it?

Although it was God's purpose to summon the consciences of all men before Him, and, in order that they might not only fear human judgments, He designedly threatened them with the punishment of secret sins, yet the conclusion, which is now added, extends the same judgment to all iniquities of whatever kind. Nay, He briefly declares, that whosoever shall not perform what the Law requires, are accursed. John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on Deuteronomy 27.26

Lord Jesus, You walked the path of God’s Law; help me to walk it, too, as I…

Closing Prayer: Psalm 128.3-6
Pray for the Church around the world, that God would reawaken us to love for His Law and delight in His Word, and that He may prosper us accordingly.

Psalm 128.3-6
(Fountain: There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood)
Their homes with happy children bloom who fear Your holy Name;
their tables and their every room declare Your glorious fame!
Declare Your glorious fame, declare Your glorious fame!
Their tables and their every room declare Your glorious fame!

O Lord, from Zion send Your peace, and prosp’rous make our ways;
thus may Your blessings e’er increase upon us all our days!
Upon us all our days, upon us all our days!
Thus may Your blessings e’er increase upon all us all our days!

T. M. and Susie Moore

Listen to our summary of last week’s study in Deuteronomy by clicking here. You can download all the studies in the series by clicking here. And check out our current ReVision series on encouragement.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All quotations from Church Fathers from Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy: Ancient Christian Commentary Series III, Joseph T. Lienhard, S. J. ed. in collaboration with Ronnie J. Rombs, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2001). All quotations from John Calvin from John Calvin, Commentaries on The Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Order of A Harmony, Rev. Charles William Bingham M. A., tr. and ed. (Edinburgh: The Calvin Translation Society, 1863. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).