This Glorious And Awesome Name--The Lord

Deuteronomy 28:53-59 – Because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you. Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children, and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities. The most gentle and sensitive woman among you—so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot—will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For in her dire need she intends to eat them secretly because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of your cities. If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name—the Lord your God—the Lord will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses.

Malachi 3:16 – Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.

Malachi 4:2 – But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.

Joshua 7:9 – The Canaanites and the other people of the country will hear about this and they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. What then will you do for your own great name?”

Genesis 2:4 – This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

Exodus 20:7 – “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

Application:

• ·         The Israelites suffered distress because they refused to obey the Lord.
• ·         The name of the Lord ceased to be pronounced because Jews thought it too holy to be uttered.
• ·         “Those who feared the Lord” were those who had not given way to doubts and cynicism.
• ·         “You who revere my name” or “you who fear my name”, i.e., you who reverently trust in the Lord and are committed to His will as revealed in His word.
• ·         Joshua pleaded, as Moses had, that God’s honor in the eyes of all the world was at stake in the fortunes of His people.
• ·         “Lord” is the personal name of God, emphasizing His role as Israel’s Redeemer and covenant Lord, while “God” is a general term.
• ·         Misuse of the name of the Lord occurred by profaning God’s name—e.g., by swearing falsely by it, as on the witness stand in court.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

You Will Eat...Sons And Daughters

Deuteronomy 28:51-53 – They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or olive oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined. They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the Lord your God is giving you. Because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you.

Psalm 4:7 – Fill my heart with joy when their grain and new wine abound.

Numbers 18:12 – “I give you all the finest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain they give the Lord as the firstfruits of their harvest.

2 Kings 6:27 – The king replied, “If the Lord does not help you, where can I get help for you? From the threshing floor? From the winepress?”

Application:

• ·         The heart, in Biblical language, was the center of the human spirit, from which spring emotions, thoughts, motivations, courage and action—“everything you do flows from it”.
• ·         Since the best items of produce were to be given to the Lord, these became the special foods of the priests and their families.
• ·         Deuteronomy emphasizes the distress that the Israelites would suffer if they refused to obey the Lord.
• ·         Joram correctly recognized his own inability to assist the woman if the Lord Himself did not act in Israel’s behalf, but he wrongly implied that the Lord was to be blamed for a situation brought on by Israel’s own disobedience and idolatry.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Destroyed

Deuteronomy 28:40-50 – You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off. You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity. Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land. The foreigners who reside among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, but you will be the tail. All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you. They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever. Because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the Lord sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you. The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young.

Deuteronomy 4:25-26 – After you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time—if you then become corrupt and make any kind of idol, doing evil in the eyes of the Lord your God and arousing his anger, I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live there long but will certainly be destroyed.

Application:

• ·         The pattern of the Israelites’ rebellion, resulting in expulsion from the land, and then their repentance, leading to restoration to the land, is prominent in Deuteronomy.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

You Will Harvest Little

Deuteronomy 28:38-39 – You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it. You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them.

Hosea 8:7 – “They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no head; it will produce no flour. Were it to yield grain, foreigners would swallow it up.

Haggai 1:6 – You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”

Zephaniah 1:13 – Their wealth will be plundered, their houses demolished. Though they build houses, they will not live in them; though they plant vineyards, they will not drink the wine.”

Application:

• ·         Israel sowed the wind of idolatry and reaped the whirlwind of Assyria.
• ·         “Planted much…harvested little” was a curse for disobedience.
• ·         The assets of those who have become wealthy through dishonesty will be exposed and plundered.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Drive...The King...To A Nation Unknown

Deuteronomy 28:30-37 – You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and rape her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit. Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them. Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to lift a hand. 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. The sights you see will drive you mad. The Lord will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head. The Lord will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your ancestors. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone. You will become a thing of horror, a byword and an object of ridicule among all the peoples where the Lord will drive you.

Haggai 1:6 – You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”

1 Samuel 12:25 – Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will perish.”

Micah 6:16 – You have observed the statutes of Omri and all the practices of Ahab’s house; you have followed their traditions. Therefore I will give you over to ruin and your people to derision; you will bear the scorn of the nations.”

Jeremiah 25:9 – I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,” declares the Lord, “and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin.

Application:

• ·         “Planted much…harvested little” was a curse for disobedience.
• ·         If the nation should persist in covenant-breaking conduct, it will bring upon itself its own destruction.
• ·         Disobedience brings disaster.
• ·         “Servant” is used for Nebuchadnezzar not in the sense of “worshiper” but of “vassal” or “agent of judgment”, just as the pagan ruler Cyrus is called the Lord’s “shepherd” and His “anointed”.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Turn The Rain...Into Dust And Powder

Deuteronomy 28:23-29 – The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron. The Lord will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed. The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth. Your carcasses will be food for all the birds and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away. The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind. At midday you will grope about like a blind person in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue you.

Jeremiah 14:1-2 – This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought: “Judah mourns, her cities languish; they wail for the land, and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 15:4 – I will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem.

Obadiah 21 – Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom will be the Lord’s.

Application:

• ·         Drought was one of the curses threatened for disobedience to the covenant.
• ·         Manasseh, good King Josiah’s grandfather, was the most wicked king in Judah’s long history. His sins were a primary cause of Judah’s eventual destruction.
• ·         “The kingdom will be the Lord’s” is the final outcome of history.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Do Not Turn Aside...To The Right Or To The Left

Deuteronomy 28:13-22 – The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them. However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you: You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country. Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed. The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out. 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. The Lord will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess. The Lord will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish.

Joshua 1:7 – “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.

Deuteronomy 27:26 – “Cursed is anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out.” Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”

Jeremiah 14:1-2 – This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought: “Judah mourns, her cities languish; they wail for the land, and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.

Application:

• ·         Success was not guaranteed unconditionally.
• ·         Humankind is under a curse because no one follows the law of God fully.
• ·         Drought was one of the curses threatened for disobedience to the covenant.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV