Moses List of Blessings and Curses

Some people are happy to accept the fact that blessings are real, but are sceptical about curses, which they associate with superstitious practices from the Dark Ages. Such thinking is unrealistic. We cannot focus exclusively on one aspect of opposites because it is acceptable to us, and simply ignore the other because it is unacceptable. The opposite of hot is cold; both are real. The opposite of good is evil; both are real. In just the same way, blessings are real and so are curses.

My ministry brings me in touch with Christians from many different backgrounds in many different lands. I find that most of God's people do not know how to discern between blessings and curses. Many Christians who should be enjoying blessings are actually enduring curses. For this there two main reasons: first, they simply do not know how to recognise what a blessing or a curse is, or how to discern between them; second, if they are under a curse, they do not understand the basis upon which they can be released.

God is the sole and supreme source of all blessings, although they may come to us through many channels. Curses, too, often proceed from God, but He is not the sole source. Later on, we shall deal with other sources of curses. The curses which proceed from God are one of His main ways of bringing judgement on the rebellious, the unbelieving, and the ungodly. The history of the human race provides a long, sad record of the outworking of curses pronounced upon such people.

Over the years it has become fashionable to suggest that there is a dichotomy between the Old Testament and the New. According to this interpretation, the Old Testament depicts God as a God of wrath and judgement; the New depicts Him as a God of love and mercy. In fact, however, the two Testaments are consistent with each other. Each depicts God as being, at one and the same time, a God of mercy and of judgement.

The story of Jericho, related in Joshua 6, combines these two sides of God's dealings as vividly and dramatically as any passage in the New Testament. While the city of Jericho perished under one single, comprehensive judgement of God, the harlot Rahab, with her entire family, emerged unscathed. The record indicates, furthermore, that later Rahab became the wife of Salmon, one of the princes of Judah, and took her place in the genealogical line from which Israel's Messiah, Jesus, was to come! (See Matthew 1:5.)

In Romans 1:17-18 Paul explains that the Gospel contains the supreme revelation of these two aspects of God, His mercy and His judgement:

For in it [the Gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.... For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men

On the one hand, God's mercy offers His righteousness, which He imparts to those who receive by faith the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus on their behalf. Yet, at the same time, this sacrifice is also the ultimate revelation of God's wrath, poured out upon Jesus when He became identified with man's sin. Christians who question the reality of God's judgement on sin should ponder afresh the significance of the crucifixion. Even Jesus could not make sin acceptable to God, but had to endure the full outpouring of His wrath.

Further on, in Romans 11:22, Paul again presents these two aspects of God's dealings side by side.:

Therefore consider the goodness [or kindness) and severity of God."

To obtain an accurate picture of God, we must always keep both aspects of His character before us. His blessings proceed out of His kindness, but His judgements proceed out of His severity. Both are equally real.

In Proverbs 26:2 Solomon makes it clear that there is always a reason for every curse:

Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, So a curse without cause shall not alight.

This principle has a double application. On the one hand, a curse cannot take effect unless there is a cause for it. On the other hand, the converse is also true. Wherever there is a curse at work, there is a cause for it. In seeking to help people obtain release from a curse, I have learned by experience that it is often helpful first to discover the cause.

The 68 verses of Deuteronomy 28, which are devoted solely to the theme of blessings and curses, reveal the primary cause of each. In verses I and 2 Moses deals first with the cause of blessings:

If you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments.. all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God.

More literally, the first part could be translated: "If you will listen listening to the voice of the Lord your God. . . ." The repetition of the verb "to listen" gives it added emphasis. Simply stated, the conditions for enjoying the blessings are: first, listening to God's voice; second, doing what He says.

Throughout all dispensations, these have been the unchanging requirements for living in a covenant relationship with God. In Exodus 19:5, when God prepared to enter His first covenant with Israel at Sinai, He said:

"Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people."

The basic requirements were to listen to God's voice and obey the terms of His covenant. Under the new covenant, in John 10:27, Jesus similarly described those whom He acknowledged as "His sheep" -that is, His true disciples:

"My sheep hear My voice.., and they follow Me."

The basic requirements are still the same: hearing the Lord's voice and following Him in obedience. Hearing the Lord's voice takes us beyond mere religious profession or formal observances. Nothing is more unique and distinctive than a person's voice. Hearing the Lord's voice implies an intimate relationship with Him in which He can speak to each one of us personally. The Lord does not speak in this way to our physical ears or to our natural minds. His communication is Spirit-to-spirit -that is, by His Spirit to our spirit. Projected in this way, His voice penetrates to the innermost depths of our being. From there its vibrations are felt in every area of our personality.

The Lord may speak in this way through the Bible, or He may impart a word of direct revelation. Merely reading the Bible, however, is not sufficient by itself, unless the words on its pages are transformed by the Holy Spirit into a living voice. It is only a relationship of this kind with God that truly qualifies us for the blessings He has promised to those who hear and obey His voice.

Further on, in Deuteronomy 28:15, Moses states the primary cause of all curses:

But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.

The cause of curses is exactly opposite to that of blessings. Blessings result from hearing God's voice and doing what He says. Curses result from not hearing God's voice and not doing what He says. This refusal to hear and obey God's voice can be summed up in one word: rebellion - not against man, but against God.

In Deuteronomy 28 Moses also gives comprehensive lists of the various forms that both blessings and curses take. The blessings are listed in verses 3 to 13, the curses in verses 16 to 68. Anyone who seeks to understand this whole subject should carefully study this chapter in its entirety.

Out of my own studies, I have attempted to make two lists that sum up the blessings and the curses in the order in which they are mentioned. My suggested list of blessings is as follows:

Exaltation Health Reproductiveness Prosperity Victory God's favour "Reproductiveness" is not a common English word, but it is intended to describe a condition in which every area of a person's life is fruitful and reproductive. This would include family, livestock, crops, business, and the exercise of creative talents. All these should reflect God's blessing in appropriate ways.

In his list of curses in verses 16 to 68, Moses goes into much greater detail than with the blessings. Essentially, however, the curses are the opposite of the blessings. Here is my suggested summary:

Humiliation Barrenness, unfruitfulness Poverty Defeat Mental and physical sickness Oppression Family breakdown Failure God's disfavour Earlier, in verse 13, Moses had concluded his list of blessings with two vivid verbal pictures. Each of us would do well to consider how these pictures might apply in our own lives.

First, Moses says:

The Lord will make you the head and not the tail..

I once asked the Lord to show me how this would apply in my life. I felt He gave me this answer: the head makes the decisions and the tail just gets dragged around.

It was left to me to decide which role I was playing. Was I acting like a head, in control of each situation, making the appropriate decisions and seeing them successfully carried out? Or was I merely playing the part of a tail, being dragged around by forces and circumstances I did not understand and could not control?

To drive his meaning home, Moses uses a second phrase:

You shall be above only, and not be beneath.

This might be illustrated by a meeting between two Christian acquaintances. "How are you doing?" the first asks. "Under the circumstances," the second replies, "I'm not doing badly." "I'm glad for that," the first one responds. "But whatever are you doing under the circumstances?"

These illustrations of Moses confront us with an opportunity for self-evaluation. Am I living like a head or a tail? Am I living under my circumstances, or above them? The answers we give will help us to see how much of God's blessing we are actually enjoying.