Deuteronomy 28:10

28:1-14 This chapter is a very large exposition of two words, the blessing and the curse. They are real things and have real effects. The blessings are here put before the curses. God is slow to anger, but swift to show mercy. It is his delight to bless. It is better that we should be drawn to what is good by a child-like hope of God's favour, than that we be frightened to it by a slavish fear of his wrath. The blessing is promised, upon condition that they diligently hearken to the voice of God. Let them keep up religion, the form and power of it, in their families and nation, then the providence of God would prosper all their outward concerns.

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.

Verse 10. - Thou art called by the name of the Lord ; rather, the Name of Jehovah called upon thee. The Name of God is God himself as revealed; and this Name is called or named upon men when they are adopted by him, made wholly his, and transformed into his likeness. This blessing Israel enjoyed as a nation - "Theirs was the adoption and the glory" ( Romans 9:4 ) - but it was theirs only in symbol and in shadow ( Hebrews 10:1 ); the reality belongs only to the spiritual Israel, and this came to men in all its fullness when he who is "the image of the invisible God" appeared and set up his tent among men, full of grace and truth ( John 1:12, 14 ). Deuteronomy 28:10

Deuteronomy 28:23 f. with Deuteronomy 28:12 a , Deuteronomy 28:25 with Deuteronomy 28:7 b , Deuteronomy 28:37 and Deuteronomy 28:46 with Deuteronomy 28:10 , Deuteronomy 28:43 f. with Deuteronomy 28:12 b , Deuteronomy 28:13 a ), the rest is a detailed antithesis to the summary blessing in 11; and diseases, calamities to man and beast, failures of seed and harvest, losses of children and property, and even exile, are set forth in detail. The opinion that Deuteronomy 28:26-37 and Deuteronomy 28:41 are later additions is plausible, not because they contain predictions of exile but because they elaborate the rest; and this rest, Deuteronomy 28:21-25 (or 26), Deuteronomy 28:38-40 and Deuteronomy 28:42-46 , more nearly corresponds to Deuteronomy 28:8-14 . In view of the repeating style of D it is impossible to say whether some even of those vv . are original or expansions; there are no sufficient grounds for the detailed analysis by Steuernagel.

"The Lord will exalt thee for a holy nation to Himself,...so that all the nations of the earth shall see that the name of Jehovah is named upon thee, and shall fear before thee." The Lord had called Israel as a holy nation, when He concluded the covenant with it ( Exodus 19:5-6 ). This promise, to which the words "as He hath sworn unto thee" point back, and which is called an oath, because it was founded upon the promises given to the patriarchs on oath ( Genesis 22:16 ), and was given implicite in them, the Lord would fulfil to His people, and cause the holiness and glory of Israel to be so clearly manifested, that all nations should perceive or see "that the name of the Lord is named upon Israel." The name of the Lord is the revelation of His glorious nature. It is named upon Israel, when Israel is transformed into the glory of the divine nature (cf. Isaiah 63:19 ; Jeremiah 14:9 ). It was only in feeble commencements that this blessing was fulfilled upon Israel under the Old Testament; and it is not till the restoration of Israel, which is to take place in the future according to Romans 11:25 ., that its complete fulfilment will be attained. In Deuteronomy 28:11 and Deuteronomy 28:12 , Moses returns to the earthly blessing, for the purpose of unfolding this still further. "Superabundance will the Lord give thee for good (i.e., for happiness and prosperity; vid., Deuteronomy 30:9 ), in fruit of thy body," etc. (cf. Deuteronomy 28:4 ).

He would open His good treasure-house, the heaven, to give rain to the land in its season (cf. Deuteronomy 11:14 ; Leviticus 26:4-5 ), and bless the work of the hands, i.e., the cultivation of the soil, so that Israel would be able to lend to many, according to the prospect already set before it in Deuteronomy 15:6 .