Deuteronomy 28:1-14 question?

Question

Notice how its says the word "IF" quite a lot. IF you obey....you get all these blessings.

SO why do people who don't obey G-d whine about how evil G-d is???

How can this veil of misunderstanding best be removed in your opinion?


This was a real revelation scripture for me. Notice too there are more curses possible (listed before and after) than blessings.

Thanks and Shalom,
David

Weird Daryll: How could we help others if everyone was born equal, rich and joyful? Thats heaven, not earth. Those people are how GENEROUSITY and CHARITY are allowed to happen. They are important. Also, they are all heaven bound, so better off than you are.

Lady, awesome answer. You win. Thanks for answering.

David

Answer 1

1. And it will be if you obey the Lord, your God, to observe to fulfill all His commandments which I command you this day, the Lord, your God, will place you supreme above all the nations of the earth.
2. And all these blessings will come upon you and cleave to you, if you obey the Lord, your God.
3. You shall be blessed in the city, and you shall be blessed in the field.
4. Blessed will be the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your soil, the fruit of your livestock, the offspring of your cattle, and the flocks of your sheep.
5. Blessed will be your basket and your kneading bowl.
6. You shall be blessed when you come, and you shall be blessed when you depart.
7. The Lord will cause your enemies who rise up against you, to be beaten before you; they will come out against you in one direction, but they will flee from you in seven directions.
8. The Lord will order the blessing to be with you in your granaries, and in every one of your endeavors, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord, your God, is giving you.
9. The Lord will establish you as His holy people as He swore to you, if you observe the commandments of the Lord, your God, and walk in His ways.
10. Then all the peoples of the earth will see that the name of the Lord is called upon you, and they will fear you.
11. And the Lord will grant you good surplus in the fruit of your womb, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your soil, on the land which the Lord swore to your forefathers, to give you.
12. The Lord will open up for you His good treasury, the heaven, to give your land its rain in its [right] time, and to bless everything you do. And you will lend many nations, but you will not [need to] borrow.
13. And the Lord will set you at the head, and not at the tail, and you will be only at the top, and you will not be at the bottom, if you obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I am commanding you this day, to observe to fulfill [them].
14. And you shall not turn right or left from all of the words I am commanding you this day, to follow other deities to worship them.


There is really only one "if" repeated many times--If you obey G-d, good things will happen. The reason people complain about how evil G-d is is because they believe they are obeying G-d to the best of their ability. The "veil of misunderstanding" would be lifted if everyone knew exactly how to obey G-d and did it all the time--but that's not going to happen until Moshiach comes, so we'll just have to wait I guess.

Answer 2

In my humble opinion, the veil of misunderstanding can only be removed when the person who questions comes into the wisdom (with wisdom comes understanding) of what scriptures portends.
If they read to comprehend rather than challenge the scriptures it will rent the veil of their temporal blindness.
God is Love and God IS (the I AM) as it is said he spoke to Moses when Moses wanted an answer to give to Pharaoh.
God is also spirit. The "IF" in the passages you referenced gives proof of a God who offers us options. He did give mankind the gift of choice at the beginning.
The choice is with every soul to choose to honor what is "right" or to buy into what is "wrong".

I'd say that those who argue that God is evil, are like children who simply don’t comprehend what their parent means when they say "NO". It is easy to judge the judge when s/he doesn't allow you to do wrong and continue to do wrong when you feel you are right.
Furthermore, I believe the passages more specifically means that if you do all these things "blessings" rather than curses would be available to you. It is the law of reciprocity another of God's laws like the law of life and death, day and night, reaping and sowing, etc.
More clearly defined it is more like the very law of sowing and reaping defined in Genesis where God commands that everything shall bring forth fruit after it's own kind. God is not mocked, whatever a man sows that shall he also reap.
So, it's not like you are guaranteed to get all these blessings. Your actions or inactions either make you a magnet for or a fertile ground for the riches of His Glory. If you do what you should you have reason to expect to be blessed rather than cursed.

Answer 3

The Gemmorah in Brakhos says something interesting, "The sinner sins and suffers, then blames G-d."

Most people do not want to know G-d as he is presented in the Bible, and if they did know Him, they wouldn't like Him. People want a G-d who's like a heavenly bunny rabbit. They don't want a great king. So they pretend He is the heavenly bunny rabbit, sin awhole lot, make up a theology in their head that eliminates the "ifs" you mentioned, then get punished. After getting punished, they say, "If there is a G-d why did that bad thing happen to me. I'm not believing anymore."Then they go on commiting the sins they were doing anyways, just now ith a new excuse.

It's always been the same. It won't always be though.

BTW, Kall is less than correct. G-d has a covenant between himself and the Jewish people based on his having acquired them as slaves when he rescued them from Egypt. He also has a covenant between himself and the rest of the world through Noah. Then he has individual relationships with all the nations of the earth each based on their own history with HIm,

Amos 9:7 "Are not you Israelites
the same to me as the black Africans?"
declares the L-rd .
"Did I not bring Israel up from Egypt,
the Philistines from Caphtor
and the Arameans from Kir?"

One could add, and the AMericans from the British Empire, and India from the same, Ukraine from the Soviet Union, Pakistan from India, on and on.

Answer 4

Simple scripture for simple thinking at the time: an obvious 'cause and effect' guide to explain the down-side of certain actions or disobedience.
Today, of course, it's far more complictated since we have much more information and choices to contemplate. Hence, that's why the Bible goes onto encompass the New Testament, which though is about 2000 years old, can quite easily be applied to todays living standards.

Answer 5

There is no veil of misunderstanding; it is very plain & simple.
IF you obey then you will be blessed. IF you don't obey then you will be cursed.
The question is when will the blessing/curseing appear in your life? It may happen soon or may happen later in life. It will happen in God's time, not ours.
The "whiner's" don't want to recognize that they are making bad choices & a loving God is fulfilling promises he made 1000's of years ago. God's not evil,he's loving. He is letting us make our own choices, even though he has spelled it out if you obey, you'll be blessed; if you disobey, you'll be punished.
We all have to be responsible for our own actions.

Answer 6

Only Yeshua can take away the veil, as explained at 2 Corinthians 3:

12 Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech— 13 unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. 15 But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. 16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

Answer 7

Don't you just LOVE when you get those revelation things? It doesn't matter how many times we read it, we always get a new insight.

To answer your question, before I was a Christian all I saw in the scriptures was a pushy, evil, bully of a god...it was only after I accepted the fact that my sin deserved death, and the penalty had been paid by the One and Only Perfect sacrificial Lamb, that I could see God for whom he really is.

It must be the same for everyone.

Answer 8

From a christian context isn't the righteousness that qualifies for blessing and freedom from curses done by Jesus:
i.e. Galatians 3:13-14

"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree'[Deut21:23]. He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the gentiles through Messiah Jesus, so that by faith, we might receive the promise of the Spirit".

Answer 9

I like your insight. IF we keep the Word of God will bless us.
He has blessed us even when we do not keep His Word.

God demanded diligent obedience from the Israelites in order for them to receive all of God's rich blessings in the land.

The nations would see God's presence and His blessing on His people and would stand in awe of the greatness of the Lord.

God gave graciously to the Israelites from the good treasure that He had stored up for them. The people received God's blessings solely because His grace.

Canaanites believed that the Ball was the great giver of dew and rain. But God assured Israel that He controlled the heavens and would make their lands fruitful.

Since the Lord alone was the source of blessings, the Israelites had to follow Him alone in the pursuit of their happiness.

Answer 10

To tell the truth, I don't believe it is a misunderstanding.They are simply looking for an excuse to not follow God, they have no interest in living by His Word, they do not want Him to have any say-so in their lives, they want God to meet them on their terms, not meeting Him on His terms. They do not see the utter sinfulness of their sin. Only the power of the Gospel can open their eyes. Just keep hammering them with it, and pray that perhaps God will grant them repentance.