Moses’ Farewell and the Covenant of Blessings and Curses

Deuteronomy Chapters 27–32 do. Documents them. How accurate were they when compiled hundreds of years after his death? No one can say with certainty.

After forty years in the wilderness, Moses gathers the tribes of Israel in the plains of Moab, overlooking Canaan. He is 120 years old and knows he will not cross the river. His final act is not conquest, but warning. He reminds the people that the covenant is a living contract between God and Israel — sealed by obedience, endangered by arrogance. “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil.” — Deuteronomy 30:15

The Blessings for Obedience (Deuteronomy 28:1–14)

Moses begins not with wrath, but with promise. If Israel keeps the commandments, honors justice, and walks humbly before God, it will become a model nation. “Blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the field.” “The Lord shall open unto you His good treasure, the heaven, to give the rain unto your land in his season.” The blessings touch every sphere of life — family, harvest, health, reputation, and peace

The Curses for Disobedience (Deuteronomy 28:15–68)

Then Moses’s tone darkens. The same poetic rhythm now becomes thunder. Every blessing has its opposite curse — not because God delights in punishment, but because moral cause and effect are woven into the covenant itself. “But it shall come to pass, if you will not hearken unto the voice of the Lord your God... that all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.”

A. Social and Material Calamity

“Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field.” “The fruit of your womb, the fruit of your land, the increase of your cattle, and the flocks of your sheep shall be cursed.” “The heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth beneath you iron.” (v. 23) “The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust.” (v. 24)

B. Disease and Madness

“The Lord shall smite you with consumption, and with fever, and with inflammation.” (v. 22) “The Lord shall smite you with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart.” (v. 28)

C. Foreign Domination and Humiliation

“The stranger that is within you shall get up above you very high; and you shall come down very low.” (v. 43) “The Lord shall bring a nation against you from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies.” (v. 49) “You shall serve your enemies in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things.” (v. 48)

D. Siege, Starvation, and Moral Collapse

These are among the most horrifying verses in the Bible — describing total societal disintegration: “You shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and daughters... in the siege and distress.” (v. 53) The passage portrays moral decay so complete that compassion itself dies — parents turning against children, rulers against subjects, priests against truth.

E. Exile and Dispersion

Finally, Moses foresees Israel’s scattering among the nations: “And the Lord shall scatter you among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other.” (v. 64)“And among these nations you shall find no ease... but the Lord shall give you there a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind.” (v. 65) These verses became the prophetic template for all later Jewish exiles — Assyrian, Babylonian, Roman. Every dispersion would later be seen as an echo of Moses’s words.

III. The Renewal and Promise of Return (Deuteronomy 30)

After thunder comes the dawn. Moses ends not in despair, but in mercy: “And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon you... if you return unto the Lord your God... then the Lord will have compassion upon you and will return and gather you from all the nations.” (30:1–3) Even exile is not the end. The curses are not eternal condemnation but divine discipline — intended to awaken the heart. “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse: therefore, choose life.” (30:19)

IV. The Song of Moses (Deuteronomy 32)

As Moses prepares to die, he sings a final song — half lament, half hope. “They have corrupted themselves; they are no longer His children because of their blemish.” (32:5)“I will hide My face from them; I will see what their end shall be.” (32:20) But even here, the last word is not vengeance but compassion: “Rejoice, O nations, with His people: for He will avenge the blood of His servants and will be merciful unto His land and His people.” (32:43)

In Deuteronomy, Moses’ “curses” are not hatred, but heartbreak — divine justice spoken through love. The God of Israel does not abandon His people; He disciplines them so that they may remember righteousness. The thunder of Deuteronomy 28 is the conscience of faith itself — reminding every nation that to be chosen is not to be privileged, but to be responsible.