In the last part of chapter 28 we are given a picture of what rebellion and exile will mean for the people. Verses 64-68 paint a picture that is the polar opposite of what God had promised if they were faithful. It is notable that after they had been scattered among the nations that they would worship false gods, the very thing that the covenant had sought to protect them from. Rather than having the peace and security of the Promised Land they would live in uncertainty and have no rest at all!

The rather strange comments in verse 68 about the Lord’s sending them back in ships to Egypt are clearly metaphorical in nature. Here slavery is being used as a metaphor for the rejection of God’s covenant which offered them freedom and security, all the things that slaves do not have. John Currid notes that the phrase: ‘in ships’ is problematic. It may mean that people will easily return to Egypt. Another theory he puts forward is that the term may be related to a verb in Hebrew which means to mourn, hence the people: ‘are pictured returning to Egypt in lamentation.’[1] The passage ends with this rather sad state getting even worse as the Israelites find themselves in such contempt that no one will even buy them as slaves! False religion would delivered the very opposite of what it had promised, and that is the case for anyone in any day or age who worships false gods. Ultimately whatever people worship other than the true God will bring them misery!

But how do we reconcile this gloomy piece of scripture to our situation today, in other words what has it got to teach us as individuals or Churches? I believe it can teach us an awful lot! In our Churches today we often suffer from what I call the “We don’t need to hear this” syndrome that is also known as the “that will never happen here” syndrome. Let me give you an example. Some years ago, a friend of mine was preaching at a small Church on 2 John. After he had preached quite a few of the people, including some of the deacons, commented that they felt he had preached very powerfully. However, a short time later he received a letter, sent from the deaconate of that Church, which was anything but complimentary. It turns out they objected to his teaching from the passage on false teachers. They insisted that was “not a problem here”. When he told me this, I commented that it was quite possible that it was not a problem at the time that John was writing the letter, but he was fore warning them that: ‘many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh.  Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist’ (2 John v7). A warning like that is worth taking considerable notice of, yet that Church obviously felt it did not apply to them.  We know from 2 Timothy 3:16 that all Scripture is given to instruct us, so whatever it’s instructing is always relevant.

These blessings and curses were given as warnings of what could happen. Although it might have been unimaginable to the God-fearing Israelite that they might become rebellious and suffer such judgement, within a generation of entering the land that was what would happen (Judges 2:10-15)!  Every Church is only a generation (and sometimes considerably less) from losing the Gospel. It is insanity if we are oblivious to this as we would be in danger of being like the Church at Sardis that did not realise it was spiritually dead (Revelation 3:1-3)! Remember scripture warms us to: ‘be sober minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour’ (1 Peter 5:8).  Why just target individual Christians, why snack when you can have a main course? Churches can easily fall prey to him! So, let us pray we never fall victim to the “we don’t need to hear this” or the “that will never happen here” syndrome!

Jesus spared us from the greatest curse of all. In Genesis 3:17 Adam was cursed when death entered the world because of his sin. That is something that affects us all (Romans 5:12). In 27:26 the Law provides the means of this curse through our inability to keep it. But in the words of the same Law is the framework by which Christ became a substitute and took the curse for us (21:23). The apostle Paul applies this in his letter to the Galatian Church. Paul refers to the curse of the Law (Galatians 3:10) but also that Christ became a curse for us when He was crucified (Galatians 3:13 quoting Deuteronomy 21:23). So, we can now receive the benefit as Paul writes: ‘so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:14). If we have had our sins forgiven we are free from the curse of the Law, and it will never again threaten us as we are now the Lord’s people (Revelation 22:3).

[1] John D Currid, Deuteronomy, an EP Study Commentary (Evangelical Press, Darlington, 2006)  451.