Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

Today we drop back in on Moses as he's reviewing the blessings and curses portion of the

covenant. He reminds the Israelites of the blessings that await them if they obey God.

He will give them victory in battle. And Moses even says God will command his blessing on them.

Wow. Blessings go where God tells them to go. And he promises to give the things only he can give,

life, growth, and rain. When that happens, the people around them will take notice that there seems

to be a unique blessing on this nation state. Because of God's very evident protection and provision,

these other nations will be afraid of the Israelites, because nothing is more terrifying than when

your enemy is thriving. When Israel thrives, they'll lend to their neighbors in need. And remember, their

neighbors here are their enemies. Neighbor isn't just some word to suggest friend. The surrounding

nations oppose them and don't follow Yahweh. All of these blessings will follow them if they

follow God. If they don't follow God, the curses will come, and wow, they

sound terrible. Covenant curses were typically not just the absence of blessing, but the

complete reversal of blessing. So you may have noticed those parallels. For example, the blessing

would have them be victorious over their enemies who would scatter in seven

directions, but the curse would have them losing to their enemies while they scattered in seven

directions. That's how covenants were typically written, a complete reversal of outcome for blessings

and curses. That's one reason why some of these verses might seem extra harsh, but they're more

of a demonstration of covenant language

than of character. For instance, 2863 says, as the Lord took delight in doing you good and

multiplying you, so the Lord will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you.

This is typical covenant language, and it's the opposite of what we've seen about God's character

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