The LORD will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.
Moses is at the close of his career, giving his charge to Israel. He lists what obedience would bring, and the verse leaves two questions: where does blessing come from, and who may claim this promise today?
Heaven as God's storehouse
The verse calls heaven God's "good treasury" — a store only He can open. One writer explains why rain pictures blessing from God:
Michael HardtIn the end, blessing can only ever come from God; so it is here too. Rain is a fine biblical illustration of this. In southern countries this is surely understood best of all. Without rain there can be no life or growth. It comes from the clouds of the sky, above, and so it illustrates that blessing comes from God.
An opened sky, and a shut one
If God opens the sky, He can also shut it. One writer pictures a land left under a closed heaven:
C. H. MackintoshWhat barrenness and desolation there must be when heaven is shut up! No refreshing showers coming down, no dewdrops falling, no communication between heaven and earth.
Blessing on the work of your hands
The promise does not remove work. It puts God's blessing on it. One writer traces both sides of that — what obedience gains, and what disobedience loses:
Edward DennettA man was to enjoy the fruit of his own labour. This is simply the fulfilment of the promises which God made to His people on the condition that they observed and kept His commandments (see Deut. 28:1-12). The same chapter shows the contrast: it warns that if they turned aside from God's statutes and laws, others would eat the fruit of their land and all their labours.
Lender, never borrower
Israel once lived this out. Under Solomon both the king and the people prospered:
W. W. FeredayThe prosperity and peace of the people was as remarkable as the glory and power of the king… The people, as well as the king, were the head of the nations, not the tail. They lent to many nations, but did not borrow.
Today the picture is reversed, and one writer looks ahead for its full meaning:
Leslie M. GrantIsrael is certainly not blessed in this way now, for she is anxious to borrow huge sums from the United States… Israel was to rule over many nations, and will yet do so in the millennium. But because of her disobedience to God, the situation has been the reverse: many nations have ruled over her.
Who may claim this promise
Some nations have claimed this promise for themselves. One writer tests such a claim against the condition Moses attached:
A J PollockDeuteronomy 28 gives us part of the charge Moses gave to the children of Israel at the close of his remarkable career. It was for all twelve tribes. The blessings promised were to follow obedience; the curses, disobedience. Now is the British nation obedient to God? Does the history of the last thousand years bear witness to this?
That condition also answers a second mistake — treating wealth as proof that God approves of you:
Arend RemmersThe Jews might easily have come to think that great wealth was always a proof of God's blessing. They might have thought that striving after wealth pleased God… And here Moses says plainly that God would give Israel the promised prosperity only if they kept His commandments.
One writer marks off what belongs to believers now:
Hamilton SmithThe blessings of the Jew were temporal, on earth, and in the line of Abraham. Christian blessings are spiritual, heavenly, and in Christ. Unlike earthly blessings, they do not depend on health, riches, position, education, or nationality.
Summary
- Source — Rain falls from a treasury only God can unlock, so every harvest traces back above, not to human skill.
- Condition — The heaven that opens to obedience shuts against disobedience. Then there is no rain, no dew, no fruit.
- Labour — The blessing lands on "the work of your hands". God does not replace work; He crowns it. Take that blessing away and others eat what you grew.
- Reach — Israel lent to many nations under Solomon. Since then the reverse has been true, and writers look ahead to the millennium for its full meaning.
- Limit — The promise hangs on Israel's obedience, so no other nation can simply take it over. Wealth is not proof of God's approval, and the Christian's blessings are spiritual and heavenly.