The LORD will command the blessing on you in your barns and in all that you undertake. And he will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
Deuteronomy 28 lists what obedience would bring Israel, and verse 8 sits near the top: the Lord Himself orders blessing onto their stored grain and onto every job they take in hand. Two questions shape the verse — what sort of blessing this is, and whether it reaches beyond the land of Canaan.
A Chapter About a Nation
One writer warns against mixing this chapter with the one before it. The two stand on different ground:
C. H. MackintoshChapter 27 is — to put it as plainly and briefly as possible — moral and personal. Chapter 28 is about God's dealings with the nation. Chapter 27 handles the great root principle of man's moral condition: a sinner completely ruined and quite unable to meet God on the ground of law. Chapter 28 takes up the question of Israel as a nation, under the government of God.
Obedience as the Appointed Means
The blessing of verse 8 hangs on an "if." Deuteronomy returns to that link again and again, and one writer shows where it ended:
The Bible TreasuryThe book of Deuteronomy sets out the mind of the Lord about the people's conduct in the land, and it is rightly called the book of obedience... But sadly, the Scriptures testify plainly that the breakdown is always with man. All blessing that depends on him fails, from Eden onward.
Barns and Everything You Turn To
The verse names two things: the store and the work in hand. Together they cover a whole working life:
Leslie M. GrantIn obedience to God, Israel could count on His blessing in their storehouses, the store of produce laid up for future use, and in everything that might occupy their attention (v.8). In a spiritual way this will be true for obedient Christians too.
The blessing rests on a person's own work. One commentator points to that promise here, and then to its opposite in the same chapter:
Edward DennettFirst, a man should enjoy the fruit of his own labour. This is simply God keeping the promises He made to His people, on the condition that they observed and kept His commandments (see Deut. 28:1-12). The same chapter gives the contrast: if they turned aside from God's statutes and laws, the warning ran, others would eat the fruit of their land and all their labours. (v. 33.)
In the Land He Is Giving
The last phrase ties the blessing to one place: the land God was giving them. That setting explains how Israel lost these promises, and how God will restore them:
W. TrotterIn Deut. 28 we have the blessings promised to Israel in case of their obedience. They have entirely failed in obedience, as we know, and have so forfeited all those blessings. But, as we have seen so often in Scripture, God will bring them back. Grace will restore to them every blessing they forfeited, and the righteous rule of the Lord Jesus Christ will keep them in the enjoyment of these blessings.
How Far It Reaches Today
Commentators differ over how a Christian may use this verse. Some draw a spiritual parallel, as quoted above. Others warn against reading full barns as a promise to the church:
C. H. MackintoshGod has pledged Himself, by an oath, to bless the seed of Abraham His friend — to bless them with all earthly blessings, in the land of Canaan. This promise stands, and nothing can take it away... We must always remember that Israel's blessings are earthly. The church's blessings are heavenly. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ."
Both sides agree that God still governs how His people live. The same writer adds a caution for believers now:
Edward DennettAnd let it not be forgotten that there is a sense in which this may be true now of the children of God. If they walk with no regard for His word, and have themselves as their object, God will often step in and deal with them in their circumstances.
Summary
- Command — the blessing is not chance. God gives the order, and it lands where He directs it.
- Condition — He gives the order to a listening people. Deuteronomy is the book of obedience, and every blessing resting on man broke down.
- Coverage — His command covers both ends of a working life: the store already gathered and the work still in hand.
- Country — the blessing belongs to the land He was giving. Israel forfeited it, and grace will restore it under the rule of the Lord Jesus Christ.
- Caution — commentators differ about today. The church's blessings are heavenly, not material, yet God still deals with His children in their circumstances.