Many churches today preach a health, wealth, and prosperity message. They claim that if you are faithful to God, and especially if you are generous in your financial support of the church or of a Christian ministry, God will bless your health and grant you financial prosperity. Such preachers often refer to passages like the one we are considering today to back up their claims.

Whenever we read the OT, we have to consider the original author and the original audience. In this passage, Moses is speaking as an inspired prophet to the nation of Israel. This material has a specific audience and application—Israel as they are about to conquer the PL.

What do we in the NT church learn from this? Can we take these statements directly from Moses and apply them to us? No. Moses is not talking about church-age believers here; he’s talking to Israelites at a particular place and time. The church is not Israel. All of this pertains to the Old Covenant, the Mosaic Covenant, not the New Covenant. We are not under the Old Covenant today. So we cannot claim all of these promises for ourselves. These promises do not pertain to us directly.

However, there are some parallels and some timeless principles here that are applicable to us today. In general terms, God blesses those who obey his commandments. If we listen to God, obey his word and avoid spiritual compromise, God will bless us in various ways. God blesses obedience and faithfulness.

Israel had the right to expect God to bless the nation in concrete, specific ways. God promises them health, wealth, and military victory if they would obey him. These are physical blessings that Israel could expect if they would remain faithful to the covenant.

In the NT era, God’s program is the church, not the nation of Israel. God has not promised to grant us health, wealth, and victory over our enemies. We don’t have a particular land that we are trying to conquer. Most of us don’t have livestock to multiply. We are not growing grain or olive trees; we are not gathering grapes. We do not eradicate idolaters or destroy temples. So the situation is different for us than it was for the ancient Israelites.

Still, we can affirm that God promises to bless his people when they obey him. This pattern of blessing still pertains. Perhaps we will not enjoy the exact same kinds of blessings that God promises to Israel, but we can count on God’s blessings when we are obedient.

What does this text tell us about how God blesses his people?