God brought catastrophes upon Israel because they refused to hearken to His voice and did not observe and do all His commandments.
Deuteronomy 28 is a conditional covenant: obedience brings blessing, but disobedience brings curses. Israel would not hearken, so the curses fell upon them—including destruction, scattering, and becoming a byword among the nations. Les Feldick emphasizes that unbelief was at the heart of this disobedience.
Deuteronomy 28:15 — This verse states the central condition: the curses come upon Israel when they will not hearken to God's voice and do His commandments.
Deuteronomy 28:63 — This verse directly answers why God brought calamity—the Lord who rejoiced to do Israel good would also rejoice to destroy them and bring them to nothing.
In Deuteronomy 28, the covenant is stated in conditional terms. Verse 1 begins with blessings if Israel hearkens diligently to God's voice. But verse 15 gives the opposite condition: "if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee." The chapter then lists curses on the city, the field, the basket, and the store (verses 16-18). Verse 37 warns that Israel would become "an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee." Verse 63 states that as the Lord rejoiced over Israel to do them good and multiply them, so He would rejoice over them to destroy them and bring them to nought, and they would be plucked from the land they were going to possess. Verse 64 adds that the Lord would scatter them among all people.
Les Feldick approaches Deuteronomy 28 as a conditional covenant. He stresses the word "if" in verse 15—if Israel will not hearken to God's voice, the blessings become curses. He points to verse 37 as a description of what the Jewish people have experienced in nearly every nation: becoming an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword. He also emphasizes that even though Satan attacks God's chosen people, Israel is still responsible for their own actions; their suffering traces back to rejecting the love and mercy of Jehovah. Les identifies unbelief as the underlying issue. When Israel stopped believing what God had said, sin entered and the curses of Deuteronomy 28 followed.
Deuteronomy 28:15 declares that if Israel will not hearken to the voice of the Lord their God to observe and do all His commandments and statutes, all these curses would come upon them and overtake them. The curses include being cursed in the city and in the field, in the basket and in the store (verses 16-18), becoming an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations (verse 37), and finally being plucked from the land and scattered among all people (verses 63-64). Les Feldick highlights the conditional "if" in the passage, showing that the curses came because Israel would not hearken.
Les Feldick teaches that unbelief is the root of disobedience. He says that every time sin besets us, the problem is a lack of faith—if we know what God has said, we will not let these things befall us. He applies this to Israel's history, noting that the generation that came out of Egypt was "totally in unbelief" and their carcasses fell in the wilderness. He also connects Israel's unbelief to God's statement that they were not His people, while still pointing to a future day when God will say, "It is My people." This unbelief, rather than random bad fortune, opened the door to the Deuteronomy 28 curses.
Deuteronomy 28:63 says that as the Lord rejoiced over Israel to do them good and multiply them, so He would rejoice over them to destroy them and bring them to nothing. Les explains that this is the flip side of the covenant—since Israel rejected the love and mercy of God, the same God who blessed them would bring the promised curses. The judgment is not arbitrary; it is the direct consequence of disobedience.
Unbelief and Future Restoration
Les teaches that Israel's suffering is connected to their unbelief, yet God will one day again claim them as 'My people' and they will say 'The Lord is My God.'
The 'If' of Deuteronomy 28
Les explains that the curses in Deuteronomy 28 are conditional: if Israel will not hearken to the voice of the Lord, the word 'blessed' changes to 'cursed' and God's wrath comes because of their disobedience.
Lack of Faith
Les teaches that every sin that besets us is ultimately a lack of faith, and if we know what God has said we will not let these things befall us.
Israel Responsible for Their Actions
Les says that although Satan attacks God's chosen people, Israel is responsible for their actions; verse 37's description of being a proverb and a byword is a result of rejecting God's love and mercy.
Unbelief in the Wilderness Generation
Les points to the generation that came out of Egypt as 'totally in unbelief,' confirming that unbelief is what brought judgment upon them.
Israel’s Title Deed: Understanding God's Covenant in Genesis 15
But ere they crossed the River Jordan, God gave explicit instructions to the nation of Israel, don't leave a single Canaanite alive. Unfair? Unjust? No. Because they've had 400 years to clean up their act. But instead of cleaning up their act, they degenerated down, down, down, until finally God, in justice, could tell Israel, don't spare a one.
The Promise to Destroy and Scatter
Les reads Deuteronomy 28:63-64 as God's warning that, after rejoicing to do Israel good, He would rejoice to destroy them, pluck them from the land, and scatter them among all people.
The Burning Bush & The Angel of the Lord: Who Did Moses Really See?
And so this is the reason that God patiently let His own people suffer in Egypt so that the Amorites and the Canaanites could prove the worthiness of the judgment that's going to come upon them. The only part that's pitiful is that Israel didn't carry it out. And just like God said, if you don't cleanse the land of them, you'll go down to their level, and they did.
Deuteronomy 28:1: And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:
This verse establishes the positive condition: obedience brings exaltation, setting up the contrast in verse 15.
Deuteronomy 28:15: But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
This is the direct reason for the catastrophes: Israel refused to hearken and obey God's commandments.
Deuteronomy 28:16: Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.
This begins the detailed list of curses that would fall on disobedient Israel.
Deuteronomy 28:37: And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee.
This describes the shameful reputation Israel would have among the nations as part of the curses.
Deuteronomy 28:63: And it shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it.
This verse explains that the same God who blessed Israel would bring destruction because of their disobedience.
Deuteronomy 28:64: And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.
This describes the scattering of Israel among the nations as a direct consequence of covenant disobedience.
Yes. Deuteronomy 28:63 says that as the Lord rejoiced over Israel to do them good and multiply them, so He would rejoice over them to destroy them and bring them to nought. Les Feldick explains that this was the outworking of the conditional covenant: because Israel would not hearken, the curses overtook them.
Les Feldick teaches that although Satan attacks God's chosen people, Israel is responsible for their actions. They rejected the love and mercy of Jehovah God, and Deuteronomy 28's curses—including becoming a byword among the nations—came upon them because of their disobedience.
Les teaches that every sin traces back to a lack of faith. The generation that came out of Egypt was totally in unbelief, and their unbelief showed up as disobedience; instead of believing God's promises, they turned aside and brought the wilderness judgment upon themselves.
Watch the Teaching: Why Has Israel Suffered So Much? The Bible's Answer