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Spiritual Gifts, Volume 4a
yet between their teeth the curse of God came upon them. God here
teaches his people that he is displeased with their permitting their
appetite to control them. The Israelites at times would prefer slavery,
and even death, rather than to be deprived of meat.
The curse did not come all at once. It was first felt at Adam’s
fall, and increased at the murder of Abel, and greatly increased at the
flood. Since the flood, as the human family have forgotten God, and
have followed in a course of disobedience, and have transgressed his
commandments, the curse has rested heavier and heavier upon men and
upon the beasts. The trees and all vegetation also have felt the effects
of the curse. All through the inspired history are exalted blessings
promised upon the people of God on conditions of obedience, and
curses threatened for disobedience.
“And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the
voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and 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. The Lord shall command the
blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine
hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God
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giveth thee. The Lord shall establish thee a holy people unto himself,
as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of
the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways. And all people of the earth
shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall
be afraid of thee. And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in
the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of
thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give
thee. The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to
give thee rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of
thine hand. And thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not
borrow.”
God pronounced upon his people a curse if they would not hearken
unto his voice to observe to do all his commandments. “Cursed shalt
thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shall
be thy basket and thy store. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and
the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy
sheep. Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt
thou be when thou goest out. The Lord shall send upon thee cursing,
vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do,