Deuteronomy 28 · a question people ask
Does this chapter mean every sickness or loss is a curse for disobedience?
The chapter is spoken to Israel, as part of "the words of the covenant which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab" (29:1), and it ties these curses to not listening: "because you didn’t listen to the LORD your God’s voice" (28:45). It doesn't say that every sickness or loss in a person's life is a curse. Job was struck "with painful sores from the sole of his foot to his head" (Job 2:7), which in Hebrew are the words of 28:35, though the LORD had called him "a blameless and an upright man" (Job 1:8). When his disciples asked about a man born blind, "who sinned, this man or his parents" (John 9:2), Jesus answered, "This man didn’t sin, nor did his parents, but that the works of God might be revealed in him" (John 9:3). Leviticus 26 asks the same question of its warnings, and also asks whether its blessings and warnings apply to Christians; that question is not asked again here.
The verses
“These are the words of the covenant which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.”
“All these curses will come on you, and will pursue you and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you didn’t listen to the LORD your God’s voice, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded you.”
“The LORD will strike you in the knees and in the legs with a sore boil, of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.”
“The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant, Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil.””