Deuteronomy 28:12

12 May the Lord open to thee his good treasure, the heaven, to give rain to thy land in season: may he bless all the works of thy hands: so shalt thou lend to many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over thee.

Deuteronomy 28:12 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 28:12

The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure
The Lord has his treasures of snow and of hail, and of wind, ( Job 38:22 ) ( Psalms 135:7 ) ; but here his good treasure, as appears by what follows, is his treasure of rain. In the Targum of Jonathan it is said,

``there are four keys in the hand of the Lord of the whole world, which he does not deliver into the hands of any prince; the keys of life, and of the grave, and of food, and of rain:''

the heaven, to give the rain unto thy land in its season;
that is, he will open the heaven, where his good treasure of rain is laid up, and bring it forth or, the land of Canaan for the enriching of it; or will open the windows thereof, and pour down the blessing; see ( Malachi 3:10 ) ; and that at the proper time, both in autumn and spring, the one is called the former, and the other the latter rain; the one was in Marchesvan, or October, and the other in Nisan, or March, as the Targum of Jonathan; the former rain for the fitting the earth for seed, or for watering it when sown, and the latter for the plumping of it before harvest: and to bless all the work of thine hand;
in agriculture, for without the blessing of rain, all the labour of the husbandman would be to little purpose: and thou shall lend unto many nations, and thou shall not borrow;
(See Gill on Deuteronomy 15:16). The connection of these words with what goes before may lead to observe this sense of them, that they should furnish other countries with corn, and not need any of theirs; see ( Ezekiel 27:17 ) .

Deuteronomy 28:12 In-Context

10 And all the nations of the earth shall see thee, that the name of the Lord is called upon thee, and they shall stand in awe of thee.

11 And the Lord thy God shall multiply thee for good in the offspring of thy body, and in the offspring of thy cattle, and in the fruits of thy land, on thy land which the Lord sware to thy fathers to give to thee.

12 May the Lord open to thee his good treasure, the heaven, to give rain to thy land in season: may he bless all the works of thy hands: so shalt thou lend to many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over thee.

13 The Lord thy God make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt then be above and thou shalt not be below, if thou wilt hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, in all things that I charge thee this day to observe.

14 Thou shalt not turn aside from any of the commandments, which I charge thee this day, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.