(12) The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain.--The Jews have a saying that, "There are three keys in the hand of the Holy One, blessed be He! which He hath not intrusted to the hand of a messenger, and they are these, the key of the rains, the key of birth, and the key of the resurrection of the dead." The key of the rain, as it is written (Deuteronomy 28:12), "Jehovah shall open to thee His good treasure," &c. (from the Talmudic treatise, Ta'anith, p. 20, b).

Verse 12. - His good treasure; equivalent to his treasure-house, i.e. heaven, whence blessing should be poured out upon them (cf. Deuteronomy 11:14; Leviticus 26:4, 5). He would so fructify their ground, and so bless their toil in cultivating it, that they should become rich, and be able to lend to other nations, and not need to borrow.

28:1-14 This chapter is a very large exposition of two words, the blessing and the curse. They are real things and have real effects. The blessings are here put before the curses. God is slow to anger, but swift to show mercy. It is his delight to bless. It is better that we should be drawn to what is good by a child-like hope of God's favour, than that we be frightened to it by a slavish fear of his wrath. The blessing is promised, upon condition that they diligently hearken to the voice of God. Let them keep up religion, the form and power of it, in their families and nation, then the providence of God would prosper all their outward concerns.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; 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.