26:16-19 “This day Yahweh your God commands you to do these statutes and judgments. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and all your soul. You have today declared Yahweh to be your God, and that you should walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His judgments, and to listen to His voice. And Yahweh today has declared to you to be His people, a treasured possession, as He promised you, and that you should keep all His commandments; and that He will set you high above all the nations which He has made, for praise, a name, and beauty; and that you should be a holy people to Yahweh your God, as He has spoken.”

In this section Moses details all the specific ways in which Israel will conform to the character of their God in the complex situations of this corrupted world. Every nation and people wants to prosper in wealth and strength, yet the ever-familiar behaviors of foolishness, short-term gratification, and wickedness lead to any organization’s decline. Obedience to these Divine statutes will preserve and grow Israel as the light of God’s glory to the world. 

Overall, God’s people are to be holy (14:1-2). By these laws, which cover about every aspect of life, they will learn to love and fear Yahweh their God more and more (14:23) in gratitude and faith. They will then increase in wisdom and be righteous and glad within the scope of God’s favor, in which He will bless them with strength and prosperity high above all the nations (26:16-19) This contrasts the unbelieving nations of the world (typified by the Canaanites) who reject God and do what is right in their own eyes, invariably leading to the evil which the sons of Israel are to “purge from their midst” (13:5). 

We see a clearer vision of the nation’s future in the land as well. Each household will enjoy life with God in their allotted land, with regular visitations to the tabernacle for feasts, tithes, and offerings to remember and celebrate their God (chs. 16, 26). Israel will benefit from the structures of a king (17:14-20), the priests and Levites, and ruling elders (ch.21-22), who will all to administer the word of God for spiritual needs and requirements of justice. These leaders protect the nation from internal temptations and external danger.