Deuteronomy 28
THE BLESSING AND THE CURSE (vs. 1-68)
Having enjoined the proclamations of the blessing and the
curse on their entering into
possession of
both the blessing and the curse, proceeds here to dilate
upon both, dwelling especially
upon the
latter as that which the people the more needed to have brought
home to them. As he proceeds, the
language of terrible denunciation passes into
that of no less terrible prediction, in which the calamities
that should come
upon the nation because of their APOSTASY and REBELLION are clearly
and pointedly
foretold.
THE BLESSING (vs. 1-14)
1 “And it shall come to pass, if thou
shalt hearken diligently unto the voice
of the LORD thy God, to observe and to 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 condition sine
qua non of all enjoyment of the
Divine bounty was obedience on the part of the people to
the word and Law of
Jehovah their God. This rendered, the blessing would come
on them
rich and full,
and abide with them (vs. 2, 9, 13-14).
2 “And all
these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou
shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD
thy God.” The
blessings about to
be specified are represented as personified,
as actual agencies coming upon
their objects and following them along their path. (Compare “Surely
goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life” (Psalm 23:6)
3 “Blessed shalt thou be in the city,
and blessed shalt thou be in the field.
4 Blessed
shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the
fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy
kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
5 Blessed shall be thy basket and thy
store. 6
Blessed shalt thou be when
thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be
when thou goest out. (Numbers
27:17; Psalm 121:8).
7
The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up
against thee to be smitten before thy face:
they shall come out against thee
one way, and flee before thee seven
ways.” The
fullness of the blessing in all
the relations of life, external and internal, is presented in six particulars, each
introduced by the word “blessed.”
field, in the fruit of the body, in the productions of the
soil and the increase of herd and
flock, in the store and in the use of what nature provided,
— in all their undertakings,
whether in peace or in war, at home or abroad. Basket
and thy store; rather, basket
and kneading-trough (see Exodus 8:3; 12:34); “the basket” representing the store in
which the fruits of the earth were laid up, (a few years
ago my Amish neighbor dug up
400 bushel baskets of sweet potatoes – I should think this
is a modern example of
God’s blessings in the 21st century – CY – 2012) - the “kneading-trough” the
use of these for the supply
of daily needs.
8 “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 giveth thee.” The effect of
the blessing should be seen, not only
in the supremacy of
in the success of their undertakings, and in the respect in which they
should be held by all
nations. Storehouses. The Hebrew word (אֲסָמִים), which occurs only here and in
Proverbs 3:10, is properly thus rendered. It comes from a root
which signifies to lay up.
9 “The
LORD shall establish thee an 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.” The Lord would
establish them to be a people holy unto
Himself, in whose blessed condition all would see that they were indeed His
people, favored by Him.
10 “And
all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of
the LORD;” - rather, the Name of Jehovah called
upon thee. The Name of God
is God Himself as
revealed; and this Name is called or named upon men when they
are adopted by
Him, made wholly His, and
transformed into His likeness.
This blessing
(Romans 9:4) — but it was theirs only in symbol and in
shadow (Hebrews 10:1); the
reality belongs only to the spiritual
when He who is “the image of the
invisible God” appeared and set up his
tent
among men, “full of grace
and truth” - (John 1:12,14) - “and they shall be
afraid of thee.”
11 “And
the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods,” - literally,
shall
make thee to abound for good; i.e. shall not only give thee abundance,
but
cause it to redound to thy felicity - “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 swear
unto thy fathers to give thee.”
12 “The
LORD shall open unto thee His good treasure,” -
equivalent to
His treasure-house, i.e.
heaven, whence blessing should be poured out upon them
(compare ch.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 - “the heaven to
give the 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.”
13 “And
the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou
shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be
beneath; if that thou hearken unto
the commandments of the LORD thy God, which
I command thee this day,
to observe and to do them:” They should be
manifestly superior to other nations,
heading them and being above them, their leader and not their
subject or follower
(compare Isaiah 9:13). Note
the contrast in vs. 43-44.
14 “And
thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee
this day, to the right hand, or to the
left, to go after other gods to serve them.”
(Compare ch. 5:29;
11:28.) Moses ends as he began, by reminding them that the
condition of
enjoying the blessing was OBEDIENCE TO
THE DIVINE LAW
and STEADFAST
ADHERENCE to the course in which
they were called
to walk.
GOD’S BLESSING PROMISED TO THE OBEDIENT
(vs. 1-14)
This passage teaches us that one of the motive forces by
which God would quicken men
to righteousness and educate them in it, is found in
showing them that His providential
arrangements are such that the shaping of their earthly
destiny is, in some sort, in their
own hands. Of their earthly destiny,” we say. For it
is a well-known fact that Moses
seldom, if ever, refers to the next state of being. The
rewards and punishments known
to the Pentateuch are almost entirely connected with this
earthly state. Of course, there
is nothing like a denial of a life beyond the grave. But it
did not fall within the scope of
the revelation given through Moses that another world
should be brought clearly into
view. We doubt not that there was mercy as well as wisdom
in this arrangement; the
people had as much revealed to them as they could bear, and
more than they knew
how to improve. There is a world of deep meaning in the
disclosure of the laws of
God’s providence which are unfolded to them here. One would
think that such
promises as are made to the obedient would have been enough
to win them to follow
the will of God; and that the long-continued, terrific,
appalling statement of what would
follow on their disobedience would have been enough to
dissuade them by “the
terrors of the Lord” (II Corinthians 5:11) from venturing on the highway of evil. It
would be easy to write a separate Homily on each verse in
this paragraph, but, with
such expansion, our work would extend to a most inordinate
length. We
will but suggest, and leave the expansion to others. We
have but one more
proviso to make before coming to our main divisions; that
is this: Barring
the special complexion here given to the chapter, owing to
the peculiar
feature of
administration which were disclosed by Moses are still in
force. (Matthew
5:17-19). Even now
it is true, “Godliness is profitable unto all things: having
promise of the
life that now is.” (I Timothy 4:8).
And this is the truth which, in
varied forms, is set forth here.
Let us observe:
HANDS. (vs.1-2.) “If thou shalt hearken to the voice of the Lord thy
God,” such and such
blessings shall “come upon thee, and
overtake thee.”
If
wrongness of any methods adopted
to secure it, there would be no
guarantee whatever of their
securing the end at which they aimed; and even
if they should, the results
would be fraught with evil; for “the prosperity
of
fools would
destroy them” (Proverbs 1:32). But if their supreme, their sole
aim, was to do right, to serve
and please the Lord, then the Divine blessing
would be sure to follow them.
“‘Tis ours to obey, ‘tis his to provide.” If we
do right, and leave the issues
with God, we shall not be left without tokens
of His approving smile (Matthew
6:33). There may be large temporal gains,
or there may not; but, with the
much or with the little, that blessing
will
come which maketh
rich; and he addeth no sorrow therewith!
(Proverbs 10:22)
REST ON EVERYTHING WHICH HE HAS, AND WILL FOLLOW
HIM EVERYWHERE. Let
every clause in the paragraph be separately
weighed. Would we set this in
gospel light, if any one were to ask the
question, “What are the signs of
God’s blessing which God’s faithful ones
enjoy, even in this life?” we
would enumerate six of them.
Ø
They have peace with God
through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ø
They have a
clear conscience; they know that the
aim of pleasing
God is right, whatever
difficulties it may involve.
Ø
They enjoy what
they have as from God, and as the
loving gifts
of a Father’s hand.
Ø
If much be given, they delight to use it for God.
Ø
If little be theirs, they know that a little that a righteous man
hath is better than the riches of many wicked. (Psalm 37:16)
Ø
And, above all, the
supreme proof of God’s blessing is that gains and
losses, joys and cares, health
and sickness, do “all work
together for
good” to them (Romans 8:28); they minister to the growth of character,
and help to make them better, wiser,
and holier men.
GOVERNMENT WHICH ENSURES THIS BLESSING TO THE
OBEDIENT. (v. 12.) In
this verse, it is said, virtually, that the amount of rain
will depend on the amount of
virtue, and that the accumulation of men’s
possessions will depend on their
fidelity to God! The second sentence we
can understand, since fidelity
to God implies, among other things, fidelity in
the use of God’s appointed means
of success; so that this is only saying,
Use the right means rightly,
and you will gain your end. But as to the
former,
who can understand it? The amount of rain
dependent on the measure
of virtue — how can such a thing be? We ask, first of all, Hath the rain
a father? The reply is, Yes,
beyond all question — God. But then God is
the Father of spirits also. That is to say, there are two spheres: that of matter
and force, and that of spirit; the one governed
by physical laws, the other
by laws which are spiritual; but all laws,
whether physical or spiritual, are
ordained and regulated by one Supreme
Being, and in His hands there is
unity of action therein.. God would make the natural world A THEATER
for
confirming His will! (compare Amos
4:6-13; Psalms 107:33-43). (See
comments on Deuteronomy 11:10-17
– this web site – CY – 2012)
SUCCESS, BUT ALSO TO HONOR. (See v.12c and v.13.)
Ø
“Seest thou a man diligent in his business; he shall
stand before
kings, he shall not stand before mean men.” (Proverbs 22:29)
Ø
And collectively; if a
nation has in it a majority of wise, truehearted,
upright men, such as fear
God, love righteousness, and hate
iniquity,
nothing can
prevent such a nation rising in the scale. Its
prosperity will be manifest
in its inward peace, in the readiness of
other nations to deal with
it by opening up commercial relations,
and in the good will of
other nations which it will certainly share.
(Such once was the
citizenry of the
God’s law, here by Moses
expounded, had been the leaders in
our beginning,
have risen to a status as a
world leader. Why? Because the God
of the universe would not
have allowed it. Like the Saul of
they are “kicking against
the pricks” - Acts 9:5 – CY – 2012).
It will have the armor of
light. Its virtue will be a wall of defense.
“Its land will yield her increase; and God, even its own
God,
will bless it” (Psalm 67:6-7). “Happy is the nation that is in
such a case; yea, happy is
that people whose God is the Lord”
(Psalm 144:15). To such a nation it may well be
said, “Blessed is
he that blesseth
thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee”
(Numbers
24:5-9).
THE CURSE (vs.
15-68)
15 “But it
shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of
the LORD thy God, to observe to do all His
commandments and His
statutes which I command thee this day;
that all these curses shall come
upon thee, and overtake thee: 16 Cursed
shalt thou be in the city, and
cursed shalt thou be in the field. 17 Cursed
shall be thy basket and thy store.
18 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. 19
Cursed shalt thou be when thou
comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when
thou goest out.”
In case of disobedience and apostasy,
not only
would the blessing be withheld, but
a curse would descend,
BLIGHTING, DESTRUCTIVE and RUINOUS!
As the blessing was
set forth in six announcements (vs. 3-6), the curse is proclaimed
in form and number corresponding (vs. 16-19). The curse thus appears as the
EXACT COUNTERPART of the
blessing! The different forms
in which the
Threatened curse should break forth are then detailed in five groups.
First Group of
Curses (vs. 20-26)
The curse should come upon them in various forms of evil, filling them with
terror and
dismay, and threatening them with utter ruin (compare Malachi 2:2). “If ye will
not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory
unto my name,
saith the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you,
and I will curse
your blessings: yea,
I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it
to heart.”
20 “The
LORD shall send upon thee cursing, vexation,” -
rather, consternation;
the deadly confusion with which God confounds His enemies.
The same word is used
in ch. 7:23 and I Samuel 14:20 - “and rebuke,” - rather, threatening -
“in all
that
thou settest thine hand unto for to do,
until thou be destroyed, and until thou
perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy
doings, whereby thou hast
forsaken me.” (Notice the term “perish quickly” – this should be a warning to
the
populace of the
the Lord will make a “short work” in judgment – Romans 9:28 – CY – 2012)
21 “The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto
thee, until He
have consumed thee from off the land,
whither thou goest to possess it.
22 The LORD
shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever,
and with an inflammation, and with an
extreme burning, and with the sword,
and with blasting, and with mildew; and
they shall pursue thee until thou
perish.”
The afflictive visitations here named are
such as destroy life; but the
distinctive character of each it is not easy exactly to
define. The pestilence is
probably a generic term for any fatal epidemic. In the Septuagint, it is usually
represented by the general word θάνατος– thanatos - death.
Consumption; literally, wasting; the designation of any species
of tabes
(neurological problems) or marasmus (a form of
malnutrition). Fever (דַּלֶּקֶת, from
דָּלַק
, to be parched, to glow); inflammation (חַחְתֻר, from חָרַר, to burn);burning fever (קַדַּחַת
, from קָדַח, to kindle): different species of pyrexia, thedistinction between which has not been determined. The sword. Instead of חֶרֶב,
sword, the Vulgate, Arabic, and Samaritan adopt the reading
br,jo, heat, drought
(Genesis 31:40); but all the other versions support the
reading of the received text,
and there is no reason why it should be departed from, more
especially as
drought is threatened in the verse that follows. Blasting and with mildew;
diseases that attack the grain (Amos 4:9); the former (שִׁדָּפון
, from שָׁדַּפ, to scorch,to blast) a withering or scorching of the ears caused by
the east wind (Genesis 41:23);
the latter (יֵרָקון
, from יָרַק, to be yellowish) the effect produced by a hot wind,which turns the ears yellow, so that they are rendered
unproductive.
23 “And
thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth
that is under thee shall be iron.24 The LORD shall make the rain of thy land
powder and dust: from heaven shall it come
down upon thee, until thou be
destroyed.”
Terrible drought is hero threatened; no
rain should fall (compare
Leviticus 26:19); but instead thereof dust, both light as
powder and heavy as sand,
should fall upon them. The allusion is probably to those
clouds of dust and sand
which often fill the air in
rain for a season; the wind then becomes a vehement
sirocco, and the air is filled
with sand and dust, and is like the glowing heat at the
mouth of a furnace (Robinson,
‘Bib. Res.,’ 2:123; Thomson, ‘Land and the Book,’
2:311). (I am 68 years old
and have studied the Bible fairly extensively for 56 of
those years, and this being
Feb. 13, 2012, is the first time I have ever made the
connection with the sins of
As a high school teacher of American History, I have long
been aware of the
Great Depression and World War II getting the attention of
the American people,
who changed ways for a while [in fact, the 1950’s, when I
first became aware
of the world, was a great time to be reared!] but then the
1960’s to the present,
a long history of SIN AND
DECLINE IN THE UNITED STATES, should
make us aware of history and alarm us for
what might be coming down the
pike!
They say that “those who do
not know history will
repeat it!” I cannot speak for what God will do or is doing in this instance, but
if we did not learn from the Dust Bowl, perhaps it would do us no good to be
dealt with in a similar manner in the 21st century. God has set a precedent of
giving a people, a nation up, to do what they wish! We should pray God that
this is not the case! If the Dust Bowl was not a “wake up call” and a modern
fulfillment
of this curse from Deuteronomy, THEN I AM A FALSE
PROPHET!
Consider
God’s word to the nation under Isaiah, when
“Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for
the LORD hath spoken,
I have nourished and brought up children,
and they have rebelled against me.
The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his
master’s crib: but
know, my people doth not consider. Ah sinful nation, a people laden with
iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children
that are corrupters: they have forsaken
the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One
of
gone away backward. Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will
revolt
more and more: the whole head is sick, and
the whole heart faint. From the
sole of the foot even unto the head there
is no soundness in it; but wounds,
and bruises, and putrifying sores: they
have not been closed, neither bound up,
neither mollified with ointment.”{Isaiah 1:2-6} – Could it be that God is dealing
with
us as
For
Come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken WITHOUT REMEDY!”
Chronologically,
this happened to
when the LORD thy God shall have brought
thee into the land which He
swear unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to
Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee
great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, And houses full of all
good things, which
thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou
diggedst
not,
vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not;
when thou shalt
have eaten and be full; THEN BEWARE LEST
THOU FORGET THE
LORD, WHICH BROUGHT THEE FORTH OUT OF THE LAND OF
I
ask, has this all not happened to us in the
and
earlier citizens than us have done all the hard work and, basically, THE
NOW GENERATION, is
the ones that have DEPARTED FROM GOD
to where our
national leaders and even the average citizen, are
wringing their hands in helplessness?????????????? (There is hope!
Let us take heed to the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 13:11-14) –
“And that, knowing the time, that NOW IS
HIGH TIME TO AWAKE
OUT OF SLEEP for now
is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
THE NIGHT IS FAR
SPENT, THE DAY IS AT HAND: let us therefore
cast off the
works of darkness, and let us PUT ON THE
ARMOR OF
LIGHT – see Ephesians 6:11-18 – Let
us walk honestly, as in the day;
not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not
in strife and envying. But PUT YE ON
THE LORD JESUS CHRIST and
make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. – CY – 2012)
25 “The
LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies:
thou shalt go out one way against them, and
flee seven ways before
them: and shalt be removed into all the
kingdoms of the earth.” - literally,
shalt be a tossing to and fro to all the kingdoms, etc.; “a ball for all
the
kingdoms to play with” (Schultz; compare II Chronicles 29:8; Jeremiah 15:4;
24:9; 29:18).
26 And thy
carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto
the beasts of the earth, and no man shall
fray them away.” Utter defeat in
battle (the
opposite of the blessing promised, v. 7) and dispersion
among the
nations [literally fulfilled in history] are
threatened, with the utmost indignity to
those who were slain, in their bodies being left unburied to be
devoured by birds
of prey and wild beasts (compare I Kings 14:11; Psalm 79:2;
Jeremiah 7:33; 16:4)
The Second Group of Curses (vs. 27-34)
The Lord should afflict them with various loathsome
diseases, vex them with humiliating
and mortifying calamities, and give them over to be
plundered and oppressed by their
enemies.
27 “The
LORD will smite thee with the botch of
peculiar to
tumors, probably piles (compare I Samuel 5:9-12) - “and with the scab,” - probably
some kind of malignant scurvy - “and with the itch,” - of this there are
various kinds
common in
28 “The
LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and
astonishment of heart: 29 And thou
shalt grope at noonday, as the blind
gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not
prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt
be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and
no man shall save thee.”
Besides bodily ailments, mental diseases should come upon
them — insanity, incapacity,
confusion of mind, so that even at midday they should grope
as a blind man gropes, i.e.
under the most favorable circumstances they should be
unable to find the right path, to
hit on the right and safe course. It is of mental blindness that the word is here
used (compare Isaiah
42:19; Lamentations 4:14; Zephaniah 1:17; Romans 11:25;
II Corinthians 4:4). Thou shalt grope (compare
Isaiah 59:10). Thus afflicted in body
and mind, their state should be one only of oppression and
calamity, with no hope of
deliverance.
The spoliation of them should be utter. All most dear and
precious to them should be
the prey of their enemies. Wife, house, vineyard, herd, and
flock should be ruthlessly
taken from them; sons and daughters should be carried into
captivity, and their eyes
should look for them in vain, with constant and wasting
longing (compare
Jeremiah 5:15; 8:20; Amos 5:11; Micah 6:15; Zephaniah 1:13;
II Chronicles 29:9)
30 “Thou
shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou
shalt build an house, and thou shalt not
dwell therein: thou shalt plant a
vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes
thereof.” - margin, “Hebrew,
profane.” This is the
literal rendering of the verb; the meaning is that given
in the text. A vineyard was, for the first three years
after it was planted,
held sacred (Leviticus 19:23); after that, its consecration
ceased, and the fruit
might be gathered for common use (ch. 20:6), and it was
said to be profaned.
31 Thine
ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat
thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken
away from before thy
face, and shall not be restored to thee:
thy sheep shall be given
unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have
none to rescue them.”
32 “Thy
sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine
eyes shall look, and fail with longing for
them all the day long; and there shall
be no might in thine hand. 33 The fruit
of thy land, and all thy labors, shall a
nation which thou knowest not eat up; and
thou shalt be only oppressed and
crushed alway: 34 So that
thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which
thou shalt see.”
The Third Group of Curses (vs. 35-46)
Moses reverts to the calamities already threatened (v. 27),
for the purpose of leading
on the thought that, as such
diseases separated the sufferer from the society of his
fellows, so
dominion of strangers as a punishment for REBELLION and APOSTASY.
35 “The
LORD shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a
sore botch that cannot be healed, from the
sole of thy foot unto the
top of thy head.” A sore botch; an incurable
leprosy, affecting not merely the
joints and extremities, but the whole body. Such an
affliction would exclude a man
from all fellowship and from all covenant privileges of the
nation. So
unclean by their sin,
should be cut off from covenant union with God.
36 “The
LORD shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over
thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor
thy fathers have known; and there
shalt thou serve other gods, wood and
stone. 37 And thou shalt become an
astonishment, a proverb, and a byword,
among all nations whither the LORD
shall lead thee.” As a
consequence, God would bring them under subjection to a
foreign power, and they should be made to serve other gods, wood
and stone
(ch.4:28), and would become an object of horror, a proverb, and a
byword among
the nations (compare I Kings 9:7; Jeremiah 24:9).
38 “Thou
shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but
little in; for the locust shall consume
it.” Even in their own land the curse
would overtake them and rest upon them in all their interests and
relations.
“Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress
them, but shalt neither drink
of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the
worms shall eat them.”
40 “Thou
shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt
not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine
olive shall cast his fruit.” i.e. –
“drop off.”
41
Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not
enjoy them; for they shall go into
captivity.”
42 “All
thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume.”
Literally, take possession of. The name given here
to the ravaging insect is not
the same as in v. 38; but there can be no doubt it is the
locust that is intended.
43 “The
stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high;
and thou shalt come down very low. 44 He shall
lend to thee, and thou
shalt not lend to him: he shall be the
head, and thou shalt be the tail.”
(Compare vs. 12-13.)
45 “Moreover
all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue
thee, and overtake thee, till thou be
destroyed; because thou
hearkenedst not unto the voice of the LORD
thy God, to keep His
commandments and His statutes which He
commanded thee:
46 And
they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon
thy seed for ever.” These curses
would be for a sign and for a wonder, exciting
astonishment and dismay in the beholder, and showing that it was indeed
the HAND OF GOD that was upon the rebellious nation. Forever. This,
though it may imply the final and utter rejection of
not preclude the hope of restoration of a part of
a remnant remaining in or returning to faith and obedience
(compare Isaiah
6:13; 10:22; Romans 9:27-29; 11:5).
The Fourth Group of Curses (vs. 47-57)
In order still more to impress on the minds of the people the EVIL and DANGER
of REBELLION and APOSTASY Moses enlarges on the
calamities that would
ensue on their being given up to the power of the heathen. Because they
would not
serve Jehovah their God, THEY SHOULD BE DELIVERED TO BE
SERVANTS OF THEIR ENEMIES!
47 “Because
thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and
with gladness of heart, for the abundance
of all things; 48 Therefore shalt
thou serve thine enemies which the LORD
shall send against thee, in hunger,
and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in
want of all things: and He shall put a
yoke of iron upon thy neck, until He have
destroyed thee.”
The description here given of the enemy to whom
more or less closely to all the nations whom God raised up
from time to time, to invade
48:40; 49:22; Ezekiel 17:5-7; Habakkuk 1:6), the Assyrians
(Isaiah 5:26; 38:11),
the Medes (Isaiah 13:17-18); but there are features in
the description which apply
especially to the Romans; and the horrors delineated in the
latter part of the section
(vs. 52-57) carry one’s thoughts immediately to the
terrible scenes which transpired
during the wars of Vespasian and Titus with the Jews as
narrated by Josephus.
49 “The
LORD shall bring a nation against thee
from far, from the end of
the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth;” - The
eagle was the common ensign of the
legion in the Roman army; and by the Latin writers aquila
(eagle) is sometimes used
for a legion (Matthew 24:28) - “a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;
50 A nation of fierce countenance,” – literally, firm or hard of face; i.e.
obdurate
and determined (compare Proverbs 21:29; Daniel 8:23)
- “which shall not regard the
person of the old, nor shew favor to the
young:”
51 “And he
shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou
be destroyed: which also shall not leave
thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the
increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy
sheep, until he have destroyed thee.
52 And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates,
until thy high and fenced
walls come down, wherein thou trustedst,
throughout all thy land: and he shall
besiege thee in all thy gates throughout
all thy land, which the LORD thy God
hath given thee. 53 And thou
shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh
of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the
LORD thy God hath given thee, in
the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith
thine enemies shall distress thee:
54 So that
the man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye
shall be evil toward his brother, and
toward the wife of his bosom, and toward
the remnant of his children which he shall
leave: 55
So that he will not give
to any of them of the flesh of his children
whom he shall eat: because he hath
nothing left him in the siege, and in the
straitness, wherewith thine enemies
shall distress thee in all thy gates. 56 The
tender and delicate woman among
you, which would not adventure to set the
sole of her foot upon the ground for
delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall
be evil toward the husband of her
bosom, and toward her son, and toward her
daughter,” - So intense should be
the hunger, that the delicate and sensitive woman, brought
up in luxury, and who
would not set her foot on the ground lest she should be
fatigued by the exertion or
offended by coming in contact with the base soil, but when
she went abroad must
be carried in a litter or borne by a camel or an ass, —
even she should break through
all restraints of delicacy and affection, and would
secretly devour the very infant she
had borne during the siege.
57 And toward her young
one” - literally, her
after-birth. The Hebrew suggests
an extreme of horror beyond what the Authorized
Version indicates - “that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her
children which
she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things
secretly in the siege and straitness,
wherewith thine enemy shall distress
thee in thy gates.” (Compare Leviticus
26:29; II Kings 6:24-30; Jeremiah 19:9;
Lamentations 2:20; 4:10.)
The Fifth Group of Curses (vs. 58-68)
Even these fearful calamities would not be the consummation
of their punishment.
If they should be obstinate in their rebellion; if they
would not observe to do all that
the Law delivered by Moses enjoined on them if they ceased to reverence and obey
Jehovah, their God; — then should come upon them the curse
in full measure, and
long-continued chastisement should show HOW GRIEVOUS HAD BEEN
THEIR SIN!
58 “If
thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in
this book,” - Not the Book of
Deuteronomy, which was not then written, but the
Book of the Law, the Torah, delivered by Moses to
he had been, in his addresses to the people, recapitulating
some of the principal points
(compare vs. 60-6l). “that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name,
THE LORD THY GOD;” - It was not mere
outward observance of the Law, not
the mere “doing” of what was enjoined that was required,
but the doing of it
heartily and
sincerely in the fear of the Lord, in the fear of Him who had
revealed Himself to them by the glorious and awful Name,
Jehovah, their God
(compare Leviticus 24:11). 59 “Then the LORD will make thy
plagues wonderful,
and the plagues of thy seed, even great
plagues, and of long continuance, and
sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.”
60 “Moreover
He will bring upon thee all the diseases of
sent on Pharaoh and his people, as recorded in Exodus
chapters 7-11. Besides these,
other plagues, not recorded in the Book of the Law, should
come on rebellious
so that they should be almost utterly destroyed - “which thou wast
afraid of; and
they shall cleave unto thee. 61 Also every sickness, and every plague, which
is not written in the book of this law,
them will the LORD bring upon thee,
until thou be destroyed.”
62 “And ye
shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of
heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest
not obey the voice of the
LORD thy God.” (Compare
ch.4:27; 10:22; Nehemiah 9:23.)
63 And it
shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do
you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD
will rejoice over you to
destroy you, and to bring you to nought;
and ye shall be plucked from off
the land whither thou goest to possess it.”
(Compare ch.30:9; Jeremiah 32:41.)
He, whose joy it had been to do them good, should rejoice
over their destruction
(Proverbs 1:26).
64 And the
LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of
the earth even unto the other; and there
thou shalt serve other gods, which
neither thou nor thy fathers have known,
even wood and stone.”
65 And
among these nations shalt thou find no
ease, neither shall the sole of thy
foot have rest: but the LORD shall give
thee there a trembling heart, and
failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind:” Those of them
that survived the plagues
that should come upon them, and the horrors of the siege,
should be scattered
amongst all nations to the ends of the earth, and there
subjugated to the utmost
indignities and sufferings.
66 “And
thy life shall hang in doubt before thee;” -
literally, Thy life
shall be hung up before thee; i.e. shall be like an object suspended by a
thread which hangs dangling before the view, ready to fall
or to be cut down at
any moment -“and
thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none
assurance of thy life: 67 In the
morning thou shalt say, Would God it
were even! and at even thou
shalt say, Would God it were morning!
for the fear of
thine heart wherewith thou shalt
fear, and for the sight
of thine eyes which thou shalt see.”
Worst of all, they should be again reduced to bondage,
carried back to
up for sale as slaves, and be so utterly despicable that no
one would purchase them.
68 “And
the LORD shall bring thee into
birth of the nation of God as such, the return would be its
death” (compare Hosea
8:13; 9:3) - “with ships,” - They came out
of
should be carried back imprisoned and cooped up in
slave-ships - “by the
way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt
see it no more again:” –
This does not refer to their being carried to
way by which they had come out from it, but simply to the
fact that they should
be carried back thither, contrary to what was expected when
they so triumphantly
came forth from it – “and there ye shall be sold” - literally, shall sell yourselves;
i.e. give
yourselves up to be sold as slaves. It is a fact that, after the capture of
subjected to most ignominious bondage; and in the time of
Hadrian, multitudes
of Jews were sold into slavery (Josephus, ‘De Bell. Jud.,’
6:9, 2) - “unto your
enemies for bondmen and bondwomen,
and no man shall buy you.”
Love Veiled in
Judgment (vs. 15-68)
Probably many may think that this is one of the most awful
chapters in the
Word of God. Certainly we are not aware of any other in
which there is
such a long succession of
warnings, increasing in terror as they advance.
In fact, Matthew Henry tells us of a wicked man who was so
enraged at
reading this chapter that he tore the leaf out of his
Bible! Impotent rage!
Impotent as if, when a man dreaded an eclipse of the sun,
he were to tear
up the announcements thereof. (Reader, there is a scheduled
total eclipse of
the sun to occur about ten miles from where I am typing
this, centered
near
the Lord will delay His coming until then, or whether I
will be here to see it,
remains to be seen.
I thought this was an interesting tidbit to the above commentary
entry – CY – 2012) It
would come for all that! So here; there are two historical
facts:
·
The CHILDREN OF
·
ALL THESE CURSES DID BEFALLTHEM
Some are unspent even yet. Hence this chapter is a standing
proof of the accuracy of
the foresight which dictated its prophecies. But while we
thus get, on the one hand, a
verification of the words, and so a proof of their Divine
origin, another question is
raised, viz. How are all these terrible realities
consistent with the love of God? Now,
far be it from us to attempt any vindication of the ways of
God. He is infinitely
beyond any need of
that. What He does is right, whether
we can see it to be so
or no. One thing only do we aim at now: that is, to
guard men against any
misinterpretation of those ways, and to point them to
such teachings concerning them
as God has given to us. Our theme is — LOVE VEILED IN
FROWN; OR THE
TERRORS OF THE LORD A NECESSITY OF HIS INFINITE LOVE!
though we call it “the
curse of God,” must never be thought of in any way
which would be inconsistent
with His pure and perfect love. The wrath of
God is holy love judging
wrong. (I recommend – The Wrath of God by
Arthur Pink -
# 4 – this web
site – CY – 2012)
any more than he can retreat
from his own shadow.
vindication of his own laws is
essential to guard righteousness as with a
wall of fire! Hence:
OF THE MOST ALARMING WARNINGS WHICH
CAN BE
GIVEN! THE TRUEST LOVE
IS THAT WHICH IS MOST
FAITHFUL! GOD IS LOVE AND GOD IS FAITHFUL!
God is also thrown around the
gospel. Just as, on the one hand, this Law
did not and could not annul the
promise which had been made to Abraham
and his seed, even so, on the
other hand, not even the richness and glory of
the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ can ever annul the action of these
stern, retributive laws of God’s
providence on those who continue
in sin,
and who reject the
redemption brought in by the Son of God
(see
Hebrews chapters 9 and
10.). (I recommend How to Be Saved - # 5 –
this web site – CY – 2012)
A Nation Becoming a
Beacon (vs. 15-68)
In this chapter, we find that the blessings promised for
obedience bear a small proportion
(14 verses) to the curses denounced against disobedience
(54 verses). We shall try to
sum up the evils here threatened against
point out their practical and present application.
advantages to religious effort,
it gives corresponding advantages to sin.
Temptation becomes intensified.
The leaven of corruption gets speedily
through the compacter mass. The
very mention of the city and its sins and
sorrows brings a frightful
panorama before us. Ignorance, drunkenness,
irreligion, licentiousness, —
all these are found in their most fearful forms
in cities. Now, the Jews are
threatened with a curse upon their city life in
case of their disobedience.
Chorazin,
samples of doomed cities through
the disobedience of the people (Matthew
11:20-24).
The land of promise will become,
through drought and carelessness, a barren
waste, like the worn-out lands
of slave-holding people, which once were
glorious virgin soil. And
travelers today, have no difficulty in
believing that
become A SAD REALITY and the land stands as a witness to THE
FAITHFULNESS OF
GOD’S WARNINGS!
form of judgment can be
supposed than this. Parents are touched deepest in their
children. Hence it must have
been a great trial for the wayward Jews to
find their
children deteriorating through their sin, (it is much easier to
lead your children into
persons the curse of God.
Population dwindled, and instead of being the
countless people they once were,
they have become so small that it is one
of the wonders of the world that
they maintain their separate existence.
THEM Now, it would seem that
certain diseases were peculiar to
of these the Israelites were particularly afraid. Now, the Lord
threatens them
with all the diseases of
The diseases with which the human frame is visited are
certainly manifold and
terrible. To attach them to
sin in a way of natural law only makes the
judgment the more terrible. Of course we cannot say special sickness is
proof positive of special sin;
but we can say that but for sin there would
have been no
suffering and no sickness; and that
sin deserves all that is
sent. The frightful character of the sickness and sorrows God
sends is the
expression of His detestation of
man’s sin.
of the scarcity of food is
terrible. To waste away for want of due nourishment is
terrible. Yet this the Lord
threatened, and ultimately sent as the history tells
us. (When this judgment comes on us, think how
hard it will be on Americans
who are used to having it
all!!!!!!!! – CY – 2012)
judgments war is worst. And the
siege endured in
transcends all others recorded
in history. Of minor sieges at
elsewhere we need not speak.
According to Josephus, “eleven hundred
thousand Jews perished in the
course of the siege of
by sword, pestilence, or famine.
Besides these eleven hundred thousand,
ninety-seven thousand were taken
prisoners; and these were reserved, not
for the light sufferings
commonly undergone by prisoners of war in our
days, but for the horrors of the
slave-market, and for a life of perpetual
bondage.” It is believed that direct reference is made
to the Roman eagles
in vs. 49-50, and it is known
that women ate their children in the terrible siege.
dispersion must have been
terrible. Emigration is now deemed bad enough,
even though it may be to a
better inheritance. But the Jewish dispersion
threatened was captivity which
we know came upon them at different
times. The Babylonish Captivity
was acknowledged by them to be in
consequence of their sins (idolatry
and the breaking of the Sabbath –
II Chronicles 36), the
recognized curse of God. And even after
their return in part to
were threatened with such a
scattering among the nations as would make
them universally despised. And
they have become so. Even yet,
notwithstanding toleration and
Jewish money-grubbing, the nation has not
secured the respect of mankind.
As Byron wrote:
“Tribes
of the wandering foot and weary breast,
How
shall ye flee away and be at rest!
The
wild dove hath her nest, the fox his cave,
Mankind
their country —
Such in brief are the judgments threatened, and, as history
shows us, faithfully executed.
The nation constitutes the beacon of history — the most terrible evidence of the
perils of disobedience! The following lessons of a practical character are surely taught:
Ø
Of those to whom much is given shall much be required
(Luke 12:48). No nation was so favored; but, neglecting its
opportunities,
no nation has been so
cursed. It has been more tolerable for
20-24)
Ø
It is terrible when judgment has to begin at the house of God.
This is the meaning of the
melancholy history. It is a tragedy at the
house of God (I Peter
4:17). “Let him that thinketh he standeth
take heed, lest he
fall.” (I Corinthians 10:12)
Ø
The prophetic threatening did not prevent their apostasy. Though
as we believe, having their
possible career through disobedience to
direct judgment so
carefully sketched, the prophecy lay for ages as a
sealed, if not a neglected
book. We think,
with the rich man in Hades
(Luke 16:19-31), that
categorical warning would reform any of our
brethren, no matter how
abandoned, but find it a mistake. He who
knows the end from the
beginning has by His prophecy demonstrated
that warning is often despised just in proportion to its
particularity and faithfulness.
Ø
THAT JUDGMENT ON EARTH IS AN IMAGE OF A MORE
TERRIBLE JUDGMENT BEYOND.
(If you would
like to
verify this check
out arkdiscovery.com and browse the part about
“
suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” - CY – 2012)
For us, each of us, if we
do fail of the grace of God
there is reserved a misery
of which indeed the words of the text are no
more than a feeble picture.
There is a state in which they who are
condemned to it shall
forever say in the morning. Would God it
were even! and at even, Would God it were morning (v.67)
for the fear of their heart wherewith they shall fear, and the sight
of their eyes which they shall see.”
In forecasting what the doom of the impenitent shall be, we
would do well
to remember what God has done to sinners in the present life. Imagination
may picture postmortem pardons and insist on sentiment determining the
doom of disobedience, even when perpetuated; but THE
HISTORY OF
JUDGMENT HERE ON EARTH SHOULD MAKE EVERY SANE
MAN FEAR TO SPEAK LIGHTLY OF THE JUDGMENT BEYOND!
May God preserve us all from such an experience, through THE BLOOD
AND MERIT OF JESUS CHRIST, OUR SAVIOUR AND GOD’S
ONLY BEGOTTEN SON!
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