XXVIII. SANCTIONS OF THE LAW IN DEUTERONOMY. THE BLESSING AND THE CURSE. Almost every specific portion of the Law in Scripture has a passage of this kind at the end. The code in Exodus 21-23 ends with a declaration of rewards and punishments (Exodus 23:20). The laws of holiness, ceremonial and moral... [ Continue Reading ]
Deuteronomy 28:1. BLESSINGS OF OBEDIENCE. (1) WILL SET THEE ON HIGH. — Literally, _will make thee Most High,_ using a name of God, as in Deuteronomy 26:19. Compare what is said of Jerusalem. “She (Jerusalem) shall be called Jehovah-Tzidkenu” (Jeremiah 33:16), and “the name of the city from that day... [ Continue Reading ]
AND OVERTAKE THEE. — A beautiful expression, _i.e., shall come home to thee,_ and impress the heart with the thought of God’s love and of His promises, even when it is least expected. Comp. Zechariah 1:6. “My words and my statutes, did they not _take hold of_ (_i.e.,_ overtake) your fathers? and the... [ Continue Reading ]
THY BASKET — (Only here and in Deuteronomy 28:17, and Deuteronomy 26:2; Deuteronomy 26:4) — _i.e.,_ the portion which is brought out for the present occasion. _Thy store,_ that which is left, and put away for future use. But this view rests upon the LXX. translation of the word for _“_store.” All th... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THOU COMEST IN... AND WHEN THOU GOEST OUT. — These words may apply to the details of life, or they may have a further meaning, as the eisodus of Christ was His entrance into this world’s labour, and His exodus His departure (Acts 13:24; Luke 9:31). Rashi says, “So that thy departure from the wo... [ Continue Reading ]
AND FLEE BEFORE THEE SEVEN WAYS. — “So is the custom of them that are terrified, to flee, scattering in every direction” (Rashi). See the story of the flight of the Midianites (Judges 7:21), and of the Syrians (2 Kings 7:7).... [ Continue Reading ]
THY STOREHOUSES. — The word is only found here and in Proverbs 3:9, “Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: so shall _thy barns_ be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.” There is the same kind of contrast here which has been... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD SHALL ESTABLISH THEE AN HOLY PEOPLE — i.e., shall “maintain” thee in that position or shall “raise thee up” into it, and exalt thee to it, in its fullest sense. The word here employed has branched out into two lines of thought. In Jewish literature it has taken the sense of permanence and p... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THOU ART CALLED. — Literally, _that the name of Jehovah has been called upon thee._ AND THEY SHALL BE AFRAID OF THEE. — Comp. Jeremiah 33:9 : “And they shall _fear_ and tremble for _all the goodness and for all the prosperity,_ that I procure unto it” (Jerusalem).... [ Continue Reading ]
IN GOODS. — Rather, _in good_ or _goodness, i.e., in_ prosperity. “Goodness” in Jeremiah 33:9.... [ Continue Reading ]
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... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THOU SHALT NOT GO ASIDE. — It is possible, of course, to connect this sentence with the “if” in Deuteronomy 28:13, “If that thou hearken and do not go aside.” But the LXX., and apparently the Targums also, begin a fresh sentence with this verse. The idea that obedience begets obedience is by no... [ Continue Reading ]
Deuteronomy 28:15. THE CURSE OF DISOBEDIENCE. (15) BUT IT SHALL COME TO PASS. — The following verses to the end of 48 are the contrast to the first fourteen, which declare the blessings of obedience.... [ Continue Reading ]
(16-19) CURSED.... — Here we have the counterpart of Deuteronomy 28:3, inclusive. The only difference is in the position of “the basket and the store” which come one place earlier in the curses than in the blessings.... [ Continue Reading ]
CURSING, VEXATION, AND REBUKE. — _Deficiency,_ and _anxiety,_ and _failure_ in every enterprise, would convey the idea, according to another interpretation. There are two views of the derivation of the first of the three words employed. Probably the Authorised Version is right. The three words have... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PESTILENCE. — One of God’s four sore judgments to be sent upon Jerusalem (Ezekiel 14:19). Until he have consumed thee from off the land. — From Deuteronomy 28:21, inclusive, we seem to be reading of the gradual consumption of Israel “in the land of promise” before any actual captivity.... [ Continue Reading ]
CONSUMPTION. — Only here and in Leviticus 26:16. “With which the flesh is consumed and puffed out” (Rashi). FEVER. — Only here and in Leviticus 26:16, where it is rendered “burning ague.” (Comp. Deuteronomy 32:22 : “A fire _is kindled_ in mine anger.”) INFLAMMATION. — Here only. The word is derive... [ Continue Reading ]
THY HEAVEN... SHALL BE BRASS, AND THE EARTH... IRON. — Not only in respect of the drought, but of God’s refusal to remove it. See Jeremiah 14:15 for a most pathetic intercession for Israel under this misery, answered by the order, “Pray not for this people for their good” (Jeremiah 14:11). Only grie... [ Continue Reading ]
POWDER AND DUST. — The great desert, which lies on the eastern frontier of Palestine, makes this only too possible.... [ Continue Reading ]
The contrary to Deuteronomy 28:7. REMOVED. — Literally, _a removing._ The LXX. in this place has διασπορά_,_ or dispersion, the word used for the dispersed Israelites in the New Testament. (See Revised Version, John 7:35; 1 Peter 1:1.) The threat is repeated in Jeremiah 15:4 for the sins of king Ma... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THY CARCASE SHALL BE MEAT. — Repeated in Jeremiah 7:33, and to be fulfilled in Tophet, when they had buried until there was no more room. (Comp. also Jeremiah 15:3.) NO MAN SHALL FRAY (_I.E.,_ FRIGHTEN) THEM AWAY. — Not even a woman like Rizpah, who at the foot of the gallows watched her childr... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BOTCH OF EGYPT. — The “boil,” with which the Egyptians were plagued (Exodus 9:9, &c.) is the same word. (See also 2 Kings 20:7; Job 2:7.) Rashi says of this boil, “It was very bad, being moist on the inside, and dry outside.” A learned Dalmatian Jew, with whom I have read this passage, tells me... [ Continue Reading ]
MADNESS, AND BLINDNESS, AND ASTONISHMENT. — The three words are all found in Zechariah 12:4 But in that place the threat seems directed against the enemies of Jerusalem (see Deuteronomy 30:7).... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT NOT PROSPER IN THY WAYS. — The exact opposite is promised to Joshua (Deuteronomy 1:8) if he follows the Book of the Law. (Comp. Isaiah 29:10.) When men find it no longer possible to follow the word of God, it is written that “the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understandin... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT HAVE NONE TO RESCUE. — Here and in Deuteronomy 28:29 the Hebrew literally is, “Thou shalt have no Saviour.” The times of oppression before the several judges were raised up, who are called saviours, must often have temporarily fulfilled these anticipations.... [ Continue Reading ]
THY SONS AND THY DAUGHTERS. — The language of this verse is perhaps the most pathetic piece of description in the whole chapter. Many of the nations bordering on Israel were accustomed when they made inroads to take away, not only the cattle, but the children for slaves. Another equally pathetic pas... [ Continue Reading ]
A NATION WHICH THOU KNOWEST NOT. — Comp. Jeremiah 5:15, “_A nation_ whose language _thou knowest not_... _shall eat up thy harvest and thy bread”_ &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
A SORE BOTCH. — A boil, as in Deuteronomy 28:27. In the knees. — Comp. Ezekiel 7:17; Ezekiel 21:7, “All knees shall be weak as water.”... [ Continue Reading ]
THEE, AND THY KING THAT THOU SHALT SET OVER THEE. — Comp. Deuteronomy 17:14. The former passage is not the only one in which Moses shows his fore knowledge that Israel would have a king. But could any later writer have concealed his knowledge that there were two kingdoms, or have avoided all allusio... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THOU SHALT BECOME AN ASTONISHMENT, A PROVERB, AND A BYWORD. — This verse is the contrary to Deuteronomy 28:10. It was verified in the first captivity, and did not wait for the last dispersion. (See 1 Kings 9:7, where the threat is repeated; Jeremiah 42:18; Ezekiel 36:20.)... [ Continue Reading ]
(38-42) These are the contrary to Deuteronomy 28:11; and Deuteronomy 28:44 is the contrary to Deuteronomy 28:12. From the order of the passage it might seem that these particular troubles were to come on Israel after their captivity. And perhaps it is not accidental that something very like a fulfil... [ Continue Reading ]
TILL THOU BE DESTROYED. — Not exterminated. The root meaning of the word is connected with “smiting,” and the idea seems to be to crush. (Comp. 2 Kings 13:7 : “The king of Syria had destroyed them, and _had made them like the dust by threshing.”_) This kind of destruction is consistent with what fol... [ Continue Reading ]
Deuteronomy 28:49. CONQUEST OF ISRAEL BY A STRANGE NATION. MISERIES OF THE SIEGE. (49) THE LORD SHALL BRING A NATION AGAINST THEE. — Comp. “Lo, I will _bring a nation upon you from far,_ O house of Israel, saith the Lord: it is a mighty nation, an ancient nation, a _nation whose language thou knowe... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH SHALL NOT REGARD THE PERSON OF THE OLD, NOR SHOW FAVOUR TO THE YOUNG. — Comp. 2 Chronicles 36:17, “The king of the Chaldecs had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man or him that stooped for age; and Lamentations 5:12, “Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SHALL BESIEGE THEE IN ALL THY GATES. — The siege of the last two “fenced cities” by Nebuchadnezzar’s army is mentioned in Jeremiah 34:7. The siege and capture of Jotapata by the Romans, in spite of all the efforts of the Jews to defend it, is specially recorded by Josephus.... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT EAT THE FRUIT OF THINE OWN BODY. — Specially confirmed in the siege of Samaria by the Syrians (2 Kings 6:26; but see on Deuteronomy 28:56), and also in Jerusalem when besieged by Nebuchadnezzar. (See Lamentations 2:20; Lamentations 4:10.)... [ Continue Reading ]
SO THAT HE WILL NOT GIVE TO ANY OF THEM.-A complication of horrors is here described. They shall eat some of their children and refuse to share even this food with those that are left.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TENDER AND DELICATE WOMAN. — This was fulfilled to the very letter in the case of Mary of Beth-ezob in the siege of Jerusalem by Titus. The story is told with horrible minuteness by Josephus, and again by Eusebius in his Church History. The secrecy of the deed was one of its horrors.... [ Continue Reading ]
See Note on Deuteronomy 25:2. THIS GLORIOUS AND FEARFUL NAME, THE LORD THY GOD. — The first Note of the Decalogue is here referred to, as the great curse of the Law draws to its close. It is no light matter when the Almighty says to any people or to any person, “I am Jehovah thy God.” They who are... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DISEASES OF EGYPT, WHICH THOU WAST AFRAID OF. — Contrast Exodus 15:26. “If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of Jehovah... I will put none of these diseases of Egypt which thou knowest, upon thee; for I am _Jehovah, that healeth thee”_ But, on the other hand, it is said (Ezekiel 7:9), “Y... [ Continue Reading ]
EVERY SICKNESS AND EVERY PLAGUE (or “smiting;” Heb., _Makkah_) WHICH IS NOT WRITTEN. — Well might the Apostle write, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”... [ Continue Reading ]
AS THE LORD REJOICED OVER YOU. — See on Deuteronomy 30:9.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD SHALL SCATTER THEE AMONG ALL PEOPLE. — Fulfilled, literally, in this last dispersion. THOU SHALT SERVE OTHER GODS. — We do not know of Israel’s falling into actual idolatry in dispersion, except in Egypt (Jeremiah 44:17), and possibly in Babylon (Ezekiel 14:22. Comp. Deuteronomy 33:25)... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AMONG THESE NATIONS SHALT THOU FIND NO EASE. — The repeated persecutions of the Jews by other nations in the time of their dispersion are among the most fearful and wonderful phenomena of history. AND FAILING OF EYES. — “Looking for salvation, and it cometh not” (Rashi). How many years have the... [ Continue Reading ]
THY LIFE SHALL HANG IN DOUBT BEFORE THEE. — “Perhaps 1 shall die to-day by the sword that cometh upon me” (Rashi).... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT SAY. — The Talmud expounds this of the constant increase of trouble. Yesterday evening this morning was longed for. To-day the trouble is more terrible, and every hour adds to the curse. But the description in the text needs nothing to augment its horrors.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD SHALL BRING THEE INTO EGYPT AGAIN WITH SHIPS. — Josephus says this was done with many of the Jews by Titus. THOU SHALT SEE IT NO MORE AGAIN. — Deuteronomy 17:16. YE SHALL BE SOLD... AND NO MAN SHALL BUY YOU. — Rashi explains thus: “Ye shall desire to be sold — ye shall offer yourselves as... [ Continue Reading ]