Deuteronomy 28:43

_THE STRANGER THAT IS WITHIN THEE SHALL GET UP ABOVE THEE VERY HIGH; AND THOU SHALT COME DOWN VERY LOW._ The stranger that is within thee shall get above thee very high. This was fulfilled in the subsequent history of Israel; as appears, for instance, in the prosperity of "the stranger" (Judges 2:14; 1 Samuel 13:10), and in the striking contrast between the days of Solomon, when the weight of gold (silver being nothing accounted of) which came to the king in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents, and those of Jehoiakim, when Pharaoh-necho, having by conquest become "the head" of Judea, could impose only a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold, which, small as it was, could with difficulty be raised by an impoverished people. 'Doubtless in those

43._The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee_. This also was no doubtful mark of God’s wrath, that the sojourners who dwelt in the land of Canaan by sufferance should in a manner become its masters; for we know how those who are in debt are under the power of their creditors. In fact, what Solomon says is found to be true, that “the rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.” (Proverbs 22:7.) The Israelites, therefore, must have felt that God was contrary to them, when they were suppliants to their own guests, especially since He had promised that He would so enrich them that they should lend to others. This revolution of affairs, then, plainly convinced them of their iniquities. Meanwhile, it must be observed that poverty as well as wealth is in God’s hands, and that whilst the

15-44 If we do not keep God's commandments, we not only come short of the blessing promised, but we lay ourselves under the curse, which includes all misery, as the blessing all happiness. Observe the justice of this curse. It is not a curse causeless, or for some light cause. The extent and power of this curse. Wherever the sinner goes, the curse of God follows; wherever he is, it rests upon him. Whatever he has is under a curse. All his enjoyments are made bitter; he cannot take any true comfort in them, for the wrath of God mixes itself with them. Many judgments are here stated, which would be the fruits of the curse, and with which God would punish the people of the Jews, for their apostacy and disobedience. We may observe the fulfilling of these threatenings in their present state. To complete their misery, it is threatened that by these troubles they should be bereaved of all comf...

The curses correspond in form and number Deuteronomy 28:15 to the blessings Deuteronomy 28:3, and the special modes in which these threats should be executed are described in five groups of denunciations Deuteronomy 28:20. Deuteronomy 28:20 First series of judgments. The curse of God should rest on all they did, and should issue in manifold forms of disease, in famine, and in defeat in war. Deuteronomy 28:20...

EXPOSITION THE BLESSING AND THE CURSE. Having enjoined the proclamations of the blessing and the curse on their entering into possession of Canaan, Moses, for the sake of impressing on the minds of the people 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. DEUTERONOMY 28:1 _The_ _blessing_._ _The condition _sine qua non _of all enjoyment of the Divine bounty was obedience on

THE STRANGER THAT [IS] WITHIN THEE SHALL GET UP ABOVE THEE VERY HIGH,.... In wealth and riches, in power and authority, in honour and dignity. This Manasseh Ben Israel r interprets of the Samaritans, whom the king of Assyria drove out of Samaria, and the neighbouring places; but the design of the expression is to show how mean and abject they should be in another country; that even one who had been a stranger or proselyte of the gate, when in their own country, should now be vastly above them: AND THOU SHALL COME DOWN, VERY LOW; into a very mean condition, to be in great subjection, a vassal and a slave; see Psalms 106:41; and much more when reduced by the Romans, and sent to the mines in Egypt. r De Termino Vitae, l. 3. sect. 3. p. 128....

24. THE BLESSING AND THE CURSE CHAPTER 28 _ 1. The blessing promised (Deuteronomy 28:1)_ 2. The curse announced (Deuteronomy 28:15) This is one of the most solemn Chapter s in the Pentateuch. Orthodox Hebrews read in their synagogues each year through the entire five books of Moses. When they read this chapter, the Rabbi reads in a subdued voice. And well may they read it softly and ponder over it, for here is prewritten the sad and sorrowful history of that wonderful nation. Here thousands of years ago the Spirit of God through Moses outlined the history of the scattered nation, all their suffering and tribulations, as it has been for well nigh two millenniums and as it is still. Here are arguments for the divine, the supernatural origin of this book which

The curses to follow disobedience. These answer generally to the blessings of Deuteronomy 28:1, only that the order Deuteronomy 28:5; Deuteronomy 28:4 is presumed and Deuteronomy 28:1_ b_ and Deuteronomy 28:2_ b_ are ignored. Deuteronomy 28:21. pestilence: a general term; so Jeremiah 14:12....

VERY HIGH. Hebrew "high, high". Figure of speech _Epizeuxis._ App-6. VERY LOW. Hebrew "low, low". Figure of speech _Epizeuxis._ App-6. Compare the Figure of speech Isaiah 26:3....

The Curses The opening Deuteronomy 28:15, correspond to the blessings in Deuteronomy 28:1, except that there are no antitheses to Deuteronomy 28:1 _b_and Deuteronomy 28:2 _b_, and that the curse on basket and kneading-bowl precedes that on _fruit of thy body_, etc. Then the Discourse leaves the limits it had observed in the remainder of the blessings, Deuteronomy 28:8, and while here and there it gives the exact contrast of these blessings (cp....