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Deuteronomy Chapter Twenty-eight                           

 

Deuteronomy 28

Chapter Contents

The blessings for obedience. (1-14) The curses for disobedience. (15-44) Their ruin if disobedient. (45-68)

Commentary on Deuteronomy 28:1-14

(Read Deuteronomy 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.

Commentary on Deuteronomy 28:15-44

(Read Deuteronomy 28:15-44)

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 comfort and hope and left to utter despair. Those who walk by sight and not by faith are in danger of losing reason itself when every thing about them looks frightful.

Commentary on Deuteronomy 28:45-68

(Read Deuteronomy 28:45-68)

If God inflicts vengeance what miseries his curse can bring upon mankind even in this present world! Yet these are but the beginning of sorrows to those under the curse of God. What then will be the misery of that world where their worm dieth not and their fire is not quenched! Observe what is here said of the wrath of God which should come and remain upon the Israelites for their sins. It is amazing to think that a people so long the favourites of Heaven should be so cast off; and yet that a people so scattered in all nations should be kept distinct and not mixed with others. If they would not serve God with cheerfulness they should be compelled to serve their enemies. We may justly expect from God that if we do not fear his fearful name we shall feel his fearful plagues; for one way or other God will be feared. The destruction threatened is described. They have indeed been plucked from off the land verse 63. Not only by the Babylonish captivity and when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans; but afterwards when they were forbidden to set foot in Jerusalem. They should have no rest; no rest of body ver. 65 but be continually on the remove either in hope of gain or fear of persecution. No rest of the mind which is much worse. They have been banished from city to city from country to country; recalled and banished again. These events compared with the favour shown to Israel in ancient times and with the prophecies about them should not only excite astonishment but turn unto us for a testimony assuring us of the truth of Scripture. And when the other prophecies of their conversion to Christ shall come to pass the whole will be a sign and a wonder to all the nations of the earth and the forerunner of a general spread of true christianity. The fulfilling of these prophecies upon the Jewish nation delivered more than three thousand years ago shows that Moses spake by the Spirit of God; who not only foresees the ruin of sinners but warns of it that they may prevent it by a true and timely repentance or else be left without excuse. And let us be thankful that Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law by being made a curse for us and bearing in his own person all that punishment which our sins merit and which we must otherwise have endured for ever. To this Refuge and salvation let sinners flee; therein let believers rejoice and serve their reconciled God with gladness of heart for the abundance of his spiritual blessings.

── Matthew HenryConcise Commentary on Deuteronomy

 

Deuteronomy 28

Verse 2

[2] And all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.

Overtake thee — Those blessings which others greedily follow after and never overtake shall follow after thee and shall be thrown into thy lap by special kindness.

Verse 3

[3] Blessed shalt thou be in the city and blessed shalt thou be in the field.

In the city and in the field — Whether they were husbandmen or tradesmen whether in the town or country they should be preserved from the dangers of both and have the comforts of both. How constantly must we depend upon God both for the continuance and comfort of life! We need him at every turn: we cannot be safe if he withdraw his protection nor easy if he suspends his savour: but if he bless us go where we will 'tis well with us.

Verse 5

[5] Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.

Store — Store-house it shall always be well replenished and the provision thou hast there shall be preserved for thy use and service.

Verse 6

[6] Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

Comest in — That is in all thy affairs and administrations.

Verse 9

[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.

Establish thee — Shall confirm his covenant with thee by which he separated thee to himself as an holy and peculiar people.

Verse 10

[10] And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.

Of the Lord — That you are in truth his people and children: A most excellent and glorious people under the peculiar care and countenance of the great God.

Verse 11

[11] And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods 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 sware unto thy fathers to give thee.

The same things which were said before are repeated to shew that God would repeat and multiply his blessings upon them.

Verse 12

[12] The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure 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.

His treasure — The heaven or the air which is God's storehouse where he treasures up rain or wind for man's use.

Verse 13

[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:

The head — The chief of all people in power or at least in dignity and privileges; so that even they that are not under thine authority shall reverence thy greatness and excellency. So it was in David's and Solomon's time and so it should have been much oftner and much more if they had performed the conditions.

Verse 15

[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:

Overtake thee — So that thou shalt not be able to escape them as thou shalt vainly hope and endeavour to do. There is no running from God but by running to him; no flying from his justice but by flying to his mercy.

Verse 20

[20] The LORD shall send upon thee cursing vexation and rebuke 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.

Vexation — This seems chiefly to concern the mind arising from the disappointment of hopes and the presages of its approaching miseries.

Rebuke — Namely from God not so much in words as by his actions by cross providences by sharp and sore afflictions.

Verse 23

[23] And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.

Brass — Like brass hard and dry and shut up from giving rain.

Iron — Hard and chapt and barren.

Verse 24

[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.

Dust — Either thy rain shall be as unprofitable to thy ground and seed as if it were only so much dust. Or instead of rain shall come nothing but dust from heaven which being raised and carried up by the wind in great abundance returns and falls upon the earth as it were in clouds or showers.

Verse 27

[27] The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt and with the emerods and with the scab and with the itch whereof thou canst not be healed.

The botch of Egypt — Such boils and blains as the Egyptians were plagued with spreading from head to foot: The emerodes - Or piles.

Verse 28

[28] The LORD shall smite thee with madness and blindness and astonishment of heart:

Blindness — Of mind so that they shall not know what to do: Astonishment - They shall be filled with wonder and horror because of the strangeness and soreness of their calamities.

Verse 29

[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.

Grope at noon day — In the most clear and evident matters thou shalt grossly mistake.

Thy ways — Thy counsels and enterprizes shall be frustrated and turn to thy destruction.

Verse 32

[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.

Unto another people — By those who have conquered them and taken them captives who shall give or sell them to other persons.

Fail — Or be consumed partly with grief and plentiful tears; and partly with earnest desire and vain and long expectation of their return.

No might — No power to rescue nor money to ransom them.

Verse 33

[33] The fruit of thy land and all thy labours shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway:

Which thou knowest not — Which shall come from a far country which thou didst not at all expect or fear and therefore will be the more dreadful when they come; a nation whose language thou understandest not and therefore canst not plead with them for mercy nor expect any favour from them.

Verse 34

[34] So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.

Thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes — Quite put out of the possession of their own souls; quite bereaved of all comfort and hope and abandoned to utter despair. They that walk by sight and not by faith are in danger of losing reason itself when all about them looks frightful; and their condition is bad indeed who are mad for the sight of their eyes.

Verse 36

[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.

Thy king — The calamity shall be both universal which even thy king shall not be able to avoid much less the subjects who have far less advantage and opportunity for escape; and irrecoverable because he who should protect or rescue them is lost with them Lamentations 4:10.

Wood and stone — So what formerly was their choice and delight now becomes their plague and misery. And this doubtless was the condition of many Israelites under the Assyrian and Balylonish captivities.

Verse 43

[43] The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low.

Within thee — Within thy gates; who formerly honoured and served thee and were some of them glad of the crumbs which fell from thy table.

Verse 45

[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:

Moreover all these curses — It seems Moses has been hitherto foretelling their captivity in Babylon by which even after their return they were brought to the low condition mentioned Deuteronomy 28:44. But in the following he foretells their last destruction by the Romans. And the present deplorable state of the Jewish nation so exactly answers this prediction that it is an incontestable proof of the truth of the prophecy and consequently of the divine authority of the scriptures. And this destruction more dreadful than the former shews that their sin in rejecting Christ was more provoking to God than idolatry itself and left them more under the power of Satan. For their captivity in Babylon cured them effectually of idolatry in seventy years. But under this last destruction they continue above sixteen hundred years incurably averse to the Lord Jesus.

Verse 46

[46] And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder and upon thy seed for ever.

They — These curses now mentioned.

A wonder — Signal and wonderful to all that hear of them. 'Tis amazing a people so incorporated should be so universally disperst! And that a people scattered in all nations should not mix with any but like Cain be fugitives and vagabonds and yet so marked as to be known.

Verse 54

[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:

Evil — Unkind envious covetous to monopolize these dainty bits to themselves and grudging that their dearest relations should have any part of them.

Verse 56

[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

Evil - Unmerciful: she will desire or design their destruction for her food.

Verse 57

[57] And toward her young one 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.

Her young one — Heb. after-birth: that which was loathsome to behold will now be pleasant to eat; and together with it she shall eat the child which was wrapt up in it and may be included in this expression.

Which she shall bear — Or which she shall have born that is her more grown children.

She shall eat them — This was fulfilled more than once to the perpetual reproach of the Jewish nation. Never was the like done either by Greek or Barbarian. See the fruit of being abandoned by God!

Verse 63

[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.

To destroy you — His just indignation against you will be so great that it will be a pleasure to him to take vengeance on you. For though he doth not delight in the death of a sinner in itself yet he doth delight in glorifying his justice upon incorrigible sinners seeing the exercise of all his attributes must needs please him else he were not perfectly happy.

Verse 65

[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:

Neither shall thy foot have rest — Ye shall have no settlement in the land whither you are banished but there you shall be tossed about from place to place and sold from person to person or Cain - like wander about.

Verse 66

[66] And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night and shalt have none assurance of thy life:

Thy life shall hang in doubt — Either because thou art in the hands of thy enemies that have power and want no will to destroy thee: or because of the terrors of thy own mind and the guilt of thy conscience making thee to fear even where no fear is.

Verse 68

[68] And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships by the way whereof I spake unto thee Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen and no man shall buy you.

Into Egypt — Which was literally fulfilled under Titus when multitudes of them were carried thither in ships and sold for slaves. And this expression seems to mind them of that time when they went over the sea without ships God miraculously drying up the sea before them which now they would have occasion sadly to remember.

By the way — Or to the way. And the way seems not to be meant here of the usual road-way from Canaan to Egypt which was wholly by land but to be put for the end of the way or journey even the land of Egypt for to this and not to the road-way between Canaan and Egypt agree the words here following whereof I speak unto thee thou shalt see it (that is Egypt) no more again.

No man shall buy you — Either because the number of your captives shall be so great that the market shall be glutted with you; or because you shall be so loathsome and contemptible that men shall not be willing to have you for slaves. And this was the condition of the Jews after the destruction of Jerusalem as Josephus the Jew hath left upon record. Let us all learn hence to stand in awe and not to sin. I have heard of a wicked man (says Mr. Henry) who on reading these threatenings was so enraged that he tore the leaf out of his bible. But to what purpose is it to deface a copy while the original remains unchangeable? By which it is determined that the wages of sin is death: yea a death more dreadful than all that is here spoken!

── John WesleyExplanatory Notes on Deuteronomy

 

28 Chapter 28

 

Verse 3

Deuteronomy 28:3

Blessed shalt thou be in the city.

Blessed in the city

The city is full of care and he who has to go there from day to day finds it to be a place of great wear and tear. It is full of noise and stir and bustle and sore travail: many are its temptations losses and worries. But to go there with the Divine blessing takes off the edge of its difficulty; to remain there with that blessing is to find pleasure in its duties and strength equal to its demands. A blessing in the city may not make us great but it will keep us good; it may not make us rich but it will preserve us honest. Whether we are porters or clerks or managers or merchants of magistrates the city will afford us opportunities for usefulness. It is good fishing where there are shoals of fish and it is hopeful to work for our Lord amid the thronging crowds. We might prefer the quiet of a country life; but if called to town we may certainly prefer it because there is room for our energies. Today let us expect good things because of this promise and let our care be to have an open car to the voice of the Lord and a ready hand to execute His bidding. Obedience brings the blessing. “In keeping His commandments there is great reward.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)

City life

We have accustomed ourselves so long to think that the glory and beauty displayed on the open fields of the country where life lies palpitating and warm with the impress of His creative hand and where all the works of the Lord are ceaselessly singing His praise must in itself impress more vividly those who linger amid its beauties and do their work in the glow of its magnificence than do the streets and lanes and the visible signs of man which stretch out through the city. And yet we do not seek from the hard-working farmer the highest appreciation of nature as such nor from the toiling agricultural labourer the keenest poetic sentiment. Men are crowded into the city the villages become more and more depleted. What does it mean? Ask them and they would tell you that they are going to see life. To the labourer town life means a more stirring existence he thinks he sees there a wider field a quicker return a more brilliant career and too often he is bitterly disappointed in these hard times. To the pleasure seeker the city is the great lamp towards which he flies with outstretched wings to flicker for a short space around it to scorch his wings to burn himself in the nearest approach to nothingness. But life is a very real thing to seek for. In the city there are gathered together various forms of excellence. Here art treasures are collected and art studies are at their fullest perfection; here music receives its fullest development; here perfection of all kinds tends to aggregate; here the blood courses fuller and stronger; here might be realised that which we speak of so often in the Creed--“the communion of saints.” (Canon Newbolt.)

Blessed shalt thou be in the field.

Blessed in the field

So was Isaac blessed when lie walked therein at eventide to meditate. How often has the Lord met us when we have been alone! The hedges and the trees can bear witness to our joy. We look for such blessedness again. So was Boaz blessed when he reaped his harvest and his workmen met him with benedictions. May the Lord prosper all who drive the plough! Every farmer may urge this promise with God if indeed he obeys the voice of the Lord God. We go to the field to labour as father Adam did; and since the curse fell on the soil through the sin of Adam the first it is a great comfort to find a blessing through Adam the second. We go to the field for exercise and we are happy in the belief that the Lord will bless that exercise and give us health which we will use to His glory. We go to the field to study nature and there is nothing in a knowledge of the visible creation which may not be sanctified to the highest uses by the Divine benediction. We have at last to go to the field to bury our dead; yea others will in their turn take us to God’s acre in the field: but we are blessed whether weeping at the tomb or sleeping in it. (C. H. Spurgeon.)


Verse 5

Deuteronomy 28:5

Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.

A blessing on basket and store

Obedience brings a blessing on all the provisions which our industry earns for us. That which comes in and goes out at once like fruit in the basket which is for immediate use shall be blessed; and that which is laid by with us for a longer season shall equally receive a blessing. Perhaps ours is a hand basket portion. We have a little for breakfast and a scanty bite for dinner in a basket when we go out to our work in the morning. This is well for the blessing of God is promised to the basket. If we live from hand to mouth getting each day’s supply in the day we are as well off as Israel; for when the Lord entertained His favoured people He only gave them a day’s manna at a time. What more did they need? What more do we need? But if we have a store how much we need the Lord to bless it! For there is the care of getting the care of keeping the care of managing the care of using; and unless the Lord bless it these cares will eat into our hearts till our goods become our gods and our cares prove cankers. O Lord bless our substance. Enable us to use it for Thy glory. Help us to keep worldly things in their proper places and never may our savings endanger the saving of our souls. (C. H. Spurgeon.)


Verse 12

Deuteronomy 28:12

The Lord shall open unto thee His good treasure.

The Lord’s treasure

This refers first to the rain. The Lord will give this in its season. Rain is the emblem of all those celestial refreshings which the Lord is ready to bestow upon His people. Oh for a copious shower to refresh the Lord’s heritage! We seem to think that God’s treasury can only be opened by a great prophet like Elijah but it is not so for this promise is to all the faithful in Israel and indeed to each one of them. O believing friend “the Lord shall open unto thee His good treasure.” Thou too mayest see heaven opened and thrust in thy hand and take out thy portion yea and a portion for all thy brethren round about thee. Ask what thou wilt and thou shalt not be denied if thou abidest in Christ and His words abide in thee. As yet thou hast not known all thy Lord’s treasures but He shall open them up to thy understanding. Certainly thou hast not yet enjoyed the fulness of His covenant riches but He will direct thy heart into His love and reveal Jesus in thee. Only the Lord Himself can do this for thee; but here is His promise and if thou wilt hearken diligently unto His voice and obey His will His riches in glory by Christ Jesus shall be thine. (C. H. Spurgeon.)


Verse 13

Deuteronomy 28:13

The head and not the tail.

The saints leading the way

If we obey the Lord He will compel our adversaries to see that His blessing rests upon us. Though this be a promise of the law yet it stands good to the people of God; for Jesus has removed the curse but He has established the blessing. It is for saints to lead the way among men by holy influence: they are not to be the tail to be dragged hither and thither by others. We must not yield to the spirit of the age but compel the age to do homage to Christ. If the Lord be with us we shall not crave toleration for religion but we shall seek to seat it on the throne of society. Has not the Lord Jesus made His people priests? Surely they are to teach and must not be learners from the philosophies of unbelievers. Are we not in Christ made kings to reign upon the earth? How then can we be the servants of custom the slaves of human opinion! Have you taken up your true position for Jesus? Too many are silent because diffident if not cowardly. Should we allow the name of the Lord Jesus to be kept in the background? Should our religion drag along as a tail? Should it not rather lead the way and be the ruling force with ourselves and others? (C. H. Spurgeon.)


Verses 15-19

Deuteronomy 28:15-19

If thou wilt not hearken.

Blessing and cursing-an Ash Wednesday sermon

Does the Commination Service curse men? Are these good people (who are certainly right in their horror of cursing) right in the accusations which they bring against it? I cannot but think that they mistake when they say that the Commination Service curses men. For to curse a man is to pray that God may vent His anger on the man by punishing him. But I find no such prayer and wish in any word of the Commination Service. Its form is not “Cursed be he that doeth such and such things ” but “Cursed is he that doeth them.” Does this seem to you a small difference? A fine-drawn question of words? Is it then a small difference whether I say to my fellow man I hope and pray that you may be stricken with disease or whether I say You are stricken with disease whether you know it or not? I warn you of it and I warn you to go to the physician! For so great and no less is the difference.

I. We know that the words of the text came true. We know that the Jews did perish out of their native land as the author of this book foretold in consequence of doing that against which Moses warned them. We know also that they did not perish by any miraculous intervention of providence but simply as any other nation would have perished--by profligacy internal weakness civil war and at last by foreign conquest. We know that their destruction was the natural consequence of their own folly. Why are we to suppose that the prophet meant anything but that? He foretells the result. Why are we to suppose that he did not foresee the means by which that result would happen? For even in this life the door of mercy may be shut and we may cry in vain for mercy when it is the time for justice. This is not merely a doctrine: it is a fact; a common patent fact. Men do wrong and escape again and again the just punishment of their deeds; but how often there are cases in which a man does not escape; when he is filled with the fruit of his own devices and left to the misery which he has earned; when the covetous and dishonest man ruins himself past all recovery; when the profligate is left in a shameful old age with worn-out body and defiled mind to rot into an unhonoured grave; when the hypocrite who has tampered with his conscience is left without any conscience at all. They have chosen the curse and the curse is come upon them to the uttermost. So it is. Is the Commination Service uncharitable is the preacher uncharitable when they tell men so?

II. Truly terrible and heart-searching for the wrong-doer is the message--God does not curse thee: thou hast cursed thyself. God will not go out of His way to punish thee; thou hast gone out of His way and thereby thou art punishing thyself. Just as by abusing the body thou bringest a curse upon it; so by abusing thy soul. God does not break His laws to punish drunkenness or gluttony. The laws of nature the beneficent laws of life nutrition growth and health they punish thee; and kill by the very same means by which they make alive. And so with thy soul thy character thy humanity.

III. Let us believe that God’s good laws and God’s good order are in themselves and of themselves the curse and punishment of every sin of ours; and that Ash Wednesday returning year after year whether we be glad or sorry good or evil bears witness to that most awful and yet most blessed fact. (C. Kingsley M. A.)

The prophecy

1. Look first at the intensity of the sufferings which it denounces upon the Jewish race. The prophet seems to labour under the weight of the theme and strives to give it adequate expression as though it were beyond his power. There is scarcely anything that could go to heighten human anguish bodily and mental that is not thrown into the frightful conglomeration to make up such an assemblage of miseries as was hardly ever elsewhere known or imagined. Dante’s pictures are terrific but they are dispersed and distributed into portions and every man has his own torment from which other sufferers are exempt. But Moses concentrates his and pours them all in one terrible mixture on the same devoted head. War pestilence and famine in their extremest terrors combine to swell the bitter grief until they rise to those intolerable anguishes in which the bonds of society are dissolved human sympathies are quenched natural affection obliterated and society transformed into a herd of ravening wolves preying on one another without conscience and without pity. And this horrid state of things is to be without respite affording no moment of relief; so that men are driven to madness and rave with the frantic incoherence of despair. And now if we turn to the page of history we find the correspondence exact to a wonderful degree. No more revolting picture of human misery and of the demoralisation and unhumanising effect of extreme distress is anywhere to be found in the annals of the world than that which is exhibited in the last days of Jerusalem as the accounts of it have come down to us. What in the prophecy might have seemed antecedently impossible the faithful record of history has shown to be possible because actual.

2. Look next at their dispersion almost as wonderful as their miseries. This too Moses explicitly foretells (Deuteronomy 28:64-65). Alone of peoples that inhabit the earth foreigners everywhere having no country that they call their own and dwelling in all countries as a distinct element in their society nay always a society that adheres to general society only by a kind of parasitical life sucking strength from its substance without assimilating to its character it is a sort of mistletoe that drapes the branches of trees and lives upon their sap but sends no roots into the earth to draw from the soil a life of its own.

3. And now finally look at his preservation. I mean his preservation as a Jew. His physiognomy everywhere tells the tale of his lineage. And yet never was a people so unfavourably situated for the preservation of its identity. They did not go out in colonies to any considerable extent. Units they have been floating like waifs and strays upon the great ocean of human society. Yet wherever he strays there is the Jew unabsorbed unamalgamated unmistakably a Jew. National bounds hedge in nations and with some admixtures preserve substantially national marks and qualities. But this is a nation that has no such protection without a country without a home. Yet it remains a nation; and there is not another nation in all the limits of civilisation today that can boast so pure a blood so unmixed and genuine a pedigree.

1. A lesson of danger. If the Israelites were punished beyond other men it was because they had been favoured beyond other men. Privilege and responsibility are correspondent and parallel. The sins of Christians are far worse than the like sins of heathens more criminal more dangerous (Romans 11:20-21).

2. A lesson of duty. None can look upon the ancient people of God in their fallen condition it might seem without sensibility and compassion. God has made their fall an occasion of benefit to the Gentile world. “We have obtained mercy through their unbelief.” The fall broke through the wall that threatened to confine Christianity within the narrow precincts of Jewish pride and prejudice and gave it to “have free course and be glorified.” Surely however it becomes us not to look coldly or scornfully on the disfranchised heir. (R. A. Hallam D. D.)

The dispersion of the Jews

Davison in his Discourses on Prophecy uses the following beautiful illustration when speaking of modern Jews. Present in all countries with a home in none; intermixed and yet separated; and neither amalgamated nor lost but like those mountain streams which are said to pass through lakes of another kind of water and keep a native quality to repel commixture; they hold communication without union and may be traced as rivers without banks in the midst of the alien element which surrounds them.


Verse 47

Deuteronomy 28:47

Because thou servedst not the lord.

Right service

The text brings before us a subject essentially important--that as the service of the Lord Jesus Christ must be such as answered the great end that was to be brought about and did answer it so the object of the service of the people of God is to bring them into possession of what the Lord has for them. Let us take a two-fold view of this service.

1. First then the true service of the Lord; it must be by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us hear what the Scriptures say upon this for it is a most essential matter: either we are serving God as Abel did acceptably; or as Cain did not acceptably. We cannot serve God by the works of the law; for the apostle saith “Whatsoever the law saith”--and I may mention two things which it saith: first that “he that offendeth in one point is guilty of the whole.” Now that one thing said by the law is enough to stop the mouth of anyone. Then again it saith “Cursed is he that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them.” There are three things especially essential to serve God acceptably; these must be knowledge faith and love. You cannot do without these three. It is true there are many other excellencies arising from them.

2. Now a word or two upon this--to serve Him with joyfulness and with gladness of heart. I think we need the spirit of prayer upon this subject. So then may the Lord give us the spirit of prayer that we may pray to be quickened and to be made more and more lively in the service and ways of the Lord; for it is sure well to repay us; as saith David “In keeping His ways there is indeed great reward”; a reward that far surpasseth gold even much fine gold; and there is a sweetness therein sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. So I say we need the spirit of prayer for the Lord to keep us more and more in His blessed ways. (J. Wells.)


Verse 67

Deuteronomy 28:67

Would God it were even!

Sufferings of the Israelites

This chapter is an awful communication: it threatens the Israelites with every conceivable evil if they departed from serving the Lord their God; it leaves them absolutely without hope unless they turned with all their hearts and repented them of their disobedience.
So the Israelites entered Canaan and took the lands of the heathen into possession not without much to sober their prides and to make them not high minded but fear. The severe judgments spoken of ill this chapter declare also another great law of God’s providence that “to whomsoever much is given of him shall much be required.” It was because the Israelites were God’s redeemed people because He had borne them on eagle’s wings and brought them to Himself; because He had made known to them His will and promised them the possession of a goodly land flowing with milk and honey; it was for these very reasons that their punishment was to be so severe if they at last abused all the mercies which had been shown to them. For theirs was to be no sudden destruction to come upon them and sweep them away forever: it was a long and lingering misery to endure for many generations like the bush which burned but was not consumed. We know that Ammon Amalek Moab Assyria and Babylon have long since utterly perished; the three former indeed so long ago that profane history does not notice them; its beginnings are later than their end. But Israel still exists as a nation however scattered and degraded; they have gone through for ages a long train of oppressions visited on them merely because they were Jews. Nay even yet the end is not; however much their condition is bettered still taking them the world through they have even now much to bear; their hope is still deferred and as far as their national prospects are concerned the morning dawns on them with no comfort the evening descends upon them and brings no rest. This is one remarkable part in their history; and there is another which deserves notice. It is declared in this chapter that amongst the other evils they should suffer for disobedience they should endure so long a siege from their enemies as to suffer the worst extremities of famine (Deuteronomy 28:56). Now this has in fact befallen them twice over. Of the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar we have indeed no particulars given; it is only said in general terms that after the city had been besieged for eighteen months the famine prevailed in it and there was no bread for the people of the land so that the king and all the fighting men endeavoured to escape out of the town as the only resource left them. But of the second siege by Titus and the Romans we have the full particulars from Josephus a Jew who lived at the time and had the best authority for the facts which he relates. And he mentions it as a horror unheard of amongst Greeks or barbarians that a mother named Mary the daughter of Eleazar from the country beyond Jordan was known to have killed her own child for her food and to have publicly confessed what she had done. Now we know that the horrors of war have been felt by many nations; but such an extremity of suffering occurring twice in the course of its history and under circumstances so similar as in the two sieges of Jerusalem there is hardly another nation so far as I am aware that has experienced. Indeed the history of the calamities of the last siege of Jerusalem as given by Josephus is well worthy of our attentive consideration: it is a full comment on our Lord’s words (Luke 23:28; Luke 23:30; Matthew 24:22). Eleven hundred thousand Jews perished in the course of the siege by the sword by pestilence or by famine. I do not believe that the history of the world contains any record of such a destruction within so short a time and within the walls of a single city. I said that this dreadful story was well worth our studying; and it is so for this reason. These miseries greater than any which history mentions fell upon God’s Church upon His chosen people with whom He was in covenant to whom He had revealed His name while all the rest of the world lay in darkness. To us each of us belongs in the strictest sense the warning of the text. For us each of us --if we do fail of the grace of God if Christ has died for us in vain if being called by His name we are not walking in His Spirit --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 ” etc. There is a state in which the tender and delicate woman shall hate those whom once she most loved; in which they who lived together hero in friendship wherein God was no party will have their eyes evil against one another forever. For when selfishness has wrought its perfect work and the soul is utterly lost there love is perished forever and the intercourse between such persons can be only one of mutual reproaches and suspicion and hatred. An eternal restlessness and eternal evil passions mark the everlasting portion of the enemies of God; just as an eternal rest and a never-ending life of love and peace are reserved for those who remain to the end His true children. (T. Arnold D. D.)

──The Biblical Illustrator