Deeper Commentary
Deu 28:1 If you will listen diligently to the voice of Yahweh your
God, to observe all His commandments which I command you this day, Yahweh
your God will set you on high above all the nations of the earth-
"The earth" specifically and initially refers to the territory
promised to Abraham; see on :10. The long list of blessings in Dt. 28 were
given by God perhaps knowing at the start that they would never be
realized- "It shall come to pass, if you shall hearken diligently unto the
voice of the Lord" (Dt. 28:1). God gave such detailed blessings for
obedience even though they would never be realized by Israel. Likewise He
gave such detailed plans for the temple in Ez. 40-48- even though the
envisaged, possible scenario never came about because Israel chose to be
disobedient.
Deu 28:2 All these blessings shall come on you and be with you, if you
will listen to the voice of Yahweh your God-
Like Paul in his time of dying, Moses in Deuteronomy saw the importance
of obedience, the harder side of God; yet he also saw in real depth the
surpassing love of God, and the grace that was to come, beyond Law. This
appreciation reflected Moses' mature grasp of the Name / characteristics
of God. He uses the name "Yahweh" in Deuteronomy over 530 times, often
with some possessive adjective, e.g. "Yahweh thy God" [AV- i.e. you
singular], or "Yahweh our God". He saw the personal relationship between a
man and his God. Jacob reached a like realization at his peak.
Deu 28:3 You shall be blessed in the city and you shall be blessed in the
field-
The love of God for Israel isn’t just something in the past. You may
have noticed how the blessings for Israel’s obedience are actually in a
strange way somehow still given to them even in their disobedience. The
blessings of many children and general prosperity have somehow been
fulfilled to the Jewish people; they have somehow prospered “in all that
thou settest thine hand unto…and all people of the earth shall see that
thou art called by the name of the Lord… and the Lord shall make thee
plenteous in goods…and thou shalt lend unto many nations…thou shalt be
above only, and thou shalt not be beneath” (Dt. 28:3-13). This has all
come true for the Jewish people in their unbelief, from the Jewish taxi
driver in Vilnius who somehow makes more than the other guys, to the
Jewish bankers of New York- and all achieved despite every man’s hand
against them. Here we see the grace and love of God for Israel. And thus
finally He shall give them the valley of Achor, symbol of their shameful
disobedience, for a door of hope. The ineffable love of God for Israel
continues. And we, as God’s children, should show forth that same love,
expressed supremely in seeking to turn them to Messiah.
Deuteronomy 28:4 You shall be blessed in the fruit of your body, the fruit of your
ground, the fruit of your animals, the increase of your livestock and the
young of your flock-
The
curses of Dt. 28:4,18 involved cursing coming upon descendants of sinful
people; perhaps in that their fathers influenced them to do wrong. Thus the
salvation of men can be affected by a third party not preaching to them or
not teaching them correct doctrine. Herein lies the crying need to ‘defend
the Faith’. Speaking of how he had suffered to defend purity of
understanding of the Gospel, Paul reflected: “Therefore I endure all things
for the elect’s sake, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in
Christ” (2 Tim. 2:10).
Their salvation was dependent upon
his enduring.
Deu 28:5 Your basket and your kneading trough shall be blessed-
LXX "Blessed shall be thy barns, and thy stores" certainly seems to
be in the Lord's mind in His parable of the man who had to build larger
barns. He so often alludes to Mosaic commandments and statements and
places a very different spin upon them. In this case, His point was that
one may receive blessing in this life, which might look like blessing for
obedience to the covenant- when in fact, it was a result of your own hard
work, and you are not in fact with the Father at all, and will die
condemned by Him.
Deu 28:6 You shall be blessed when you come in and you shall be blessed
when you go out-
Within the Pentateuch, the idea of blessing creation paves the way for
God promising to “bless” the children of Abraham, and the blessings upon
them with which Deuteronomy concludes (see too Lev. 9:22; Num. 6:22-24).
The pagan creation stories sometimes spoke of the things created by the
gods then blessing them. The Sumerians recorded that at ‘creation’,
“The whole universe, the people in unison, to Enlil in one tongue gave
praise”. But the true God, the God of all grace, not only creates His
people and other creatures, but then blesses them! And the spirit
of that grace should be seen in all our relationships. The Sumerian and
Babylonian myths speak of people being created in order to serve the gods,
“to bear the yoke of the gods” (S.G.F.Brandon), to relieve them in their
everyday work. But the Genesis creation has God creating man and giving
him great freedom, and blessing him.
Deu 28:7 Yahweh will cause your enemies who rise up against you-
LXX "thine enemies that withstand thee", another hint that the bloody
conquest of Canaan was only bloody because the nations withstood Yahweh's
people, rather than like Rahab and the Gibeonites, seeking covenant
relationship with Him.
To be
struck before you. They will come out against you one way and will flee
before you seven ways-
The fleeing of the Egyptians from Israel in the midst of the Red Sea
(Ex. 14:25,27) was to be repeated in all Israel's conflicts with their
enemies; every time, the essence of the Red Sea deliverance [which was by
grace alone, as Israel then were so weak spiritually] was to be repeated
throughout the history of God's people (Num. 10:35; Dt. 28:7).
Deu 28:8 Yahweh will command the blessing on you in your barns and in all
that you put your hand to; He will bless you in the land which Yahweh your
God gives you-
See on :5. The blessing of Yahweh would come if His commands were
obeyed (Dt. 11:27); but in response, He would command that blessing (s.w.
Dt. 28:8). His commandments were therefore effectively a commandment of
blessing. They were designed for Israel's good and blessing, and not as a
test of mindless obedience.
Deu 28:9 Yahweh will establish you for a holy people to Himself as He has
sworn to you, if you will keep the commandments of Yahweh your God and
walk in His ways-
Moses urges the peoples' faithfulness so that Yahweh might "establish
His covenant" with them (Dt. 8:18; 28:9; 29:13); and yet we note that despite
their disobedience, He still "established" the covenant with them, by
grace alone (Dt. 9:5).
Deu 28:10 All the peoples of the land-
The reference of the “land” is to the
eretz promised to Abraham. God
would set Israel on high above all nations of the land (28:1). Only
those round about Israel would see this, not
the whole planet. “The nations” therefore refer to those in the land. In
this same context they are warned that if they are not obedient,
then they would be taken into all kingdoms of the earth (v. 25). And this
is what happened- they were taken into captivity in Babylon, Assyria and
their empires within the ‘earth’ / land. They were invaded by a nation
from the end of the earth (28:49), which
Habakkuk defines as Babylon, a nation at the extremity of the land / earth
promised to Abraham.
Will see that you are called by the
name of Yahweh and they will be afraid of you-
Whatever carried the name of a person was seen as his property. If a
city was conquered, it bore the name of the conqueror (2 Sam. 12:28); the
names of owners were on their property (Ps. 49:12). So to bear God's Name
is to recognize His complete ownership and even conquest of us. And yet
there's a significant twist to all this in Is. 43:1: "I have called you by
your name, because you are mine". It seems like a slip- we expect
God to say that He has called us by His Name, because we are His.
But no- He wishes us to bear both His Name and our own name, He doesn't
wish to subsume us beneath His ownership and manifestation to the point
that we are not significant as persons.
Deu 28:11 Yahweh will make you prosperous in the fruit of your body and in
the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, in the land
which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give you-
The blessings of Dt. 28 were conditional upon obedience. Israel were
not obedient, from Sinai onwards, as the prophets lament. But many of
those blessings were still experienced by Israel. So we conclude that this
was by grace alone, and indeed the idea of Abraham's seed being "blessed"
is associated in the New Testament with the blessing of grace. Again we
note God's passionate desire to by all means give His people His Kingdom.
He wants to do this, it is the good pleasure or will of God to give us the
Kingdom. He is not indifferent to our salvation, and wants us desperately
to be in His Kingdom, as the parable of the marriage supper also
indicates. It concludes with pretty much anyone willing to say "yes" being
ushered in to the marriage supper.
Deu 28:12 Yahweh will open to you His good treasure in the sky, to give
the rain of your land in its season and to bless all the work of your
hand. You shall lend to many nations and you shall not borrow-
Money lending worldwide has been a feature of Jewish existence over
the centuries, and yet this is here predicted as happening only if they
were obedient. They have been disobedient, and yet it’s as if God loves to
advertise His grace to the world by still blessing the disobedient.
Having stated that the Canaanite tribes would only be cast out if Israel were obedient, Moses goes on to enthuse that those tribes would indeed be cast out- so positive was he about Israel’s obedience (Dt. 6:18,19; 7:1). And yet on the other hand he realistically was aware of their future failures. He said those positive words genuinely, because he simply loved Israel, and had the hope for them which love carries with it. Throughout his speech, Moses is constantly thinking of Israel in the land; he keeps on telling them how to behave when they are there, encouraging them to be strong so that they will go into the land. I estimate that about 25% of the verses in Moses' speech speak about this. Israel's future inheritance of the Kingdom absolutely filled Moses' mind as he faced up to his own death. And remember that his speech was the outpouring of 40 years meditation. Their salvation, them in the Kingdom, totally filled his heart. And likewise with the Lord Jesus. Psalms 22 and 69 shows how his thoughts on the cross, especially as he approached the point of death, were centred around our salvation. And Moses was so positive about them. “The Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands”, even though these blessings were conditional upon their obedience. Moses was this confident of them (Dt. 16:15 cp. 28:1,4,12).
Deu 28:13 Yahweh will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall
only be above and you shall not be beneath, if you will listen to the
commandments of Yahweh your God which I command you this day, to observe
and to do-
Deu 28:14 and do not turn aside-
Israel had been commanded to "not depart" from the way of Yahweh's
commandments (Dt. 28:14; Josh. 1:7), but the frequent lament of the
historical records is that they did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam.
The Bible, especially in Proverbs, constantly reduces human moral choice
to that between two ways of life and being. We constantly wish to argue
that "it's not so simple" because there are grey areas. But the 'grey
area' argument is what leads us so often into sin, into following the
"way" of sin.
From any of the words which I command you
this day, to the right hand or to the left-
The wall of water on their right hand and left when they crossed the
Red Sea is twice emphasized (Ex. 14:22,29). It is alluded to later, when
they are urged to not depart from God's way, not to the right hand nor
left (Dt. 5:32; 17:11,20; 28:14). We passed through the Red Sea when we
were baptized (1 Cor. 10:1,2). We were set upon a path which is walled up
to keep us within it. And we are to remain in that path upon which we were
set. To turn aside from it would be as foolish as Israel turning away from
their path and trying to walk into the walls of water.
To go after other gods to
serve them-
Deu 28:15 But if you will not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, to
observe to do all His commandments and His statutes which I command you
this day, all these curses shall come on you and consume you-
Israel did not obey / hearken to the voice of Yahweh, and He did not
hearken to their voice in prayer (Dt. 1:45; 9:23; 28:15; Josh. 5:6; Jud.
2:20; 6:10 cp. Dt. 8:20 s.w.). 2 Kings 18:12 states this specifically. God
hearkened to Joshua's voice in prayer (Josh. 10:14) because Joshua
hearkened to His voice. It was to be the same with Saul. He didn't hearken
to God's voice (1 Sam. 15:19) and God didn't hearken to Saul's voice in
prayer in his final desperation at the end of his life (1 Sam. 28:18). If
God's word abides in us, then our prayer is powerful, we have whatever we
ask, because we are asking for things according to His will expressed in
His word (Jn. 15:7).
Deu 28:16 You shall be cursed in the city and you shall be cursed in the
field-
A faithless and disobedient Israel were apparently blessed and not
cursed in the city and in the field since their reestablishment of Israel
in 1948. But this is therefore of itself a sign of God's absolute grace to
them, given no doubt in the hope that it would lead them to repentance
concerning the Lord Jesus (Rom. 2:4).
Deu 28:17 Your basket and your kneading trough shall be cursed-
The material prosperity of Israel, particularly the fertility of the
land, was to be cursed if they disobeyed God (Dt. 28:16-18). If this has a
latter-day application, it follows that Israel must first have returned to
their land in the last days and become agriculturally prosperous before
it can happen. This is exactly the position today.
Deu 28:18 The fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the increase
of your livestock and the young of your flock shall be cursed-
LXX specifically mentions oxen for "livestock" and sheep for "flock".
Hab. 3:17 seems to allude to this picture, but the faithful writer
rejoices that despite the experience of the curses for disobedience on a
national level, he can personally look forward to a relationship with God.
So even at the height of the curses, there was always the possibility for
individuals to have a relationship with God, even if they shared the
effect of others' sins.
Deu 28:19 You shall be cursed when you come in and you shall be cursed
when you go out-
There is a most interesting connection between the curses for
disobedience and the time of the judges in the words of Azariah to Asa. He
reminded Asa of the problems of weak leadership in that period, and
encouraged Asa to learn the lesson from it, as a ruler of Israel. He
describes Israel at that time as being "for a long season... without the
true God, and without a teaching priest (cp. 1 Sam. 3:1, Hebrew), and
without law" (2 Chron. 15:3). This is quoted in Hos. 3:4,5 concerning
Israel's state before their final repentance. Azariah continued: "In those
times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in (an
idiom for the rulers), but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants"
(2 Chron. 15:5). This is definitely alluding to Dt. 28:19,20: "Cursed
shalt thou be when thou comest in... and goest out. The Lord shall send
upon thee... vexation" (same word in 2 Chron. 15:5). "Nation was
destroyed of nation" (2 Chron. 15:6) must be alluded to in Lk. 21:10
concerning the situation in latter-day Israel. And 2 Chron. 15:7 = 1 Cor.
15:58 - a certain latter-day application.
Deu 28:20 Yahweh will send on you cursing, confusion and rebuke in all
that you put your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish
quickly-
The connections between the record of Job's experience of depression
and those curses upon Israel gives us a cameo of latter-day Jewry's
position. This 'confusion of mind' (Dt. 28:20, Hebrew), "madness... and
astonishment of heart" (Dt. 28:28) will, not surprisingly, result in a
complete collapse of leadership within Israel (Dt. 28:19), resulting in
them fleeing a disorganized seven ways before their enemies (Dt. 28:25).
There is a sharp contrast between this and Israel's present nonchalance.
Because of the evil of your doings by which you have forsaken
Him-
Jud. 2:13 says that the people did forsake Yahweh. But
Deu 28:21 Yahweh will make the pestilence cleave to you until He has
consumed you from off the land-
The "pestilence" which was the plague upon Egypt (Ex. 9:3) was to
come upon a hard hearted Israel (s.w. Lev. 26:25; Num. 14:12; Dt. 28:21;
Jer. 21:6). The plagues upon Egypt form the basis for the vials and seals
of Revelation, which speak of judgment to come upon the land of Israel. It
is a theme with God that His apostate people are "condemned with the
world" (1 Cor. 11:32). If their hearts are really with Egypt / the world,
then they will share the judgments of this world. The time for separation
is now, just as the Egyptians had to identify with Israel if they wished
to escape the plagues.
Into which you now go in to possess it-
"Drive out" is s.w. "possess". We must note the difference between the
Canaanite peoples and their kings being "struck" and their land "taken" by
Joshua-Jesus; and the people of Israel permanently taking possession. This
is the difference between the Lord's victory on the cross, and our taking
possession of the Kingdom. Even though that possession has been "given" to
us. The word used for "possession" is literally 'an inheritance'. The
allusion is to the people, like us, being the seed of Abraham. The Kingdom
was and is our possession, our inheritance- if we walk in the steps of
Abraham. But it is one thing to be the seed of Abraham, another to take
possession of the inheritance; and Israel generally did not take
possession of all the land (Josh.
11:23 13:1; 16:10; 18:3; 23:4). The language of inheritance / possession
is applied to us in the New Testament (Eph. 1:11,14; Col. 3:24; Acts
20:32; 26:18; 1 Pet. 1:4 etc.). Israel were promised: "You shall possess
it" (Dt. 30:5; 33:23). This was more of a command than a prophecy, for
sadly they were "given" the land but did not "possess" it. They were
constantly encouraged in the wilderness that they were on the path to
possessing the land (Dt. 30:16,18; 31:3,13; 32:47), but when they got
there they didn't possess it fully.
Deu 28:22 Yahweh will strike you with consumption, with fever, with
inflammation and with fiery heat; with the sword, with blight and with
mildew, and they shall pursue you until you perish-
The curses to come upon Israel as a result of the latter day
invasions are described in terms which are extremely apposite to modern
warfare. The plagues to come upon Israel as a result of the invasions are
almost impossible to identify with anything presently known: "a
consumption... a fever... an inflammation... an extreme burning...
blasting... the burning ague that shall consume the eyes" (Dt. 28:22; Lev.
26:16) all seems to echo the language of nuclear fall-out. "They shall be
burnt... and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction" (Dt.
32:24) is similar. The release of complex chemical weapons, as well as
nuclear detonation, would explain why rainfall patterns will be
interrupted during this latter day tribulation (Dt. 28:23). The fall-out
from such weapons would create the murderous rain of dust upon the land
which Dt. 28:24 speaks of: "The Lord shall make the rain of thy land
powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be
destroyed". It is twice emphasized that those in the land would suffer
blindness (Dt. 28:28,29), which may also be related to such nuclear or
chemical fallout. This has not yet happened; the context invites us to
read this as literal rather than figurative. We know that the latter day
invaders who attack Jerusalem will both fight each other and have their
eyes rot in their sockets (Zech. 14:12), the implication being that they
use their weaponry against each other as well as against Israel. Their
earlier use of these weapons would account for this blindness coming upon
Israel, and again we see the principle that what the attackers do to
Israel will be inflicted upon them.
Deu 28:23 Your sky that is over your head shall be brass and the earth
that is under you shall be iron-
This may well be the result of latter day chemical or nuclear
weapons; see on :22. And yet the initial application was surely to the
hardness of the earth reflecting the hot, rainless skies above them.
Deu 28:24 Yahweh will make the rain of your land powder and dust; from the
sky shall it come down on you until you are destroyed-
This has not yet been fulfilled; maybe because God in His grace has
not punished His people according to all their sins. Or it could be that
it has yet to be fulfilled in the final tribulation to come upon Israel.
Nuclear fallout would fulfil these words- and likewise those of Is. 29:6,
describing the invasion of latter day Babylon / Assyria, which have yet to
be accurately fulfilled. See on :22.
Lev. 26 and Dt. 28 promised a curse to come upon the land [of Eden / Israel] for their failure within it, just as happened to Adam and Eve; and of course ultimately they were driven out of the land just as Israel's very first parents had been. As the eretz / earth / land was initially "without form and void", so the same term is used of the land of Israel after the people had been driven out of it (Jer. 4:23). As thorns and thistles came up in the land [and those plants are unknown in some parts of the planet], so they did again when Israel were driven from their land (Gen. 3:18; Hos. 10:8). As Adam was punished by returning to dust, so Israel would be destroyed by dust (Dt. 28:24). As Adam and Eve failed to "subdue" the garden of Eden (Gen. 1:28), so Israel failed to fully "subdue" [s.w.] the tribes of the land (Num. 32:22). They subdued a few local to them; but they never really rose up to the reality of being able to have the whole land area promised to Abraham subjected to them.
Deu 28:25 Yahweh will cause you to be struck before your enemies. You
shall go out one way against them but shall flee seven ways before them-
The fleeing of the Egyptians from Israel in the midst of the Red Sea
(Ex. 14:25,27) was a case of fleeing when none pursued them. This was the
judgment upon Israel (Lev. 26:17,36; Dt. 28:25), which was to arise
because in their hearts they had returned to Egypt (the world) and were
therefore to be judged as Egypt, "condemned with the world" they had loved
(1 Cor. 11:32).
And you shall be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the
earth-
The idea is of a sieve, which was tossed back and forth until the
grain was left and all the lighter chaff had fallen to the earth. The idea
is that Israel's wandering amongst the nations, and especially their
latter day scattering and wandering amongst the kingdoms of the earth /
land promised to Abraham, would result in the appearance of a faithful
seed. But the very same phrase "tossed back and forth (s.w. "removed")
among all the kingdoms of the earth" is used repeatedly of what was to
happen at the time of the Babylonian exile (Jer. 15:4; 24:9; 29:18;
34:17). But the judgments associated with this in :23,24,26 etc. didn't
fully happen. We can therefore conclude that indeed, God didn't carry out
His side of the covenant curses for disobedience.
Deu 28:26 Your dead body shall be food to all birds of the sky and to the
animals of the earth-
The events of AD70 were a detailed initial fulfilment of some parts
of these prophecies. But they were only a foretaste of the tragedies of
Israel’s latter day cursing. Our Lord's quotation of Dt. 28:26 in Mt.
24:28 ("your carcasses shall be meat unto the fowls of the air") is
confirmation of this.
A
Deu 28:27 Yahweh will strike you with the boil of Egypt-
Apostate Israel were to be punished with the judgments of Egypt, and
this was the plague on Egypt of Ex. 9:9. It is a theme with God that His
apostate people are "condemned with the world" (1 Cor. 11:32). If their
hearts are really with Egypt / the world, then they will share the
judgments of this world. The time for separation is now, just as the
Egyptians had to identify with Israel if they wished to escape the
plagues.
And with the
tumours, the scurvy and the itch, from which you cannot be healed-
Deu 28:28 Yahweh will strike you with madness, blindness and astonishment
of heart-
Dt. 28:14–28,59–61 predicted that mental disease would be one of the
punishments for worshipping other gods/demons. This explains the
association of demons with mental illness in the New Testament. But let it
be noted that the language of demons is associated with illness, not sin.
We do not read of Christ casting out demons of envy, murder etc. It must
also be noted that the Bible speaks of people having a
demon/disease, rather than saying that demons caused the disease.
It is significant that the Greek version of the Old Testament (the
Septuagint) used the word daimonion
for “idol”; this is the word translated “demon” in the New Testament.
Deu 28:29 You shall grope at noonday, as the blind gropes in darkness, and
you shall not prosper in your ways. You shall be only oppressed and robbed
always-
This was not the case at the time of the restoration, for Yahweh insisted that He was the One "to save you" (Is. 43:11,12; 45:21). Yet there was no repentance in the exiles; the covenant remained broken, and yet God acted to them as if it were still functional- and Israel were receiving blessing for obedience. This is all the stuff of radical grace and desire to force through a relationshi. God says He Himself saved Israel seeing there "was none to save you" (Is. 59:16; 63:5). These passages ultimately look ahead to God's saving work in the Lord Jesus, 'Yah's salvation'; a work likewise of grace.
Deu 28:30 You will betroth a wife and another man shall lie with her. You
will build a house and not dwell therein-
Again we observe that these judgments were ameliorated. For Jeremiah
urges the exiles to build houses in exile and dwell in them. Even though
they were still impenitent, they were given the blessings of obedience.
You will plant a vineyard and
not use its fruit-
The Lord likened His preachers to men reaping a harvest. He speaks of
how they fulfilled the proverb that one sows and another reaps (Jn.
4:37,38). Yet this ‘proverb’ has no direct Biblical source. What we do
find in the Old Testament is the repeated idea that if someone sows but
another reaps, this is a sign that they are suffering God’s judgment for
their sins (Dt. 20:6; 28:30; Job 31:8; Mic. 6:15). But the Lord turns around
the ‘proverb’ concerning Israel’s condemnation; He makes it apply to the way
that the preacher / reaper who doesn’t sow is the one who harvests others in
converting them to Him. Surely His implication was that His preacher-reapers
were those who had known condemnation for their sins, but on that basis were
His humbled harvesters in the mission field.
Deu 28:31 Your ox will be slain before your eyes and you shall not eat of
it. Your donkey will be violently taken away from before your face and
shall not be restored to you. Your sheep will be given to your enemies and
you will have none to save you-
"I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your
children, and destroy your cattle" (Lev. 26:22 cp. Dt. 28:31) speaks of
the "beasts of the earth / land" (Dt. 28:26), who refer to the nations
within the earth / land promised to Abraham. The use of cattle raiding
language in Ez. 38:12 would then lead us to equate that latter day
invasion with the final fulfilment of the curses upon Israel here.
Deu 28:32 Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people and
your eyes will look and fail with longing for them all day long; and there
shall be no power in your hand-
God said that the sign of His condemnation and rejection of Israel
was that He would give their sons and daughters to be married to Gentiles
(Dt. 28:32). To willingly marry a Gentile was therefore to proclaim
oneself as rejected from the Israel of God. The Lord Jesus had read these
words and engaged with them; for He uses the picture of eyes failing with
longing for the return of exiled children and applies it to the Father
longing for the return of the prodigal son. That son clearly spoke of
Israel in exile.
Deu 28:33 The fruit of your ground and all your labours shall a nation
which you don’t know eat up-
This was clearly fulfilled at the time of the Babylonian invasion
(Jer. 5:17), but this only looked forward to the even greater fulfilment
in the curses of the last days. It is repeatedly stressed that God's
people would suffer at the hands of a nation they didn't know (Jer. 14:18;
15:14; 17:4; 22:28). They did "know" the Babylonians, and had worshipped
their gods. So "know" is used in the Hebraic sense of 'having a
relationship with'. The idea may be that they would receive no mercy from
those they were not in any relationship with.
And you will be only oppressed and crushed
always-
This was exactly what God's people did to each other, oppressing and
crushing their weaker brethren (s.w. Am. 4:1). By doing so, they were
living out their condemnation.
Deu 28:34 so that you will be mad because of the sight your eyes shall
see-
This again speaks of the deep psychological trauma of God's people.
See on :28. The deep distress would be at the sight of themselves covered
in boils (:35).
Deu 28:35 Yahweh will strike you in the knees and in the legs with a sore
boil of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the
crown of your head-
This language is applied to Job (Job 2:7). He was clearly
representative of Israel suffering the curses for disobedience. But he was
a righteous man, and was saved in the end. He pointed forward to how the
perfect Lord Jesus suffered the curses for Israel's sins, as their total
representative.
Deu 28:36 Yahweh will bring you and your king whom you will set over you-
This makes these curses have specific reference to the Babylonian
rather than Roman invasion. The latter day application may require Israel
to put their trust in some charismatic leader.
To a nation that you have not known, you nor your fathers, and there you
shall serve other gods, wood and stone-
Israel and Judah are strongly rebuked by the prophets for their
choice to do this, and are begged to cease doing so. But their freewill
choice to sin was in fact a result of being cursed by God; they were led
into sin, as it were, by God confirming them in the downward spiral they
had chosen to be part of. In this case, if they didn’t want to be cursed,
then they simply had to stop living out the curse in their lives.
The reference to Israel serving the gods of the
nations to whom they are carried captive, gods which their
ancestors abhorred, may refer to some accepting Islam in the last days.
Indeed, Dt. 31:29 suggests that in the latter (Heb. end) times, Israel
will specifically "do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to
anger through the work of your hands". This is the language commonly used
concerning Israel's worship of the idols of the surrounding lands; if they
are to specifically do this in the time of the end, it would seem
reasonable to guess that this may refer to an acceptance of Islam.
Deu 28:37 You will become an astonishment, a proverb and a byword among
all the peoples where Yahweh shall lead you away-
But this was in order for a witness to be made to those nations.
Hence LXX "And thou shalt be there for a wonder, and a parable".
The tragedy of Israel's curses for disobedience is even now to be
understood as an appeal to the Gentile world to take God seriously and
repent. This was fulfilled at the Babylonian exile (s.w. Jer. 24:9); but
there is no clear record of Judah and their land becoming a proverb and
byword. Again we sense that these curses were ameliorated by grace.
Deu 28:38 You will carry much seed out into the field and gather little
in, for the locust shall consume it-
The locust was a plague brought upon Egypt. The judgments upon the
land of Israel in the last days are described in Revelation, and they are
full of allusion to the plagues upon Egypt. The locust is a figure of
Judah's latter day judgments (Joel 1:4). It is a theme with God that His
apostate people are "condemned with the world" (1 Cor. 11:32). If their
hearts are really with Egypt / the world, then they will share the
judgments of this world. The time for separation is now, just as the
Egyptians had to identify with Israel if they wished to escape the
plagues.
This is the situation experienced at the time of the restoration, and is alluded to by Haggai in Hag. 1:9. The restoration was supposed to happen when they were obedient. But they received the curses for disobedience at the time of the restoration because they were disobedient- their harvests resulted in "little", they were plagued etc. We conclude therefore that the restoration was a blessing for obedience which was given when they were not in fact obedient. And we see in this God's grace.
Deu 28:39 You will plant vineyards and dress them but you shall neither
drink of the wine nor harvest them, for the worm shall eat them-
Just as the locust of :38 is alluded to in Joel 1:4, so Joel 1:4-7
also alludes to the "worm" which destroys vines- and they are used as a
symbol of Judah's latter day invaders. Maimonides in "A guide for the
perplexed" makes a big issue about these worms of vine weevils. He claims
that the various false gods and witches which Israel tended to worship and
trust in all offered agricultural prosperity, and specifically offered
protection from the dreaded vine weevils. The point is therefore made that
all those gods and incantations would be revealed to Israel as powerless
to turn away the curse for disobedience to the covenant.
Deu 28:40 You will have olive trees throughout all your borders but you
shall not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives shall drop off-
See on :39. The picture here is of labour in vain, so it was all a
psychological punishment.
Deu 28:41 You will father sons and daughters but they shall not be yours,
for they will go into captivity-
It has been observed that the books of Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges,
Samuel and Kings have certain similarities. For example, they all quote
the Deuteronomy version of Israel's earlier history, leading to the
suggestion that Deuteronomy was the first of the collection, a kind of
introductory background history. The curses listed in Dt. 28 are all
especially relevant to the situation in Judah before the Babylonian
invasion, and a number of the curses are alluded to in Lamentations as
being descriptive of the situation after the final destruction of
Jerusalem. Some of the curses can have little other application, e.g. Dt.
28:41 speaks of begetting children, "but they shall not be yours; for they
shall go into captivity". Other relevant passages are Dt. 28:36 (a king
taken captive), 49,50,52. These "former prophets" (Deuteronomy - 2 Kings)
appear to have been edited during the exile as history which spoke to the
concerns and needs of the exiled people of God. This combined history
speaks mainly of the southern Kingdom, which was the group who went to
captivity in Babylon; and it explains why this captivity was justified, as
well as giving many examples of where repentance could bring about a
restoration (1 Kings 8:46-53 is specific). This history addresses the
questions which concerned the captives- does God abandon His people for
ever? Are Israel entirely to blame for what happened? Is there hope of
restoration after receiving Divine judgment and breaching His covenant?
Can God have a relationship with His people without a temple? To what
extent will God always honour the promises to Abraham and David? Should
other gods also be worshipped? Reading these books from this perspective
reveals how incident after incident was especially selected by the
inspired editors in Babylon in order to guide God's people there.
Deu 28:42 All your trees and the fruit of your ground shall the locust
possess-
Joel's likening of the latter day invader to locusts (Joel 1:4) is
perhaps based upon the prophecy that "locusts shall consume (the land)...
the fruit of thy land shall the locust possess" (Dt. 28:38,42 A.V. mg.).
'Possess' invites us to see the locusts as representative of a group of
invaders. See on :43.
Deu 28:43 The foreigner who is in the midst of you shall mount up above
you higher and higher-
This surely begs for an application to the Arab inhabitants of the
[so called] Occupied Territories, who will no doubt join in with the
'locust' invasions, dominating the Jews as the Philistines did.
And you shall come down lower and lower-
Flesh must be humbled- either we do it now, we humble ourselves that
we may be exalted in due time; or it will have to be done to us through
the terror of rejection. Time and again ‘bringing low’ or ‘humiliation’ is
the result of condemnation (Dt. 28:43; 2 Chron. 28:19; Job 40:12; Ps.
106:43).
Deu 28:44 He will lend to you and you shall not lend to him; he will be
the head and you shall be the tail-
This has not had widespread fulfilment, but it must do in the latter
day desolation of Israel- which presumably must last for a period of time
for this to come true. There are various indications of a literal 1260
days, 42 months, three and a half year period of tribulation in the last
days.
Deu 28:45 All these curses will come on you and pursue you and overtake
you until you are destroyed-
As if the curses are to be equated with the invaders.
Because you didn’t listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep
His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you-
This began with God's first invitation to Israel to hear His voice.
But they didn't want to and shied away, asking Moses to go and hear God's
voice and relay it to them. This refusal to listen to His literal voice is
being alluded to, and compared to their refusal to obey His voice / word.
If they had been open to personal engagement with Yahweh their God,
hearing His word spoken to them personally rather than retreating into
mere religion and thereby placing God at a distance from them, then they
would have been personally obedient to that voice.
Deu 28:46 and they shall be to you and your seed a sign and a wonder
forever-
"Forever" here is clearly not used with the sense of literal
eternity. Indeed there is no word for that in ancient Hebrew; olahm
means really 'time out of mind'.
Deu 28:47 Because you didn’t serve Yahweh your God with joyfulness and
with gladness of heart because of the abundance of all things-
So often, the Mosaic law associates rejoicing with giving and
sacrificing, for truly
it is more blessed or happy to give than to receive. The Lord's teaching
about this was clearly reflective of this major Mosaic theme (Acts 20:35).
But Israel sacrificed grudgingly, without joy. And this was of supreme
significance to God as a reason for their condemnation.
Time and again, Moses speaks of the state of their heart. He warns them against allowing a bad state of heart to develop, he speaks often of how apostasy starts in the heart. Moses makes a total of 49 references to the heart / mind of Israel in Deuteronomy, compared to only 13 in the whole of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers. This indicates the paramount importance which our Lord attaches to the state of our mind. This was perhaps his greatest wish as He faced death; that we should develop a spiritual mind and thereby manifest the Father and come to salvation. Moses likewise saw the state of our mind as the key to spiritual success. But do we share this perspective? Do we guard our minds against the media and influence of a mind-corrupting world? It's been observed that the phrase "The God of [somebody]", or similar, occurs 614 times in the Old Testament, of which 306 are in Deuteronomy. Our very personal relationship with God was therefore something else which Moses came to grasp in his spiritual maturity. Statistical analysis of the word "love" in the Pentateuch likewise reveals that "love" was a great theme of Moses at the end of his life (Moses uses it 16 times in Deuteronomy, and only four times in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers).
Israel would be rejected and cursed if they didn’t
serve God “with gladness”. Service to God must be done with joy; if we
lose the rejoicing of our hope, we lose the hope itself (Heb. 3:6). Joy is
therefore a vital characteristic of God’s true people.
Deu 28:48 therefore you shall serve your enemies whom Yahweh shall send
against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness and in want of all things-
This is so relevant to the Lord's sufferings on the cross, when He
bore Israel's condemnation.
And He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you-
Moses offered Israel the choice of bondservice to either Yahweh or
their enemies. The whole of Romans 6 plays on this idea. We are slaves to
sin, and through entering Christ by baptism, we become slaves of
righteousness. Total freedom to do what
we
personally want is not possible. We are slaves, we can't serve two
masters. So why not serve Christ rather than the Biblical devil? Jesus
spoke of His servants having a light yoke (Mt. 11:30). The Bible minded
among His hearers would have thought back to the threatened punishment of
an iron yoke for the disobedient (:48). 'It's a yoke either way', they
would have concluded. But the Lord's yoke even in this life is
light, and has promise of the life which is to come! The logic of taking
it, with the restrictions it inevitably implies (for it is a yoke), is
simply overpowering.
Deu 28:49 Yahweh will bring a nation against you from far, from the end of
the earth, as the eagle flies; a nation whose language you will not
understand-
As explained on :10, the "earth" refers to the land promised to
Abraham. They were invaded by a nation from the end of the earth, which
Habakkuk defines as Babylon, a nation at the extremity of the land / earth
promised to Abraham. Rome is not here in view. The latter day application
is likewise to the nations within the land promised to Abraham, and not to
"Rome".
Deu 28:50 a nation of fierce face who will not respect the person of the
old nor show favour to the young-
Moses not only repeats all the curses of Lev. 26 to them,
but he adds even more, under inspiration (Dt. 28:50-57). Presumably the
Angel had explained in one of their conversations how Israel would suffer
even greater punishment than what He had outlined in Lev. 26. Notice
in passing that Lev. 26 and Dt. 28 are not strictly parallel. And in some
ways, Moses became more demanding, whilst at the same time emphasizing
grace and love.
Deu 28:51 It will eat the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your
ground until you are destroyed. It will not leave you grain, new wine or
oil, the increase of your livestock or the young of your flock, until it
has caused you to perish-
Moses not only repeats all the curses of Lev. 26 to them, but he adds
even more, under inspiration. Presumably the Angel had explained in one of
their conversations how Israel would suffer even greater punishment than
that outlined in Lev. 26. Notice that Lev. 26 and Dt. 28 are not
strictly parallel. Moses in his spiritual maturity urged Israel to be the
more fully aware of the nature and reality of Divine punishment for human
sin; his increased focus upon grace and salvation didn’t mean that he
increasingly ignored the harder side of God- but rather the opposite was
the case.
Deu 28:52 It will besiege you in all your gates until your high and
fortified walls come down in which you trusted, throughout all your land.
It will besiege you in all your gates throughout all your land which
Yahweh your God has given you-
Their trust in "high and fenced walls" (Dt. 28:52) would have its
latter-day equivalent in Israel's trust in its military deterrents and
defences.
Deu 28:53 You shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of
your sons and of your daughters, whom Yahweh your God has given you, in
the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you-
The plural "enemies" suggests that the siege in view would not be by
one enemy but by a confederacy of them. And this is exactly the latter day
prophetic scenario during Israel's final time of curing.
Deu 28:54 The man who is tender among you and very delicate, his eye shall
be evil toward his brother and toward the wife of his heart and toward the
remnant of his children whom he has remaining-
The Biblical record seems to very frequently seek to deconstruct
popular ideas about sin and evil. One of the most widespread notions was
the "evil eye", whereby it was believed that some people had an "evil eye"
which could bring distress into the eyes of those upon whom they looked in
jealousy or anger. This concept is alive and well in many areas to this
day. The idea entered Judaism very strongly after the Babylonian
captivity; the Babylonian Talmud is full of references to it. The sage Rav
attributed many illnesses to the evil eye, and the Talmud even claimed
that 99 out of 100 people died prematurely from this (Bava Metzia 107b).
The Biblical deconstruction of this is through stressing that God's
eye is all powerful in the destiny of His people (Dt. 11:12; Ps. 33:18);
and that "an evil eye" refers to an internal attitude of mean
spiritedness within people- e.g. an "evil eye" is understood as
an ungenerous spirit in Dt. 15:9; Mt. 6:23; 20:15; or pure selfishness in
Dt. 28:54,56; Prov. 23:6; 28:22. We must remember that the people of
Biblical times understood an "evil eye" as an external ability to
look at someone and bring curses upon them. But the Bible redefines an
"evil eye" as a purely internal attitude; and cosmic evil, even
if it were to exist, need hold no fear for us- seeing the eyes of the only
true God are running around the earth for us and not against us
(2 Chron. 16:9).
Deu 28:55 so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his
children whom he shall eat, because he has nothing left in the siege and
in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in all your
gates-
This clearly had a fulfilment at the time of 2 Kings 6:28,29. But all
these incipient fulfillments only looked ahead to the greater one in the
last days.
Deu 28:56 The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture
to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and tenderness,
her eye will be evil toward the husband of her heart and toward her son
and her daughter-
The curses repeatedly stress the psychological torment. The sensitive
woman would become desensitized by the desperation, so that her "eye will
be evil". Her husband was the man "of her heart", but her eye or heart /
mind will become "evil" toward him, and likewise toward her own children.
The mental torment of those judged by God will be the main component of
their judgment. "Weeping and gnashing of teeth" speaks of this; for to
behold the future they had missed, to perceive how easily they could have
been there, will be an unbearable psychological trauma. All the dramatic
figurative descriptions of condemnation are an attempt to portray this.
Deu 28:57 and toward her young one who comes out from between her feet and
her children whom she shall bear; for she will eat them secretly, for want
of all things in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall
distress you in your gates-
Deu 28:58 If you will not observe all the words of this law that are
written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and fearful name,
YAHWEH YOUR GOD-
For all Moses’ desire for Israel’s obedience, there are some subtle
differences in his attitude to law and obedience between Deuteronomy, and
the law earlier given. Thus in Leviticus 26 it was stressed that obedience
would bring blessing; whilst Dt. 28:58 says that obedience results in
fearing the fearful Name of Yahweh and His glory. Fear shouldn’t lead to
obedience; but obedience leads a man to know and fear his God and His Name.
This is blessing enough. The Hebrew
yare means both fear / dread, and
also reverence / worship. Knowing the enveloping mercy of God should lead
to a real fear of a God so gracious (Ps. 5:7). However, obedience to God's
commands would lead to a fear of Yahweh's glorious and fearful name (Dt.
28:58); not the other way round, whereby fear of God leads to obedience.
God's character is not just partly severe, partly gracious. His grace and
His judgment of sin are wonderfully interconnected within His character.
Like Jacob and Job, Moses came to a fine
appreciation of Yahweh’s Name at his latter end, perceiving that the
wonder of relationship with God far eclipses any material blessing we may
receive from Him in this life. To respect or fear the Name doesn't mean to
remember that God’s Name is 'Yahweh'. It refers to his character (Ex.
34:4-6). The Lord Jesus fed off the majesty of the Name of Yahweh (Mic.
5:4)- this was how inspirational He found the things of the Name. To fear
the Name of Yahweh involved practical obedience to “all the words of this
law”. Meditation and sustained reflection upon the characteristics of God
as epitomized and memorialized in His Name will of itself lead to a
conforming of personality to that same Name. If we declare that Name to
others, they too have the chance to be transformed by it- thus Moses
comments that “I will proclaim the name of Yahweh; you, ascribe greatness
to our God” (Dt. 32:3).
All the commands of Moses’ law were in order to teach Israel to appreciate and respect the character and name of Yahweh (Dt. 28:58) - therefore all this commands were a manifestation of the fundamental personality of the Father. Ditto for the words of Jesus, who was the prophet who would speak God’s word as Moses spoke it (Dt. 18:15-18). Because Jesus would speak God’s word as Moses did, the words of Moses should be studied as much as the words of Jesus - as Jesus himself said (Jn. 5:47). Yet do we love the Law of Moses as David did? Or do we not incline to be spiritually lazy, to be influenced by the (so called) New Testament Christianity of the apostate religious world around us? It is only by truly entering into the spirit of Moses’ words that we can really understand our Lord - he said this himself. And yet we would rather read Jesus’ words than those of Moses, because we can’t be bothered to make the effort to understand the spirit of our Lord as it is revealed there. And therefore we complain (if we are honest) of a lack of sense that we are having a real relationship with the Lord Jesus.
The Lord Jesus fed off the majesty of the Name of
Yahweh (Mic. 5:4)- this was how inspirational He found the things of the
Name. To fear the Name of Yahweh was to “observe to do all the words of
this law” (Dt. 28:58). Meditation and sustained reflection upon the
characteristics of God as epitomized and memorialized in His Name will of
itself lead to a conformation of personality to that same Name. If we
declare that Name to others, they too have the chance to be transformed by
it- thus Moses comments: “Because I will publish the name of the
Lord, ascribe ye greatness unto our God” (Dt. 32:3).
Deu 28:59 then Yahweh will make your plagues terrible and the plagues of
your seed, great plagues and of long continuance, and severe sicknesses
and of long continuance-
"Then..." could suggest that when suffering the curses for
disobedience, they would then be offered the opportunity for repentance.
But if they refused this, then the plagues would not be of 'short
continuance' as was potentially possible, but would last "long" (Dt.
28:59), or made seven times heavier (Lev. 26:21). The medical aspects of
these plagues were apparently not fulfilled to the extent implied here and
in :60; and that is typical of how in wrath, God remembered mercy. For
although the covenant was broken, the curses they had agreed to bear for
this were somehow ameliorated in practice. And despite their lack of
obedience, the blessings for obedience did have partial fulfilment (e.g.
the multiplication of their numbers, :63 cp. Dt. 1:10; 10:22; 26:5). And
even further, God still sought ongoing relationship with them on the basis
of the covenant He had made with Abraham and his seed; those promises
became the basis of His offer of a new covenant to Israel.
Deu 28:60 He will bring on you again all the diseases of Egypt which you
feared, and they shall cling to you-
Sickness is from God and not a personal Satan. "The Lord
will bring upon you all the diseases of Egypt" (Dt. 28:60); "an evil
spirit from the Lord troubled [Saul]" (1 Sam. 16:14); "Who has
made man's mouth? Or who makes the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the
blind? Have not I the Lord?" (Ex. 4:11).
Legion's desire to see his mental disease return to the herds of swine probably stemmed from a need to know that his affliction had been cured in a rather permanent sort of way. And the Lord went along with this. The idea of transference of disease from one to another was a common Semitic perception, and it’s an idea used by God. And thus God went along with the peoples' idea of disease transference, and the result is recorded in terms of demons [which was how they understood illness] going from one person to another. Likewise the leprosy of Naaman clave to Gehazi (2 Kings 5:27). God threatened to make the diseases of the inhabitants of Canaan and Egypt to cleave to Israel if they were disobedient (Dt. 28:21,60). Here too, as with Legion, there is Divine accommodation to the ideas of disease transference which people had at the time.
Deu 28:61 Also Yahweh will bring on you every sickness and every plague
which is not written in the book of this law, until you are destroyed-
"Destroyed" is the word for "utterly destroyed", and is used of how
God would utterly destroy Israel if they were disobedient to the covenant
(Dt. 4:26). God had used the word to speak of how He would totally destroy
Israel and make a new nation from Moses (s.w. Dt. 9:19,25; Ps. 106:23),
but Moses changed God's mind about that. But these later usages of the
word are saying that this was going to happen, if Israel were disobedient.
And they were, but it didn't happen. Individuals were 'utterly destroyed',
but the word is used in Am. 9:8 of how "I will not utterly destroy the
house of Jacob". This was all by pure grace. Just as the wages of sin is
death for each of us, but by grace we are saved from that.
Deu 28:62 You will be left few in number-
This is hard to convincingly apply to any previous persecution, if it
refers to numbers of Jews worldwide. However, it may refer specifically to
the Jewish population of the land of Israel. There must therefore be a
world-wide persecution of Jews for this to come about, or a total
overrunning of the land of Israel, just as radical Islam dreams of. The
tide of history is turning against the West, and this opens up the
prospect of America and Britain also persecuting Jews.
Whereas you were as the stars of
the sky for multitude, because you didn’t listen to the voice of Yahweh
your God-
Passages like Dt. 7:1 confidently proclaim that "When the Lord your God
shall bring you into the land... and shall pluck off / cast out many
nations...". Yet this casting out was dependent upon Israel doing this
work; if they did it, God was eager to work mightily with them. But the
reality is that they didn't drive out all the nations. This doesn't
falsify Scripture; rather does it indicate the positive hope of God that
His people will work with Him to make His potentially true prophecies turn
into reality. Even the promises to Abraham were to some extent
conditional- Israel would no longer be "as the stars of heaven for
multitude; because you would not obey the voice of the Lord" (Dt. 28:62).
Hence the fulfillment of those promises was dependent to some extent upon
the obedience of the promised seed.
Deu 28:63 As Yahweh rejoiced over you to do you good and to multiply you,
so Yahweh will rejoice over you to cause you to perish and to destroy you-
In Esther’s time, a decree was made to “destroy…and cause to perish”
the Jews throughout the provinces of Persia / Babylon (Esther 3:13; 7:4).
This phrase uses the two Hebrew words which we find together three times
in the list of curses to be brought upon a disobedient Israel (Dt.
28:20,51,63). There evidently is a connection. And yet by her wonderful
self-sacrificial mediation, Esther brought about the deferment and even
annulment of those justifiable curses. God’s prophetic word was again
changed- due to a mediator, who of course pointed both backwards to Moses,
and forwards to the Lord Jesus.
You will be plucked from off the land where you go in to possess it-
Abraham was promised that his seed would have Yahweh as their personal
God, and would eternally inherit the land. In a sense, the promises that
the seed would inherit the land, and that God would be their
God were fulfilled straight after God said them. He became Isaac's God
(Gen. 31:42,53 refer to this), the God of Abraham's son. Time and again
God reminds Israel that He is their God. And that land in a sense
was given to the Jewish fathers (Gen. 15:18; Dt. 28:63; 30:5 NIV;
Josh. 1:2-9; 21:43; 1 Kings 4:20,21). David could praise God simply
because He was ''my God'' (Ps. 118:28)- an allusion back to the Abrahamic
promise. Of course, the main fulfillment of this promise will be in
the Kingdom; but in principle, the promise has already been
fulfilled to Abraham's seed- i.e., us!
Deu 28:64 Yahweh will scatter you among all peoples, from the one end of
the earth to the other end of the earth, and there you shall serve other
gods which you have not known - you nor your fathers - gods of wood and
stone-
This refers to the "earth" in the sense of the land promised to
Abraham; see on :10. The implication is that Jews now within the state of
Israel will be scattered throughout that area in the last days. And yet
the Babylonian exile left many of the people in the land; again, the
curses were not carried out to the extent called for by these terms of the
covenant. The poor of the people, which was the majority, remained there.
Babylonian policy was to deport the leadership and establish puppet rulers
over the impoverished masses. The idea here is that the calling of Abraham
out of idolatrous Ur would be reversed; they would return to those ends of
the land, and serve idols there.
Deu 28:65 Among these nations you shall find no ease and there shall be no
rest for the sole of your foot. Yahweh will give you there a trembling
heart and failing of eyes and pining of soul-
This is in line with the state of psychological breakdown described
and discussed on :20. We note how God can give people attitudes of
heart; and positively, His Holy Spirit works directly upon the human
spirit. God brought Israel out of Egypt in order to "cause him to rest"
(Jer. 31:20), s.w. "ease" here. But Israel didn't "find" that promised
ease / rest, the Kingdom was prepared and made possible, but they refused
it. And so any life without the Kingdom is but an aimless wandering.
And yet the book of Esther presents the Jews as wealthy and popular in
exile; again we see how these curses were not totally carried out.
Deu 28:66 and your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear
night and day and shall have no assurance of your life-
Deu 28:67 In the morning you will say, I wish it were evening! and at
evening you will say, I wish it were morning! for the fear of your heart
which you shall fear and for the sight of your eyes which you shall see-
There are links between Job and Deuteronomy 28, connecting Job with a faithless Israel:
"Thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness" (Dt.
28:29) = "They (the wicked; although the friends are getting at Job when
they speak of them) meet with darkness in the daytime and grope in the
noonday as in the night" (Job 5:14).
"The blind" (Dt. 28:29) = Job had fits of blindness (Job 22:10,11)
"The Lord shall smite thee in the knees and in the legs with a sore botch
from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head" (Dt. 28:35) = "Boils
from the sole of his foot unto his crown" (Job 2:7). These were inflicted
by the satan, but by "The Lord" in Dt.28. In practice, "the Lord" was the
wilderness Angel; which is one of several indications that Job's satan was
an Angel.
"An astonishment" (Dt. 28:37) = "Mark me (Job) and be astonished" (Job
21:5;17:8).
"and a byword, among all nations" (Dt. 28:37) = "A byword of the people"
(Job 17:6;30:9).
"In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou
shalt say, Would God it were morning" (Dt. 28:67) = "When I lie down, I
say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I am full of tossings
to and fro until the dawning" (Job 7:4).
All the Jews' blessings from God were to be taken away and their
children cursed: "Thou shalt beget sons and daughters but thou shalt not
enjoy them" (Dt. 28:41) = "Cattle... flocks of thy sheep", ditto for Job.
"The Lord shall bring a nation against thee (Dt. 28:49) = The Sabeans/
Chaldeans- forerunners of the Babylonians and Assyrians who punished
Israel.
Deu 28:68 Yahweh will bring you into Egypt again with ships by the way of which I said to you, You shall see it no more again, and there you shall sell yourselves to your enemies for bondservants and for bondmaids, and no man will buy you-
As noted on previous curses, here we have the climactic curse never actually fulfilled to the extent implied here- i.e. a reversal of God's entire salvation plan in bringing Israel out of Egypt in the first place. It didn't much happen at the time of the Assyrian and Babylonian invasions, which are presented in the prophets of the fulfilment of the curses for breaking the covenant. It is a case of God in wrath remembering mercy, taking pity upon His children simply because they are His children. Hosea records how God threatened to return them to Egypt, and yet in that same prophecy says that they will not return there. Just as Hosea didn't finally punish Gomer as her whoredom deserved, neither did God punish His people to the extent He speaks of here. Simply because He loves them.
Other Bible prophecies speak of a great re-gathering of a repentant
Israel from dispersion around the return of Christ. It’s been tempting to
apply this to Jewish emigration to Israel post 1948, but many of the
prophecies in their context require that this return is part of a
spiritual restoration. Dt. 28:68 speaks of Israel being punished by being
taken into Egypt in ships- and it’s hard to find a very significant
fulfilment of that prophecy to date. Such scattering of the Jews
throughout the eretz, the territory of the land promised to Abraham, would fulfil the patterns set by Babylon, Assyria, Persia and Rome in their dominations of Israel. Such scattering is possible and likely, seeing that it is a requirement of the Hadith about jihad against Israel: “Fight against those who disbelieve in Allah. Make a holy war... When you meet your enemies... invite them to three courses of action. If they respond to any one of these, you also accept it and withhold yourself from doing them any harm. Invite them to (accept) Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and desist from fighting against them. Then invite them to migrate from their lands to the land of Muhairs... If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the Jizya. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah's help and fight them" (The Hadith, Book 19.4294, about Jihad). This paying of tax is likely to involve accepting the seal / mark of the beast, without which there can be no trading. "The land of Muhairs" refers to the lands of origin of the Moslem fighters; muhair means 'origin' in Arabic. This means that a mass deportation of Jews to other parts of the land promised to Abraham, the lands of origin of their enemies, is very much what the jihadists envisage. These concepts are particularly applied to the Jews, in Hadith 19.4363: "(Let us) go to the Jews... The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) stood up and called out to them (saying): O ye assembly of Jews, accept Islam (and) you will be safe... He said to them (the same words) the third time (and on getting the same reply) he added: You should know that the earth belongs to Allah and His Apostle, and I wish that I should expel you from this land... and they may have to go away leaving everything behind".
At the time of Israel's repentance, God will "break
the bands of your yoke" (Ez. 34:27), using the language of their suffering
in Egypt (Lev. 26:13). If they are literally delivered from Egypt, this
would fit nicely.
Ex. 14:13 could appear to be prophecy: “The Egyptians… you shall see them again no more for ever”. But it is understood as a command not to return to Egypt in Dt. 17:16- and because of Israel turning back to Egypt in their hearts, they would be taken there again (Dt. 28:68). So we must be prepared to accept that what may appear to be prophecy is in fact commandment, which we have the freewill to obey or disobey. Hence they would not go back there; and yet, God says, they will go back there.
Ez. 43:7
likewise is more command than prediction: “The house of Israel shall no
more defile my holy name” (RV). It isn’t saying ‘this is a prophecy that
they will not do this’- for they did. Rather is it a plea, a command, that
they are not to do this any more. So God’s promise that Israel would never
again see Egypt was therefore conditional, and thus capable of being
broken; although those conditions aren’t mentioned when He makes the
promise in Dt. 17:16; Ex. 14:13.
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