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Deu_28:1
The blessing. The condition sine qua non of all enjoyment of the Divine bounty was obedience on the part of the people to the word and Law of Jehovah their God. This rendered, the blessing would come on them rich and full, and abide with them (cf. Deu_28:2, Deu_28:9, Deu_28:13, Deu_28:14).
Deu_28:2
The blessings about to be specified are represented as personified, as actual agencies coming upon their objects and following them along their path.
Deu_28:3-7
The fullness of the blessing in all the relations of life, external and internal, is presented in six particulars, each introduced by the word "blessed." Israel should be blessed in the house and in the field, in the fruit of the body, in the productions of the soil and the increase of herd and flock, in the store and in the use of what nature provided,—in all their undertakings, whether in peace or in war, at home or abroad. Basket and thy store; rather, basket and kneading-trough (see Exo_8:3; Exo_12:34); "the basket" representing the store in which the fruits of the earth were laid up, the "kneading-trough" the use of these for the supply of daily needs (Deu_28:6; cf. Num_27:17; Psa_121:8).
Deu_28:8
The effect of the blessing should be seen, not only in the supremacy of Israel over all opposition, but in the abundance of their possessions, in the success of their undertakings, and in the respect in which they should be held by all nations. Storehouses. The Hebrew word ( àÂñÈîÄéí ), which occurs only here and in Pro_3:10, is properly thus rendered. It comes from a root which signifies to lay up.
Deu_28:9
The Lord would establish them to be a people holy unto himself, in whose Blessed condition all would see that they were indeed his people, favored by him.
Deu_28:10
Thou art called by the name of the Lord; rather, the Name of Jehovah called upon thee. The Name of God is God himself as revealed; and this Name is called or named upon men when they are adopted by him, made wholly his, and transformed into his likeness. This blessing Israel enjoyed as a nation—"Theirs was the adoption and the glory" (Rom_9:4)—but it was theirs only in symbol and in shadow (Heb_10:1); the reality belongs only to the spiritual Israel, and this came to men in all its fullness when he who is "the image of the invisible God" appeared and set up his tent among men, full of grace and truth (Joh_1:12, Joh_1:14).
Deu_28:11
The Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods; literally, shall make thee to abound for good; i.e. shall not only give thee abundance, but cause it to redound to thy felicity.
Deu_28:12
His good treasure; equivalent to his treasure-house, i.e. heaven, whence blessing should be poured out upon them (cf. Deu_11:14; Le Deu_26:4, Deu_26:5). He would so fructify their ground, and so bless their toil in cultivating it, that they should become rich, and be able to lend to other nations, and not need to borrow.
Deu_28:13
They should be manifestly superior to other nations, heading them and being above them, their leader and not their subject or follower (cf. Isa_9:13). Note the contrast in Deu_28:43, Deu_28:44.
Deu_28:14
(Cf. Deu_5:29; Deu_11:28.) Moses ends as he began, by reminding them that the condition of enjoying the blessing was obedience to the Divine Law, and steadfast adherence to the course in which they were called to walk.
Deu_28:15-68
The curse. In case of disobedience and apostasy, not only would the blessing be withheld, but a curse would descend, blighting, destructive, and ruinous. As the blessing was set forth in six announcements (Deu_28:3-6), the curse is proclaimed in form and number corresponding (Deu_28:16-19). The curse thus appears as the exact counterpart of the blessing. The different forms in which the threatened curse should break forth are then detailed in five groups.
Deu_28:20-26
First group. The curse should come upon them in various forms of evil, filling them with terror and dismay, and threatening them with utter ruin (cf. Mal_2:2).
Deu_28:20
Vexation; rather, consternation; the deadly confusion with which God confounds his enemies. The same word is used in Deu_7:23; 1Sa_14:20. Rebuke; rather, threatening.
Deu_28:21, Deu_28:22
The afflictive visitations here named are such as destroy life; but the distinctive character of each it is not easy exactly to define. The pestilence is probably a generic term for any fatal epidemic. In the LXX. it is usually represented by the general word Odoacer, death. Consumption; literally, wasting; the designation of any species of tabes or marasmus. Fever ( ãÇÌìÆÌ÷Æú , from ãÈÌìÇ÷ , to be parched, to glow); inflammation ( çÇçÀúËø , from çÈøÇø , to burn); burning fever ( ÷ÇãÇÌçÇú , from ÷ÈãÇç , to kindle): different species of pyrexia, the distinction between which has not been determined. The sword. Instead of çÆøÆá , sword, the Vulgate, Arabic, and Samaritan adopt the reading çÉøÆá , heat, drought (Gen_31:40); but all the other versions support the reading of the received text, and there is no reason why it should be departed from, more especially as drought is threatened in the verse that follows. Blasting and with mildew; diseases that attack the grain (Amo_4:9); the former ( ùÄÑãÈÌôåÉï , from ùÈÑãÇÌó , to scorch, to blast) a withering or scorching of the ears caused by the east wind (Gen_41:23); the latter ( éÅøÈ÷åÉï , from éÈøÇ÷ , to be yellowish) the effect produced by a hot wind, which turns the ears yellow, so that they are rendered unproductive.
Deu_28:23, Deu_28:24
Terrible drought is hero threatened; no rain should fall (cf. Le Deu_26:19); but instead thereof dust, both light as powder and heavy as sand, should fall upon them. The allusion is probably to those clouds of dust and sand which often fill the air in Palestine, when the heat is intense and there has been no rain for a season; the wind then becomes a vehement sirocco, and the air is filled with sand and dust, and is like the glowing heat at the mouth of a furnace (Robinson, 'Bib. Res.,' 2:123; Thomson, 'Land and the Book,' 2.311).
Deu_28:25, Deu_28:26
Utter defeat in battle (the opposite of the blessing promised, Deu_28:7) and dispersion among the nations are threatened, with the utmost indignity to those who were slain, in their bodies being left unburied to be devoured by birds of prey and wild beasts (cf. 1Ki_14:11; Psa_79:2; Jer_7:33; Jer_16:4, etc.). Shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth; literally, shalt be a tossing to and fro to all the kingdoms, etc.; "a ball for all the kingdoms to play with" (Schultz; cf. 2Ch_29:8; Jer_15:4; Jer_24:9; Jer_29:18, etc.).
Deu_28:27-34
Second group. The Lord should afflict them with various loathsome diseases, vex them with humiliating and mortifying calamities, and give them over to be plundered and oppressed by their enemies.
Deu_28:27
Botch of Egypt; the form of leprosy peculiar to Egypt (Exo_9:9, etc.), elephantiasis, "AEgypti peculiare malum" (Pliny, 'Nat. Hist.,' 26.1-5). Emerods; tumors, probably piles (cf. 1Sa_5:1-12.). Scab; probably some kind of malignant scurvy. Itch; of this there are various kinds common in Egypt and Syria.
Deu_28:28, Deu_28:29
Besides bodily ailments, mental diseases should come upon them—insanity, incapacity, confusion of mind, so that even at midday they should grope as a blind man gropes, i.e. under the most favorable circumstances they should be unable to find the right path, to hit on the right and safe course. It is of mental blindness that the word is here used (cf. Isa_42:19; Lam_4:14; Zep_1:17; Rom_11:25; 2Co_4:4). Thou shalt grope (cf. Isa_59:10). Thus afflicted in body and mind, their state should be one only of oppression and calamity, with no hope of deliverance.
Deu_28:30-34
The spoliation of them should be utter. All most dear and precious to them should be the prey of their enemies. Wife, house, vineyard, herd, and flock should be ruthlessly taken from them; sons and daughters should be carried into captivity, and their eyes should look for them in rain, with constant and wasting longing (cf. Jer_8:20; Amo_5:11; Mic_6:15; Zep_1:13; 2Ch_29:9; Neh_11:36; Jer_5:15).
Deu_28:30
And shalt not gather the grapes thereof; margin, "Hebrew, profane." This is the literal rendering of the verb; the meaning is that given in the text. A vineyard was, for the first three years after it was planted, held sacred (Le 19:23); after that, its consecration ceased, and the fruit might be gathered for common use (cf. Deu_20:6), and it was said to be profaned.
Deu_28:32
And there shall be no might in thine hand. Keil proposes to render here, "Thy hand shall not be to thee towards God;" and others, "Thy hand shall not be to thee for God," i.e. instead of God. But àÅì here is not "the Mighty One, God; but simply" might, strength, power," as in Gen_31:29; Pro_3:27; Mic_2:1. Literally rendered, the words are, And not for might is thy hand, the meaning of which is well expressed in the Authorized Version.
Deu_28:35-46
Third group. Moses reverts to the calamities already threatened (Deu_28:27), for the purpose of leading on the thought that, as such diseases separated the sufferer from the society of his fellows, so Israel should be separated from God and brought under the dominion of strangers as a punishment for rebellion and apostasy.
Deu_28:35
A sore botch; an incurable leprosy, affecting not merely the joints and extremities, but the whole body. Such an affliction would exclude a man from all fellowship and from all covenant privileges of the nation. So Israel, rendered unclean by their sin, should be cut off from covenant union with God.
Deu_28:36, Deu_28:37
As a consequence, God would bring them under subjection to a foreign power, and they should be made to serve other gods, wood and stone (Deu_4:28), and would become an object of horror, a proverb, and a byword among the nations (cf. 1Ki_9:7; Jer_24:9).
Deu_28:38
Even in their own land the curse would overtake them and rest upon them in all their interests and relations.
Deu_28:39
Worms; probably the vine weevil, the convolvulus or involvulus of the Latin writers (Pliny, 'Nat. Hist.,' 17.47; Care, ' De Re Rust.,' c. 95; Plaut; 'Cistell.,' 4.2), the ἴξ or ἴψ of the Greeks (Bochart, 'Hieroz.,' pt. it. bk. 4. c. 27).
Deu_28:40
Thine olive shall cast his fruit. Some would render here "shall be plundered or rooted out," taking the verb éÄùÇÌÑì as the Niph. of ùÈÑìÇì ; but the majority regard it as part of the verb ðÈùÇÑì , and render "shall drop off," or as in the Authorized Version. There is some doubt, however, whether the verb ðÈùÇÑì can be used intransitively.
Deu_28:42
Consume; literally, take possession of. The name given here to the ravaging insect is not the same as in Deu_28:38; but there can be no doubt it is the locust that is intended.
Deu_28:43, Deu_28:44
(Cf. Deu_28:12, Deu_28:13.)
Deu_28:46
These curses would be for a sign and for a wonder, exciting astonishment and dismay in the beholder, and showing that it was indeed the hand of God that was upon the rebellious nation. Forever. This, though it may imply the final and utter rejection of Israel as a nation, does not preclude the hope of restoration of a part of Israel as individuals, or as a remnant remaining in or returning to faith and obedience (cf. Isa_10:22; Isa_6:13; Rom_9:27; Rom_11:5).
Deu_28:47-57
Fourth group. In order still more to impress on the minds of the people the evil and danger of rebellion and apostasy, Moses enlarges on the calamities that would ensue on their being given up to the power of the heathen. Because they would not serve Jehovah their God, they should be delivered to be servants to their enemies.
Deu_28:49, Deu_28:50
The description here given of the enemy to whom Israel was to be subjected, applies more or less closely to all the nations whom God raised up from time to time, to invade Israel and chastise the people for their rebellion—the Chaldeans (cf. Jer_48:40; Jer_49:22; Eze_17:5-7; Hab_1:6, etc.), the Assyrians (cf. Isa_5:26; Isa_38:11; Isa_23:1-18 :19), the Medes (Isa_13:17, Isa_13:18); but there are features in the description which apply especially to the Romans; and the horrors delineated in the latter part of the section (verses 52-57) carry one's thoughts immediately to the terrible scenes which transpired during the wars of Vespasian and Titus with the Jews as narrated by Josephus ('De Bell. Jud.,' 6.; see Milman, ' Hist. of the Jews,' bk. 16.).
Deu_28:49
As the eagle flieth. The eagle was the common ensign of the legion in the Roman army; and by the Latin writers aquila (eagle) is sometimes used for a legion (Caes; 'Hisp.,' 30; cf. Mat_24:28).
Deu_28:50
A nation of fierce countenance; literally, firm or hard of face; i.e. obdurate and determined (cf. Pro_21:29; Dan_8:23).
Deu_28:52-57
(Cf. Le 26:29; 2Ki_6:24-30; Jer_19:9; Lain. Jer_2:20; Jer_4:10.)
Deu_28:56
So intense should be the hunger, that the delicate and sensitive woman, brought up in luxury, and who would not set her foot on the ground lest she should be fatigued by the exertion or offended by coming in contact with the base soil, but when she went abroad must be carried in a litter or borne by a camel or an ass,—even she should break through all restraints of delicacy and affection, and would secretly devour the very infant she had borne during the siege.
Deu_28:57
Her young one; literally, her after-birth. The Hebrew suggests an extreme of horror beyond what the Authorized Version indicates.
Deu_28:58-68
Fifth group. Even these fearful calamities would not be the consummation of their punishment. If they should be obstinate in their rebellion; if they would not observe to do all that the Law delivered by Moses enjoined on them if they ceased to reverence and obey Jehovah, their God;—then should come upon them the curse in full measure, and long-continued chastisement should show how grievous had been their sin.
Deu_28:58
This book. Not the Book of Deuteronomy, which was not then written, but the Book of the Law, the Torah, delivered by Moses to Israel from God; and of which he had been, in his addresses to the people, recapitulating some of the principal points (cf. verses 60, 61). That thou mayest fear, etc. It was not mere outward observance of the Law, not the mere "doing" of what was enjoined that was required, but the doing of it heartily and sincerely in the fear of the Lord, in the fear of him who had revealed himself to them by the glorious and awful Name, Jehovah, their God (cf. Le Deu_24:11).
Deu_28:60, Deu_28:61
The diseases of Egypt are the plagues sent on Pharaoh and his people, as recorded in Exodus 7-11. Besides these, other plagues, not recorded in the Book of the Law, should come on rebellious Israel, so that they should be almost utterly destroyed.
Deu_28:62
(Cf. Deu_4:27; Deu_10:22; Neh_9:23.)
Deu_28:63
(Cf. Deu_30:9; Jer_32:41.) He, whose joy it had been to do them good, should rejoice over their destruction (of. Pro_1:26).
Deu_28:64
Those of them that survived the plagues that should come upon them, and the horrors of the siege, should be scattered amongst all nations to the ends of the earth, and there subjugated to the utmost indignities and sufferings.
Deu_28:66
Thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; literally, Thy life shall be hung up before thee; i.e. shall be like an object suspended by a thread which hangs dangling before the view, ready to fall or to be cut down at any moment. Comp.—
"Omnia sunt hominum tenui pendentia filo
Et subito casu quae valuere ruunt."
(Ovid, 'Epp. ex Ponto,' 4.3, 35.)
Deu_28:68
Worst of all, they should be again reduced to bondage, carried back to Egypt, put up for sale as slaves, and be so utterly despicable that no one would purchase them. Bring thee into Egypt again. "If the Exodus was the birth of the nation of God as such, the return would be its death" (Schultz; cf. Hos_8:13; Hos_9:3). With ships. They came out of Egypt by land, as free men; they should be carried back imprisoned and cooped up in slave-ships. By the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no mere again. This does not refer to their being carried to Egypt in ships as different from the way by which they had come out from it, but simply to the fact that they should be carried back thither, contrary to what was expected when they so triumphantly came forth from it. There ye shall be sold; literally, shall sell yourselves; i.e. give yourselves up to be sold as slaves. Egypt may be here, as Hengstenberg suggests, "the type of future oppressors;" but there seems no reason why the passage should not be taken literally. It is a fact that, after the capture of Jerusalem by Titus, the Jews were in large numbers carried into Egypt, and there subjected to most ignominious bondage; and in the time of Hadrian, multitudes of Jews were sold into slavery (Josephus, 'De Bell. Jud.,' 6.9, 2; of. Philo, 'Flacc.' and 'Leg. ad Caium.').
I. A MAN'S EARTHLY DESTINY IS, IN SOME SORT, IN HIS OWN HANDS. (Deu_28:1, Deu_28:2.) "If thou shalt hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God," such and such blessings shall "come upon thee, and overtake thee." If Israel sought success for its own sake, irrespectively of the rightness or wrongness of any methods adopted to secure it, there would be no guarantee whatever of their securing the end at which they aimed; and even if they should, the results would be fraught with evil; for "the prosperity of fools would destroy them." But if their supreme, their sole aim, was to do right, to serve and please the Lord, then the Divine blessing would be sure to follow them. "'Tis ours to obey, 'tis his to provide." If we do right, and leave the issues with God, we shall not be left without tokens of his approving smile (Mat_6:33). There may be large temporal gains, or there may not; but, with the much or with the little, that blessing will come which maketh rich; and he addeth no sorrow therewith.
II. THE BLESSING ENJOYED BY THE OBEDIENT MAN WILL REST ON EVERYTHING WHICH HE HAS, AND WILL FOLLOW HIM EVERYWHERE. Let every clause in the paragraph be separately weighed. Would we set this in gospel light, if any one were to ask the question, "What are the signs of God's blessing which God's faithful ones enjoy, even in this life?" we would enumerate six of them.
1. They have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. They have a clear conscience; they know that the aim of pleasing God is right, whatever difficulties it may involve.
3. They enjoy what they have as from God, and as the loving gifts of a Father's hand.
4. If much be given, they delight to use it for God.
5. If little be theirs, they know that a little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.
6. And, above all, the supreme proof of God's blessing is that gains and losses, joys and cares, health and sickness, do "all work together for good" to them; they minister to the growth of character, and help to make them better, wiser, and holier men.
III. THERE IS A SPECIAL LAW OF GOD'S PROVIDENTIAL GOVERNMENT WHICH ENSURES THIS BLESSING TO THE OBEDIENT. (Deu_28:12.) It may, at first sight, seem to be an antiquated setting of things which we find in this verse, in which it is said, virtually, that the amount of rain will depend on the amount of virtue, and that the accumulation of men's possessions will depend on their fidelity to God! The second sentence we can understand, since fidelity to God implies, among other things, fidelity in the use of God's appointed means of success; so that this is only saying, Use the right means rightly, and you will gain your end. But as to the former, who can understand it? The amount of rain dependent on the measure of virtue—how can such a thing be? We ask, first of all, Hath the rain a father? The reply is, Yes, beyond all question—God. But then God is the Father of spirits also. That is to say, there are two spheres: that of matter and force, and that of spirit; the one governed by physical laws, the other by laws which are spiritual; but all laws, whether physical or spiritual, are ordained and regulated by one Supreme Being, and in his hands there is unity of action therein. So that, concerning these two as governed by one God, we ask, Is there any relation at all between them? Does the fact of both sets of laws originating with the same Being give them a point of contact, or does it not? In a word, Is the world of physical forces governed without the slightest reference to the government of souls? or is it so governed as to help on the training of souls?—which? If the first alternative is true, the doctrine of Deu_28:12 is shut out. But who can believe that the Great Father, in governing the less, ignores the greater? We, at any rate, recoil in horror from a view so unworthy of God. We fall back, therefore, on the second alternative, which alone is reasonable, that the less is governed in the interest and on the behalf of the greater; that things are for spirits. But this principle allows room for the point of detail in Deu_28:12, and for ten thousand more details in the physical sphere. God would make the natural world a theatre for, and a means of, the evolution of principles and the growth of souls (cf. Amo_4:6-13; Psa_107:33-43). (See Homily on Deu_11:10-17.)
IV. LOYALTY TO GOD TENDS, NOT ONLY TO TEMPORAL SUCCESS, BUT ALSO TO HONOR. (See end of Deu_28:12 and Deu_28:13.)
1. Individually; men, in the long run, go pretty much for what they are worth. Faithful fulfillment of duty to God and man must tell, and will. "Seest thou a man diligent in his business; he shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men."
2. And collectively; if a nation has in it a preponderance of wise, true-hearted, upright men, such as fear God, love righteousness, and hate iniquity, nothing can prevent such a nation rising in the scale. Its prosperity will be manifest in its inward peace, in the readiness of other nations to deal with it by opening up commercial relations, and in the good will of other nations which it will certainly share. It will have the armor of light. Its virtue will be a wall of defense. "Its land will yield her increase; and God, even its own God, will bless it." "Happy is the nation that is in such a case; yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord." To such a nation it may well be said, "Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee" (Num_24:5-9).
Deu_28:15-68
I. There are some in every nation whom it is absolutely necessary to sway by deterrents, and in the infancy of a nation fear is more potent than faith.
II. God has a curse as well as a blessing. His love is not a mere desire to make men as easy as possible. It is, first of all, a righteous love. When love has to deal only with righteousness, its benevolent aspect only will be seen; but when sin has to be dealt with, the case is very different.
III. It should be deeply graven in our souls that the black-looking and lowering storm-cloud of Divine wrath, though we call it "the curse of God," must never be thought of in any way which would be inconsistent with his pure and perfect love. The wrath of God is holy love frowning on wrong.
IV. When once the wrath of God is incurred, the sinner cannot elude it, any more than he can retreat from his own shadow.
V. Given the actuality of sin, and a far-seeing eye can with certainty descry some of the consequences thereof; an infinite eye can discern them all.
VI. We know that God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but his vindication of his own laws is essential to guard righteousness as with a wall of fire! Hence—
VII. The truest kindness is seen in the enunciation of the most alarming warnings which can be given. The truest love is that which is most faithful. Hence it will often seem the most stern.
VIII. A like holy guard to that which is here thrown around the Law of God is also thrown around the gospel. Just as, on the one hand, this Law did not and could not annul the promise which had been made to Abraham and his seed, even so, on the other hand, not even the richness and glory of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ can ever annul the action of these stern, retributive laws of God's providence on those who continue in sin, and who reject the redemption brought in by the Son of God (see Heb_9:1-28; Heb_10:1-39.).
I. THE SPHERE OF THE BLESSING. The covenant rested largely on temporal promises. Jehovah was doubtless felt by the believing soul to be a better portion than any of his gifts (Psa_16:1-11.; 73.), and the relation which he sustained to his worshipper could not but be thought of as subsisting beyond death, and yielding its appropriate fruit in a future life (Psa_16:11; Psa_17:15; Psa_48:14; Psa_49:14, Psa_49:15; Heb_11:9-17). Yet, inasmuch as "life and immortality" had not been clearly brought to light (2Ti_1:10), his favor was specially exhibited in the abundant communication of earthly blessings. A higher order has supervened, and the temporal promises of these verses are swallowed up in better and more enduring ones (Heb_8:6). The gospel does not sever the connection between godliness and prosperity. It gives it a new sanction (1Ti_4:8). Were the obedience of God's children more uniform and perfect, and piety more widely diffused in communities, the connection would be more manifest than it is. But on the whole, temporal prosperity occupies a lower relative place in the New Testament than in the Old.
1. The spiritual man, serving Christ, and witnessing for him amidst the evil of the world, is more frequently exposed to persecution (Mat_5:11; Mat_10:24, Mat_10:25; Joh_4:15-21). He has more occasion to take up the cross (Mat_16:24). He may require to sacrifice all he has, with life itself, for Christ's sake and the gospel's.
2. Temporal prosperity is in every case subordinated to spiritual good (2Co_12:7-10; 3Jn_1:2). Bacon's saying has, therefore, truth in it, "Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity is the blessing of the New, which carrieth the greater benediction, and the clearer revelation of God's favor." Adversity, however, even in the New Testament, is but a step to something higher. Spiritual compensations now; hereafter, "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory "(Mar_10:30; 2Co_4:17).
II. THE OPERATION OF THE BLESSING, It is viewed as pervading every department of the earthly life. It mingles itself with all the good man is, with all he does, with the circumstances of his lot, with the powers of the natural world which constitute his environment. It rests on his person, on his household, on his possessions. It helps him against his enemies, making him wealthy and powerful (Abraham, Job), and exalting him to a position in which others are dependent on him. It attends him in city and field, in his coming in and going out, so that whatever he does prospers (Psa_1:3). These promises demonstrate:
1. That the providence of God, in the sphere of the outward life, is free, sovereign, all-embracing.
2. That there is under this providence a connection between outward events and circumstances and spiritual conditions.
3. That, subordinately to higher ends, piety and virtue, under this providence, will be rewarded by prosperity. (See a valuable treatment of this subject in M'Cosh's 'Method of the Divine Government,' bk. 2. Deu_2:1-37.) Yet glorious as these promises are, they "have no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth" of the promises of the New Testament.
Promises:
1. Of salvation (Rom_5:9, Rom_5:10).
2. Of spiritual blessings (Eph_1:3).
3. Of a heavenly inheritance (1Pe_1:3, 1Pe_1:4).
4. Of "riches" of goodness which will remain unexhausted through eternal ages (Eph_2:6, Eph_2:7).
5. Of perfected transformation into the moral image of God (Psa_17:15; 1Co_4:1-21 :49; Col_1:22; 1Jn_3:2).
III. THE CONDITION OF THE BLESSING. Obedience (Deu_28:1, Deu_28:2, Deu_28:9,Deu_28:13, Deu_28:14).
1. Legally, perfect obedience.
2. Evangelically, obedience habitual and sincere, albeit imperfect.
The meritorious ground of a believer's acceptance, and of the blessings he receives, is the obedience unto death of Christ (Rom_5:19-21). Christ expiates his sins, and fulfils de novo the condition of the covenant. It is well to remember, as explaining anomalies in the histories of righteous men under the old covenant, that the promises in these verses were primarily national. They could be realized to the individual only in connection with the obedience of the nation as a whole. When apostasy provoked God's judgments, pious individuals suffered in the general calamities. They suffered, too, as drawing upon themselves the hatred of the wicked. Hence the development in the Psalms and Prophets of the idea of the "Righteous Sufferer"—One whose afflictions are entailed on him by the hatred and injustice of the wicked, or who, innocent himself, suffers as a member of the body politic. This idea, which has throughout a Messianic reference, culminates in the prophecy of the" Servant of Jehovah" (Psa_52:1-9; Psa_53:1-6.), who, by the holy endurance of sufferings for others, makes their sin his own, and vicariously atones for it.—J.O.
Deu_28:8
1. Unblessed good is ill (Ecc_5:10-15).
2. It turns to ill—is not enduring (Pro_13:22), takes wings and leaves, is a curse to offspring (Ecc_5:14, Ecc_5:15; Ecc_6:2; Jas_5:1, Jas_5:2).
II. GOD'S BLESSING, WITHOUT FULL STOREHOUSES, MAKES RICH.
1. It enriches the little we have. A man with a moderate competence, and peace and comfort in the use of it, may be richer than the man whose means are tenfold greater (Psa_37:16).
2. It makes adversity a means of spiritual enrichment.
3. It is itself the best of all riches (Hab_3:17-19).—J.O.
Deu_28:9
1. Unto holiness.
2. A result of God naming his Name upon his people (Deu_28:12, Hebrew), i.e. dwelling with them, and revealing his attributes in saving, sanctifying, blessing, and exalting them.
3. The reward of fidelity.
4. A proof of God's fidelity. God "hath sworn" to fulfill his word (Heb_6:17, Heb_6:18; cf. 1Co_1:9; Php_1:6).—J.O.
Deu_28:10
II. NOMINAL AND REAL CALLING. "They are not all Israel which are of Israel" (Rom_9:6). Real, as distinguished from nominal, saints are marked:
1. By obedience to the Divine commands (Deu_28:9; Mat_7:22).
2. By separation from the world (2Co_7:1-16 :17, 18).
3. By the power of holiness dwelling in them.
4. By manifold tokens of the Divine favor.
Thus the world "sees" them to be what they are (Act_4:13).
III. THOSE KNOWN TO BE CALLED BY GOD'S NAME ARE FEARED. Worldly men fear them. They fear the holiness that resides in them. They fear their prayers. They fear their power with God. They feel that there dwells in them a Presence whom they have every reason to dread (Act_2:43).—J.O.
Deu_28:13
Deu_28:15-48
1. By conscience. The criminal cannot divest himself of the belief that avenging powers are following on his track.
2. By experience. "Rarely," says Horace, "has Punishment, though lame, failed to overtake the criminal fleeing before her." Greek tragedy rests on an induction from the facts of life.
3. By mythology. It was a conviction, true alike to conscience and the facts of life, which the Greeks sought to personify in the Erinyes, in Nemesis, and in Ate, who clung to a man or to a family in punishment for some half-forgotten crime.
4. By literature, which is full of the recognition of avenging powers. The Bible confirms the substance of this varied teaching, but lifts the subject out of the region of mythology. Jehovah alone has power to bless and curse. The blessings and curses of men have no efficacy save as he gives it to them. His blessings and curses are part of the moral government of the world, and turn exclusively on moral conditions. This is the contrast between the Bible and the heathen idea of a curse. The curse was a prominent part of heathen sorcery, but was wrought with charms and incantations. Protection against it was sought, not in a life of virtue, but in counter-charms and amulets—in conjurations more powerful than those of the enemy. The Bible countenances no such superstitions. Incantations are valueless. A curse is futile against those whom God has blessed (Num_23:20-23).
The Bible doctrine is:
1. Simple.
2. Rational.
3. Ethical.
That of heathenism (with its modern survivals, the evil eye, charms, witches, etc.) is conspicuously the reverse.
I. THE CURSE IN ITS NATURE.
1. A natural fruit of sin. Natural process is not the whole. But a larger place may be allowed it than it had in the blessing. The blessing is "gift;" sin's fruit is of "debt"—"wages" (Rom_6:23). Conceivably, yet without miracle, God might have withheld from virtue its appropriate outward reward. But no power, even that of God, could prevent the sinner from reaping wretchedness and woe as a result of sin. "The righteous shall be recompensed in the earth; much more the wicked and the sinner" (Pro_11:31). The wiser course is not to oppose God to the laws of our moral nature, but to recognize him in them, and to draw from them a knowledge of his character and will. These, like all punitive laws, are the executors of his judgments. The sinner, having placed himself in conflict with the laws of life, of society, and of the outward universe, necessarily suffers in mind, body, and estate. Sin introduces discord, disorder, lawlessness, into the soul. It blinds and infatuates (Deu_28:28, Deu_28:29). It makes wretched. This wretchedness is aggravated:
(1) By remorse and self-reproach.
(2) By sense of Divine anger.
(3) By opprobrium of society.
(4) By imaginative terrors.
Sin poisons the fountains of health, and induces diseases (Deu_28:22, Deu_28:27, 85). The internal anarchy spreads outwards. The bonds of society are loosened; wealth accumulates in the hands of the few; the unhappy toilers, oppressed and spoiled, sink deeper and deeper in debt and wretchedness. At this stage the nation becomes an easy prey to the first strong power that cares to pounce upon it (Deu_28:29-38).
2. An effect of hostile action on the part of God. We fail of a complete view if we look only at the hostile relation of the sinner to God, and leave out of account the hostile relation which God assumes to the sinner. It is not merely that the sinner gets into conflict with himself and with the world around him, but nature and providence, under the direction of a hostile will, take up an antagonistic relation to him. Their movements are no longer for his good, but hostile and retributive (Deu_28:20-24). So the mental maladies of Deu_28:28 are more than the merely natural effects of sin (cf. 1Ki_22:22). "The inquiring mind," says Dr. M'Cosh, "will discover designed combinations, many and wonderful, between the various events of Divine providence. What singular unions of two streams at the proper place to help on the exertions of the great and good! What curious intersections of cords to catch the wicked, as in a net, when they are prowling as wild beasts! By strange but most apposite correspondences, human strength, when set against the will of God, is made to waste away under his indignation, burning against it, as, in heathen story, Meleager wasted away as the stick burned which his mother held in the fire." Laws of nature are the warp, Divine providence the woof, of this awful garment of the curse with which the sinner clothes himself.
II. THE CURSE IN ITS OPERATION. Pictured in these verses in ample and vivid detail. The counterpart of the blessing (Deu_28:15-26). Takes effect in misfortune (Deu_28:20), sore diseases (Deu_28:21, Deu_28:22), scouring by natural agencies (Deu_28:23, Deu_28:24), invasions by enemies (Deu_28:25, Deu_28:26). Action and reaction lead to the reproduction of these evils in aggravated forms. To worse bodily plagues (Deu_28:27) are superadded mental maladies (Deu_28:28, Deu_28:29), issuing in renewed panic and defeat in war (Deu_28:29), with innumerable resultant calamities (Deu_28:30-33). Confusion and anarchy unite with oppression to produce madness of heart (Deu_28:34), disease pursues its ravages in forms of increasing malignity (Deu_28:35), and the nation ultimately sinks in total ruin (Deu_28:36, Deu_28:37). Meanwhile, co-operating with these causes to reduce it to subjection, the curse has been working in all labor and enterprise, thwarting, blasting, destroying (Deu_28:43, Deu_28:44; cf. Amo_4:6-12; Hag_1:5-12; Mal_2:2). The full terribleness of the Divine curse, however, is only brought out in the New Testament. As the re-laden of God to the soul goes deeper than life in the world, so it extends beyond it. The worse part of the curse is the sinking of the soul in its own corruptions, with the drying up of its possibilities of life, peace, and joy, under the weight of the Divine displeasure—an experience of "indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile" (Rom_2:8, Rom_2:9). Happily, no man in this life knows what the full extent of that curse is (Isa_57:16). A remedial system is in operation, in virtue of which no soul is utterly deserted of grace, and even the natural workings of sin are manifoldly checked, limited, and counteracted. Space is thus given for repentance, and salvation is possible. The end, however, if the riches of this goodness and forbearance are despised, will only be the more terrible (Rom_2:3-10).
III. THE CURSE IS ITS CAUSES. Sin, disobedience (Deu_28:45, Deu_28:46). The curses written in this book were literally fulfilled. Israel would not serve the Lord with joyfulness and gladness of heart, therefore—sad retribution!—she had to serve her enemies "in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things" (Deu_28:48; cf. the prodigal son, Luk_15:14-17). All sin ends in bondage. Nations that imitate Israel in her sins may expect to be made like her in her punishment.—J.O.
Deu_28:37-42
II. NATURAL AGENCIES ARE UNDER HIS CONTROL. The greater agencies of nature—rain (Deu_28:23, Deu_28:24), pestilence (Deu_28:21), diseases (Deu_28:27, Deu_28:35). The lesser agencies—locusts (Deu_28:38, Deu_28:42), worms (Deu_28:39), "powder and dust" (Deu_28:24). He marshals these agencies at will, appoints them their work, superintends them in the doing of it. He brings strength out of weakness, making the feeblest creatures the instruments of his most terrible strokes of vengeance.
III. THE FRUITFULNESS OF THE EARTH IS DEPENDENT ON HIS BLESSING. He gives, and he can at will withhold. It is a false science which sees only "laws" in the productiveness of nature, and ignores the hand and blessing of a living God.—J.O.
Deu_28:49-59
I. THE PROPHECY IN THE LIGHT OF ITS FULFILLMENT. The wonderfulness of these predictions is not removed by any date we may assign to the Book of Deuteronomy. For:
1. It is certain that the Assyrian and Chaldean invasions—to which a reference is no doubt included (Jer_4:13; Jer_5:15)—fell far short of what was necessary for their complete fulfillment.
(1) The Babylonian Captivity was only of seventy years' duration.
(2) The Jews returned and remained long afterwards in possession of their land.
2. It is equally certain that, in the subsequent conquest of the nation by the Romans, with the dispersion that followed; the rod which lasts to our own day, every feature in the prophecy has been exhaustively fulfilled.
(1) The Romans agree better than either Assyrians or Chaldeans with the description or the foreign foes in verses 49, 50.
(2) The sufferings of the siege (verses 52-57) had their literal fulfillment in the Roman wars, and especially in the siege of Jerusalem under Titus (cf. Josephus, 'Wars of the Jews,' bk. 5:10, 3; 6:3, 3, 4; 6:8, 2).
(3) "Hundreds of thousands were sold as slaves" (cf. verse 68); "and the whole people were cast forth as wanderers among the Gentiles; and they have ever since remained a nation of exiles, unsettled, harassed, and oppressed, in many instances most cruelly, not only by pagans and Mohammedans, but also (to our shame be it spoken) by Christian nations; and still remaining a distinct people, though without a home" (Whately, 'Evidences').
(4) "To serve other gods" may mean no more than to be banished from the territory of Jehovah, and to dwell in and be compelled to conform to the laws of a country where other gods are recognized (cf. 1Sa_26:17). It is also true that, to shield themselves from persecution, the Jews have too often been willing to dissemble and conform to worships which their hearts abhorred (saint and image worship: adoration of the host, etc.); while in idolatrous countries their religion is frequently so corrupted as to be scarcely recognizable. The Beni-Israel, near Bombay, eg. remain a distinct people, but, together with Jehovah, worship the gods of the Hindus. Predictions
(1) so minute,
(2) so extensive in their range, yet
(3) so exhaustively verified by events, cannot be ascribed to accident, but constitute an irrefragable proof of the inspiration that dictated them.
Their fulfillment converts the very unbelief and rejection of the Jews into a powerful argument for Christianity.
II. LESSONS FROM THE PROPHECY.
1. The severity of God. If the fulfillment of these predictions teaches anything, it is that God will not shrink from the punishment of sin. We shudder as we read the details of these curses—"plagues wonderful …. great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance" (verse 59), and ask ourselves, Can God really tolerate the sight of, not to say inflict, such incredible sufferings? Yet we find that not one of these curses failed of its accomplishment. So solemn a fact bids the sinner pause and ponder his chance of escaping in the great "day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God" (Rom_2:5).
2. The self-ruinous character of sin. The fulfillment of these threatenings was largely, though not wholly, brought about by simply giving sin scope to work out its own evil results. The bitterest element in retribution must be the feeling which the sinner has of self-wrought ruin. "He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption" (Gal_6:8). Like water, which, left to itself, will not cease running till it has found its level; like a clock, which, left to itself, will not cease going till it has run itself completely down; like a tree, which, left to grow, cannot but bring forth its appropriate fruit;—so sin has a level to seek, a course to ran, a fruit to mature, and "the end of those things is death" (Rom_6:21).—J.O.
Deu_28:52
1. Self-righteousness; every mouth shall be stopped (Rom_3:19).
2. False trusts (Mat_3:9; Mat_7:22).
3. Evasions and excuses (Mat_25:26; Luk_14:18).—J.O.
Deu_28:56, Deu_28:57
I. DELICACY IS NOT CHARACTER. It is consistent with a vain, light, scornful, wicked disposition. The tender and delicate lady in this verse is one of the enemies of God. The purest types of female character avoid those extravagances of delicacy which, indulged in, become second nature. Character alone entities to respect. To be vain of beauty or breeding, when the heart is false and the life untrue to God, is to be vain of an ornamented husk within which lies rottenness. "'Tis only noble to be good."
II. DELICACY IS AN ACCIDENT OF FORTUNE. It is adventitious—an accident of position. Born in another sphere, she who boasts of it would not have had it. It is the product of artificial conditions, of which she reaps the benefit, but which she had no part in creating. It is not gained by her own exertions, or attributable to her worth or merit. If she values it, let her at least not despise others. She might have been the cottager, the cottager the lady.
III. DELICACY IS VALUELESS WHEN FORTUNE CEASES TO SMILE ON ITS POSSESSOR. No change of circumstances can rob of its value the possession of knowledge, talents, virtue, good breeding, or refinement. These will grace the humblest home, will prove a passport to respect in any society. It is different with the fastidious and excessive delicacy of the belle. So entirely is this an appendage of a certain social position that, when that is gone, it perishes like a crushed flower. The admirers of the delicate lady have deserted her. She is treated with coldness, even rudeness. No one so helpl