Deuteronomy 28:1 ¶ And it
shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD
thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee
this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the
earth: 2 And all these blessings shall
come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the
LORD thy God. 3 Blessed shalt
thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the
field. 4 Blessed shall be the
fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle,
the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. 5 Blessed shall be thy basket and thy
store. 6 Blessed shalt thou be
when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest
out. 7 The LORD shall cause thine
enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall
come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. 8 The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee
in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall
bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 9 The LORD shall establish thee an holy people
unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments
of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways. 10
And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name
of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee. 11 And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in
goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the
fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give
thee. 12 The LORD shall open unto thee
his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and
to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and
thou shalt not borrow. 13 And the LORD
shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and
thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the
LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:
14 And thou shalt not go aside from any
of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to
the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
From the curse in the last chapter to these promises of blessings
from God for obedience we can get an idea of the nature of the world in which
the Israelites lived and the world that was in God’s perfect will.
This is also evidence that the Israelites’ promises were earthly
and of a temporal nature for success and peace on this earth. The Christian by
contrast, whether they be of Gentile or Jewish extraction, will face great
hardship and persecution on earth even if they are obedient. The comparison is
very dramatic.
2Timothy 3:12 Yea, and all
that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
You are not promised a pain-free life or abundant material wealth
for following Christ on this earth.
This passage ends with a warning about idolatry.
Deuteronomy 28:15 ¶ But it
shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy
God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command
thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
16 Cursed shalt thou be in
the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. 17 Cursed shall be thy basket and thy
store. 18 Cursed shall be the
fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the
flocks of thy sheep. 19 Cursed shalt
thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when
thou goest out. 20 The LORD shall send
upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand
unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because
of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me. 21 The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave
unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to
possess it. 22 The LORD shall smite thee
with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an
extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and
they shall pursue thee until thou perish. 23
And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the
earth that is under thee shall be iron. 24 The LORD shall make the rain of thy land
powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be
destroyed. 25 The LORD shall cause thee
to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and
flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the
earth. 26 And thy carcase shall be meat
unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall
fray them away. 27 The LORD will
smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab,
and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed. 28 The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and
blindness, and astonishment of heart: 29
And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and
thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled
evermore, and no man shall save thee. 30
Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou
shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a
vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof. 31 Thine ox shall be slain before thine
eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken
away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall
be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them.
32 Thy sons and thy daughters shall
be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with
longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in
thine hand. 33 The fruit of thy land,
and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou
shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway: 34
So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt
see. 35 The LORD shall smite thee in the
knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole
of thy foot unto the top of thy head. 36
The LORD shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee,
unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt
thou serve other gods, wood and stone. 37
And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among
all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee. 38 Thou shalt carry much seed out into the
field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it.
39 Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress
them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the
grapes; for the worms shall eat them. 40
Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt
not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit.
41 Thou shalt beget sons and daughters,
but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity. 42 All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the
locust consume. 43 The stranger that is
within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very
low. 44 He shall lend to thee, and thou
shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.
If these warnings aren’t explicit I don’t know what God could have
said to the Israelites to make them understand. Let’s keep reading.
Deuteronomy 28:45 ¶
Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee,
and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto
the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which
he commanded thee: 46 And they shall be
upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever. 47 Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God
with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;
48 Therefore shalt thou serve thine
enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and
in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron
upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee. 49
The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the
earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt
not understand; 50 A nation of fierce
countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to
the young: 51 And he shall eat the fruit
of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also
shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase
of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee. 52 And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates,
until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout
all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy
land, which the LORD thy God hath given thee. 53 And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own
body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God hath
given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall
distress thee: 54 So that the man
that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil
toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of
his children which he shall leave: 55 So
that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall
eat: because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith
thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates. 56 The tender and delicate woman among you,
which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for
delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom,
and toward her son, and toward her daughter, 57
And toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and
toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of
all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy
shall distress thee in thy gates. 58 If
thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this
book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD;
59 Then the LORD will make thy plagues
wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long
continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance. 60 Moreover he will bring upon thee all the
diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee.
61 Also every sickness, and every
plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD
bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed. 62
And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of
heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the LORD thy
God. 63 And it shall come to pass, that
as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD
will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall
be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. 64 And the LORD shall scatter thee among all
people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt
serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even
wood and stone. 65 And among these
nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest:
but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and
sorrow of mind: 66 And thy life shall
hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have
none assurance of thy life: 67 In the
morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say,
Would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt
fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. 68 And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt
again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no
more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and
bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.
These things do come to pass on the rebellious Israelites to
various degrees. Although this passage is pretty self-explanatory I thought
there was a couple of things of note that I wanted to bring out.
Verse 49 from the end of the earth would be a figure of
speech referring to a nation from a long way away. Assyria and Babylon were
brutal and fit this description. We will see many atrocities committed against
the Israelites by them.
This reminds one of another prophecy with a more grisly threat.
Hosea 13:16 Samaria shall
become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the
sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child
shall be ripped up.
Then, in verse 57 we can find a fulfilling of this awful threat.
2Kings 6:24 ¶ And it came
to pass after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went
up, and besieged Samaria. 25 And there
was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass’s
head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of
dove’s dung for five pieces of silver. 26
And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a
woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king. 27 And he said, If the LORD do not help thee,
whence shall I help thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress?
28 And the king said unto her, What
aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we
may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow. 29 So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I
said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath
hid her son. 30 And it came to pass,
when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes; and he
passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth
within upon his flesh.
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