Deuteronomy 28

Deuteronomy 28:1

28:1-14 Verse 1 refers to the end of chapter 26 with the words, “God will set you high above.” This gives chapter 27 the appearance of being parenthetical. Many Bible students feel that the blessings pronounced in verses 3-6 were not those addressed to the six tribes on Mount Gerizim, but that this entire chapter is a statement by Moses as to what lay ahead for the children of Israel. The first fourteen verses speak of the blessings that would follow obedience, whereas the last fifty-four verses describe the curses that would fall upon the people if they forsook the Lord. The blessings promised include preeminence among the nations, material prosperity, fruitfulness, fertility, abundance of crops, victory in battle, and success in international trade. 28:15-37 The curses included scarcity, barrenness, crop failure, pestilence, disease, blight, drought, defeat in battle, madness, fright, adversity, calamity, and powerlessness (vv. 15-32). Verses 33-37 predict captivity in a foreign land, and this was fulfilled by the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. Israel would become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations. 28:38-46 The Jews would be cursed with failed crops, vineyards, and olive trees. Their children would go into captivity and locusts would consume their trees and produce. The alien would rise higher and higher and the Israelites would go down lower and lower. There is no contradiction between verses 12 and 44. If obedient, the Jews would become international lenders. If disobedient, they would have to borrow from strangers. 28:47-57 The horrors of a siege by a foreign invader are described in verses 49-57so fierce that the people would eat one another. This came to pass when Jerusalem was beseiged by the Babylonians and later by the Romans. At both times, cannibalism was widespread. People who were normally refined and sensitive became hostile and cannibalistic. 28:58-68 Plagues and diseases would greatly reduce the population of Israel. The survivors would be scattered throughout the earth, and there they would live in constant fear of persecution. God would even take His people back to Egypt in ships. According to Josephus, the prophecy that Israel would go to Egypt again was partially fulfilled in the time of Titus, when Jews were taken there by ship and sold as slaves. But the name “Egypt” here may mean servitude in general. God had delivered Israel from literal Egyptian slavery in the past, but if she would not love Him and acknowledge His sovereign right to her obedience, if she would not keep herself pure as His wife, if she would not be His peculiar treasure, choosing instead to be like the other nations, then she would be sold back into slavery. But by then she would be so crushed that no one would want her even as a slave. “To whom much is given, from him much will be required” (Luk_12:48). Israel had been given privileges above all other nations, and therefore her accountability was greater and her punishment more severe. To meditate on these curses leaves one amazed at the outpouring of Jehovah’s wrath. No words are minced, no details are left to the imagination. Moses paints the picture with bold, stark realism. Israel must know what disobedience will bring in order that she may learn to fear this glorious and awesome name, THE LORD YOUR GOD.