Deuteronomy 28 - Introduction

Enforcement of Blessings and Curses

With no title this discourse is clearly a continuation of ch. 26, but whether through Deuteronomy 27:9 f. or not is uncertain.

The contents are the blessings and curses which shall follow respectively on Israel's observance and neglect of the Law; already announced in Deuteronomy 11:26-28; Deuteronomy 27:12 f. Parallel conclusions are found to the Codes of E and H; Exodus 23:20-33; Leviticus 26:3-45.

Driver justly remarks that ch. 28 shows -no appreciable literary dependence" on the former of these; and -though the thought in Leviticus 24 is in several instances parallel to that in Deuteronomy 28, and here and there one of the two Chapter s even appears to contain a verbal reminiscence of the other (cp. Deuteronomy 28:22-23; Deuteronomy 28:53; Deuteronomy 28:65 bwith Leviticus 26:16; Leviticus 26:19; Leviticus 26:29; Leviticus 26:16 respectively), the treatment in the two cases is different, and the phraseology, in so far as it is characteristic, is almost entirely distinct, Leviticus 26 representing affinities with Ezekiel, Deuteronomy 28 with Jeremiah; in fact the two Chapter s represent two independent elaborations of the same theme."

It is not easy to account for the structure of ch. 28. The Blessings in Deuteronomy 28:1-14 find their antitheses within the first section on the Curses, Deuteronomy 27:15-26, but these are elaborated to a far greater degree than the Blessings, and are further developed in two additional sections, Deuteronomy 28:47-57 and Deuteronomy 28:58-68, cleanly separate in form from what precedes them and from each other. For the grounds of this analysis and for signs within some of the sections of smaller expansions see the notes below.

Most striking is the way in which the Discourse after predicting Israel's ultimate exile swings back to describe calamities to the people while still on their own land. The captivity in Deuteronomy 28:32 is only partial, and Israel itself is still at home lamenting it. But after the exile of the nation and the king is foretold in Deuteronomy 28:36 f, Deuteronomy 28:38 ff. return to the aggravation of the evil conditions inflicted on the people in its own land till it be destroyed (among them once more, Deuteronomy 28:41 as in Deuteronomy 28:32, the captivity of its sons and daughters). Deuteronomy 28:47-57 are a gruesome description of the siege of Israel's cities by a foreign invader; but Deuteronomy 28:58-62 repeat the curses of plague, already threatened, which shall continue till thou be destroyed. Then with a change to the Pl. address comes another prediction of banishment (Deuteronomy 28:63) and, with a return to the Sg., a poignant description of sufferings in exile (Deuteronomy 28:64-67), rising at last to the climax (the most terrible thing D could threaten) of a return to Egypt, the house of bondmen, where however Israelites shall now not be worth purchase as slaves (Deuteronomy 28:68).

That there are some Later intrusions or displacements can hardly be denied; e.g. Deuteronomy 28:35 and Deuteronomy 28:41. That the curses are far more elaborated than the blessings, and that, if within Deuteronomy 28:15-46; Deuteronomy 28:26 be removed, the parallel with the blessings in Deuteronomy 28:1-14 becomes much closer, might be reasonably held as proofs of later expansions which also include Deuteronomy 28:48-68. But this must remain more or less uncertain in view of the discursive style of D which so often returns on itself, as well as in view of the predominance of threat over promise in pre-exilic prophecy.

The curses which affect the land and the people while in possession of it can hardly be so late as the Exile. But also, in the opinion of the present writer, there is not in the threats of invasion, nor even in those of exile, anything that conflicts with a pre-exilic date. These threats have all sufficient foundation in previous experiences of Israel. And it may be fairly argued that had Deuteronomy 28:58-68 been written after the Exile it could hardly have contained the threat of the flight of the people by ships to Egypt to sell themselves there. Nor is there in the Discourse any such promise of restoration to the exiled people, being penitent, as is found in Deuteronomy 4:20-40 and is taken there as a proof of an exilic date. In D's own absolute manner the exile of Israel is regarded as final. The whole Discourse therefore may well be pre-exilic.

The style throughout is that of D, though as we should expect from the subject, there are terms and phrases not used elsewhere by D nor indeed in the O.T.

Finally, it is clear from 2 Kings 22:13 and Jeremiah 11:3 that some such terrible curses were appended to the Book of the Law discovered in the Temple in 621; which as we have seen was at least the Code of D.

Therefore certainly in part, and possibly in whole, this Discourse belongs to D. Cp. Kuenen, Hex.§ 7, 21 (2), -not to any appreciable extent interpolated." On the other side Staerk and Steuernagel find the ch. a compilation from many sources, some of them late; and so to a smaller extent Bertholet.

The designations of Israel's God are interesting: 27 times Jehovahonly and almost always when some action (mostly of judgement) is attributed to Him; 13 times the deuteron. Jehovah thy Godand this almost always in connection with the people's duty to His Law and Service or with His gift of the land to them. The distinction is on the whole logical.