Deuteronomy 28:58-68

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 28:58-68

506.

How is the word fearful in Deuteronomy 28:58? How is the word wonderful used in Deuteronomy 28:59?

507.

Please remember there are two sides of God's character: wrath and love. Israel was promised in great detail both the benefits of His love and the punishment of His wrath. Who was responsible for what they received?

508.

When was the promise of Deuteronomy 28:64 fulfilled?

509.

Israel's second bondage in Egypt was to be worse than their first bondage. How so?

AMPLIFIED TRANSLATION 28:58-68

58 If you will not be watchful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may (reverently) fear this glorious and fearful name [and presence], THE LORD YOUR GOD;
59 Then the Lord will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary strokes and blows, great plagues of long continuance, and grievous sickness of long duration.
60 Moreover He will bring upon you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you.
61 Also every sickness and every affliction which is not written in the book of this law, the Lord will bring upon you, until you are destroyed.
62 And you shall be [51]left few in number, whereas you had been as the stars of the heavens for multitude; because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.

[51] The informed reader scarcely needs to be reminded of how literally fulfilled have been many of these predictions of evil made against the chosen people because of their idolatry and rebellion against God. Such as Deuteronomy 28:25; Deuteronomy 28:32-33; Deuteronomy 28:36; Deuteronomy 28:38; Deuteronomy 28:41-42; Deuteronomy 28:53, foretell historical facts now recorded in Jewish history both sacred and secular. Here Deuteronomy 28:62 foretells how the Jewish race has been thinned, and kept down, again and again.

63 And as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice to bring ruin upon you and to destroy you; and you shall be [52]plucked from off the land which you go to possess.

[52] [The Roman Emperor] Hadrian issued a proclamation forbidding any Jews to reside in Judea. or even to approach its confines (Gray and Adams-' Commentary).

64 And the Lord shall scatter you among all peoples from one end of the earth to the other; and there you shall [be forced to] serve other gods, of wood and stone, which neither your nor your fathers have known. [Fulfilled, Daniel 3:6.]

65 And among these nations you shall find no ease and there shall be no rest for the sole of your foot; but the Lord will give you there a trembling heart, failing of eyes [from disappointment of hope], fainting of mind and languishing of spirit.
66 Your life shall hang in doubt before you; day and night you shall be worried, and have no assurance of your life.
67 In the morning you shall say, Would it were evening! and at evening you shall say, Would it were morning! because of the anxiety and dread of your [mind and] heart, and the sights which you shall see with your [own] eyes.
68 And the Lord shall [53]bring you into Egypt again with ships, by the way about which I said to you, You shall never see it again; and there you shall be sold to your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you. [Hosea 8:13.]

[53] Observe the contrast, you came out from bondage by God's high hand, monuments of His grace and power; you shall be carried back into bondage in men's slave-ships. This was literally fulfilled under [the Roman emperor] Titus, and also under Hadrian (Gray and Adams-' Commentary). The curses. were also fulfilled in a terrible manner during the middle ages, and are still in a course of fulfillment, though frequently less sensibly felt (Lange's Commentary). Here, then, are prophecies delivered above 3,000 years ago, and yet being fulfilled in the world at this very time. I must acknowledge, they not only convince, but amaze and astonish me beyond expression: they are truly as Moses foretold (Deuteronomy 28:45-46) they would be, -a sign and a wonder for ever-' (Bishop Newton, quoted in Jamieson, Fausett and Brown Commentary).

COMMENT 28:58-68

The prophecy now once again takes on a more general character, as in Deuteronomy 28:20-35.

ALL THE DISEASES OF EGYPT WHICH THOU WAST AFRAID OF (Deuteronomy 28:60)How many and what kind these were, we can only guessBut doubtless an oppressed and abused slave people had their share. Cf. Deuteronomy 28:27, Deuteronomy 7:14-15; Exodus 15:25-26.

ALSO EVERY SICKNESS, AND EVERY PLAGUE, WHICH IS NOT WRITTEN IN THIS BOOK (Deuteronomy 28:61)In other words, diseases and afflictions of every description and of every kind will be the lot of a disobedient Israel.

Deuteronomy 28:63A better rendering perhaps is, ... as it was agreeable to the Lord to make you prosper and multiply, so it will be agreeable to the Lord to make you perish, and He will glory in your destruction. God's glory, greatness, and dignity shall remain, regardless of the response men make to his divine will. But he takes no delight in the punishing of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:21-32, 1 Timothy 2:3-4, 2 Peter 3:9).

YE SHALL BE PLUCKED FROM OFF THE LAND (Deuteronomy 28:63)See Jeremiah 12:14, where the Babylonian attack is again anticipated. Note 2 Kings 24:10-14; 2 Kings 15:11-12. The phrase also describes conditions following the Roman devastation: Hadrain issued a proclamation forbidding any Jews to reside in Judea, or even to approach its confines (Gray and Adams).

SCATTER THEE AMONG ALL PEOPLES (Deuteronomy 28:64)What peoples in all history have been more completely dispersed throughout the world? And they certainly have not always kept their national religion, even in the modernized form gaining ascendancy with Jews in this country. But the immediate reference here appears to be further back in Israel's history.

JEHOVAH WILL BRING THEE INTO EGYPT AGAIN WITH SHIPS, BY THE WAY WHEREOF I SAID UNTO THEE, THOU SHALT SEE IT NO MORE AGAIN (Deuteronomy 28:68See also Jeremiah 4:11-14; Jeremiah 4:26-28, Hosea 8:13; Hosea 9:3; Hosea 11:5. Josephus speaks of Titus, after the Roman victory, reserving the stronger and abler ones of the city for the triumphal march, and killing the aged and infirm.. and as for the rest of the multitude that were above seventeen years old, he put them into bonds, and sent them to the Egyptian mines.[54]

[54] Wars of the Jews, Book VI, Ch. IX, #2.