Deuteronomy 28:38

28:15-44 If we do not keep God's commandments, we not only come short of the blessing promised, but we lay ourselves under the curse, which includes all misery, as the blessing all happiness. Observe the justice of this curse. It is not a curse causeless, or for some light cause. The extent and power of this curse. Wherever the sinner goes, the curse of God follows; wherever he is, it rests upon him. Whatever he has is under a curse. All his enjoyments are made bitter; he cannot take any true comfort in them, for the wrath of God mixes itself with them. Many judgments are here stated, which would be the fruits of the curse, and with which God would punish the people of the Jews, for their apostacy and disobedience. We may observe the fulfilling of these threatenings in their present state. To complete their misery, it is threatened that by these troubles they should be bereaved of all comfort and hope, and left to utter despair. Those who walk by sight, and not by faith, are in danger of losing reason itself, when every thing about them looks frightful.

Thou shall carry much seed into the field,.... And sow it plentifully; this and what is said in some following verses plainly refer to them while in their own land, before carried captive, and not to their present case and circumstances: and shall gather but little in at harvest; little springing up, or not coming to perfection, being blighted and blasted, and so yielded but a small crop; see Haggai 1:9; and chiefly for the following reason: for the locust shall consume it; which is a great destroyer of the fruits of the earth; see Joel 1:4.

(38-42) These are the contrary to Deuteronomy 28:11 ; and Deuteronomy 28:44 is the contrary to Deuteronomy 28:12-13 . From the order of the passage it might seem that these particular troubles were to come on Israel after their captivity. And perhaps it is not accidental that something very like a fulfilment of Deuteronomy 28:38-40 is found in Haggai 1:6-11 . (Comp. also Isaiah 5:10 , “Ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.”)

37. And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee, &c.—The annals of almost every nation, for eighteen hundred years, afford abundant proofs that this has been, as it still is, the case—the very name of Jew being a universally recognized term for extreme degradation and wretchedness.

38 . Here the Discourse returns to Israel’s misfortunes on their own land, and the connection seems to be with Deuteronomy 28:15-24 (or 25), to which Deuteronomy 28:38-44 are more or less parallel. 38–40 . Consumption of corn by locusts and of grapes by worms, and casting of olives. For these products see on Deuteronomy 7:13 . Locust , Heb. ’arbeh , properly locust-swarm. Worm , Heb. tola‘ath ; the grub which ruins vines, Gk. ἴψ or ἶξ (Strabo, xiii. i. 64), Lat. convolvulus (Pliny, H.N. xvii. 47), is the wine-weevil (Knobel). On cast see on Deuteronomy 7:1 . 41 breaks the connection between Deuteronomy 28:40; Deuteronomy 28:42 , and is out of place; cp. Deuteronomy 28:32 . Deuteronomy 28:38

38 . Joshua the son of Nun ] So Deuteronomy 3:28 ; P, Numbers 27:18 ff.; not given in JE. which standeth before thee ] Deuteronomy 10:8 ; so a servant stood before his lord, a courtier before his king, and the Levites before Jehovah. JE, Exodus 24:13 f., the minister of Moses . encourage thou him ] lit. him make thou strong . The vb ḥizzeḳ , alone as here, or with the synonymous vb ’immeṣ Deuteronomy 3:28 ; or in their intransitive forms Deuteronomy 31:6-7 ; Deuteronomy 31:23 . Cp. Deuteronomy 11:8 , Deuteronomy 12:23 ( be firm ). cause … to inherit ] characteristic of D: used of Joshua here, Deuteronomy 3:28 , Deuteronomy 31:7 ; Joshua 1:6 ; but of God 12 to, Deuteronomy 19:3 . Outside D only in Jeremiah 3:18 ; Jeremiah 12:14 ; Ezekiel 46:18 and later writers. P uses another form of the vb, Numbers 34:29 ; Joshua 13:32 ; Joshua 14:1 ; Joshua 19:51 . Further Note to Deuteronomy 1:36-38 . Because Moses has just been described as seeking to turn the people from their sin, 29 ff., and it is therefore unreasonable to include him in their punishment; because Deuteronomy 1:37-38 needlessly anticipate Deuteronomy 3:26 ; Deuteronomy 3:28 and Deuteronomy 4:21 ; and because Deuteronomy 1:39 in whole or part follows suitably on Deuteronomy 1:36 ; therefore Deuteronomy 1:37-38 are taken by many (Dillm., W. R. Smith, Steuern., Berth, etc.) as a later addition to the text.

Even in their own land the curse would fall upon every kind of labour and enterprise. Much seed would give little to reap, because the locust would devour the seed; the planting and dressing of the vineyard would furnish no wine to drink, because the worm would devour the vine. תּולעת is probably the ἴψ or ἴξ of the Greeks, the convolvulus of the Romans, our vine-weevil.

37 . If there be in the land famine ] In this verse the king gathers together various judgements which God had threatened on His people if they sinned. For famine cf. Leviticus 26:20 ; Deuteronomy 11:17 : for blasting and mildew, Deuteronomy 28:22 ; for locust, Deuteronomy 28:38 . The particular insect rendered ‘caterpillar’ in this verse is not mentioned in the Pentateuch, but we know from Joel 2:25 , that some other kind, or stage of development, of locust is meant by it. In Deuteronomy 28:42 we have mention of an insect, also rendered ‘locust,’ which has a different name in the original from that spoken of in 1 Kings 8:38 of the same chapter. The siege by an enemy is threatened in Deuteronomy 28:52 . in the land of their cities ] The Hebrew word translated ‘cities’ usually signifies ‘gates,’ and it is so rendered Deuteronomy 28:52 ‘He shall besiege thee in all thy gates.’ But in ‘gates’ the ‘cities,’ which alone possessed them, are implied. The LXX. and other versions have ‘in one of their cities.’ The Vulg. has ‘gates.’