But it shall come to pass if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of Jehovah thy God, to take heed 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.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.
Deuteronomy 28 promises blessing for obedience, then from verse 16 turns every promise inside out. The same city and the same field now lie under curse — but does that curse reach a person's standing before God?
Commentators say chapter 27 and chapter 28 work on different ground.
To put it as plainly and briefly as possible, chapter 27 is moral and personal. Chapter 28 is national, and belongs to God's dealings with Israel in her own time. Chapter 27 deals with the great root principle of man's moral condition: a sinner completely ruined and unable to meet God on the ground of law. Chapter 28, on the other hand, takes up the question of Israel as a nation, under the government of God.
The terms here are earthly: city, field, basket. Neither the blessing nor its reversal meets the deepest need a person has.
This is not what a poor soul wants. It in no way meets a sense of guilt or a dread of judgment. The sinner needs something which will stand for ever. He wants what will be in heaven, not just in the field or in the city. He wants acceptance for himself with God, not just full baskets and full storehouses; there is nothing of that sort here. In chapter 27 the question is not where we are cursed, but who is cursed. Here a particular curse falls on a particular sphere.
Verse 16 starts a list that matches the earlier blessings item for item.
If Israel would not obey God's commandments and statutes, the curse would follow them wherever they went. It would reach the cities and the country (v.16), the food stored in their homes (v.17), their children, their crops and the young of their livestock (v.18). Whether coming in or going out (v.19), moving from one to the other would not ease the misery.
One explanation looks at what God foresaw:
The section on curses takes up far more room than the section on blessings. The reason is likely this. God knew that Israel would soon turn away from Him in hard-hearted disobedience. So they would have no chance to enjoy the blessings promised for obedience, but every chance to feel the many curses that were their own choice.
The chapter also carries a lesson wider than Israel:
The section of curses is more than three times as long as the section of blessings. The blessings fill fifteen verses; the curses fill fifty-three. All the nations of the earth may learn from Israel's remarkable history that God must punish disobedience — and that He punishes it first of all in His own people. If He has not spared His own people, what will be the end of those who do not know Him?
Commentators point to the way this chapter has been read ever since:
Each year, Orthodox Jews read right through the five books of Moses in their synagogues. When they reach this chapter, the Rabbi reads in a hushed voice. They do well to read it quietly and think it over. Thousands of years ago the Spirit of God, through Moses, wrote here in advance the sad history of that remarkable nation — the scattering, the suffering and the trouble.
The principle reaches past Israel, and past people who simply break the law.
It does not only say, "as many as fail to keep the law," though that is true. As if to set the truth before us in the clearest and strongest way, the Holy Spirit declares that for everyone — Jew, Gentile, or Christian in name only — for all who stand on the ground or principle of works of law, there is, and can be, nothing but a curse.
That leaves one question: how does anyone get out? One writer answers with a picture:
Think of the curse as a great sword hanging by a thread over my head. It may fall at any moment and destroy me. Christ came above me, between me and the sword. The sword fell on Him; He received the blow that must have taken us down to hell; He took us out from under the curse.
- Condition — The chapter puts Israel under God's government as a nation. Life in the land hangs on obedience. It says nothing about a soul's acceptance with God.
- Reversal — At verse 16 every earlier blessing comes back inverted: city, field, food store, children, harvest, herds, coming in and going out. No corner is left to escape to.
- Reach — The curses run more than three times as long as the blessings, because God knew which side Israel would choose. And if He does not spare His own people, no nation can expect to escape.
- Record — The scattering and the centuries of sorrow stand written here in advance. That is why the chapter is still read in a hushed voice.
- Rescue — Everyone who stands on the ground of law-keeping stands under curse. The one way out is Christ, who came between us and the falling sword and took the blow in our place.
Cursed shall be thy basket and thy kneading-trough.
Moses is listing what will happen to Israel if they refuse to listen to God. The curses run item by item through ordinary life: city, field, children, livestock. Here they reach two containers no household could do without. So is this a threat against a nation's daily bread, or a sentence on the soul?
The basket carried the food in. The kneading bowl turned it into the day's bread. One writer reads this line as a curse on the household's provisions.
If Israel would not obey God's commandments and statutes, the curse would follow them wherever they went. It would reach the cities, the country (v.16), their house provisions (v.17), their children, the produce of their land and the offspring of their livestock (v.18). Whether coming in or going out (v.19) — that is, changing from one to the other would not ease the misery.
Another writer compares this list with the curses of the chapter before it.
In the previous chapter it is no question of where we are cursed, but rather of the person cursed. Here it is a particular curse that falls on a particular sphere.
These curses belong to God's rule over a nation living in His land. Commentators keep that apart from a second question: how a person stands accepted before God.
In Deuteronomy 28 we have the principles of God's government among that people. We also have the immediate consequences of obedience or disobedience. Those consequences were solemnly fulfilled in the fate of that unhappy people, still loved for the fathers' sakes. Now the law can be taken as the principle of relationship with God — as the way to a righteousness good enough for God to accept us. Do not confuse the consequences of breaking it in that sense with the temporary consequences of disobedience under the government of God. It is to this second kind that chapter 28 refers… As to Israel, universal history presents to us the fulfilment of the threats of the chapter.
The chapter does not give blessing and curse equal room. One writer suggests the reason.
This section dealing with curses occupies a far larger place than the one speaking of blessings. The reason is likely this. God knew full well that Israel would soon depart from Him in hard-hearted disobedience. So they would have no opportunity to experience the blessings promised on condition of obedience. They would have every opportunity to experience the many curses, which they had chosen for themselves.
The chapter is not only Israel's story. Others are meant to read it and take the warning.
The whole chapter gives an impressive commentary on the government of God, and a most forceful illustration of the fact that "our God is a consuming fire." All the nations of the earth may learn something from Israel's remarkable history. God must punish disobedience, and He punishes it first of all in His own people. And if He has not spared His own people, what shall be the end of those who do not know Him?
An empty basket is a real loss, but it is not the deepest human problem. One writer contrasts the chapter's blessings with what a guilty conscience actually needs.
"Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field." This is not what a poor soul wants. It in no way meets a sense of guilt or a dread of judgment. The sinner needs something that will stand for ever. He wants what will be in heaven, not just in the field or in the city. He wants acceptance for himself with God, not just a full basket and a full store. There is nothing of that sort here.
So what blessing reaches the nations through Christ? One writer answers from Galatians 3.
True, we read in Galatians 3 that "in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive" — what? Blessings in the city and in the field? Blessings in our basket and store? No. We receive "the promised Spirit through faith."
- Kitchen. The curse lands on the basket and the bowl — the household's food supply. God's government touches the most ordinary things people handle every day.
- Government. The curse is a temporary consequence of disobedience under God's rule of a nation. It does not settle how God accepts a person as righteous.
- Length. Curses fill far more of the chapter than blessings. God knew which of the two Israel would experience.
- Limit. An empty basket cannot meet a sense of guilt or a dread of judgment. The soul needs acceptance with God, and this chapter does not offer it.
- Lesson. God did not spare His own people when they disobeyed. Every nation that reads Israel's history should tremble — and look for a blessing no basket can hold.
Cursed shall be the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy ground, the offspring of thy kine, and the increase of thy sheep.
Moses is still setting out the terms on which Israel would hold the land. Here the curse falls on the very things blessed earlier in the chapter: children, crops, cattle and flocks.
The curses are not vague threats. They run through every part of daily life, and verse 18 names what a farming family lived on.
If Israel would not obey God's commandments and statutes, they would be cursed wherever they went. The curse would touch them in the cities and in the country (v.16), and in the food stored in their houses (v.17). It would touch their children, the produce of their land and the offspring of their livestock (v.18). Whether they were coming in or going out (v.19) — that is, changing from one to the other — would not ease the misery.
Fourteen verses earlier the same items carry the opposite verdict. One writer draws a lesson from that for today.
They would also find blessing in regard to their children and the produce of their crops, in the increase of their herds, of their cattle and of their flocks (v.4). This natural increase pictures the spiritual increase believers receive when they live in a spirit of devoted obedience to the Lord. There will be lasting results from their labors.
The last phrase, "the young of your flock," rests on an unusual Hebrew word: ashteroth. Translators have never agreed on how to render it.
"Ashteroth" is found four times in Deuteronomy (Deut. 7:13; Deut. 28:4, 18, 51). The King James Version translates it "flocks," and the Revised Version "young." Others give (much better) "ewes," while Young's translation gives "multiplications."
Chapter 27 also ends in curses, but commentators keep the two chapters apart.
Chapter 27 is — to put it as plainly and briefly as possible — moral and personal. Chapter 28 is dispensational and national. Chapter 27 deals with the great root principle of man's moral condition: a sinner completely ruined and unable to meet God on the ground of law. Chapter 28 takes up the question of Israel as a nation, under the government of God.
That said, the warning was never meant for Israel alone.
The whole chapter is an impressive commentary on the government of God... All the nations of the earth may learn from Israel's remarkable history that God must punish disobedience — and that He punishes it first of all in His own people.
One writer finds the reason in what God already knew.
This section dealing with curses takes up a far larger place than the section speaking of blessings. Likely the reason is that God knew full well that Israel would soon turn away from Him in callous disobedience. So they would have no opportunity to experience the blessings promised on condition of obedience, but every opportunity to experience the many curses — curses that were really their own choice.
Everything in the chapter hangs on "if you will not obey." One writer says plainly what Israel found on that ground.
Israel thought that blessing lay in the law, but the curse was there. Instead of life they found death. Instead of righteousness they found condemnation. Moses had said that the man who did the things commanded would live by doing them, but no man ever did them... They would have found blessing if they had obeyed. But they disobeyed, and the curse became their portion.
Deuteronomy does not leave the fruit of the womb under a curse for ever. The same words come back later in the book.
Long before, the Lord had foretold Israel's scattering, repentance, and final return and blessing. He had said, "The LORD your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground, for good" (Deut. 30:9).
One writer closes the chapter by pointing to who took that curse.
"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree'" (Galatians 3:13).
- Same list — children, crops and flocks are blessed in verse 4 and cursed in verse 18. Obedience decides which verdict falls.
- Same word — the closing phrase rests on a Hebrew term rendered "flocks," "young," or better "ewes."
- National, not personal — chapter 28 deals with Israel as a nation under God's government. Chapter 27 stands on other ground: moral and personal.
- Longer curse — the curses fill far more space than the blessings, because God knew which side Israel would take. Law promised blessing, but it gave them condemnation.
- Reversed at last — Deuteronomy 30 promises the fruit of the womb, cattle and ground blessed again "for good." And Christ, made a curse for us, redeems from the curse of the law.
Cursed shalt thou be in thy coming in, and cursed shalt thou be in thy going out.
Verse 19 closes the first group of curses, and it removes the last place Israel might have hoped to escape. One commentator takes the phrase as a picture of movement — leaving home and returning — and points out that a change of scene changes nothing.
If Israel would not obey God's commandments and statutes, they would be cursed wherever they went. The curse would fall on their cities and their fields (v.16), on the food stored in their houses (v.17), on their children, the crops of their land and the young of their livestock (v.18). Whether coming in or going out (v.19), moving from one to the other would not ease the misery.
The same writer reads the matching blessing in verse 6 the same way, and applies it to believers today.
God's blessing too would be consistent, whether in their coming in or going out (v.6). We can apply this to the blessing of private life, or of shared life among God's people. Coming in means enjoying the privileges of fellowship with the saints of God. Going out means carrying the gospel of God's grace to people in the world.
These curses are not about how God accepts a sinner. Commentators draw a sharp line between chapter 27 and chapter 28.
To put it as sharply and briefly as possible, chapter 27 is moral and personal. Chapter 28 is national: it belongs to God's dealings with Israel as a people. Chapter 27 deals with the great root principle of man's moral condition — a sinner completely ruined, and unable to meet God on the ground of law. Chapter 28 takes up the question of Israel as a nation, under the government of God.
Another writer warns against mixing the two questions. He also notes that these threats came true.
In Deuteronomy 28 we have the principles of God's government among that people, and the immediate results of obedience or disobedience. History has solemnly fulfilled those results in the fate of that unhappy people, who are still loved for their fathers' sake. The law can also be looked at as the principle of relationship with God, where everything turns on a righteousness good enough for God to accept a person. Do not confuse the results of breaking the law in that sense with the temporary results of disobedience under God's government.
William Kelly puts the same point from the reader's side. Blessing in the field or the city never answers a guilty conscience.
This is not what a poor soul wants. It in no way meets a sense of guilt or a dread of judgment. The sinner needs something which will stand for ever. He wants what will be in heaven, and not merely in the field or in the city. He wants acceptance for himself with God.
The blessings take six verses. The curses run to the end of the chapter. One writer traces this to what God knew was coming.
This section on curses takes up far more room than the section on blessings. The reason is likely this: God knew that Israel would soon turn away from Him in hard-hearted disobedience. So they would have no chance to enjoy the blessings promised for obedience, but every chance to meet the many curses that came by their own choice.
The chapter warns, but the book does not stop there. Moses goes on to promise a way back.
He warns Israel in even greater detail, and with deeper solemnity. If they would not listen to His voice, the LORD would send curses on them to consume Israel out of the land and to chase them elsewhere. They would become a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all nations… In Deuteronomy 30 Moses goes further. When Israel come to repentance among the nations where they are driven, and return to the LORD their God, and obey His voice, then He will bring them back from captivity. In His compassion He will gather them and bring them into the land. He will not only bless and multiply them there, but put all the curses on their enemies and persecutors.
The curse is not the last word for those under it. One writer pictures it as a sword.
Think of the curse as a great sword hanging by a thread over my head. It may fall at any moment and destroy me. Christ came above me, between me and the sword. The sword fell on Him; He received the blow that must have taken us down to hell; He took us out from under the curse.
- Everywhere. The curse in verse 19 covers every movement — going out and coming back. No change of place or work brings relief.
- Mirror. Verse 6 is the exact reverse. There obedience meant steady blessing over the same daily round.
- National. Chapter 28 governs Israel's standing as a nation in the land. It is not how God accepts a guilty person.
- Weighted. The curses outrun the blessings many times over. God knew what the nation would choose.
- Answered. God promises to restore Israel when they turn back to Him. And the curse itself fell on Christ, who bought His people out from under it.