If thou wilt not take heed to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, to fear this glorious and fearful name, JEHOVAH THY GOD;
Moses has just described a siege so terrible that families turn on each other. Now he names the cause of it all: careless handling of a written law, and a lost fear of the name behind it.
Deuteronomy 28 falls into two very unequal halves.
It divides itself naturally into two parts. In the first, we have a full and most blessed statement of the results of obedience. In the second, we have a solemn and moving statement of the awful consequences of disobedience. And we cannot help noticing that the section of curses is more than three times the length of the section of blessings. That has fifteen verses; this has fifty-three. The whole chapter gives an impressive commentary on the government of God.
After the most distressing verses in the chapter, Moses does not add a new threat. He repeats the cause.
The graphic details of all this, and how both men and women would be affected, are most painful to read. Verses 56 and 57 speak of even the tender and delicate woman, who would eat her newborn infant in secret, hiding this from her husband. The reason is again pressed in verse 58: "if you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book."
The verse links obedience to a written text with reverence for a person. The two are not separate demands.
It is very beautiful to note the close connection between hearing God's word and fearing His Name. It is one of those great root principles which never change, never lose their power or their real value. The word and the Name go together. The heart that loves the one will reverence the other, and bow to its holy authority in all things... God's aim in giving His word is that it should govern our conduct, form our character and shape our way. If His word does not have this practical effect on us, it is pointless to speak of loving Him.
God gave Israel His own name. Older translations print it "Jehovah" where the ESV has "the LORD." Every time God makes Himself known by a name, He looks for a life that matches it.
Every time God declares His name, He calls for a matching separation from the world and sanctification to God. To Abraham God declared, "I am the Almighty God," and at once adds, "Walk before Me, and be blameless" (Gen. 17:1). To Israel God revealed Himself as Jehovah, and God looked for Israel's ways to match this name. They were to fear "this glorious and awesome name" (Deut. 28:58). How much more should there be a sanctification that matches the full revelation of God as the Father.
The name also shaped how Israel feared Him.
The fear of God is a foundation principle, but this in the special relationship God established with His people Israel. It is therefore "the fear of Jehovah." For as He chose to be made known to them in this way, so they were called to prize that name as their special privilege.
These curses work at one level only. It is easy to mix them up with a different question: how a person is made right with God.
In Deuteronomy 28 we have the principles of God's government among that people, and the immediate consequences of obedience or disobedience. Those consequences were solemnly fulfilled in the fate of that unhappy people, who are still loved for the sake of their fathers. Breaking the law, as a principle of relationship with God, has its own consequences on the point of a righteousness good enough to be the ground of God's acceptance. These must not be confused with the temporary consequences of disobedience under the government of God. Chapter 28 refers to these last ones.
The warning did not stay on the page. One account of Jerusalem's ruin gives the same reason this verse gives.
Jerusalem was the home of every unclean thing and bird of darkness; the Lord had struck them, as He said, with madness, blindness, and confusion of heart. They groped at noon as a blind man gropes in darkness. The yoke of iron was fastened on their neck. A nation with a fierce face had come upon them like a flying eagle, because they did not fear this glorious and awesome name, the LORD your God.
- Written — The condition rests on a book. Careless handling of what God has put in writing starts the whole chain of trouble.
- Feared — The written word has an aim beyond compliance: reverence for a name. Word and Name go together; loving one means bowing to the other.
- Revealed — Every name God reveals asks for a matching life. God gave Israel the name "Jehovah", and their ways were meant to match it.
- Governed — These curses belong to God's government of a nation on earth. They are not about the righteousness that makes a person acceptable to Him.
- Fulfilled — History settled it. Judgment fell on a people who did not fear this glorious and awesome name. That is why the chapter warns more than it promises: fifty-three verses of curse to fifteen of blessing.
then Jehovah will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, great and persistent plagues and evil and persistent sicknesses;
Moses has just described the horrors of siege; now God Himself sends disease that will not lift, and it reaches their children too. Why does God strike the people He chose, and what does "lasting" mean when the sickness comes from His own hand?
This chapter is not about what makes a person acceptable to God. It shows how God rules a nation He has brought close to Himself. It shows what follows when they obey or disobey.
In Deuteronomy 28 we have the principles of God's government among that people, and 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. The law was also a principle of relationship with God, offering a righteousness that was adequate ground of His acceptance. Breaking it in that way brings consequences of its own. They must not be confused with the temporary consequences of disobedience under God's government. Chapter 28 is about the second kind.
The threat lands with such force because God had once promised the opposite. God had promised an obedient people health, and He named the diseases of Egypt as the ones they would never meet.
God promised Israel that if they obeyed, He would take away all their sickness. He would put on them none of the evil diseases of Egypt, the ones they had known (Deut. 7:15).
Now the promise turns around. The strokes that fell on Egypt fall on Israel instead.
Great and prolonged plagues and prolonged sicknesses would fall on them, like the plagues and diseases Egypt suffered before the Exodus. They would bring death and destruction, leaving them few in number (v.62), in contrast to the multiplied millions they once enjoyed.
The size of the curse section tells its own story. Its lesson reaches far past Israel.
It is striking that the curses take more than three times the space of the blessings. The blessings fill fifteen verses; the curses fill fifty-three. The whole chapter is an impressive commentary on the government of God. It shows with great force that "our God is a consuming fire." Israel's remarkable history teaches all the nations of the earth that God must punish disobedience, and that He begins with His own. And if He has not spared His own people, what shall be the end of those who do not know Him?
The reason is nearness itself, and David's own case shows it.
The Lord exercises righteous government with a closeness proportioned to nearness and privilege. It is useless for unbelief to complain, for this is exactly what righteousness is and should be. The more favoured you may be, so much the more responsibility increases. This was why God made so much of David's sin. He chastened David as He has chastened few others, and his family after him beyond most.
These were not vague warnings.
How exactly this book foretells the curses that were to come on the people! How exactly they came true — and they are still coming true.
One writer traces the blow that fell on Israel back to the cause given here: they did not fear the name of the LORD their God.
The Lord had struck them, as He said, with madness, blindness, and confusion of mind. They groped at noonday as the blind grope in darkness. An iron yoke was fastened on their neck. A hard-faced nation had swooped on them like an eagle, because they did not fear this glorious and awesome name, the LORD your God.
The verse calls these sicknesses lasting, and lasting is not the same as final. Some have pressed the word "destroyed" in this chapter to mean the end of the nation.
In Deuteronomy 28 the word appears six times of Israel, and never once means their extinction. "Every sickness also and every affliction… the LORD will bring upon you, until you are destroyed." Are they extinct? No — "you shall be left few in number." And once the curse has been fulfilled, this is added: "the LORD your God will restore your fortunes"! (Deut. 30:1-3.)
A people who survive such a sentence become evidence in themselves.
Century after century of weary Jewish history records these solemn declarations coming true. Look at the Jew and his history, the land and its desolation. This is God's standing witness to the nations that the Bible is the Word of God.
- Government — the chapter is about God's rule over a nation on earth, not about what makes a soul acceptable to Him.
- Reversal — God once promised Israel they would never meet the diseases of Egypt. Now the same strokes fall on them.
- Nearness — the curses run three times longer than the blessings. God punishes disobedience first of all in His own, and privilege raises responsibility.
- Fulfilment — the warnings came true in exact detail, on a nation that did not fear the name of the LORD their God.
- Not extinction — here "destroyed" never means wiped out. Israel is left few in number and scattered, yet still here, and Deuteronomy 30 promises restoration.
and he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt which thou art afraid of, and they shall cleave unto thee.
Moses ends his warnings with a threat Israel could picture. The diseases they had watched fall on Egypt would follow them home and stay — though God had once promised them the opposite.
Bethesda was a pool in Jerusalem where crowds of sick people lay. One writer explains why such a scene existed in Israel at all:
A feast of the Jews, the pool of Bethesda, and the sabbath came together in a strange way through Israel's sins. It was strange because in Israel's normal state God had said, I will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt on you, and will take away all sicknesses.
The verse says God Himself brings the diseases back. That is not God writing Israel off, and one writer separates two things that are easily confused:
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, who are still loved for the sake of their fathers. But two things must not be confused. Breaking the law has consequences when the law is the basis of relationship with God, on the question of a righteousness good enough for God to accept. Those are not the temporary consequences of disobedience under the government of God. It is the temporary ones that chapter 28 refers to.
The two halves of the chapter are not the same size:
In the first part we have a full and most blessed statement of the results of obedience. In the second, we have a solemn and moving statement of the awful consequences of disobedience. And one thing must strike us: the section of curses is more than three times as long as the section of blessings. That one has fifteen verses; this one, fifty-three. The whole chapter is a striking 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 He punishes it first of all in His own people. And if He has not spared His own people, what will be the end of those who do not know Him?
The verse says the diseases Israel dreaded will cling to them. One commentator describes what the surrounding verses picture:
Great and long-lasting plagues and sicknesses would fall on them. They would be like the plagues and diseases Egypt suffered before the Exodus. They would cause death and destruction, so that Israel would be left few in number, in contrast to the multiplied millions they once enjoyed.
Centuries later the sick crowded around Jesus in the land of Israel. One writer asks what that crowd proved:
Before the law, had not Jehovah said this? "If you will listen carefully to the voice of Jehovah your God, and will do what is right in His eyes, will give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I am Jehovah that heals you." Yet what was the witness of the man swollen with disease before the Lord and before them? And what did all manner of disease and sickness in the land of Israel mean, as it crowded around Him to be healed?... It was not Jehovah-Rophi who had failed, but man generally and Israel in particular.
Moses did not stop with the curse. Two chapters later he tells Israel what comes after it:
Further, in Deuteronomy 30 Moses says what will happen when Israel repent among the nations where they are driven, and return to Jehovah their God, and obey His voice. Then He will restore them from captivity. In His compassion He will gather them back 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.
- Promise reversed. God had promised an obedient Israel no Egyptian diseases at all. Now the same diseases come back.
- Government, not rejection. These curses are the temporary results of disobedience under God's government. They are not about the righteousness that makes a person acceptable to God.
- Weighted warning. Fifty-three verses of curse stand against fifteen of blessing. God punishes disobedience first of all in His own people.
- Clinging, not passing. The sicknesses would last and waste the people, until a nation once counted in millions was left with few.
- Healer unchanged. The failure was Israel's, never God's; He had called Himself their healer. The same book that spells out the curse also promises to gather back those who repent and obey.
Also every sickness and every plague which is not written in the book of this law, them will Jehovah bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
Moses ends a long list of curses with a warning. The list is not the limit: God can send a disobedient nation sicknesses this book never names. Two questions press: what kind of curse is this, and does "until you are destroyed" mean the end of Israel?
Not every curse in the Bible is the same kind of curse. One writer sets two of them side by side:
A solemn sign came first: six tribes were to stand on Mount Gerizim to bless, and six on Mount Ebal to curse. Yet whatever happened in fact, the chapter shows the Levites proclaiming to all Israel nothing but the curses. This is the basis of the apostle's word to the Galatians (Gal. 3:10): "For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse" — not merely those who broke it, but everyone on that principle. Spiritually it was no use telling us of the blessings on Gerizim. Deuteronomy 28 speaks, not of the personal curse, but of governmental blessings or curses, and therefore temporary.
The verse points back to a written book, "the book of this law." That title is one mark that Moses knew his words carried God's authority:
It is clear that Moses was conscious that the word he gave Israel had divine authority. His writings are called "the book of this law," and "the covenant," and "his statutes which are written in this book of the law." "And Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests." (Deut. 28:1, 61; 29:21; 30:10; 31:9.)
The word "destroyed" sounds final. The very next verse shows it is not:
"Every sickness also and every affliction that is not recorded in the book of this law, the LORD will bring upon you, until you are DESTROYED. Whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, you shall be left few in number" — that is, not utterly extinct at all (Deut. 28:61-62). Chapter 30 adds further, "And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse… and you return to the LORD your God… then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes" (Deut. 30:1-3). So Scripture predicts national repentance and restoration, after what some call "utter extinction."
These warnings landed in real history. One writer points to where they fell:
The siege and capture of Jerusalem by the Romans is one of the blackest pages in the history of the human race... Moses and the prophets foretold it, and so did the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Some of the darkest parts of Scripture describe it (see Deuteronomy 28:49-68; Zechariah 11; Luke 21:20-24)... How solemn to think that the worst is still to come (Matthew 24:21).
This sentence of sickness fell on the nation. Then the One who had sent it came among them:
The Jehovah of Israel now appeared among them, "who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases." Their disobedience had brought every sickness and every plague upon them (Deut. 28:61). But He who had once led them out of Egypt was saying to them again, "I am the LORD, your healer." (Ex. 15:26).
Health was tied to obedience under that covenant. Does the same rule hold for us now?
No one can ignore the government of God, least of all those whom He has blessed with the knowledge of redemption. Plain obedience to the Lord would have kept Israel from such physical diseases, for He is the Lord who heals. In our present time of grace, God does not promise us freedom from physical disease as the reward of obedience. But obedience will certainly keep us from spiritual diseases, and give us spiritual health and strength.
- Governmental — Chapter 28's curses belong to God's government of a nation on earth. They are real, but temporary. The curse on anyone who stands on law-keeping is not.
- Unlimited — The written list is not the whole of it. Sickness "not recorded in the book" comes too.
- Not extinction — The same passage leaves Israel "few in number," and chapter 30 promises repentance, return and restoration.
- Fulfilled — History has already seen these words come true, above all in the fall of Jerusalem. Scripture says the darkest part is still ahead.
- Healed — The Lord who once said "I am the LORD, your healer" came among the very people under this sentence, forgiving iniquity and healing diseases.
And ye shall be left a small company, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou hast not hearkened to the voice of Jehovah thy God.
Moses ends the long list of curses with a stark reversal. A nation that had grown as numerous as the stars would shrink to a handful, because it would not obey God's voice.
The words about the stars look back to how small the nation once was:
The words, "Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy persons, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven," take up the general fact to show the remarkable increase.
The increase was God's own work. What He gave, He warned He could take away.
The verse comes after a long list of sickness and plague. One writer sets the two numbers side by side:
They would suffer great and long-lasting plagues and sicknesses, like the plagues and diseases that struck Egypt before the Exodus. These would bring death and destruction, so that only a few of them would be left (v.62), in contrast to the many millions they once had.
The plagues that once struck Egypt would now strike Israel.
Does this curse settle how a person stands before God? One writer says the two questions must be kept apart:
In Deuteronomy 28 we have the principles of God's government among that people. We see the immediate consequences of obedience or disobedience. Those consequences were solemnly fulfilled in the fate of that unhappy people, who are still loved for the sake of their fathers. The consequences of breaking the law as a principle of relationship with God — the question of a righteousness good enough to be the ground of God's acceptance — must not be confused with the temporary consequences of disobedience under God's government. Chapter 28 speaks of these temporary consequences… As for Israel, world history shows us the threats of this chapter carried out.
Verse 62 comes straight after a warning about being destroyed. One critic, Mr. Constable, argued that this word means total extinction. Another writer answers him from the passage itself:
Yet we find that word used to predict the curse on Israel. As a nation they are still under that penalty, and it is not "utter extinction," as the very passage shows. "Every sickness and every plague that is not written in the book of this law, the LORD will bring on you, until you are DESTROYED. And you shall be left few in number," and so on — that is, not utterly extinct at all (Deuteronomy 28:61-62). Chapter 30 adds more: "And when all these things come upon you, the blessing AND the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind … and return to the LORD your God … then the LORD your God will bring you back from captivity" (Deuteronomy 30:1-3). Here we have national repentance and restoration foretold, after what Mr. Constable calls "utter extinction."
"Few" is a remnant word. God can bring a remnant back.
Scripture pictures Abraham's descendants three ways: as stars, as dust, and as sand. One writer ties the stars to God's unconditional promise:
The "stars" were connected with Isaac, the son who stood as the guarantee of the unconditional promise God made to Abraham. Both the "dust" and the "sand" are linked with Jacob, the man in responsibility, while Isaac was the son of promise… Might not Moses and the Levites have had enough light to see that if God was going to bless Israel, it must be on the ground of His unconditional promise, and not on the ground of their responsibility?
So the word standing in the middle of this curse points back to promise. Israel failed, but the promise never rested on Israel.
One writer looks at what has happened to the Jewish people since — cut down, yet still here:
On merely natural grounds one cannot understand how such a small nation has survived. It was terribly reduced in number by sword, famine and disease. It was scattered in tiny groups among hostile nations, with no leader and no visible unity… For centuries it faced the most horrible persecutions and efforts to wipe it out. On merely natural grounds one cannot understand how the Jew holds his ground. Yet younger nations have vanished without a trace, while the Jews, distinct and separate, are found in every nation.
- Given — God grew seventy people into a nation as numerous as the stars. The multitude was His gift, not Israel's achievement.
- Governed — chapter 28 is about God governing a nation on earth. Its consequences are temporary. They are a different question from how God accepts a person.
- Grounded — the verse names the cause: they did not obey His voice.
- Guarded — "destroyed" and "few in number" stop short of extinction. The same book that threatens the curse promises to bring a repentant people back.
- Guaranteed — the "stars" belong to God's unconditional promise, not to human performance. What failure cut down, promise still covers.
And it shall come to pass, that as Jehovah rejoiced over you to do you good and to multiply you, so Jehovah will rejoice over you to cause you to perish, and to destroy you; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whereunto thou goest to possess it.
Moses closes the curses of Deuteronomy 28 with its sharpest line yet. Two questions press on any reader: how can God rejoice in ruin, and does "destroy" mean Israel is finished forever?
Commentators warn against reading this chapter as a statement about individual souls. It belongs to God's dealings with a nation on earth.
As you study this remarkable section of our book, remember not to confuse it with chapter 27... The plain fact is that the two chapters are wholly distinct in basis, scope and practical application. Chapter 27 is — to put it as pointedly and briefly as possible — moral and personal. Chapter 28 is dispensational and national. That one deals with the great root principle of man's moral condition. Man is a sinner, ruined and unable to meet God on the ground of law. This one takes up the question of Israel as a nation, under the government of God.
The land was promised to Abraham unconditionally, yet Israel entered it on other terms — the agreement made in Moab, of which this chapter is the warning clause. That is why possession could be lost.
Israel clearly could not enter the land on the ground of the Sinai or Horeb covenant. They had failed under it completely by making a golden calf. They forfeited all right and title to the land, and only sovereign mercy saved them from instant destruction... It is just as plain that they did not enter the land on the ground of the Abrahamic covenant of grace. Had they done so, they would not have been turned out of it... They entered on the limited and temporary possession of Canaan by the terms of the Moab covenant. They have failed under that covenant as clearly as under the covenant of Horeb — failed under government as fully as under law. So God has expelled them from the land and scattered them over the face of the earth, under His governmental dealings.
The blessing and the curse come from the same hand. The next verse follows the people once they are uprooted.
Just as the Lord at one time had blessed and multiplied the nation, so He would curse and diminish them (v.63). He would scatter the people among all nations, where they would serve idols (v.64). We know this has taken place. Jews have been scattered over all the world, and the recognition of their God has become vague and in many cases extinct.
The wording troubles readers, and the commentary answers it by pointing to where God's joy actually lies. Judgment is real, but it is not what delights Him.
But judgment is God's strange work. He will find no delight in it, though He does delight in mercy. We read that in heaven they say, when God judges, "True and just are His judgments" (Rev. 19:2). That is not a joyous song. There is joy in heaven, but not when judgment falls — it comes when one sinner repents. In that joy God's heart reveals itself. It is His own joy, and all heaven shares it.
One writer, Mr. Constable, claimed this word means utter extinction. The chapter itself answers him.
Yet we find it used to predict the curse on Israel. They are still under that penalty as a nation, and it is not "utter extinction," as the very passage shows... "And you shall be left few in number," etc. — that is, not utterly extinct at all (Deut. 28:61-62). In chapter 30 it is added further, "And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind... and return to the LORD your God... then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes" (Deut. 30:1-3). Here is national repentance and restoration predicted, after what Mr. Constable calls "utter extinction."
The scattering did not end this people. Centuries later they are still here to look at.
We need not recount the terrible persecutions these people have suffered in every country of Europe, and most of all in Russia. They are like the bush that Moses saw in the desert: burned with fire again and again, but not consumed. They have been scattered for all these centuries in all countries, yet no country absorbs them. They are the miracle of the ages, one of the greatest concrete proofs of the reliability of the Word of God and of the justice of His governmental ways. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."
- Government — chapter 28 is about a nation under God's rule on earth. It is not about where one person spends eternity.
- Terms — Israel held the land on the Moab agreement. Failing there, as under law, cost them the land.
- Mirror — the multiplying and the reducing come from the same hand. But heaven's joy belongs to a repenting sinner, not to judgment.
- Limit — "destroy" here stops short of wiping Israel out. The same book that curses also promises return.
- Evidence — burned but not consumed, scattered but absorbed by none. The nation still stands, proof that God's word holds.
And Jehovah will scatter thee among all peoples, from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; and thou shalt there serve other gods, whom thou hast not known, neither thou nor thy fathers, wood and stone.
Two very different things can be mixed up here. One writer separates them.
In Deuteronomy 28 we have the principles of God's government among that people. We also have the immediate results of obedience or disobedience. Those results came true, with great solemnity, in the fate of that unhappy people, who are still loved for the fathers' sakes. Breaking the law, as the basis of relationship with God, has its own consequences. They concern righteousness — whether a person has an adequate ground of acceptance with God. Do not confuse those consequences with the temporary consequences of disobedience under the government of God. It is these last ones that chapter 28 is about.
The verse does not say Israel drifted away. It says the Lord scatters them. The hand that once made them many now makes them few.
Just as the Lord at one time had blessed and multiplied the nation, so He would curse and reduce them (v.63). He would scatter the people among all nations, where they would serve idols (v.64). We know this has taken place. Jews are scattered over all the world, and any acknowledgement of their God has grown vague, and in many cases has died out.
The scattering ends in idolatry. That is the strangest part of the verse. Israel had already wanted to be like the nations around them. God's answer is not to give in, but to say that He will still reign.
We have cause to enter into the feelings of the prophet as God's voice denounces those who chose darkness on purpose, though He had given them light. They said: "We will be as the nations, as the families of the countries, in serving wood and stone." They had plenty of evidence before their eyes. But anything that offers a hiding place from God has always found a sad welcome with hearts that wander from Him. If He reigns at all, it must be in power.
The warning came true. One writer looks at the nation's condition and says the whole world can read something in it.
Under the heavy weight of these judgments they are suffering at this very hour. Scattered and stripped, wasted and outcast, they are the monuments of Jehovah's unbending truth and justice. They read aloud, to all the nations of the earth, a most impressive lesson on the moral government of God. It would be worth those nations' while to study that lesson well, and it would do our own hearts good to weigh it too.
The lesson is not for Israel alone. The same pattern of trust given and trust lost runs through the whole Bible.
God gave the Garden of Eden, fresh from His own hand, to Adam to dress and keep. Adam failed, and God drove him out. God drove his son from His face too, to be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. God trusted the new world to Noah. Noah failed, and God divided and scattered his descendants "abroad upon the face of all the earth." God gave the land of Canaan to Israel. Israel failed completely, and God scattered them among the nations, just as He foretold.
The same book that predicts the scattering also promises a gathering.
Moses goes further in Deuteronomy 30. When Israel come to repentance among the nations where they are driven, and return to Jehovah their God, and obey His voice, then He will turn their captivity. In His compassion He will gather them back and bring them into the land. There He will bless and multiply them, and He will put all the curses on their enemies and persecutors.
- Scattered. The scattering is God's own act in governing Israel. It is temporary discipline for disobedience, not a verdict on whether God accepts a soul.
- Served. The punishment fits the sin. A people who wanted to be like the nations end up serving wood and stone — gods they never knew.
- Seen. Scattered Israel is a public lesson to every nation about how God governs the world.
- Shared. The same failure runs from Eden to Noah to Israel. No one trusted with responsibility has kept it.
- Sought. Moses does not stop at scattering. The same book promises that if Israel repent among the nations, God will have compassion and gather them home.
And among these nations shalt thou have no rest, neither shall the sole of thy foot have a resting-place, and Jehovah shall give thee there a trembling heart, languishing of the eyes, and pining of the soul.
Moses ends his warnings with a picture of life for a people driven from their land — exile with nowhere to settle and no hour of peace. Two questions follow: what is God doing here, and is there any way back?
This chapter's blessings and curses are not about how God accepts a sinner. They describe how He governs a people on earth, and what follows when they obey or disobey.
In Deuteronomy 28 we have the principles of God's government among that people, and the immediate consequences of obedience or disobedience. Those consequences were solemnly fulfilled in the fate of that unhappy people, who are still beloved for the fathers' sakes. The law was a principle of relationship with God, offering a righteousness that was an adequate ground of His acceptance. The consequences of breaking it must not be confused with the temporary consequences of disobedience under God's government. It is to these latter that chapter 28 refers.
That distinction shapes how we read the verse. It is a national sentence, worked out in the world over centuries.
So in part of this chapter we see the state Israel would be in, right up to the present day. This is not God dealing according to His nature. It is a matter of the way He governs a nation in this world, and nothing more.
The verse names three losses: in the heart, in the eyes, in the soul. The verses that follow show what daily life becomes.
Yet among these nations they would find no relief, no rest, but fear and trembling, failing eyes and anguish of soul (v. 65). They would fear day and night that they might lose their lives (v. 66). In the morning they would wish it were evening; in the evening they would wish it were morning, because life was one long trauma (v. 67).
The Hebrew word behind "failing eyes" is rare.
In Isaiah 10:22 the word is "killahyohn" ("the consumption"), not "kahlah"; Deuteronomy 28:65 ("and failing of") is the only other place it is used. So the two words are not the same, though both come from the same root and are closely related.
The later history of the Jewish people shows these words at work. Two facts stand together: no settled rest, and yet no disappearance.
It is a matter of history that the Jews were driven from their own land, and scattered among the nations… We stand amazed at the sight of a people without a country. They are scattered in many lands, without cohesion, without a centre. They have survived despite cruel persecutions, and have resisted absorption into the countries where they lived. By all the laws that govern such situations, the Jew should have vanished without a trace centuries ago.
Human effort cannot undo this sentence. One writer applies it to a return to the land made in self-confidence.
There was no rest, no peace, but uncertainty and affliction. The curse said, No rest for the sole of their feet — and it has come true to the letter. Again the people seek a resting place in the land without their God and their Saviour, all in the confidence of the flesh. They will succeed in their restoration plans. But in the end they will find themselves in greater difficulties, facing worse afflictions than ever before.
These words are also a mirror for believers today. Turning away from God brings the same restlessness.
The greater our blessing, the greater our responsibility… And are there not witnesses around us who show how bitter it is to depart from the living God? Are not many of God's people captive at this very day? May it not be said of such, "you shall find no respite, and there shall be no resting place for the sole of your foot"? And in their captivity, do they not have "a trembling heart and failing eyes and a languishing soul"?
Moses does not stop at verse 65. The same speech that spells out the scattering also names the condition on which it ends.
In Deuteronomy 30 Moses declares what happens when Israel comes to repentance among the nations where they are driven. When they return to the Lord their God and obey His voice, He will turn their captivity. In His compassion He will gather them back and bring them into the land. He will not only bless and multiply them there, but also put all the curses on their enemies and persecutors.
- Government, not acceptance. Chapter 28 shows how God governs a people on earth. Its curses follow disobedience under that government. They do not tell us how God accepts a sinner.
- Scattering. Driven from the land, the nation found no settled place among the nations. The sentence reaches the whole person: heart, eyes, soul.
- Restlessness. Life becomes fear by day and by night: morning longs for evening, evening for morning. Returning to the land in self-confidence cannot create rest.
- Witness. A people persecuted and scattered, yet never absorbed, shows the world that Moses spoke the truth.
- Return. The same speech that promised no rest also promises compassion and regathering. It comes when the scattered people repent and obey God's voice.
And thy life shall hang in suspense before thee; and thou shalt be in terror day and night and shalt be afraid of thy life.
Moses ends his long list of warnings with a state of mind rather than a single blow. Life itself feels uncertain, and fear does not let go by day or by night. Three questions follow. What judgment is this? Did it ever happen? And does God leave His people there?
Commentators are careful about what this warning covers. It is not about how God accepts a person. It is about how He rules a nation in this world.
In Deuteronomy 28 we have the principles of God's government among that people, and the immediate results of obedience or disobedience. Those solemn results came true in the fate of that unhappy people, who are still loved for their fathers' sakes. Breaking the law has consequences when the law is taken as the basis of relationship with God — as the righteousness that would be an adequate ground of God's acceptance. We must not confuse those with the temporary consequences of disobedience under God's government. Chapter 28 speaks of the second.
The word "assurance" here does not carry the sense it has in the New Testament.
In the Old Testament this word is used differently from the way it is used in the New. In the Old Testament it means "confidence or trust." It fits the hopes of God's earthly people, tied to the security in which Israel will dwell when God restores them to their land and puts down all their enemies by His power. Then the effect of righteousness will be "quietness and assurance for ever," Isaiah 32:17. But in their disobedience they should fear day and night and have no assurance of their life. Deuteronomy 28:66.
Isaiah 32:17 appears here in an older translation; the ESV reads "quietness and trust forever." What obedience secures, disobedience loses.
One writer counts the verses. The warnings run far longer than the blessings, and he draws a lesson for everyone, not only for Israel.
The chapter divides naturally into two parts. In the first we have a full and most blessed statement of the results of obedience (see verses 1-15). In the second we have a very solemn and moving statement of the awful consequences of disobedience (see verses 16-68). We cannot help being struck that the curses take more than three times the space of the 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. 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?
One writer tests this passage against events: the fall of Jerusalem under Titus, and the centuries after it.
Moses warned them what would follow if they disobeyed their God and ignored His covenant. They would be plucked out of their promised land and scattered among all peoples... Their lives would hang in doubt. In the morning they would long for the night, and in the night they would say, If only it were morning. These solemn words have been fulfilled to the letter. It was the thirty-sixth anniversary of that fateful Passover when they cried after their Messiah, "Away with Him, crucify Him." Almost the whole nation had gathered in Jerusalem when Titus the Roman besieged the city. The stubborn and fanatical defence enraged the invaders. They burned and destroyed the city and temple. They butchered close to a million of the people without pity, and sent the rest to the Egyptian slave markets... But they have outlived all their ancient enemies... the Jews remain. The nations they live among have never absorbed them, and they keep their identity and character despite fierce persecutions. They are an indestructible witness to the accuracy of prophecy in the God-breathed Scriptures.
The warning is not the last word. The next chapters turn from threat to promise, and the promise begins with repentance.
Further, in Deuteronomy 30 Moses declares what will happen 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 back their captivity. In His compassion He will gather them and bring them into the land. He will not only bless and multiply them there, but also put all the curses on their enemies and persecutors.
- Government, not acceptance. This chapter shows how God rules His people on earth. It does not deal with how God accepts a soul as righteous.
- Assurance defined. In the Old Testament "assurance" means confidence and trust — a people safe in their own land. Lose it, and fear fills day and night.
- Warning weighted. The curses run more than three times longer than the blessings. God did not spare His own people, so no one else can expect to escape.
- Warning verified. Commentators read the nation's later history — the fall of Jerusalem, the scattering, the persecutions — as this prophecy fulfilled to the letter. For them it is proof that Scripture is God's word.
- Assurance restored. Fear is not the last word. When Israel repents, God promises to gather them, bring them back, and bless them — the "quietness and assurance for ever" that disobedience lost.
In the morning thou shalt say, Would that it were even! and in the evening thou shalt say, Would that it were morning! through the fright of thy heart wherewith thou shalt be in terror, and through the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.
Moses ends his long list of curses with a picture of a haunted life. Each half of the day becomes unbearable: morning longs for evening, evening longs for morning. Two questions follow. What is God doing here, and does the terror ever end?
This is the closing stretch of a chapter built on two outcomes. One writer notes how unevenly the two halves are weighed:
The chapter divides naturally into two parts. In the first we have a full and most blessed statement of the results of obedience (verses 1–15). In the second we have a solemn and moving statement of the awful consequences of disobedience (verses 16–68). One thing strikes us. The section holding the curses is more than three times the length of the one holding the blessings. That has fifteen verses; this has fifty-three. The whole chapter gives an impressive commentary on the government of God.
The terror here belongs to God's rule over a nation on earth. That is a separate question from how a person is accepted before Him.
In Deuteronomy 28 we have the principles of God's government among that people. We also have the immediate consequences of obedience or disobedience — consequences so solemnly fulfilled in the fate of that unhappy people, still beloved for the fathers' sakes. Breaking the law, as a principle of relationship with God, had its own consequences for righteousness, the adequate ground of God's acceptance. Those must not be confused with the temporary consequences of disobedience under the government of God. Chapter 28 speaks of these temporary consequences.
The verse describes an existence with no settled moment in it, day or night.
Yet among these nations they would find no relief and no rest. Instead there was fear and trembling, failing eyes and anguish of soul (v.65), with fear day and night that they might lose their lives (v.66). In the morning they would wish it were evening. In the evening they would wish it were morning, because life was one long trauma (v.67).
The next verse takes the threat lower still: a return to the country God rescued them from.
The Lord would take them back to Egypt in ships (v.68). This may not be literal but symbolic, for Egypt is a picture of the world. Once God had rescued them from this worldly rule, but they would return to it. They would become slaves again and stand for sale. But their condition would be so unhealthy that no one would think them worth buying.
Writers point to the nation's later history as the proof that these sentences were not general religious language but accurate prediction.
The Jews are also proof of the foreknowledge of God and the truth of Scripture… Moses warned them at that time what would follow if they disobeyed the commands of their God and disregarded His covenant. They would be torn out of their promised land and scattered among all people. They would find no ease for their minds or rest for the soles of their feet. Their lives would hang in doubt. In the morning they would long for the night, and in the night they would say, "If only it were morning!" They would become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations (Deut. 28).
Because the whole chapter deals with life in a land, its blessings and its horrors alike stop short of what a guilty person most needs.
It is merely national. It has nothing to do with the soul in the sight of God… 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, and not merely in the field or in the city. He wants acceptance for himself with God.
The chapter is not Moses' last word. Two chapters later he names the way out of the very condition verse 67 describes.
Further, in Deuteronomy 30 Moses declares what will happen 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 return their captivity. In His compassion He will gather them back and bring them into the land. He will not only bless and multiply them there, but will put all the curses on their enemies and persecutors.
- Government — the verse belongs to God's rule over a nation in its land. Commentators keep that apart from the question of a person's acceptance with Him.
- Weight — the curses run more than three times longer than the blessings. God takes disobedience in His own people that seriously.
- Restlessness — the curse is not one disaster but a life with no settled hour: dread by day, dread by night, and at last a return to the slavery God rescued them from.
- Witness — the later scattering of the nation turned Moses' words into history. Writers treat this as evidence that Scripture speaks with God's foreknowledge.
- Return — the same Moses who described this sleepless fear also promised that repentance among the nations brings compassion, gathering and return to the land.
And Jehovah will bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I said unto thee, Thou shalt see it again no more; and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and there shall be no man to buy [you].
Moses ends his warnings with the bitterest picture of all: the people carried back to the land God rescued them from, standing for sale with no buyer. That raises three questions — does God undo His own redemption, did this ever happen, and is it His last word over Israel?
The chapter is not about how a person becomes right with God. It is about how God governs His people.
In Deuteronomy 28 we have the principles of God's government among that people, and the immediate results of obedience or disobedience. Those results were solemnly fulfilled in the fate of that unhappy people, who are still loved for their fathers' sakes. Breaking the law as a principle of relationship with God is another matter. It raises the question of a righteousness good enough to be the ground of God's acceptance. Never mix that up with the temporary results of disobedience under the government of God. Chapter 28 speaks of the second kind... As for Israel, world history shows us the threats of this chapter coming true.
Egypt is where the nation began as slaves, and God had told them they would never take that road again. Going back reverses their whole story. One writer also reads Egypt as more than a place on the map.
The Lord would take them back to Egypt in ships (v.68). This may not be literal, but symbolic, for Egypt is a picture of the world. Once God had rescued them from this worldly domination, but they would return to it. They would become slaves again and stand for sale. But their health would be so ruined that they were not worth buying.
That last line explains the strangest part of the verse. No buyer steps forward — not out of mercy, but because nothing of value is left.
One writer points to the Roman siege of Jerusalem, where the words came true in detail.
These solemn words came true to the letter. Thirty-six years to the day after that fateful Passover, when they cried after their Messiah, "Away with Him, crucify Him," almost the whole nation had gathered in Jerusalem. That was when Titus, the Roman, besieged the city. Their stubborn and fanatical defence provoked the invaders. The conquerors burned and destroyed the city and the temple. They butchered nearly a million of the people without pity. They sent the rest to the Egyptian slave markets. There they were sold until there were too many, and no one would buy them.
The shape of the chapter itself says something. Count the verses on each side.
The chapter divides naturally into two clear parts. In the first we have a full and most blessed statement of the results of obedience (verses 1-15). In the second we have a solemn and moving statement of the awful consequences of disobedience (verses 16-68). One thing must strike us: the section of curses is more than three times as long as the section of blessings... All the nations of the earth may learn from Israel's remarkable history that God must punish disobedience. 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?
The chapter is still read aloud in synagogues, and the manner of reading has become part of its testimony.
This is one of the most solemn chapters in the Pentateuch. Orthodox Hebrews read through the entire five books of Moses in their synagogues each year. When they read this chapter, the Rabbi reads in a lowered voice. They do well to read it quietly and think it over, for this chapter writes out in advance the sad and sorrowful history of that remarkable nation... Here are arguments for the divine, supernatural origin of this book, and no unbeliever has ever been able to answer them.
The word "destroy" runs through this chapter. Yet the nation is still here, and that tells us what the word means.
Deuteronomy 28 uses the word six times about Israel. Never once does it mean their extinction: "Every sickness also and every affliction... the LORD will bring upon you, until you are destroyed." Are they extinct? No. Instead it says, "you shall be left few in number," and after the curse has run its course it adds, "the LORD your God will restore your fortunes"! (Deut. 30:1-3.)
- Cause. The curse belongs to God's government of a nation. Chapter 28 deals with the temporary results of disobedience, not with the ground of acceptance with Him.
- Sentence. The punishment reverses their rescue. They go back to the land of their slavery, and there even a slave dealer finds them worthless.
- Fulfilment. Jerusalem fell to Titus. Survivors went to the Egyptian slave markets and were sold until no one would buy.
- Warning. The curses fill more than three times the space of the blessings. God did not spare His own people, so no nation should expect to escape.
- Hope. "Destroyed" never meant wiped out. The same law that spoke the curse also promised that afterwards God would restore their fortunes.