Deuteronomy 28:15--29:19
ignore <08085> [if thou wilt.]
curses <07045> [all these curses.]
The same variety of expression is used in these terrible curses, as in the preceding blessings, to intimate every kind of prosperity or adversity, personal, relative, and public. Consulting the marginal references will generally lead to the best exposition of the terms employed; and will frequently point out the fulfilment of the promises and threatenings.
city <05892> [in the city.]
field <07704> [in the field.]
children ......... produce <0990 06529> [the fruit of thy body.]
soil <0127> [thy land.]
send <07971> [send.]
confusing <04103> [vexation.]
<06213> [for to do. Heb. which thou wouldest do. until thou be.]
weakness <07829> [a consumption.]
sword <02719> [sword. or, drought. blasting.]
The language here is remarkable: "Thy heaven;" that part of the atmosphere which was over Judea, instead of being replenished with aqueous vapours, should become, with respect to moisture, like brass: and consequently their land would become as hard as iron, and wholly incapable of cultivation; while the clouds might give showers in abundance, and the earth be moist and fruitful in other regions.
will make ... rain <04306 05414> [make the rain.]
This was a natural consequence of their heaven's being brass, or yielding no rain; for the surface of the earth being reduced to powder, and frequently taken up by strong winds, would fall down in showers instead of rain. These showers of sand frequently, in the East, bury whole caravans.
allow ..... struck <05414 05062> [cause thee.]
terror <02189> [removed. Heb. for a removing.]
boils <07822> [the botch.]
<02914> [emerods.]
eczema <01618> [scab.]
feel ... way along ....................... constantly .... continually <04959> [grope.]
oppressed <06231> [thou shalt be.]
engaged <0781> [betroth.]
build <01129> [build.]
begin <02490> [gather. Heb. profane, or, use it as common meat.]
ox <07794> [ox.]
returned ..... flock <07725 06629> [be restored to thee. Heb. return to thee.]
sons <01121> [sons.]
In several countries, particularly in Spain and Portugal, the children of the Jews have been taken from them, by order of the government, to be educated in the Popish faith.
vain <03616> [fail.]
produce <06529> [The fruit.]
oppressed <06231> [thou shalt be.]
boils <07822> [botch.]
king <03212 04428> [bring thee.]
serve <05647> [there shalt thou.]
The Israelites, who were carried captive by the Assyrians, and many of the Jews in Chaldea, were finally incorporated with the nations among whom they lived, and were given up to their idolatry. It is probable, however, that this refers to Jews being compelled, in Popish countries, to conceal their religion, and profess that of the Romish church.
occasion of horror <08047> [become.]
proverb <04912> [a proverb.]
The name of Jew has long been a proverbial mark of detestation and contempt among all the nations whither they have been dispersed, and is so to this day, whether among Christians, Mohmammedans, or Pagans.
take <03318> [shalt carry.]
locusts <0697> [for the locust.]
worms <08438> [for the worms.]
anoint ..... oil <05480 08081> [anoint thyself.]
<03212> [thou shalt not enjoy them. Heb. they shall not be thine. for.]
tree <06086> [thy trees.]
<03423> [consume. or, possess.]
curses <07045> [Moreover.]
obey <08085> [because.]
sign <0226> [a sign.]
serve <05647> [serve.]
hunger <07458> [in hunger.]
yoke <05923> [a yoke.]
raise up .... nation ................. nation <01471 05375> [bring a nation.]
Though the Chaldeans are frequently described under the figure of an eagle, yet these verses especially predict the desolations brought on the Jews by the Romans; who came from a country far more distant than Chaldea; whose conquests were as rapid as the eagle's flight, and whose standard bore this very figure; who spake a language to which the Jews were then entire strangers, being wholly unlike the Hebrew, of which the Chaldee was merely a dialect; whose appearance and victories were terrible; and whose yoke was a yoke of iron; and the havoc which they made tremendous.
eagle <05404> [as the eagle.]
nation ................. nation ... language <01471 03956> [a nation whose.]
understand <08085> [understand. Heb. hear.]
stern ....... regard <05794 06440> [of fierce countenance. Heb. strong of face.]
<05375> [shall not.]
offspring ....... produce <06529> [the fruit.]
leave <07604> [which also.]
offspring <06529> [the fruit.]
offspring <0990> [body. Heb. belly.]
<05869> [his eye.]
wife .... remaining <0802 03499> [and toward.]
The Roman armies at length besieged, sacked, and utterly desolated Jerusalem: and during this seige, the famine was so extreme, that even rich and delicate persons, both men and women, ate their own children, and concealed the horrible repast, lest others should tear it from them! "Women snatched the food out of the very mouths of their husbands, and sons of their fathers, and (what is most miserable) mothers of their infants." "In every house, if there appeared any semblance of food, a battle ensued, and the dearest friends and relations fought with one another; snatching away the miserable provisions of life." "A woman distinguished by birth and wealth, after she had been plundered by the tyrants (or soldiers) of all her possessions, boiling her own sucking child, ate half of him, and concealing the other half, reserved it for another time!"
children <01121> [his children.]
[in the seige.]
delicate <06028> [and delicate.]
<05869 03415> [her eye shall be evil.]
afterbirth <07988> [young one. Heb. after-birth. cometh out.]
eat <0398> [for she shall.]
obey <08104> [If thou wilt.]
fear ... glorious ... awesome <03513 03372> [fear this glorious.]
mentioned .......... perished <05927 08045> [bring upon thee. Heb. cause to ascend.]
few <04592 04962> [few in number.]
In the seige of Jerusalem there died 1,100,000 persons, and more than 90,000 were carried captive; and, having afterwards provoked the Romans by their crimes and rebellions, they persecuted them nearly to extirpation; to which, if the tens of thousands which were slaughtered year after year in every country be added, it appears wonderful that there were any remains left.
stars <03556> [as the stars.]
delighted .... good ........... delight <07797 03190> [rejoiced over.]
delighted .............. delight ... destroying <07797 06> [rejoice over.]
uprooted .... land <05255 0127> [plucked from.]
scatter <06327> [scatter.]
worship <05647> [there thou shalt.]
those <01992> [among.]
After the conquest of their country by the Romans, Hadrian, by a public decree, ratified by the senate, forbad any Jew to come even within sight of Judea; and hence they were dispersed over every quarter of the globe, where they found no alleviation or respite from misery. In no country are they treated as denizens; all suspect them as enemies, and behave to them as aliens; if they do not, as had been too frequently the case, harass, oppress, and persecute them, even unto death.
rest <07280> [shalt thou.]
Lord <03068> [the Lord.]
failing eyesight <05869 03631> [failing of eyes.]
return ... Egypt <04714 07725> [bring thee into Egypt.]
This verse seems especially to point out an event, which took place subsequently to the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, and the desolation made by Hadrian. Numbers of the captives were sent by sea into Egypt (as well as into other countries), and sold for slaves at a vile price, and for the meanest offices; and many thousands were left to perish from want; for the multitude was so great, that purchasers could not be found for them all at any price!
sell <04376> [there ye shall.]
words <01697> [the words.]
covenant ....................... covenant <01285> [beside the.]
seen ..... Lord <07200 03068> [Ye have seen all.]
<03212> [I have led.]
clothing <08008> [your clothes.]
sandals <05275> [and thy shoe.]
eaten ... bread <03899 0398> [eaten bread.]
drunk <08354> [neither have.]
foreigners <01616> [stranger.]
chop <02404> [the hewer.]
may enter <05674> [thou shouldest.]
may enter <05674> [enter. Heb. pass.]
This is an allusion to the solemn ceremony used by several ancient nations, when they entered into a covenant with each other. The victims, slain as a sacrifice on this occasion, were divided, and and parts laid asunder: the contracting parties then passed between them, imprecating, as a curse on those who violated the sacred compact, that they might in like manner be cut asunder. (Ge 15:10.) St. Cyril, in his work against Julian, shows that passing between the divided parts of a victim was used also among the Chaldeans and other people.
oath <0423> [into his oath.]
affirm <06965> [establish.]
God <0430> [he may be.]
today ............... today <03117> [also with him.]
through ... nations <07130 01471> [through the nations.]
idols <01544> [idols. Heb. dungy gods.]
man <0376> [among you man.]
root <08328> [among you a root.]
poisonous ... bitter fruit <07219 03939> [gall and wormwood. or, a poisonful herb. Heb. rosh.]
oath <0423> [this curse.]
blesses <01288> [that he bless.]
<03588 03212> [though I walk.]
stubborn <08307> [imagination. or, stubborness.]
destroy <05595> [to add.]
A very forcible metaphor, denoting the natural progress and increasing avidity of sinful passions and depraved inclinations; which lead men to drink down iniquity as the drunkard does his liquor, without regard to the consequences. Some render, "to add thirst to drunkenness;" and then it implies the insatiableness of men's sinful passions, which hanker for more and more indulgence after the greatest excesses.
watered ..... parched <07302 06771> [drunkenness to thirst. Heb. the drunken to the thirsty.]
