Deuteronomy 28:15-57
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.]
