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<p>Having viewed the bright side of the cloud, which is towards the obedient, we have now presented to us the dark side, which is towards the disobedient. 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 is as comprehensive of all misery as the blessing is of all happiness. Observe,</p>
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<p class="tab-1">I. The equity of this curse. It is not a curse causeless, nor for some light cause; God seeks not occasion against us, nor is he apt to quarrel with us. That which is here mentioned as bringing the curse is, 1. Despising God, refusing to <i>hearken to his voice</i> (<a class="bibleref" title="Deut.28.15" href="/passage/?search=Deut.28.15">Deut. 28:15</a>), which bespeaks the highest contempt imaginable, as if what he said were not worth the heeding, or we were not under any obligation to him. 2. Disobeying him, <i>not doing his commandments</i>, or not observing to do them. None fall under his curse but those that rebel against his command. 3. Deserting him. “It is because of the <i>wickedness of thy doings</i>, not only whereby thou hast slighted me, but <i>whereby thou hast forsaken me</i>,” <a class="bibleref" title="Deut.28.20" href="/passage/?search=Deut.28.20">Deut. 28:20</a>. God never casts us off till we first cast him off. It intimates that their idolatry, by which they forsook the true God for false gods, would be their destroying sin more than any other.</p>
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<p class="tab-1">II. The extent and efficacy of this curse.</p>
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<p class="tab-1">1. In general, it is declared, “<i>All these curses shall come upon thee</i> from above, <i>and shall overtake thee</i>; though thou endeavour to escape them, it is to no purpose to attempt it, they shall follow thee whithersoever thou goest, and seize thee, overtake thee, and overcome thee,” <a class="bibleref" title="Deut.28.15" href="/passage/?search=Deut.28.15">Deut. 28:15</a>. It is said of the sinner, when God’s wrath is in pursuit of him, that he <i>would fain flee out of his hand</i> (<a class="bibleref" title="Job.27.22" href="/passage/?search=Job.27.22">Job 27:22</a>), but he cannot; if he <i>flee from the iron weapon</i>, yet <i>the bow of steel shall</i> reach him and <i>strike him through</i>. There is no running from God but by running to him, no fleeing from his justice but by fleeing to his mercy. See <a class="bibleref" title="Ps.21.7,Ps.21.8" href="/passage/?search=Ps.21.7,Ps.21.8"><span class="bibleref" title="Ps.21.7">Ps. 21:7</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Ps.21.8">8</span></a>. (1.) Wherever the sinner goes, the curse of God follows him; wherever he is, it rests upon him. He is cursed <i>in the city</i> and <i>in the field</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Deut.28.16" href="/passage/?search=Deut.28.16">Deut. 28:16</a>. The strength of the city cannot shelter him from it, the pleasant air of the country is no fence against these pestilential steams. He is cursed (<a class="bibleref" title="Deut.28.19" href="/passage/?search=Deut.28.19">Deut. 28:19</a>) when he comes in, for the curse is <i>upon the house of the wicked</i> (<a class="bibleref" title="Prov.3.33" href="/passage/?search=Prov.3.33">Prov. 3:33</a>), and he is cursed when he goes out, for he cannot leave that curse behind him, nor get rid of it, which has entered into his bowels like water and like oil into his bones. (2.) Whatever he has is under a curse: <i>Cursed is the ground for his sake</i>, and all that is on it, or comes out of it, and so he is cursed from the ground, as Cain, <a class="bibleref" title="Gen.4.11" href="/passage/?search=Gen.4.11">Gen. 4:11</a>. The <i>basket and store</i> are cursed, <a class="bibleref" title="Deut.28.17,Deut.28.18" href="/passage/?search=Deut.28.17,Deut.28.18"><span class="bibleref" title="Deut.28.17">Deut. 28:17</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Deut.28.18">18</span></a>. All his enjoyments being forfeited by him are in a manner forbidden to him, as cursed things, which he has no title to. To those whose <i>mind and conscience are defiled</i> every thing else is so, <a class="bibleref" title="Titus.1.15" href="/passage/?search=Titus.1.15">Titus 1:15</a>. They are all embittered to him; he cannot take any true comfort in them, for the wrath of God mixes itself with them, and he is so far from having any security of the continuance of them that, if his eyes be open, he may see them all condemned and ready to be confiscated, and with them all his joys and all his hopes gone for ever. (3.) Whatever he does is under a curse too. It is a curse in all that <i>he sets his hand to</i> (<a class="bibleref" title="Deut.28.20" href="/passage/?search=Deut.28.20">Deut. 28:20</a>), a constant disappointment, which those are subject to that set their hearts upon the world, and expect their happiness in it, and which cannot but be a constant vexation. This curse is just the reverse of the blessing in the former part of the chapter. Thus whatever bliss there is in heaven there is not only the want of it, but the contrary to it, in hell. <a class="bibleref" title="Isa.65.13" href="/passage/?search=Isa.65.13">Isa. 65:13</a>; <i>My servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry</i>.</p>
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<p class="tab-1">2. Many particular judgments are here enumerated, which would be the fruits of the curse, and with which God would punish the people of the Jews for their apostasy and disobedience. These judgments threatened are of divers kinds, for God has many arrows in his quiver, <i>four sore judgments</i> (<a class="bibleref" title="Ezek.14.21" href="/passage/?search=Ezek.14.21">Ezek. 14:21</a>), and many more. They are represented as very terrible, and the descriptions of them are exceedingly lively and affecting, that men, knowing these terrors of the Lord, might, if possible, be persuaded. The threatenings of the same judgment are several times repeated, that they might make the more deep and lasting impressions, and to intimate that, if men persisted in their disobedience, the judgment which they thought was over, and of which they said, “Surely the bitterness of it is past,” would return with double force; for when God judges he will overcome. (1.) Bodily diseases are here threatened, that they should be epidemical in their land. These God sometimes makes use of for the chastisement and improvement of his own people. <i>Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick</i>. But here they are threatened to be brought upon his enemies as tokens of his wrath, and designed for their ruin. So that according to the temper of our spirits, under sickness, accordingly it is to us a blessing or a curse. But, whatever sickness may be to particular persons, it is certain that epidemical diseases raging among a people are national judgments, and are so to be accounted. He here threatens, [1.] Painful diseases (<a class="bibleref" title="Deut.28.35" href="/passage/?search=Deut.28.35">Deut. 28:35</a>), a sore botch, beginning in the legs and knees, but spreading, like Job’s boils, from heat to foot. [2.] Shameful diseases (<a class="bibleref" title="Deut.28.27" href="/passage/?search=Deut.28.27">Deut. 28:27</a>), the botch of Egypt (such boils and blains as the Egyptians had been plagued with, when God brought Israel from among them), and the emerods and scab, vile diseases, the just punishment of those who by sin had made themselves vile. [3.] Mortal diseases, the pestilence (<a class="bibleref" title="Deut.28.21" href="/passage/?search=Deut.28.21">Deut. 28:21</a>), the consumption (put for all chronical diseases), and the fever (for all acute diseases), <a class="bibleref" title="Deut.28.22" href="/passage/?search=Deut.28.22">Deut. 28:22</a>. See <a class="bibleref" title="Lev.26.16" href="/passage/?search=Lev.26.16">Lev. 26:16</a>. And all incurable, <a class="bibleref" title="Deut.28.27" href="/passage/?search=Deut.28.27">Deut. 28:27</a>. (2.) Famine, and scarcity of provisions; and this, [1.] For want of rain (<a class="bibleref" title="Deut.28.23,Deut.28.24" href="/passage/?search=Deut.28.23,Deut.28.24"><span class="bibleref" title="Deut.28.23">Deut. 28:23</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Deut.28.24">24</span></a>): <i>Thy heaven over thy head</i>, that part that is over thy land, <i>shall be as</i> dry <i>as brass</i>, while the heavens over other countries shall distil their dews; and, when the heaven is as brass, the earth of course will be as iron, so hard and unfruitful. Instead of rain, the dust shall be blown out of the highways into the field, and spoil the little that there is of the fruits of the earth. [2.] By destroying insects. The locust should destroy the corn, so that they should not have so much as their <i>seed again</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Deut.28.38,Deut.28.42" href="/passage/?search=Deut.28.38,Deut.28.42"><span class="bibleref" title="Deut.28.38">28:38</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Deut.28.42">42</span></a>. And the fruit of the vine, which should make glad their hearts, should all be worm-eaten, <a class="bibleref" title="Deut.28.39" href="/passage/?search=Deut.28.39">Deut. 28:39</a>. And the olive, some way or other, should be made to <i>cast its fruit</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Deut.28.40" href="/passage/?search=Deut.28.40">28:40</a>. The heathen use many superstitious c
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