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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1706)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>D E U T E R O N O M Y</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XXVIII.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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This chapter is a very large exposition of two words in the foregoing
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chapter, the blessing and the curse. Those were pronounced blessed in
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general that were obedient, and those cursed that were disobedient;
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but, because generals are not so affecting, Moses here descends to
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particulars, and describes the blessing and the curse, not in their
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fountains (these are out of sight, and therefore the most considerable,
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yet least considered, the favour of God the spring of all the
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blessings, and the wrath of God the spring of all the curses), but in
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their streams, the sensible effects of the blessing and the curse, for
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they are real things and have real effects.
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I. He describes the blessings that should come upon them if they were
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obedient; personal, family, and especially national, for in that
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capacity especially they are here treated with,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:1-14">ver. 1-14</A>.
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II. He more largely describes the curses which would come upon them if
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they were disobedient; such as would be,
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1. Their extreme vexation,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:15-44">ver. 15-44</A>.
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2. Their utter ruin and destruction at last,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:45-68">ver. 45-68</A>.
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This chapter is much to the same purport with
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+26:1-46">Lev. xxvi.</A>,
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setting before them life and death, good and evil; and the promise, in
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the close of that chapter, of their restoration, upon their repentance,
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is here likewise more largely repeated,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+30:1-20"><I>ch.</I> xxx.</A>
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Thus, as they had precept upon precept in the repetition of the law, so
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they had line upon line in the repetition of the promises and
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threatenings. And these are both there and here delivered, not only as
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sanctions of the law, what should be conditionally, but as predictions
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of the event, what would be certainly, that for a while the people of
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Israel would be happy in their obedience, but that at length they would
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be undone by their disobedience; and therefore it is said
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+30:1"><I>ch.</I> xxx. 1</A>)
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that all those things would come upon them, both the blessing and the
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curse.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="De28_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="De28_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="De28_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="De28_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="De28_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="De28_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="De28_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="De28_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="De28_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="De28_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="De28_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="De28_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="De28_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="De28_14"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Promises.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1451.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently
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unto the voice of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> thy God, to observe <I>and</I> to do all
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his commandments which I command thee this day, that the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> thy
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God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:
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2 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake
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thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> thy God.
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3 Blessed <I>shalt</I> thou <I>be</I> in the city, and blessed <I>shalt</I>
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thou <I>be</I> in the field.
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4 Blessed <I>shall be</I> the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of
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thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy
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kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
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5 Blessed <I>shall be</I> thy basket and thy store.
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6 Blessed <I>shalt</I> thou <I>be</I> when thou comest in, and blessed
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<I>shalt</I> thou <I>be</I> when thou goest out.
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7 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee
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to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee
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one way, and flee before thee seven ways.
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8 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> shall command the blessing upon thee in thy
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storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he
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shall bless thee in the land which the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> thy God giveth thee.
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9 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> shall establish thee a holy people unto himself, as
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he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of
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the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> thy God, and walk in his ways.
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10 And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called
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by the name of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>; and they shall be afraid of thee.
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11 And the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the
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fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the
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fruit of thy ground, in the land which the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> sware unto thy
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fathers to give thee.
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12 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven
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to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all
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the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations,
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and thou shalt not borrow.
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13 And the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and
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thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that
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thou hearken unto the commandments of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> thy God, which I
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command thee this day, to observe and to do <I>them:</I>
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14 And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I
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command thee this day, <I>to</I> the right hand, or <I>to</I> the left, to
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go after other gods to serve them.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The blessings are here put before the curses, to intimate,
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1. That God is slow to anger, but swift to show mercy: he has said it,
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and sworn, that he would much rather we would obey and live than sin
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and die. It is his delight to bless.
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2. That though both the promises and the threatenings are designed to
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bring and hold us to our duty, yet it is better that we be allured to
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that which is good by a filial hope of God's favour than that we be
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frightened to it by a servile fear of his wrath. That obedience pleases
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best which comes from a principle of delight in God's goodness.
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Now,</P>
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<P>
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I. We have here the conditions upon which the blessing is promised.
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1. It is upon condition that they <I>diligently hearken to the voice
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of God</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:1,2"><I>v.</I> 1, 2</A>),
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that they hear God speaking to them by his word, and use their utmost
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endeavours to acquaint themselves with his will,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
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2. Upon condition that they <I>observe and do all his commandments</I>
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(and in order to obedience there is need of observation) and that they
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<I>keep the commandments of God</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>)
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<I>and walk in his ways.</I> Not only do them for once, but keep them
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for ever; not only set out in his ways, but walk in them to the end.
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3. Upon condition that they should not <I>go aside either to the right
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hand or to the left,</I> either to superstition on the one hand, or
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profaneness on the other; and particularly that they should not go
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after other gods
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>),
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which was the sin that of all others they were most prone to, and God
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would be most displeased with. Let them take care to keep up religion,
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both the form and power of it, in their families and nation, and God
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would not fail to bless them.</P>
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<P>
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II. The particulars of this blessing.</P>
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<P>
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1. It is promised that the providence of God should prosper them in all
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their outward concerns. These blessings are said to <I>overtake
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them,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
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Good people sometimes, under the sense of their unworthiness, are ready
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to fly from the blessing and to conclude that it belongs not to them,;
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but the blessing shall find them out and follow them notwithstanding.
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Thus in the great day the blessing will overtake the righteous that
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say, <I>Lord, when saw we thee hungry and fed thee?</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+25:37">Matt. xxv. 37</A>.
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Observe,</P>
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<P>
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(1.) Several things are enumerated in which God by his providence would
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bless them:--
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[1.] They should be safe and easy; a blessing should rest upon their
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persons wherever they were, <I>in the city,</I> or <I>in the field,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>.
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Whether their habitation was in town or country, whether they were
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husbandmen or tradesmen, whether their business called them into the
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city or into the field, they should be preserved from the dangers and
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have the comforts of their condition. This blessing should attend them
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in their journeys, going out and coming in,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
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Their persons should be protected, and the affair they went about
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should succeed well. Observe here, What a necessary and constant
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dependence we have upon God both for the continuance and comfort of
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this life. We need him at every turn, in all the various movements of
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life; we cannot be safe if he withdraw his protection, nor easy if he
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suspend his favour; but, if he bless us, go where we will it is well
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with us.
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[2.] Their families should be built up in a numerous issue: blessed
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<I>shall be the fruit of thy body</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>),
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and in that the Lord shall <I>make thee plenteous</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>),
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in pursuance of the promise made to Abraham, that his seed should be
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<I>as the stars of heaven</I> for multitude, and that God would be a
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God to them, than which a greater blessing, and more comprehensive,
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could not be entailed upon the fruit of their body. See
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+61:9">Isa. lxi. 9</A>.
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[3.] They should be rich, and have an abundance of all the good things
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of this life, which are promised them, not merely that they might have
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the pleasure of enjoying them, but (as bishop Patrick observes out of
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one of the Jewish writers) that they might have wherewithal to honour
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God, and might be helped and encouraged to serve him cheerfully and to
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proceed and persevere in their obedience to him. A blessing is
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promised, <I>First,</I> On all they had without doors, corn and cattle
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in the field
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:4,11"><I>v.</I> 4, 11</A>),
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their cows and sheep particularly, which would be blessed for the
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owners' sakes, and made blessings to them. In order to this, it is
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promised that God would give them <I>rain in due season,</I> which is
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called his <I>good treasure</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>),
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because with this river of God the earth is enriched,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+65:9">Ps. lxv. 9</A>.
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Our constant supplies we must see coming from God's good treasure, and
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own our obligations to him for them; if he withhold his rain, the
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fruits both of the ground and of the cattle soon perish.
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<I>Secondly,</I> On all they had within doors, the basket and the store
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>),
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the store-houses or barns,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
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When it is brought home, God will bless it, and not blow upon it as
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sometimes he does,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hag+1:6,9">Hag. i. 6, 9</A>.
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We depend upon God and his blessing, not only for our yearly corn out
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of the field, but for our daily bread out of our basket and store, and
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therefore are taught to pray for it every day.
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[4.] They should have success in all their employments, which would be
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a constant satisfaction to them: "<I>The Lord shall command the
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blessing</I> (and it is he only that can command it) upon thee, not
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only in all thou hast, but in all thou doest, all <I>that thou settest
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thy hand to,</I>"
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
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This intimated that even when they were rich they must not be idle, but
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must find some good employment or other to set their hand to, and God
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would own their industry, and <I>bless the work of their hand</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>);
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for that which <I>makes rich,</I> and keeps so, is <I>the blessing of
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the Lord</I> upon <I>the hand of the diligent,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+10:4,22">Prov. x. 4, 22</A>.
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[5.] They should have honour among their neighbours
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>):
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<I>The Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations.</I> He
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made them so, by taking them into covenant with himself,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+26:19"><I>ch.</I> xxvi. 19</A>.
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And he would make them more and more so by their outward prosperity, if
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they would not by sin disparage themselves. Two things should help to
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make them great among the nations:--<I>First,</I> Their wealth
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>):
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"<I>Thou shalt lend to many nations</I> upon interest" (which they were
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allowed to take form the neighbouring nations), "but thou shalt not
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have occasion to borrow." This would give them great influence with all
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about them; for the borrower is servant to the lender. It may be meant
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of trade and commerce, that they should export abundantly more than
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they should import, which would keep the balance on their side.
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<I>Secondly,</I> Their power
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>):
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"<I>The Lord shall make thee the head,</I> to give law to all about
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thee, to exact tribute, and to arbitrate all controversies." Every
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sheaf should bow to theirs, which would make them so considerable that
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<I>all the people of the earth</I> would be <I>afraid of them</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>),
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that is, would reverence their true grandeur, and dread making them
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their enemies. The flourishing of religion among them, and the blessing
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of God upon them, would make them formidable to all their neighbours,
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terrible as an army with banners.
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[6.] They should be victorious over their enemies, and prosper in all
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their wars. If any were so daring as to rise up against them to oppress
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them, or encroach upon them, it should be at their peril, they should
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certainly fall before them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
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The forces of the enemy, though entirely drawn up to come against them
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one way, should be entirely routed, and flee before them seven ways,
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each making the best of his way.</P>
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<P>
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(2.) From the whole we learn (though it were well if men would believe
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|
it) that religion and piety are the best friends to outward prosperity.
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|
Though temporal blessings do not take up so much room in the promises
|
|
of the New Testament as they do in those of the Old, yet it is enough
|
|
that our Lord Jesus has given us his word (and surely we may take his
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|
word) that if we <I>seek first the kingdom of God, and the
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|
righteousness thereof, all other things</I> shall be added to us, as
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far as Infinite Wisdom sees good; and who can desire them further?
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+6:33">Matt. vi. 33</A>.</P>
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<P>
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2. It is likewise promised that the grace of God should <I>establish
|
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them a holy people,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
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Having taken them into covenant with himself, he would keep them in
|
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covenant; and, provided they used the means of stedfastness, he would
|
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give them the grace of stedfastness, that they should not depart from
|
|
him. Note, Those that are sincere in holiness God will establish in
|
|
holiness; and he is <I>of power to do it,</I>
|
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+16:25">Rom. xvi. 25</A>.
|
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|
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He that is holy shall be holy still; and those whom God establishes in
|
|
holiness he thereby establishes a people to himself, for a long as we
|
|
keep close to God he will never forsake us. This establishment of their
|
|
religion would be the establishment of their reputation
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
|
|
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<I>All the people of the earth shall see,</I> and own, <I>that thou art
|
|
called by the name of the Lord,</I> that is, "that thou art a most
|
|
excellent and glorious people, under the particular care and
|
|
countenance of the great God. They shall be made to know that a people
|
|
called by the name Jehovah are without doubt the happiest people under
|
|
the sun, even their enemies themselves being judges." The favourites of
|
|
Heaven are truly great, and, first or last, it will be made to appear
|
|
that they are so, if not in this world, yet at that day when those who
|
|
confess Christ now shall be confessed by him before men and angels, as
|
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those whom he delights to honour.</P>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Threatenings.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1451.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the
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voice of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> thy God, to observe to do all his commandments
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and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these
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curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
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16 Cursed <I>shalt</I> thou <I>be</I> in the city, and cursed <I>shalt</I>
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thou <I>be</I> in the field.
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17 Cursed <I>shall be</I> thy basket and thy store.
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18 Cursed <I>shall be</I> the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of
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thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
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19 Cursed <I>shalt</I> thou <I>be</I> when thou comest in, and cursed
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<I>shalt</I> thou <I>be</I> when thou goest out.
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20 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke,
|
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in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be
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destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the
|
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wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.
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21 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until
|
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he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to
|
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possess it.
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22 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a
|
|
fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and
|
|
with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they
|
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shall pursue thee until thou perish.
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23 And thy heaven that <I>is</I> over thy head shall be brass, and
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the earth that is under thee <I>shall be</I> iron.
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24 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust:
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from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be
|
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destroyed.
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25 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> shall cause thee to be smitten before thine
|
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enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven
|
|
ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of
|
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the earth.
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26 And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and
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unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray <I>them</I> away.
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27 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with
|
|
the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou
|
|
canst not be healed.
|
|
28 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and
|
|
astonishment of heart:
|
|
29 And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in
|
|
darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt
|
|
be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save
|
|
<I>thee.</I>
|
|
30 Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with
|
|
her: thou shalt build a house, and thou shalt not dwell therein:
|
|
thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes
|
|
thereof.
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|
31 Thine ox <I>shall be</I> slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt
|
|
not eat thereof: thine ass <I>shall be</I> violently taken away from
|
|
before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep
|
|
<I>shall be</I> given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to
|
|
rescue <I>them.</I>
|
|
32 Thy sons and thy daughters <I>shall be</I> given unto another
|
|
people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail <I>with longing</I> for
|
|
them all the day long: and <I>there shall be</I> no might in thine
|
|
hand.
|
|
33 The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation
|
|
which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed
|
|
and crushed alway:
|
|
34 So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which
|
|
thou shalt see.
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|
35 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs,
|
|
with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy
|
|
foot unto the top of thy head.
|
|
36 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set
|
|
over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have
|
|
known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.
|
|
37 And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a
|
|
byword, among all nations whither the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> shall lead thee.
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|
38 Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt
|
|
gather <I>but</I> little in; for the locust shall consume it.
|
|
39 Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress <I>them,</I> but shalt
|
|
neither drink <I>of</I> the wine, nor gather <I>the grapes;</I> for the
|
|
worms shall eat them.
|
|
40 Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but
|
|
thou shalt not anoint <I>thyself</I> with the oil; for thine olive
|
|
shall cast <I>his fruit.</I>
|
|
41 Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not
|
|
enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity.
|
|
42 All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust
|
|
consume.
|
|
43 The stranger that <I>is</I> within thee shall get up above thee
|
|
very high; and thou shalt come down very low.
|
|
44 He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he
|
|
shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.
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|
</FONT></P>
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|
<P>
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|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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 HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:15"><I>v.</I> 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 HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:20"><I>v.</I> 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>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The extent and efficacy of this curse.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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 HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:15"><I>v.</I> 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 HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+27:22">Job xxvii. 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 HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+21:7,8">Ps. xxi. 7, 8</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 HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:16"><I>v.</I> 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 HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>)
|
|
|
|
when he comes in, for the curse is <I>upon the house of the wicked</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+3:33">Prov. iii. 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 HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:11">Gen. iv. 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
The <I>basket and store</I> are cursed,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:17,18"><I>v.</I> 17, 18</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 HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Tit+1:15">Tit. i. 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 HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:20"><I>v.</I> 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 HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:13">Isa. lxv. 13</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>My servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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 HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+14:21">Ezek. xiv. 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 HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:35"><I>v.</I> 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 HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:27"><I>v.</I> 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 HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>),
|
|
|
|
the consumption (put for all chronical diseases), and the fever (for
|
|
all acute diseases),
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+26:16">Lev. xxvi. 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
And all incurable,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:27"><I>v.</I> 27</A>.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Famine, and scarcity of provisions; and this,
|
|
|
|
[1.] For want of rain
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:23,24"><I>v.</I> 23, 24</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 HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:38,42"><I>v.</I> 38, 42</A>.
|
|
|
|
And the fruit of the vine, which should make glad their hearts, should
|
|
all be worm-eaten,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:39"><I>v.</I> 39</A>.
|
|
|
|
And the olive, some way or other, should be made to <I>cast its
|
|
fruit,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:40"><I>v.</I> 40</A>.
|
|
|
|
The heathen use many superstitious customs in honour of their idol-gods
|
|
for preserving the fruits of the earth; but Moses tells Israel that the
|
|
only way they had to preserve them was to keep God's commandments; for
|
|
he is a God that will not be sported with, like their idols, but will
|
|
be served in spirit and truth. This threatening we find fulfilled in
|
|
Israel,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ki+17:1,Jer+14:1,Joe+1:4">1 Kings xvii. 1;
|
|
Jer. xiv. 1, &c.; Joel i. 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
(3.) That they should be smitten before their enemies in war, who, it
|
|
is likely, would be the more cruel to them, when they had them at their
|
|
mercy, for the severity they had used against the nations of Canaan,
|
|
which their neighbours in after-ages would be apt to remember against
|
|
them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>.
|
|
|
|
It would make their flight the more shameful, and the more grievous,
|
|
that they might have triumphed over their enemies if they had but been
|
|
faithful to their God. The carcases of those that were slain in war, or
|
|
died in captivity among strangers, should be <I>meat for the fowls</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:26"><I>v.</I> 26</A>);
|
|
|
|
and an Israelite, having forfeited the favour of his God, should have
|
|
so little humanity shown him as that <I>no man should drive them
|
|
away,</I> so odious would God's curse make him to all mankind.
|
|
|
|
(4.) That they should be infatuated in all their counsels, so as not to
|
|
discern their own interest, nor bring any thing to pass for the public
|
|
good: <I>The Lord shall smite thee with madness and blindness,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:28,29"><I>v.</I> 28, 29</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note, God's judgments can reach the minds of men to fill them with
|
|
darkness and horror, as well as their bodies and estates; and those are
|
|
the sorest of all judgments which make men a terror to themselves, and
|
|
their own destroyers. That which they contrived to secure themselves by
|
|
should still turn to their prejudice. Thus we often find that the
|
|
allies they confided in <I>distressed them</I> and <I>strengthened them
|
|
not,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+28:20">2 Chron. xxviii. 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
Those that will not walk in God's counsels are justly left to be ruined
|
|
by their own; and those that are wilfully blind to their duty deserve
|
|
to be made blind to their interest, and, seeing they <I>loved darkness
|
|
rather than light,</I> let them <I>grope at noon-day</I> as in the
|
|
dark.
|
|
|
|
(5.) That they should be plundered of all their enjoyments, stripped of
|
|
all by the proud and imperious conqueror, such as Benhadad was to Ahab,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ki+20:5,6">1 Kings xx. 5, 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
Not only their houses and vineyards should be taken from them, but
|
|
their wives and children,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:30,32"><I>v.</I> 30, 32</A>.
|
|
|
|
Their dearest comforts, which they took most pleasure in, and promised
|
|
themselves most from, should be the entertainment and triumph of their
|
|
enemies. As they had dwelt in houses which they built not, and eaten of
|
|
vineyards which they planted not
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+6:10,11"><I>ch.</I> vi. 10, 11</A>),
|
|
|
|
so others should do by them. Their oxen, asses, and sheep, like Job's,
|
|
should be taken away before their eyes, and they should not be able to
|
|
recover them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:31"><I>v.</I> 31</A>.
|
|
|
|
And all the fruit of their land and labours should be devoured and
|
|
eaten up by the enemy; so that they and theirs would want necessaries,
|
|
while their enemies were revelling with that which they had laboured
|
|
for.
|
|
|
|
(6.) That they should be carried captives into a far country; nay, into
|
|
<I>all the kingdoms of the earth,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>.
|
|
|
|
Their sons and daughters, whom they promised themselves comfort in,
|
|
should go into captivity
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:41"><I>v.</I> 41</A>),
|
|
|
|
and they themselves at length, and their king in whom they promised
|
|
themselves safety and settlement,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:36"><I>v.</I> 36</A>.
|
|
|
|
This was fully accomplished when the ten tribes first were carried
|
|
captive into Assyria
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+17:6">2 Kings xvii. 6</A>),
|
|
|
|
and not long after the two tribes into Babylon, and two of their kings,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+24:15,15,25:7,21">2 Kings xxiv. 14, 15; xxv. 7, 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
That which is mentioned as an aggravation of their captivity is that
|
|
they should go into an unknown country, the language and customs of
|
|
which would be very uncouth, and their treatment among them barbarous,
|
|
and there they should <I>serve other gods,</I> that is, be compelled to
|
|
do so by their enemies, as they were in Babylon,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+3:6">Dan. iii. 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note, God often makes men's sin their punishment, and chooses their
|
|
delusions. You shall <I>serve other gods,</I> that is, "You shall
|
|
serve those that do serve them;" a nation is often in scripture called
|
|
by the name of its gods, as
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+48:7">Jer. xlviii. 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
They had made idolaters their associates, and now god made idolaters
|
|
their oppressors.
|
|
|
|
(7.) That those who remained should be insulted and tyrannized over by
|
|
strangers,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:43,44"><I>v.</I> 43, 44</A>.
|
|
|
|
So the ten tribes were by the colonies which the king of Assyria sent
|
|
to take possession of their land,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+17:24">2 Kings xvii. 24</A>.
|
|
|
|
Or this may be meant of the gradual encroachments which the strangers
|
|
within their gates should make upon them, so as insensibly to worm them
|
|
out of their estates. We read of the fulfilling of this,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:9">Hos. vii. 9</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>Strangers have devoured his strength.</I> Foreigners ate the bread
|
|
out of the mouths of trueborn Israelites, by which they were justly
|
|
chastised for introducing strange gods.
|
|
|
|
(8.) That their reputation among their neighbours should be quite sunk,
|
|
and those that had been a name, and a praise, should be an
|
|
astonishment, a proverb, and a by-word,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:37"><I>v.</I> 37</A>.
|
|
|
|
Some have observed the fulfilling of this threatening in their present
|
|
state; for, when we would express the most perfidious and barbarous
|
|
treatment, we say, <I>None but a Jew would have done so.</I> Thus is
|
|
sin a reproach to any people.
|
|
|
|
(9.) To complete their misery, it is threatened that they should be put
|
|
quite out of the possession of their minds by all these troubles
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:34"><I>v.</I> 34</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Thou shalt be mad for the sight of thy eyes,</I> that is, quite
|
|
bereaved of all comfort and hope, and abandoned to utter despair. Those
|
|
that walk by sight, and not by faith, are in danger of losing reason
|
|
itself, when every thing about them looks frightful; and their
|
|
condition is woeful indeed that are <I>mad for the sight of their
|
|
eyes.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="De28_45"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De28_46"> </A>
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<A NAME="De28_66"> </A>
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<A NAME="De28_67"> </A>
|
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<A NAME="De28_68"> </A>
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<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>45 Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall
|
|
pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because
|
|
thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> thy God, to keep
|
|
his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee:
|
|
46 And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and
|
|
upon thy seed for ever.
|
|
47 Because thou servedst not the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> thy God with joyfulness,
|
|
and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all <I>things;</I>
|
|
48 Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>
|
|
shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in
|
|
nakedness, and in want of all <I>things:</I> and he shall put a yoke
|
|
of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.
|
|
49 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> shall bring a nation against thee from far, from
|
|
the end of the earth, <I>as swift</I> as the eagle flieth; a nation
|
|
whose tongue thou shalt not understand;
|
|
50 A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the
|
|
person of the old, nor show favour to the young:
|
|
51 And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of
|
|
thy land, until thou be destroyed: which <I>also</I> shall not leave
|
|
thee <I>either</I> corn, wine, or oil, <I>or</I> the increase of thy kine,
|
|
or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee.
|
|
52 And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high
|
|
and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout
|
|
all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates
|
|
throughout all thy land, which the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> thy God hath given thee.
|
|
53 And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of
|
|
thy sons and of thy daughters, which the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> thy God hath given
|
|
thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine
|
|
enemies shall distress thee:
|
|
54 <I>So that</I> the man <I>that is</I> tender among you, and very
|
|
delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward
|
|
the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children
|
|
which he shall leave:
|
|
55 So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his
|
|
children whom he shall eat: because he hath nothing left him in
|
|
the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall
|
|
distress thee in all thy gates.
|
|
56 The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not
|
|
adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for
|
|
delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the
|
|
husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her
|
|
daughter,
|
|
57 And toward her young one that cometh out from between her
|
|
feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall
|
|
eat them for want of all <I>things</I> secretly in the siege and
|
|
straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy
|
|
gates.
|
|
58 If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law
|
|
that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this
|
|
glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD;
|
|
59 Then the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> will make thy plagues wonderful, and the
|
|
plagues of thy seed, <I>even</I> great plagues, and of long
|
|
continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.
|
|
60 Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt,
|
|
which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee.
|
|
61 Also every sickness, and every plague, which <I>is</I> not
|
|
written in the book of this law, them will the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> bring upon
|
|
thee, until thou be destroyed.
|
|
62 And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the
|
|
stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the
|
|
voice of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> thy God.
|
|
63 And it shall come to pass, <I>that</I> as the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> rejoiced over
|
|
you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> will rejoice
|
|
over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall
|
|
be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it.
|
|
64 And the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> shall scatter thee among all people, from the
|
|
one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt
|
|
serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known,
|
|
<I>even</I> wood and stone.
|
|
65 And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither
|
|
shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> shall give
|
|
thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of
|
|
mind:
|
|
66 And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt
|
|
fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life:
|
|
67 In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and
|
|
at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear
|
|
of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of
|
|
thine eyes which thou shalt see.
|
|
68 And the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships,
|
|
by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more
|
|
again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen
|
|
and bondwomen, and no man shall buy <I>you.</I>
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
One would have thought that enough had been said to possess them with a
|
|
dread of that <I>wrath of God</I> which is <I>revealed from heaven
|
|
against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.</I> But to show how
|
|
deep the treasures of that wrath are, and that still there is more and
|
|
worse behind, Moses, when one would have thought that he had concluded
|
|
this dismal subject, begins again, and adds to this roll of curses many
|
|
similar words: as Jeremiah did to his,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+36:32">Jer. xxxvi. 32</A>.
|
|
|
|
It should seem that in the former part of this commination Moses
|
|
foretells their captivity in Babylon, and the calamities which
|
|
introduced and attended that, by which, even after their return, they
|
|
were brought to that low and poor condition which is described,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:44"><I>v.</I> 44</A>.
|
|
|
|
That their enemies should be <I>the head,</I> and they <I>the tail:</I>
|
|
but here, in this latter part, he foretels their last destruction by
|
|
the Romans and their dispersion thereupon. And the present deplorable
|
|
state of the Jewish nation, and of all that have incorporated
|
|
themselves with them, by embracing their religion, does so fully and
|
|
exactly answer to the prediction in these verses that it serves for an
|
|
incontestable proof of the truth of prophecy, and consequently of the
|
|
divine authority of the scripture. And, this last destruction being
|
|
here represented as more dreadful than the former, it shows that their
|
|
sin, in rejecting Christ and his gospel, was more heinous and more
|
|
provoking to God than idolatry itself, and left them more under the
|
|
power of Satan; for their captivity in Babylon cured them effectually
|
|
of their idolatry in seventy years' time; but under this last
|
|
destruction now for above 1600 years they continue incurably averse to
|
|
the Lord Jesus. Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. What is here said in general of the wrath of God, which should light
|
|
and lie upon them for their sins.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. That, if they would not be <I>ruled by the commands of God,</I> they
|
|
should certainly be <I>ruined by his curse,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:45,46"><I>v.</I> 45, 46</A>.
|
|
|
|
Because thou didst not <I>keep his commandments</I> (especially that of
|
|
hearing and obeying the great prophet), <I>these curses shall come upon
|
|
thee,</I> as upon a people appointed to destruction, the generation of
|
|
God's wrath: and they shall be <I>for a sign</I> and <I>for a
|
|
wonder.</I> It is amazing to think that a people so long the favourites
|
|
of Heaven should be so perfectly abandoned and cast off, that a people
|
|
so closely incorporated should be so universally dispersed, and yet
|
|
that a people so scattered in all nations should preserve themselves
|
|
distinct and not mix with any, but like Cain be fugitives and
|
|
vagabonds, and yet marked to be known.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. That, if they would not serve God with cheerfulness, they should be
|
|
compelled to <I>serve their enemies</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:47,48"><I>v.</I> 47, 48</A>),
|
|
|
|
that they might know the difference
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+12:8">2 Chron. xii. 8</A>),
|
|
|
|
which, some think, is the meaning of
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+20:24,25">Ezek. xx. 24, 25</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>Because they despised my statutes, I gave them statutes that were
|
|
not good.</I> Observe here,
|
|
|
|
(1.) It is justly expected from those to whom God gives an abundance of
|
|
the good things of this life that they should serve him. What does he
|
|
maintain us for out that we may do his work, and be some way
|
|
serviceable to his honour?
|
|
|
|
(2.) The more God gives us the more cheerfully we should serve him; our
|
|
abundance should be oil to the wheels of our obedience. God is a Master
|
|
that will be served with gladness, and delights to hear us sing at our
|
|
work.
|
|
|
|
(3.) If, when we receive the gifts of God's bounty, we either do not
|
|
serve him at all or serve him with reluctance, it is a righteous thing
|
|
with him to make us know the hardships of want and servitude. Those
|
|
deserve to have cause given them to complain who complain without a
|
|
cause. <I>Tristis es et felix--Happy, and yet not easy!</I> Blush at
|
|
thy own folly and ingratitude.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. That, if they would not <I>give glory to God</I> by a reverential
|
|
obedience, he would get <I>him honour upon them</I> by <I>wonderful</I>
|
|
plagues,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:58,59"><I>v.</I> 58, 59</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note,
|
|
|
|
(1.) God justly expects from us that we should fear his fearful name;
|
|
and, which is strange, that name which is here proposed as the object
|
|
of our fear is, T<FONT SIZE=-1>HE</FONT> L<FONT SIZE=-1>ORD THY</FONT>
|
|
G<FONT SIZE=-1>OD</FONT>, which is very fitly here put in our Bibles in
|
|
capital letters; for nothing can sound more truly august. As nothing is
|
|
more comfortable, so nothing more awful, than this, that he with whom
|
|
we have to do is Jehovah, a being infinitely perfect and blessed, and
|
|
the author of all being; and that he is our God, our rightful Lord and
|
|
owner, from whom we are to receive laws and to whom we are to give
|
|
account: this is great, and greatly to be feared.
|
|
|
|
(2.) We may justly expect from God that, if we do not fear his fearful
|
|
name, we shall feel his fearful plagues; for one way or other God will
|
|
be feared. All God's plagues are dreadful, but some are wonderful,
|
|
carrying in them extraordinary signatures of divine power and justice,
|
|
so that a man, upon the first view of them, may say, <I>Verily, there
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is a God that judgeth in the earth.</I></P>
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<P>
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II. How the destruction threatened is described. Moses is here upon the
|
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same melancholy subject that our Saviour is discoursing of to his
|
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disciples in his farewell sermon
|
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+24:4-28">Matt. xxiv.</A>),
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namely, The destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish nation.
|
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Observe,</P>
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<P>
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1. Five things are here foretold as steps to their ruin:--</P>
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<P>
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(1.) That they should be invaded by a foreign enemy
|
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:49,50"><I>v.</I> 49, 50</A>):
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<I>A nation from far,</I> namely, the Romans, <I>as swift as the
|
|
eagle</I> hastening to the prey. Our Saviour makes use of this
|
|
similitude, in foretelling this destruction, that <I>where the carcase
|
|
is there will the eagles be gathered together,</I>
|
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|
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+24:28">Matt. xxiv. 28</A>.
|
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|
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And bishop Patrick observes (to make the accomplishment the more
|
|
remarkable) that the ensign of the Roman armies was an eagle. This
|
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nation is said to be of a fierce countenance, an indication of a fierce
|
|
nature, stern and severe, that would not pity the weakness and
|
|
infirmity either of little children or of old people.</P>
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<P>
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(2.) That the country should be laid waste, and all the fruits of it
|
|
eaten up by this army of foreigners, which is the natural consequence
|
|
of an invasion, especially when it is made, as that by the Romans was,
|
|
for the chastisement of rebels: He <I>shall eat the fruits of thy
|
|
cattle and land</I>
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|
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:51"><I>v.</I> 51</A>),
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so that the inhabitants should be starved, while the invaders were fed
|
|
to the full.</P>
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<P>
|
|
|
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(3.) That their cities should be besieged, and that such would be the
|
|
obstinacy of the besieged, and such the vigour of the besiegers, that
|
|
they would be reduced to the last extremity, and at length fall into
|
|
the hands of the enemy,
|
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:52"><I>v.</I> 52</A>.
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|
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No place, though ever so well fortified, no, not Jerusalem itself,
|
|
though it held out long, would escape. Two of the common consequences
|
|
of a long siege are here foretold:--
|
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[1.] A miserable famine, which would prevail to such a degree that, for
|
|
want of food, they should <I>kill and eat their own children,</I>
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:53"><I>v.</I> 53</A>.
|
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|
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Men should do so, notwithstanding their hardiness, and ability to bear
|
|
hunger; and, though obliged by the law of nature to provide for their
|
|
own families, yet should refuse to give to the wife and children that
|
|
were starving any of the child that was barbarously butchered,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:54,55"><I>v.</I> 54, 55</A>.
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|
|
Nay, women, ladies of quality, notwithstanding their natural
|
|
niceness about their food, and their natural affection to their
|
|
children, yet, for want of food, should so far forget all humanity as
|
|
to kill and eat them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:56,57"><I>v.</I> 56, 57</A>.
|
|
|
|
Let us observe, by the way, how hard this fate must needs be to the
|
|
tender and delicate women, and learn not to indulge ourselves in
|
|
tenderness and delicacy, because we know not what we may be reduced to
|
|
before we die; the more nice we are, the harder it will be to us to
|
|
bear want, and the more danger we shall be in or sacrificing reason,
|
|
and religion, and natural affection itself, to the clamours and
|
|
cravings of an unmortified and ungoverned appetite. This threatening
|
|
was fulfilled in the letter of it, more than once, to the perpetual
|
|
reproach of the Jewish nation: never was the like done either by Greek
|
|
or barbarian, but in the siege of Samaria, a woman <I>boiled her own
|
|
son,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+6:28,29">2 Kings vi. 28, 29</A>.
|
|
|
|
And it is spoken of as commonly done among them in the siege of
|
|
Jerusalem by the Babylonians,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:10">Lam. iv. 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
And, in the last siege by the Romans, Josephus tells us of a noble
|
|
woman that killed and ate her own child, through the extremity of the
|
|
famine, and when she had eaten one half secretly
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:57"><I>v.</I> 57</A>),
|
|
|
|
that she might have it to herself, the mob, smelling meat, got into the
|
|
house, to whom she showed the other half, which she had kept till
|
|
another time, inviting them to share with her. What is too barbarous
|
|
for those to do that are abandoned of God!
|
|
|
|
[2.] Sickness is another common effect of a strait and long siege, and
|
|
that is here threatened: <I>Sore sickness, and of long continuance,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:59"><I>v.</I> 59</A>.
|
|
|
|
These should attend the Jews wherever they went afterwards, the
|
|
diseases of Egypt, leprosies, botches, and foul ulcers,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:60"><I>v.</I> 60</A>.
|
|
|
|
Nay, as if the particular miseries here threatened were not enough, he
|
|
concludes with an <I>et cetera,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:61"><I>v.</I> 61</A>.
|
|
|
|
The Lord will bring upon thee every sickness, and every plague, though
|
|
it be <I>not written in the book of this law.</I> Those that fall under
|
|
the curse of God will find that the one half was not told them of the
|
|
weight and terror of that curse.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(4.) That multitudes of them should perish, so that they should become
|
|
<I>few in number,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:62"><I>v.</I> 62</A>.
|
|
|
|
It was a nation that God had wonderfully increased, so that they were
|
|
<I>as the stars of heaven for multitude;</I> but, for their sin, they
|
|
were <I>diminished and brought low,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+107:38,39">Ps. cvii. 38, 39</A>.
|
|
|
|
It is computed that in the destruction of the Jewish nation by the
|
|
Romans, as appears by the account Josephus gives of it, above two
|
|
millions fell by the sword at several places, besides what perished by
|
|
famine and pestilence; so that the whole country was laid waste and
|
|
turned into a wilderness. That is a terrible word
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:63"><I>v.</I> 63</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>As the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, so he will rejoice
|
|
over you to destroy you.</I> Behold here <I>the goodness and severity
|
|
of God:</I> mercy here shines brightly in the pleasure God takes in
|
|
doing good--he rejoices in it; yet justice here appears no less
|
|
illustrious in the pleasure he takes in destroying the impenitent; not
|
|
as it is the making of his creatures miserable, but as it is the
|
|
asserting of his own honour and the securing of the ends of his
|
|
government. See what a malignant mischievous thing sin is, which (as I
|
|
may say) makes it necessary for the God of infinite goodness to rejoice
|
|
in the destruction of his own creatures, even those that had been
|
|
favourites.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(5.) That the remnant should be scattered throughout the nations This
|
|
completes their woe: <I>The Lord shall scatter thee among all
|
|
people,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:64"><I>v.</I> 64</A>.
|
|
|
|
This is remarkably fulfilled in their present dispersion, for there are
|
|
Jews to be fond almost in all countries that are possessed either by
|
|
Christians or Mahometans, and in such numbers that it has been said, If
|
|
they could unite in one common interest, they would be a very
|
|
formidable body, and able to deal with the most powerful states and
|
|
princes; but they abide under the power of this curse, and are so
|
|
scattered that they are not able to incorporate. It is here foretold
|
|
that in this dispersion,
|
|
|
|
[1.] They should have no religion, or none to any purpose, should have
|
|
no temple, nor altar, nor priesthood, for they should <I>serve other
|
|
gods.</I> Some think this has been fulfilled in the force put upon the
|
|
Jews in popish countries to worship the images that are used in the
|
|
Romish church, to their great vexation.
|
|
|
|
[2.] They should have no rest, no rest of body: <I>The sole of thy foot
|
|
shall not have rest</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:65"><I>v.</I> 65</A>),
|
|
|
|
but be continually upon the remove, either in hope of gain or fear of
|
|
persecution; all wandering Jews: no rest of the mind (which is much
|
|
worse), but a <I>trembling heart</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:65"><I>v.</I> 65</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>no assurance of life</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:66"><I>v.</I> 66</A>);
|
|
|
|
weary both of light and darkness, which are, in their turns, both
|
|
welcome to a quiet mind, but to them both day and night would be a
|
|
terror,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:67"><I>v.</I> 67</A>.
|
|
|
|
Such was once the condition of Job
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+7:4">Job vii. 4</A>),
|
|
|
|
but to them this should be constant and perpetual; that blindness and
|
|
darkness which the apostle speaks of as having happened to Israel, and
|
|
that guilt which <I>bowed down their back always</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:8-10">Rom. xi. 8-10</A>),
|
|
|
|
must needs occasion a constant restlessness and amazement. Those are a
|
|
torment to themselves, and to all about them, that fear day and night
|
|
and are always uneasy. Let good people strive against it, and not give
|
|
way to that fear which has torment; and let wicked people not be secure
|
|
in their wickedness, for their hearts cannot endure, nor can their
|
|
hands be strong, when the terrors of God set themselves in array
|
|
against them. Those that say <I>in the morning, O that it were
|
|
evening,</I> and <I>in the evening, O that it were morning,</I> show,
|
|
<I>First,</I> A constant fret and vexation, chiding the hours for
|
|
lingering and complaining of the length of every minute. Let time be
|
|
precious to us when we are in prosperity, and then it will not be so
|
|
tedious to us when we are in afflictions as otherwise it would.
|
|
<I>Secondly,</I> A constant fright and terror, afraid in the morning of
|
|
the <I>arrow that flieth by day,</I> and therefore wishing the day
|
|
over; but what will this do for them? When evening comes, the trembling
|
|
heart is no less apprehensive of the <I>terror by night,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+91:5,6">Ps. xci. 5, 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
Happy they whose minds, being stayed on God, are <I>quiet from the fear
|
|
of evil!</I> Observe here, The terror arises not only from the sight of
|
|
the eyes, but from the fear of the heart, not only from real dangers,
|
|
but from imaginary ones; the causes of fear, when they come to be
|
|
enquired into, often prove to be only the creatures of the fancy. </P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. In the close, God threatens to leave them as he found them, in a
|
|
<I>house of bondage</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:68"><I>v.</I> 68</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>The Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again,</I> that is into such a
|
|
miserable state as they were in when they were slaves to the Egyptians,
|
|
and ruled by them with rigour. God had brought them out of Egypt, and
|
|
had said, <I>They shall see it no more again</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+17:16"><I>ch.</I> xvii. 16</A>);
|
|
|
|
but now they should be reduced to the same state of slavery that they
|
|
had been in there. To be sold to strangers would be bad enough, but
|
|
much worse to be sold to their enemies. Even slaves may be valued as
|
|
such, but a Jew should have so ill a name for all that is base that
|
|
when he was exposed to sale no man would buy him, which would make his
|
|
master that had him to sell the more severe with him. Thirty Jews (they
|
|
say) have been sold for one small piece of money, as they sold our
|
|
Saviour for thirty pieces.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. Upon the whole matter,
|
|
|
|
(1.) The accomplishment of these predictions upon the Jewish nation
|
|
shows that Moses spoke by the Spirit of God, who certainly foresees the
|
|
ruin of sinners, and gives them warning of it, that they may prevent it
|
|
by a true and timely repentance, or else be left inexcusable.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Let us all hence learn to stand in awe and not to sin. I have
|
|
heard of a wicked man, who, upon reading the threatenings of this
|
|
chapter, was so enraged that he tore the leaf out of the Bible, as
|
|
Jehoiakim cut Jeremiah's roll; but to what purpose is it to deface a
|
|
copy, while the original remains upon record in the divine counsels, by
|
|
which it is unalterably determined that <I>the wages of sin is
|
|
death,</I> whether men will hear or whether they will forbear?</P>
|
|
|
|
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