Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 28:28
The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart:
28. Cp. Zec 12:4; astonishment, better, dismay.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 28. The Lord shall smite thee with madness] shiggaon, distraction, so that thou shalt not know what to do.
And blindness] ivvaron, blindness, both physical and mental; the garab, (De 28:27), destroying their eyes, and the judgments of God confounding their understandings.
Astonishment] timmahon, stupidity and amazement. By the just judgments of God they were so completely confounded, as not to discern the means by which they might prevent or remove their calamities, and to adopt those which led directly to their ruin. How true is the ancient saying, Quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat! “Those whom God is determined to destroy, he first infatuates.” But this applies not exclusively to the poor Jews: how miserably infatuated have the powers of the continent of Europe been, in all their councils and measures, for several years past! And what is the result? They have fallen – most deplorably fallen!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Blindness, to wit, of mind, so that they shall not know what to do; see Job 5:13,14; so as they shall commonly choose and follow the worst counsels and courses, to their own ruin.
Astonishment of heart; they shall be filled with wonder and horror, because of the strangeness and soreness of their calamities.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
28. madness, and blindness, andastonishment of heartThey would be bewildered and paralyzedwith terror at the extent of their calamities.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The Lord shall smite thee with madness,…. At the calamities befallen them, and through the force of diseases on them:
and blindness; not of body, but of mind; with judicial blindness and hardness of heart:
and astonishment of heart; at the miserable condition they and their families should be in.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
28. The Lord shall smite thee with madness and blindness. This punishment is very often referred to by the Prophets, when God is said to smite the wicked with a spirit (243) of giddiness and madness, to make them drunk with astonishment. Now, whatever God declares respecting this blindness or fury of mind, has a wide application; for hence it arises that the wicked rush willfully into vile lusts, shudder at no crime, are hurried headlong to destruction, are utterly deprived of discretion, throw away the remedies which are in their hands; and although (244) the carnal sense is not greatly disturbed by this form of vengeance, still it is much more severe and awful than any bodily disease. The Poets imagined that wicked men were agitated and terrified by the furies, because experience taught them that it was not without a secret impulse from God that they became so senseless, when, their minds being affected, they were like beasts in the shape of men. Even heathens, then, perceived that when the wicked are given over to a reprobate mind, God thus manifests Himself as the just Avenger of their crimes. And so it is in all cases of “astonishment;” for it is plain that those who are thus stupified by their miseries, are prostrated by the hand of God.
(243) C gives no references here. It is probable that the passage, which he most had in his mind, was Isa 19:14, “The Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit;” in V. , “Dominus miscuit in medio ejus spiritrum vertiginis, etc.” His own Commentary on these words is, “The expression is metaphorical, as if one were to mix wine in a cup, that the Lord thus intoxicates the wise men of this world so that they are stunned and amazed, and can neither think nor act aright.” Calvin Soc. edit., vol. 2, p. 64. He also might refer to Isa 51:17; Jer 25:15; Psa 60:3, etc.
(244) “L’apprehension commune des hommes;” the ordinary apprehension of men. — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(28) Madness, and blindness, and astonishment.The three words are all found in Zec. 12:4
But in that place the threat seems directed against the enemies of Jerusalem (see Deu. 30:7).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
28. Madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart Overwhelmed with their calamities, the people will go on blindly in their course of disobedience.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Ver. 28. With madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart These calamities at home will in time throw you into distraction, stupidity, and infatuation: quite astonish and confound your undertakings, and put you upon methods opposite to common sense, whereby you shall run into the very jaws of general destruction, groping at noon-day; ver. 29. i.e. your minds will be so darkened, that, in the plainest things, you shall mistake the means of your own preservation. See Elsner’s Observat. sac. tom. i. p. 449. This phrensy and infatuation of the Jews were never more discernible than in their transactions in the time of Trajan. See Basnage’s History of the Jews, b. vii. c. 11. and compare Jer 25:16-18. Zep 1:17. Lam 4:14. Jer 4:9. Eze 4:17.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Deu 28:28 The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart:
Ver. 28. With madness and blindness. ] Spiritual, especially; such as befell the Jews of old, Rom 11:18 2Co 3:14 the chief priests and scribes especially, who, being questioned by Herod about the King of the Jews, Mat 2:4-5 could answer directly out of the Scriptures, and give such signs of the Messiah as did evidently agree to Jesus Christ. And yet because they discerned not their day of grace, but winked hard with their eyes, and shut the windows, lest the light should come in, they were by a special judgment so besotted and infatuated, that when God shows them the man, to whom their own signs agree, they cannot allow of him, nor will yield to be saved by him upon any terms. How shamefully they were deluded by Barchocab, is notoriously known. And after this, when they saw Mohammed arising in such power, they were straight ready to cry him up for their Messiah. But when they saw him eat of a camel, they were as blank as when they saw the hoped issue of their late Jewish virgin turned to a daughter. They are generally light, aerial, and fanatical brains, apt to work themselves into the fool’s paradise of a sublime dotage. Howbeit God, we trust, will at length cure them of this spiritual ophthalmy disordered mental vision and frenzy. Their dispersion for this one thousand six hundred years is such, as that one of their own Rabbins concludes from thence that their Messiah must needs be come, and they must needs suffer so much for killing him. “Oh that the salvation of Israel were once come out of Zion! When the Lord bringeth back the captivity of his people, then shall Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.” Psa 14:7
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
1Sa 16:14, Psa 60:3, Isa 6:9, Isa 6:10, Isa 19:11-17, Isa 43:19, Jer 4:9, Eze 4:17, Luk 21:25, Luk 21:26, Act 13:41, 2Th 2:9-11
Reciprocal: Deu 28:34 – General Deu 28:37 – become 1Sa 25:37 – his heart 2Ki 6:18 – Smite this people Isa 51:17 – which hast Lam 4:14 – have wandered Zep 1:17 – they shall Zec 12:4 – I will smite