Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 28:30
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.
30. Cp. Deu 20:5-7. The Heb. text employs a more violent term.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 30. Thou shalt betroth a wife, c.] Can any heart imagine any thing more grievous than the evils threatened in this and the following verses? To be on the brink of all social and domestic happiness, and then to be suddenly deprived of all, and see an enemy possess and enjoy every thing that was dear to them, must excite them to the utmost pitch of distraction and madness. They have, it is true, grievously sinned but, O ye Christians, have they not grievously suffered for it? Is not the stroke of God heavy enough upon them? Do not then, by unkind treatment or cruel Oppression, increase their miseries. They are, above all others, the men who have seen affliction by the stroke of his rod; La 3:1.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Another man shall lie with her before thou canst consummate thy marriage, and enjoy her as thy wife. And so in the following branches.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Thou shall betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her,…. Espouse a woman in order to make her his wife, and before he can take her home, and consummate the marriage, through some calamity or another coming upon them, they should be set at a distance from each other, and she should fall into the hands of another man, who either should ravish her, or gain her consent to lie with her, or become his wife; which, when the marriage was so near being consummated, must be a grievous disappointment, and a great vexation:
thou shall build an house, and thou shall not dwell therein; being, before it is quite finished, or however before he is got into it, carried captive, or obliged to flee to a distant place:
thou shall plant a vineyard, and shall not gather the grapes thereof; or make it common, on the fourth year to eat the fruits of it, as Jarchi; which might not be done until sanctified and redeemed according to the law in Le 19:23;
[See comments on De 20:6].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
30. Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man. He here denounces that all they possessed should be rifled and plundered by their enemies. He, however, puts the most painful thing of all in the first place, viz., that they shall be despoiled of their wives, and magnifies the enormity of the evil, by saying, that not only shall the wife be torn from her husband’s bosom, but that the betrothed virgin shall be defiled. The same denunciation is extended to their houses and vineyards. It is grievous indeed to see the fruit of our labors seized on by our enemies before we have been permitted to enjoy them; since the frustration of our hope does not slightly increase our pain. He then passes on to their flocks and their herds: then to their children, and in their case heightens the calamity, in that their sons and their daughters should be taken from them in their very sight, so that their eyes should fail with grief, and their hands, as if dead, should be unable to afford them assistance. For two reasons He says that the robbers, who shall strip them of everything, should be unknown to them; both because they might expect less consideration and kindness from strangers and barbarians than from neighbors; and also that the Jews might be alarmed by this threat, so as not to suppose that they only had to deal with neighboring nations; inasmuch as it was in God’s power to fetch nations from afar. Finally, He adds that there shall be no end to their affliction, until the magnitude of their calamities (245) shall stupify them.
(245) Deu 28:34. “Obstupesces.” — Lat. “Thou shalt be mad.” — A. V. The former is the rendering of Pagninus, the Samaritan text, and LXX. ; the latter of Vatablus, Munster, Oleaster, Malvenda, and the Arabic Version. See Poole’s Synopsis, in loco.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
30. Betroth a wife Though all the preparations for domestic life may be made, disobedience will bring dire dis-appointment. The wife, the home, the vineyard, shall be another’s.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Third Sixfold Curse ( Deu 28:30-31 ).
This is then followed by a further sixfold curse divided into three and three, the first three patterned on ‘you will — and’, the last three patterned on ‘your — and’. This third set of curses refers to what have been called ‘futility curses’ where the proper enjoyment of something is not experienced but is frustrated by circumstances.
Deu 28:30-31
‘You will betroth a wife, and another man will lie with her;
You will build a house, and you will not dwell in it;
You will plant a vineyard, and will not use its fruit.
Your ox will be slain before your eyes, and you will not eat of it;
Your ass will be violently taken away from before your face, and will not be restored to you;
Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have none to save you.’
The first three examples can be compared with Deu 20:5-7. The betrothing of a wife, the building of a house, and the planting of a vineyard were seen as the three main boons that came from God’s blessing and were to be the result of His promises and His covenant. Here they would be lost and would go to others because of their rebellion against Yahweh. The main measure of wealth was a man’s herds and flocks. Here all would be lost because they had broken the covenant. Note the constant stress on the fact that there is none to help (Deu 28:26; Deu 28:29, and here). They have forsaken Yahweh, and so Yahweh has forsaken them.
In the parallel Deu 28:32-33 in the analysis their sons and daughters will be given to another people and the fruit of their ground and all their labours will be eaten up by a nation that they know not, an intensification of this curse.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Deu 28:30 Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof.
Ver. 30. Thou shalt built a house, &c. ] A great aggravation of a man’s misery it is, to fall from high hopes, to fail of large expectations, as Haman did, and Absalom, and Alexander the Great, and Tamerlane, who preparing to perfect his conquest of the Greek Empire, and having given a good beginning thereunto, in the midst of his high hopes and greatest power, died of an ague, Jan. 27, 1462. a Many men spend their strength and waste their wits in getting these outward things, and in learning how to put them to their delightfullest use: and then, when to possess them might seem a happiness, either they die or are otherwise deprived of all the sweet they have laboured for.
a Turk. Hist.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
lie with. Hebrew. Euphemism for “ravish”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
betroth: Deu 20:6, Deu 20:7, Job 31:10, Jer 8:10, Hos 4:2
build: Job 3:18, Isa 5:9, Isa 5:10, Isa 65:21, Isa 65:22, Jer 12:13, Lam 5:2, Amo 5:11, Mic 6:15, Zep 1:13
gather: Heb. profane, or, use it as common meat, Deu 20:6, *marg.
Reciprocal: Gen 9:20 – planted Deu 28:33 – The fruit Jdg 6:3 – when Israel Jdg 6:4 – destroyed 2Sa 12:11 – I will take Job 31:8 – let me Ecc 3:13 – General Isa 17:10 – shalt thou Jer 5:17 – And they Jer 6:12 – And their Jer 31:5 – yet Lam 5:11 – General Hab 3:17 – the fig tree