Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 28:32
Thy sons and thy daughters [shall be] given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail [with longing] for them all the day long: and [there shall be] no might in thine hand.
32. Judah suffered from a large deportation of her people by Sennacherib in 701. On any of the conflicting estimates of the deportations under Nebuchadrezzar, there must have remained in the land a majority of the people, lamenting, as this v. describes, the exile of the rest. See Jerusalem, ii. 266 ff.
hand ] Many MSS read hands; cp. Neh 5:5.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 32. Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people] In several countries, particularly in Spain and Portugal, the children of the Jews have been taken from them by order of government, and educated in the Popish faith. There have been some instances of Jewish children being taken from their parents even in Protestant countries.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Shall be given unto another people, by those who have conquered them, and taken them captives, who shall give or sell them to other persons, as the manner was.
Fail, or, be consumed, partly with grief and plentiful tears shed for them; and partly with earnest desire, and vain and long expectation of their return. See Psa 119:82. No might, i.e. no power to rescue them, nor money to ransom them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Thy sons and thy daughters [shall be] given unto another people,…. This also was not true in the Babylonish captivity; for then their sons and daughters went with them, and continued with them, and returned again; but has been oftentimes verified since their captivity by the Romans; frequently their sons and daughters have been taken from them by force, to be brought up in another religion, by the edicts of kings and popes, and by the canons of councils, and particularly of the fourth council of Toledo:
and thine eyes shall look and fail; with longing:
for them all the day long; expecting every day their children would be returned to them, at least wishing and hoping they would; their hearts yearning after them, but all in vain:
and [there shall be] no might in thy hand; to recover them out of the hands of those who had the possession of them, or fetch them back from distant countries, whither they were carried. By an edict of the Portuguese, the children of the Jews were ordered to be carried to the uninhabited islands; and when, by the king’s command, they were had to the ships in which they were to be transported, it is incredible, the Jewish historian says l, what howlings and lamentations were made by the women; and there wore none pitied them and comforted them, or could help them.
l Shebet Judah, sive Hist. Jud. sect. 59. p. 332.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(32) Thy sons and thy daughters.The language of this verse is perhaps the most pathetic piece of description in the whole chapter. Many of the nations bordering on Israel were accustomed when they made inroads to take away, not only the cattle, but the children for slaves. Another equally pathetic passage in Jeremiah touches on the very same thing. A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. And it would not always be said, as it was then, they shall come again from the land of the enemy (Jer. 31:15-17).
Thine eyes shall . . . faili.e., shall consume. All longing after that which comes not is called consumption of the eyes (Rashi).
And there shall be no might in thine hand.The Hebrew phrase here is very remarkable. It occurs also in Gen. 31:29. It is in the power of mine hand to do you hurt. But it means, literally, thou shalt have no hand toward God, i.e., thou shalt not be able to lift a hand to Him. We may compare Jacob wrestling with the angel, and Moses in the fight with Amalek: When he held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. Some would perhaps explain the phrase in another way; but this explanation is thoroughly in accordance with the genius of the Hebrew language, and I have good authority for it. Hezekiah said, Mine eyes fail with looking upward. Here the eyes fail with looking, but cannot look up.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
32. No might in thine hand This expression is more literally rendered, thy hand is not to God. Thy hand is not strong enough to deliver thee.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Fourth Sixfold Curse ( Deu 28:32-37 ).
The next sixfold pattern is more complicated. It is again divided into three and three, each made up of two statements followed by a consequence. The curses are now becoming more severe.
The first set of curses related to famine. The second set related to confusion, pestilence, disease and sword. The third set related to the frustration of all that has been laboured for being lost without enjoyment of it, and included the loss of a wife. Now the loss goes deeper with the loss of their children for ever.
Deu 28:32
‘ Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people, and your eyes will look, and fail with longing for them all the day, and there shall be nought in the power of your hand.’
Even their sons and daughters would be lost to them. Deportation was common practise as it provided slave labour. They would be handed over to strangers. And though they might long all through the long days, and day after day, to see them it would never be. They would be in no position to bring it about.
Deu 28:33
‘ The fruit of your ground, and all your labours, will a nation which you know not eat up, and you will be only oppressed and crushed always,’
Their produce and all that they had laboured for, in order to give it to their loved ones, would instead come into the hands of a nation that they had not even known about, who would suddenly come upon them (compare Genesis 14). These strangers would eat what they had sown, and they instead would be continually oppressed and crushed.
Deu 28:34
‘ So that you will be mad because of the sight of your eyes which you will see.’
The net result of seeing these things with their eyes, as all that they had built up during their lives for their children was lost to them and their children, and their children were lost to them as well, would bring them into depression and madness. What they saw would be too much for them to cope with. They would also experience disease and exile and watch as they left their homeland far behind (compare Psalms 137).
Deu 28:35
‘ Yahweh will smite you in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore boil, from which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.’
And they would experience many diseases of a kind that Yahweh had previously saved them from. Their knees and their legs would be smitten with sore boils which would never heal, making their life of drudgery a nightmare. Indeed their whole bodies would be affected from head to toe. This would probably be the result of the awful conditions under which they would have to live (see Deu 28:27 contrast Deu 7:15; Deu 8:4; Exo 15:26). It would, of course, render them ‘unclean’.
Deu 28:36
‘ Yahweh will bring you, and your king whom you will set over you, to a nation that you have not known, you nor your fathers, and there will you serve other gods, wood and stone.’
Note the negative view of their future king. Moses perceptively recognises that having a king over them, as he knows one day they will have (for not only was it prophesied but in neglecting Yahweh they would have to look elsewhere for leadership, as they had to Moses), would not tend to lead to faithfulness to Yahweh. He was fully aware that Deu 17:14-20 was a pleasant hope, a picture of Yahweh’s ideal king, rather than something that could be expected. He knew this people too well. Their king would come from among them and be like them. And he links their king with them going into their exile. They would have chosen to be like the Canaanites and he is seeing them in those terms, in the terms of the nations driven out of Canaan who would also be exiled with their kings. What they had done to the Canaanites, would be done to them, because they would have become like the Canaanites. And there they would be without Yahweh. They would serve other gods of wood and stone (compare Deu 4:28), for that is one reason why they will have been cast out of the land, because of their idolatry.
They would have already chosen to follow gods of wood and stone in the land. Now they would be all that they had, because Yahweh had deserted them. (This certainly did partly happen. But God did not full desert them. He raised up prophets in order to encourage the remnant so that they might still have hope).
Deu 28:37
‘ And you will become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all the peoples to whom Yahweh will lead you away.’
And all the people among whom they would find themselves would be astonished. They would be talked about and gossiped about as the foolish nation that turned away from Yahweh. Proverbs would be made up about their folly. They would become a byword. Compare Deu 7:6; Deu 14:2; Deu 26:18-19 which brings home what they would have lost. (For the idea compare Isa 14:10; Isa 14:16 spoken of the king of Babylon. They too, like him, had once made the earth tremble).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Ver. 32. Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, &c. In several countries, Spain and Portugal particularly, the children of the Jews have been taken from them by order of the government, to be educated in the popish religion. The fourth council of Toledo ordered, that all their children should be taken from them, for fear they should partake of their errors; and that they should be shut up in monasteries to be instructed in the Christian truths. And when they were banished from Portugal, as Mariana observes, book 26: chap. 6. “The king ordered all their children under fourteen years of age to be taken from them and baptized; a practice,” adds the historian, “not at all justifiable, because none ought to be forced to become Christians, nor ought children to be taken from their parents.” Bishop Newton. It is added, thine eyes shall fail with longing for them; i.e. thine expectation of seeing their return shall fail, and be turned into despair. See Psa 69:3; Psa 119:82 and Jackson on the Creed, book 1: chap. 27.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Deu 28:32 Thy sons and thy daughters [shall be] given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail [with longing] for them all the day long: and [there shall be] no might in thine hand.
Ver. 32. And thine eyes shall look. ] A sad sight to see our children butchered before our eyes, as Mauricius the Emperor did; or otherwise misused by a merciless enemy. Doves sometimes sit in their dove-cotes and see their nests destroyed, their young ones taken away and killed before their eyes, neither do they ever offer to rescue or revenge, as all other creatures either do or desire to do.
And fail with looking.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
might = power. Hebrew. ‘el. App-4.
hand. Some codices, with three early printed editions and Syriac, read plural, “hands”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
sons: In several countries, particularly in Spain and Portugal, the children of the Jews have been taken from them, by order of the government, to be educated in the Popish faith. Deu 28:18, Deu 28:41, Num 21:29, 2Ch 29:9, Neh 5:2-5, Jer 15:7-9, Jer 16:2-4, Eze 24:25, Joe 3:6, Amo 5:27, Mic 4:10
fail: Deu 28:65, Job 11:20, Job 17:5, Psa 69:3, Psa 119:82, Psa 119:123, Isa 38:14, Lam 2:11, Lam 4:17, Lam 5:17
Reciprocal: Lev 26:16 – consume 2Sa 13:39 – the soul of Job 27:14 – children Job 31:16 – the eyes Jer 20:4 – thine Lam 1:18 – my virgins Hos 9:12 – yet Mic 2:1 – because Luk 21:26 – hearts
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Deu 28:32. Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given When you have provoked the divine justice to deliver you into the hands of your enemies, you shall have nothing left which you can call your own. Your very wives and children shall become a prey to your enemies; shall be taken from you and given, or sold, to another people By those who have conquered you and taken them captives. Thine eyes shall fail Or be consumed, partly with grief and plentiful tears, and partly with earnest desire, and long and vain expectation of their return. There shall be no might in thy hand No power to rescue, nor money to ransom them.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
28:32 Thy sons and thy daughters [shall be] given unto another people, and thine eyes {o} shall look, and fail [with longing] for them all the day long: and [there shall be] no might in thine hand.
(o) When they will return from their captivity.