Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 28:47
Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all [things];
47. This should be a new sentence opening a new paragraph.
Because thou hast not served the Lord thy God ] or worshipped.
with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart ] Characteristic of the temper of D; 12. 7, 12, 18, Deu 16:11; Deu 16:14 f. ( be altogether joyful), Deu 26:11; cp. Isa 65:13 f.
by reason of the abundance, etc.] Cp. Deu 6:10-12, Deu 8:11-18.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
47 57. A Further Development of the Curses
Invasion by a far-off, unknown nation, who shall ruthlessly devastate the land and besiege Israel’s cities; with the horrors of his siege. All this is not threatened conditionally on the possible disobedience of the people, but predicted absolutely because of their actual failure to serve God.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Deu 28:47
Because thou servedst not the lord.
Right service
The text brings before us a subject essentially important–that as the service of the Lord Jesus Christ must be such as answered the great end that was to be brought about, and did answer it, so the object of the service of the people of God is to bring them into possession of what the Lord has for them. Let us take a two-fold view of this service.
1. First, then, the true service of the Lord; it must be by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us hear what the Scriptures say upon this, for it is a most essential matter: either we are serving God as Abel did, acceptably; or as Cain did, not acceptably. We cannot serve God by the works of the law; for the apostle saith, Whatsoever the law saith–and I may mention two things which it saith: first, that he that offendeth in one point is guilty of the whole. Now, that one thing said by the law is enough to stop the mouth of anyone. Then again, it saith, Cursed is he that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them. There are three things especially essential to serve God acceptably; these must be knowledge, faith, and love. You cannot do without these three. It is true, there are many other excellencies arising from them.
2. Now, a word or two upon this–to serve Him with joyfulness and with gladness of heart. I think we need the spirit of prayer upon this subject. So then may the Lord give us the spirit of prayer, that we may pray to be quickened, and to be made more and more lively in the service and ways of the Lord; for it is sure well to repay us; as saith David, In keeping His ways there is indeed great reward; a reward that far surpasseth gold, even much fine gold; and there is a sweetness therein sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. So, I say, we need the spirit of prayer for the Lord to keep us more and more in His blessed ways. (J. Wells.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Or,
in the abundance of all things; for this is opposed to in hunger, in thirst, &c., Deu 28:48. And the Hebrew men oft signifies in, as Exo 25:18; Job 19:26; Psa 72:16.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God,…. By attending his worship, and keeping his commandments:
with joyfulness and gladness of heart, for the abundance of all [things]; which they enjoyed in the land of Canaan, a land that abounded with all good things; which laid them under great obligations to serve the Lord: and yet, as they were wanting in a ready attendance on his worship, and in a cheerful obedience to his laws, so in their sacrifices, of praise and thanksgivings for their manifold mercies; and, because of all this, the curses written in this book came upon them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Verses 47-57:
The fourth group of curses: God desired Israel to serve and obey Him with joy, because of love for Him, Deu 6:5-7; Exo 25:2; Exo 35:29. In return, He promised to bless and prosper them. But if they refused to do this, and served from a sense of obligation only, they would come under the yoke of cruel nations and serve them in hunger, thirst, and slavery.
The description of the conquering nation that would enslave and deport Israel from their Land generally fits those nations which God raised up periodically to invade Israel and chastise them:
(1) The Assyrians, Isa 5:26-30; 2Ki 15:19. They were notorious for their barbaric treatment of conquered people, and for their idolatry. They invaded the northern kingdom of Israel, and deported the inhabitants into other lands, 2Ki 17:5-6.
(2) The Chaldeans (Babylon), 2Ki 20:12-18. Under Nebuchadnezzar they invaded the southern kingdom of Judah, and carried the inhabitants into slavery in Babylon, 2Ki 24:1-20; 2Ch 36:14-21; Jer 25:9-12.
(3) The Romans, who gained sovereignty over all Palestine and Asia Minor in the First Century B.C. Certain elements of the Jews were constantly inciting to rebellion. This culminated in the siege of Jerusalem, which began in the Spring of 70 A.D., under the direction of the Roman emperor Titus. The Jews defended the city with fierce loyalty. Conditions in Jerusalem became desperate. So scarce was food that some actually killed and ate their own children. After 143 days, the city fell to the Romans. Over one million people were slain in the campaign. The Temple was burned, along with much of the city. Then, in 134 A.D. another rebellion led by Bar Cochba was overwhelmingly crushed, and what was left of the city was utterly destroyed. The foundations were plowed up, and the Temple site was sown with salt. Two years later, the Romans built a new city on the site, Aeolia Capitolina. All Jews were excluded from this city for over two centuries.
The destruction of Jerusalem and dispersion of the Jews was foretold by Jesus, Mat 24:1; Mat 24:1; Luk 19:41-44. This was the fulfillment of the curse pronounced in the present text, as the penalty for disobedience to Jehovah’s Law.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
THOUGHT QUESTIONS 28:4757
500.
Joyfulness and gladness are an essential ingredient for acceptableness with Jehovah; Why?
501.
Who put a yoke of iron upon the neck of Israel?
502.
Note the three characteristics of the nation brought in by God to oppress Israel.
503.
Notice the progressive nature of the siege; list the steps.
504.
War makes animals of men. Why?
505.
Is there no one who will remain true to his standards of ethics regardless of circumstances? Discuss.
AMPLIFIED TRANSLATION 28:4757
47 Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness of [mind and] heart [in gratitude] for the abundance of all [with which He had blessed you].
48 Therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord shall send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and in want of all things; and He will put a yoke of iron upon your neck, until He has destroyed you.
49 The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you shall not understand;
50 A nation of unyielding countenance, who will not regard the person of the old, or show favor to the young.
51 And shall eat the fruit of your cattle and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; who also shall not leave you grain, new wine, oil, the increase of your cattle or the young of your sheep until they have caused you to perish.
52 They shall besiege you in all your towns, until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you in all your towns throughout all your land, which the Lord your God has given you.
53 And you shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you, in the siege and in the (pressing) misery with which your enemies shall distress you, [Fulfilled, 2Ki. 6:24-29.]
54 The man who is most tender among you, and extremely particular and well-bred, his eye shall be cruel and grudging of food toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward those of his children still remaining;
55 So that he will not give to any of them any of the flesh of his children which he is eating, because he has nothing left him in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you in all your towns.
56 The most tender and daintily bred woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot upon the ground because she is so dainty and kind, will grudge to the husband of her bosom, to her son, and to her daughter.
57 Her afterbirth that comes out from her body and the children whom she shall bear; for she will eat them secretly for want of all else in the siege and distress with which your enemies shall distress you in your towns.
COMMENT 28:4757
These verses, while in certain instances aptly describing the Babylonian and other invaders and their treatment of Israel, are especially descriptive of the Roman siege of Judea and Jerusalem. In 66 A.D. the Jews openly rebelled against the Roman rule and violence, and gained control of Jerusalem. Romes first counter was to send, late in the summer of 66 A.D. 40,000 soldiers from Antioch under the Roman legate in Syria, Cestius Gallus. But he was thoroughly routed by the Jews in and around Jerusalem, and retreated minus 6,000 of his men, Word of Gallus sorry failure was hurried to Rome, and Nero now chose his greatest general, Titus Flavius Vespasian, to put Palestine, and Jerusalem particularly, into its proper place. By the spring of 67 A.D. he had 50,000 troops massed at Ptolemais on the coast north of Mount Carmel. Bit by bit, he successfully crushed opposition in the areas of Samaria, Peraea, and Idumaea. But in June of 68 Nero died and Vespasian himself was placed upon the throne. The Jewish war was abandoned for almost two years. Finally, in the spring of 70, another sizeable Roman army was organized, this time at Caesarea, and its command entrusted to the emperors own son, Titus. Many of the statements of this chapter describe his conquest of Jerusalem as perfectly as if it was written some 1500 years later.
BECAUSE THOU SERVEST NOT, etc. Read Deu. 28:47 slowly and carefully through again, and note Deu. 28:48 begins THEREFORE . . . Here is the verse upon which all the prophecies of doom in this entire chapter are pedicated! Israel did not serve Jehovah with a full, rich, glad heart EVEN THOUGH HE BLESSED THEM WITH THE ABUNDANCE OF ALL THINGS! Therefore they would get a WANT OF ALL THINGS (Deu. 28:48). Oh that this passage could be burned into the heart and emblazoned across the consciousness of every professing Christian! If such heartfelt and joyous service was part and parcel with a faithful keeping of the Mosaic law, how much more our devotion to Christ and our faithful service to Him! As we saw so plainly in Deu. 6:4 ff., the law demanded more than mechanical, perfunctory, stoical observance of precepts. If it was so then, how much more now, when under the gospel everything is dependent upon our right relationship with that One who promised He that findeth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it?
Nevernever in the history of the world has God accepted service to Him that was not earnest, sincere, and spontaneous. He never will. And here the rebuke is levelled at a nation who failed to give God such service in spite of prosperity and plenty from his very hand. Frequently they feared Jehovah, and served their own gods, and did secretly things that were not right against Jehovah (See 2 Kings 17).
AND HE SHALL PUT A YOKE OF IRON UPON THY NECK, UNTIL HE HAVE DESTROYED THEE (Deu. 28:48)See our previous discussion of destroy, Deu. 28:20. The Babylonian domination and captivity was called an iron yoke (Jer. 28:13-14). And that captivity may be symbolized here. But, as a good many expositors have pointed out, iron was symbolic of the rule of Rome, who employed that metal in their armies far more than any previous nation. Daniel used the metal to symbolize this empire, Dan. 2:40-43; Dan. 7:7.
A NATION AGAINST THEE FROM FAR, FROM THE END OF THE EARTH, AS THE EAGLE FLIETH; A NATION WHOSE TONGUE THOU SHALT NOT UNDERSTAND (Deu. 28:49)This particular verse would appear to rule out the Babylonians, for their language, at least at the time of their conquest of Judah (586 B.C.) had marked similarities to the Hebrew. Probably because of the widespread migrations of the Aramaeans, by the year 1000 B.C. Aramaic was spoken extensively in the land of Babylon. This language became somewhat of a lingua franca (hybrid language) of the whole Tigris-Euphrates valley. Thus Sennacberib, king of Assyria, could communicate (through Rabshakeh) to the leaders of Israel in the Syrian language (literally, Aramean), 2Ki. 18:26, though at that time most Israelites could not understand it (Isa. 36:11), And Artaxerxes, king of Persia, received a communication from the enemies of Israel in the same language, Ezr. 4:7. The Hebrews also used Aramaic increasingly after the exile, and in all probability learned it in Babylon, Daniel and his friends, for example, were taught the learning and tongue of the Chaldeans (Dan. 1:4), and the Syrian language was in vogue (Deu. 2:4). Aramaic is like Hebrew and Arayian, a North Semitic tongue, standing in a manner between them . . . before the reign of Tiglath-pileser Aramaic was the general speech for commerce and diplomacy all over S.W. Asia . . . generally understood from Asia Minor on the north to the Cataracts of the Nile on the south, and from the mountains of Media on the east to the Mediterranean on the west (I.S.B.E.).
Thus we look for an invader outside the Near East for this prophecys fulfillment. Rome, whose capital was some 1500 miles from Jerusalem as the crow flies certainly qualifies as one from far, from the end of the earth. And her Latin languages, so totally different from the Hebrew, certainly was a tongue thou shalt not understand. A Hebrew could no more understand Latin than an American can understand Chinese.
AS THE EAGLE FLIETH (Deu. 28:49)as swift as the eagle flies (R.S.V.) or swooping down upon you like an eagle.[48] The Roman standard was an eagle, which has been called the appropriate emblem of their soaring pride, their far-sighted cupidity, their swift descent, and their insatiable rapacity (Cooke, N.S.I.B.L.).
[48] Some render the Heb. word Nesher, (a tearer with the beak) vulture. But the context of the most passages where the word occurs almost demand eagle: 2Sa. 1:23, Pro. 30:19, Isa. 40:31, Oba. 1:4. It should also be mentioned that the flight and ways of the eagle are also used to describe Babylons conquest, Isa. 8:8.
A NATION OF FIERCE COUNTENANCE (Deu. 28:50)The verses to follow illustrate this truth. The conquering nation then, is to be distinguished by three characteristics:
1.
It was to come from far, from the end of the earth.
2.
Its language was to be one not understood by Israel.
3.
It was to be unmerciful and ruthless to all classes of persons.
Such were the Romans, whose devastating conquests were to come a millennium and a half after these utterances;
AND THOU SHALT EAT THE FRUIT OF THINE OWN BODY (Deu. 28:53)See also Lev. 26:27-29, 2Ki. 6:29, also Jer. 19:9, where the Babylonian siege is referred to. Such atrocities describe conditions of great famine, or a people who are being starved out by the enemy. See 2Ki. 6:24-29, describing conditions as Ben-hadad of Syria besieged Samaria (Israel). Also, in anticipation of the Babylonian siege, see Lam. 2:20; Lam. 4:10. Starving people are desperate people! Josephus, describing the Roman siege, tells how parents seized morsels of food from their children (though they were perishing) and how old men who held on to their food were beaten. . . . and if women hid what they had within their hands, their hair was torn for so doing; nor was there any commiseration shown either to the aged or to the infants, but they lifted up children from the ground as they hung upon the morsels they had gotten, and shook them down upon the floor.[49]
[49] Wars of the Jews, Book V Ch. X, #3.
He later describes a starving woman who slew and roasted her own son, a babe still sucking at her breast. . . . she slew her son, and then roasted him, and ate the one half of him, and kept the other half by her concealed.[50]
[50] Ibid, Book VI, Ch. III, #4.
AND THE MAN THAT IS TENDER AMONG YOU, AND VERY DELICATE, HIS EYE SHALL BE EVIL (Deu. 28:54) . . . THE TENDER AND DELICATE WOMAN (Deu. 28:56)War and starvation will turn them into ravenous animalsthough they normally be refined and reserved. In the case cited above, for example, Josephus reports that the woman, upon being discovered by a group of fellow-Jews, said, . . . Come, eat of this food; for I have eaten of it myself! Do not you pretend to be either more tender than a woman or more compassionate than a mother . . .
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, JEHOVAH THY GOD; 59 then Jehovah will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance. 60 And he will bring upon thee again all the diseases of Egypt, which thou was afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee. 61 Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will Jehovah 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 didst not hearken unto the voice of Jehovah thy God. 63 And it shall come to pass, that, as Jehovah rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you, so Jehovah will rejoice over you to cause you to perish, and to destroy you; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest in to possess it. 64 And Jehovah will scatter thee among all peoples, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou nor thy fathers, even wood and stone. 65 And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, and there shall be no rest for the sole of thy foot: but Jehovah will give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and pining of soul; 66 and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear night and day, and shalt have no assurance of thy life. 67 In the morning thou shalt say, Would it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would it were morning; for the fear of thy heart which thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. 68 And Jehovah will bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I said unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall sell yourselves unto your enemies for bondmen and for bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
The Second Series of Curses ( Deu 28:47-57 ).
The curses in this second series can be analysed as follows in the words of Moses:
a Because you did not serve Yahweh your God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things (Deu 28:47).
b Therefore will you each (thou) serve your enemies that Yahweh will send against you, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things, and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck, until He has destroyed you.
c Yahweh will bring a nation against you from far, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flies, a nation whose tongue you will not understand, a nation of fierce countenance, who will not regard the person of the old, nor show favour to the young (Deu 28:48-50).
d And they will eat the fruit of your cattle, and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; who also will not leave you grain, new wine, or oil, the increase of your cattle, or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish (Deu 28:51).
e And they will besiege you in all your gates, until your high and fortified walls come down, in which you trust, throughout all your land (Deu 28:52 a).
e And they will besiege you in all your gates throughout all your land, which Yahweh your God has given you (Deu 28:52 b).
d And you will each eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, whom Yahweh your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies will distress you (Deu 28:53).
c The man who is gentle among you, and very caring, his eye will be evil towards his brother, and towards the wife of his bosom, and towards the remnant of his children whom he has remaining, so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat, because he has nothing left him, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you in all your gates.
b The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not adventure to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicacy and tenderness, her eye will be evil towards the husband of her bosom, and towards her son, and towards her daughter, and towards her young one who comes out from between her feet, and towards her children whom she will bear, for she will eat them for want of all things, secretly, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you in your gates (Deu 28:54-57).
a If you will not observe to do all the words of this law which are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and fearful name, YAHWEH YOUR GOD (Deu 28:58).
Note that in ‘a’ it will be because they did not serve Yahweh their God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things, and in the parallel it was if they would not observe to do all the words of this law which are written in this book, that they may fear this glorious and fearful name Yahweh their God. In ‘b’ they will each (thou) serve their enemies whom Yahweh will send against them, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things, and He will put a yoke of iron on their neck, until He has destroyed them, and in the parallel each man will eat his children without giving any of the meat to any others of his family (because he is so hungry) in the siege and distress with which their enemy will distress them in their cities. In ‘c’ Yahweh will bring against them a nation of fierce countenance, who will not regard the person of the old, nor show favour to the young, and in the parallel the tender and delicate woman will be so wrought on that she will eat young and old in order to survive. In ‘d’ the enemy will eat the fruit of their cattle, and in the parallel they themselves will eat the fruit of their own body. In ‘e’ ‘they will besiege you’ with its consequences parallels ‘they will besiege you’ with its consequence.
Note also the repetition in Deu 28:55; Deu 28:57 of ‘in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you in your gates’. This repetition in the second half of a chiasmus is typical of the Pentateuch and occurs in Exo 18:21-22 a with Exo 18:25-26 a and Numbers in Num 18:4 with Num 18:7, and Num 18:23 with Num 18:24; and elsewhere in Deuteronomy in Deu 2:21 with Deu 2:22), a pointer to unity of authorship.
Introduction.
Deu 28:47-48
‘ Because you did not serve Yahweh your God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things, therefore will you serve your enemies that Yahweh will send against you, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things, and he will put a yoke of iron on your neck, until he has destroyed you.’
The cursing is now taken up again. The purpose of this lengthy treatment and constant repetition in different ways was in order that the point may not be easily forgotten. It is the sign of an adequate preacher that he represents things in different ways so that they will not be forgotten.
The main point being made here is that they had had the opportunity of serving Yahweh in joyfulness and gladness of heart, abundantly provided for, and abundantly blessed. But they had refused. And now the opposite would come on them. Instead of the joyous service of Yahweh, they would be slaves of their enemies, they would hunger and thirst, they would be without proper clothing and made to walk naked in order to shame them (compare Isa 20:4), and they would have an iron yoke around their neck. Their condition would be even worse than that from which they had been delivered when they had been in bondage in Egypt. And this would go on until at last they had been destroyed.
The yoke of iron was particularly expressive. Such yokes would have been known in Egypt, purchased from the Hittites. But they were comparatively rare and would have been looked on as something wonderful and to be feared. They were inescapable. You could break a yoke of wood, but not one of iron. And it was excessively heavy and chafing.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Deu 28:47 Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all [things];
Ver. 47. For the abundance all things. ] Aristotle was wont to tax his Athenians, Quod cum duas res invenissent, frumenta ac leges, frumentis ut erentur, legibus nequaquam; imo moribus suis quam legibus uti mallent, as Valerius Maximus addeth, a Sure it is, that as these Jews of old, so we to this day are much to be blamed, for that we live in God’s good land, but not by God’s good laws.
a Laert., lib. v. cap. 1.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Deuteronomy
A CHOICE OF MASTERS
Deu 28:47 – Deu 28:48
The history of Israel is a picture on the large scale of what befalls every man.
A service-we are all born to obedience, to depend on and follow some person or thing. There is only a choice of services; and he who boasts himself free is but a more abject slave, as the choice for a nation is either the rule of settled order and the sanctities of an established law, or the usurpation of a mob and the intolerable tyranny of unbridled and irresponsible force.
I. The service of God or the service of our enemies.
So with us. We have to serve God or enemies. Our lusts, our passions, the world, evil habits-in a word, our sins ring us round. God is the only defence against them.
The contrast between the one and the many-a king or an ochlocracy. The contrast of the loving Lord and the hostile sins.
II. A service which is honour or a service which is degradation.
III. A service which is freedom because it is rendered by love, or a service which is hard slavery.
IV. A service which feeds the spirit or a service which starves it.
V. A service which is life or a service which is death.
But there is a bright possibility before the most down-trodden vassal of sin. ‘The bond-servant abideth not in the house for ever.’ He is not a son of the house, but has been brought into it, stolen from his home. He may be carried back to his Father’s house, and there ‘have bread enough and to spare,’ if a deliverer can be found. And He has been found. Christ the Son makes us free, and if we trust Him for our emancipation we ‘shall be free indeed,’ ‘that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, should serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Deu 28:47-48
47Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and a glad heart, for the abundance of all things; 48therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in the lack of all things; and He will put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
the Bitter Fruits of Disobeying God
Deu 28:47-68
These predictions against the Hebrew people were partially fulfilled in earlier invasions, as for instance, those of Nebuchadnezzar and his generals; but it is to the Roman conquest of Judea that we must look for complete fulfillment. One only needs to compare these words with the narrative of Josephus to see the exact accomplishment which took place during the wars of Vespasian and Titus. The Jews themselves admit this. Deu 28:68 was literally fulfilled when Titus transported myriads of Jews to Egypt to be employed in the public works or to fight in the amphitheater.
But if the punishments have been so heavily suffered during these weary centuries, what shall not be the joy when the Lord shall bring back His people to their own land, and all Israel shall be saved! What is this new Euphrates Valley railway but the preparing of the road for their return from the Eastern portions of the world! In the near future, our children, if not we, shall see a fulfillment of Isa 60:1-22; Isa 61:1-11. See Act 3:19-20.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Deu 12:7-12, Deu 16:11, Deu 32:13-15, Neh 9:35, 1Ti 6:17-19
Reciprocal: Deu 8:12 – Lest when Deu 11:8 – Therefore Deu 26:11 – rejoice Jdg 3:14 – served Jdg 4:3 – mightily Jdg 6:2 – the hand Jdg 15:11 – Philistines 1Sa 4:9 – as they have 2Ch 12:8 – that they may 2Ch 17:6 – his heart 2Ch 36:20 – they were servants Neh 5:4 – the king’s tribute Psa 100:2 – Serve Ecc 3:13 – General Ecc 3:22 – nothing Ecc 5:20 – because Ecc 7:14 – the day Jer 5:19 – Like as Jer 17:4 – and I Eze 19:13 – she is Eze 23:29 – deal Eze 39:26 – when they
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
JOYFUL SERVICE
Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things He shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck.
Deu 28:47-48
Many a man has been frightened by this text until he sought and found out that the joy is not dependent on natural characteristics or temperament, it is quite independent of them. We may have this joy, though the body is racked with pain; we may have fulness of joy. In fact the joy of the Holy Ghost is quite distinct from natural joy. Henry Martyn, in his diary, bids us distinguish between these two. In Psalms 124, we read that the tongue of Gods people was filled with singingthe Hebrew is with shouting. Then said theywhen they heard the shoutingthen said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. When we get this blessing, there is something to be joyful about. We must shout aloud and say, What great things hath the Lord done for us. Some are determined to box up their joy like the pipes in an organ; it is only a muffled sound they send forthnot a full diapason, singing hallelujah with a gladness of heart. I am not a bit afraid, said one, of shouting Hallelujah, glory, glory! for if the heathen heard this shouting they would believe that God has done great things for us. Captain Dawson, in the company of worldly officers, wondered what he could do. All he could do was to begin to whistle Safe in the arms of Jesus, and that was the means of the conversion of one of these officers. We can do many things for the glory of God. And if we go forth and rejoice before God, letting it be seen that our religion makes us happy, we shall soon win others to Gods Truth.
Illustration
(1) In this remarkable Lesson we have a description of the national captivities which, in consequence of their disobedience, were to befall the Hebrew people, first at the hands of Assyria and Babylon, but subsequently, and more especially, of Rome. Here are the Roman eagles, the horrors of the siege of Titus, the present dispersion of the Jews, which has lasted for nineteen centuries, the Jew-hate which has again and again broken out. All has come to pass; and here is a mighty proof of the truth of Scripture. But there is a ray of hope flung on the edge of this great thunder-cloud by the words of the Apostle (Rom 11:25-29). And for this the Jewish remnant is waiting, scattered in every land, at home in none; mingling with every people, but still distinct.
(2) This chapter, in its prophetic declarations, which have been so strikingly fulfilled, contains clear proof of the divine foreknowledge, and of the inspiration of Moses. This is all the more clear since the prophecies relate mainly, and in their extreme and awful particularity, to the curses, which should rest upon the unfaithful people. Moses does not spare his own people, but holds before them the glass of their future defection and sufferings, as he foresaw them. There might have been a motive for dwelling particularly upon their prosperity, but there is no assignable motive for the character of this discourse, unless it is found in the clear foresight given to him of what was to occur.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
The fourth view pictures Israel invaded, conquered, and brutalized by her enemies.