Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 28:63
And it shall come to pass, [that] as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to naught; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it.
63. rejoiced over you, etc.] Cp. Deu 8:16, Deu 30:9. Rejoice or exult, found only in exilic or post-exilic passages.
to multiply you ] See on Deu 1:10, Deu 7:13.
rejoice to destroy you ] This rhetorical figure is characteristic of the deuteronomic style. Contrast Hos 11:8 f.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Rejoice over you to destroy you; his just indignation against you will be so great, that it will be a pleasure to him to take vengeance on you. For though he doth not delight in the death of a sinner in itself, yet he doth doubtless delight in the glorifying of his justice upon incorrigible sinners, seeing the exercise of all his attributes must needs please him, else he were not perfectly happy.
The land whither thou goest to possess it; which was no ordinary land, but a most pleasant land, a land of promise, a token of Gods favour, and a pledge of their eternal inheritance, which was a great aggravation of their loss of it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
63. ye shall be plucked from off thelandHadrian issued a proclamation, forbidding any Jews toreside in Judea, or even to approach its confines.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And it shall come to pass, [that] as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good,…. The Word of the Lord, as the Targum of Jonathan; who with great delight and pleasure in them brought them out of Egypt, conducted them through the wilderness, protecting them and providing all good things for them; and brought them into the land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey, and settled them there; and gave them judges and kings, priests and prophets, for a long series of time, with other innumerable blessings he bestowed upon them:
and to multiply you; so that they became as the stars of heaven, and the sand of the sea, as before observed:
so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you and to bring you to nought; take as much pleasure in their ruin and destruction, whereby his justice would be glorified, and the honour of his laws preserved, as before in bestowing good things on them, in which mercy and kindness were displayed:
and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it; in a violent manner, by their enemies, and against their wills, they being loath to leave it. The Emperor Adrian, to prevent their insurrections and rebellions, which had given him a great deal of trouble, ordered by an edict that no Jew should come into Jerusalem, nor into the land of Judea, or be seen in it, which is observed by several writers m; by which means the country was cleared of them. In later times some of them did get thither again, but they were but few. Benjamin of Tudela, a Jew of the twelfth century, travelled into several parts of the world in quest of his countrymen, and particularly into Judea, and his view was to magnify his people; and yet owns he found at Jerusalem only two hundred persons, whose employment was dyeing wool, and dwelt in a corner of the town under the tower of David; and but twelve at Bethlehem, three at Maresha, at Shunem indeed three hundred, none at Gilead, two at Nob, who were dyers, three at Ramah, one at Joppa, none at Jafne, where had been a famous academy, none at Ashdod, and at Tiberias about fifty n. And our countryman Sandys o, who travelled into Judea in the seventeenth century, says,
“here be some Jews, yet inherit they no part of the land, but in their own country do live as aliens.”
m Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Eusebius. See Dr. Newton ut supra. (Prophesies, vol. 1. Dissert. 7. sect. 6. p. 186.) n Itinerar. p. 41-53. o Travels, sect. 3. p. 114. Ed. 5.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Verses 63-68:
The fifth group (continued): dispersion among the nations, to the far reaches of the earth. Compare this text with Eze 36:6-20.
Since the dispersion of the Jews in the First Century, they have been scattered throughout the earth. They have endured horrible persecutions in many lands. Each century has seen its pogroms against them, culminating in the Holocaust of the 1930’s and 1940’s, in which over six million were slain. Persecution continues today in many of the totalitarian states.
God has promised to restore Israel, and return them to their Land, and once more to rule over them, Eze 36:21-37; Ezekiel 28; Luk 21:24; Rom 11:25-27.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
63. And it shall come to pass, that as the Lord rejoiced over you. The wonderful and inestimable love of God towards His people is here set forth, via, that He had rejoiced in heaping blessings upon them; wherefore their depravity was all the more base and intolerable, in that God, though voluntarily disposed to be bountiful, was obliged by it to lay aside His affection for them. But although it is only by a metaphor that God is said to rejoice in destroying the wicked, yet it is not without good reason that this expression is applied to him; that we may know that He can no more fail to be the defender of His Law, and the Avenger of its contempt, than deny Himself. He complains, indeed, by Isaiah, (Isa 10:24) that He is unwillingly forced to punish the Jews; but these two things are quite consistent, that He rejoices in His just judgment, and at the same time is mindful of His clemency and indulgence, so that He would rather pardon, if the wickedness of men would allow Him. But this expression of Moses, that God receives consolation from punishing the wicked, constantly occurs in the Prophets.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(63) As the Lord rejoiced over you.See on Deu. 30:9.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Ver. 63. And ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it They were, indeed, plucked from off their own land, when the ten tribes were carried into captivity by the king of Assyria, and other nations were planted in their stead; when the two other tribes were carried away captive to Babylon; and when the Romans took away their place and nation; besides other captivities and transportations of the people. Afterwards, when the Emperor Adrian had subdued the rebellious Jews, he published an edict, forbidding them, upon pain of death, to set foot in Jerusalem, or even to approach the country round about it. See Justin Mar. Apol. 1: p. 71. & Euseb. Eccles. Hist. lib. 4: cap. 6. Tertullian and Jerome say, that they were prohibited from entering Judea: and ever since, their country has been in the possession of foreign lords and masters; few of the Jews dwelling in it, and those only of a low, servile condition. See Tertul. Apol. cap. 21: and Hieron. in Isai. cap. 6: and in Dan. cap. 9. Benjamin of Tudela in Spain, a celebrated Jew of the twelfth century, travelled into all parts to visit those of his own nation, and to learn an exact account of their affairs: and he, in his Itinerary, has reported, that Jerusalem was almost entirely abandoned by the Jews. He found there not above two hundred persons, who were for the most part dyers of wool, and who every year purchased the monopoly of that trade. They lived all together under David’s tower, and made there a very inconsiderable figure. If Jerusalem had so few Jews in it, the rest of the Holy Land was still more depopulated. He found two of them in one city, twenty in another, most of whom were dyers. In other places there were more persons; but in Upper Galilee, where the nation was in the greatest repute after the ruin of Jerusalem, he found hardly any Jews at all. A very accurate and faithful traveller of our own nation, who was himself also in the Holy Land, says, that “it is for the most part now inhabited by Moors and Arabians; those possessing the vallies, and these the mountains. Turks there be few; but many Greeks, with other Christians of all sects and nations; such as impute to the place an adherent holiness. Here be also some Jews, yet inherit they no part of the land, but in their own country do live as aliens.” Sandys’s Travels, b. 3: p. 146. Bishop Newton. It may be proper here to observe, that from the phrase, the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you, and from expressions of the like kind, we must not conclude that a benevolent Deity rejoices in the misery and destruction of his creatures, absolutely considered: the contrary is evident from other declarations of Scripture, as well as from reason. Eze 23:32. Lam 3:33. 1Ti 2:4. But, when the milder methods of Providence are not effectual to produce the reformation and happiness of the world; then it suits with the benevolence even of the divine administration to inflict punishments upon those who are otherwise irreclaimable; and in the exercise of that just severity, God, humanly speaking, may be said to rejoice; not on account of the severity itself, but because it is the most expedient and necessary means to bring about the purposes of his wisdom and goodness. See Jer 9:24. Job 36:8; Job 36:33. On the same account God’s judgments are represented as matter of joy to saints and angels. Rev 18:20. Psa 58:10. Jer 51:48.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Deu 28:63 And it shall come to pass, [that] as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD 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.
Ver. 63. So the Lord will rejoice over you. ] See here the venomous nature of sin, so far forth offensive to Almighty God, as to cause him, who otherwise afflicts not willingly, Lam 3:33 but delights in mercy, Mic 7:18 to rejoice in the ruin of his creatures, as here, to laugh at their destruction, and mock when their fear cometh, Pro 1:26 to take as much pleasure therein as a man would do in a cup of generous wine, Rev 16:19 and to be as much eased thereby, as one over-gorged would be in ridding his stomach of that which oppressed it. Rev 3:16
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
rejoiced over: Deu 30:9, Isa 62:5, Jer 32:41, Mic 7:18, Zep 3:17, Luk 15:6-10, Luk 15:23, Luk 15:24, Luk 15:32
rejoice over: Pro 1:26, Isa 1:24, Eze 5:13, Eze 33:11
plucked from: Deu 7:22, *marg. Jer 12:14, Jer 12:15, Jer 18:7, Jer 24:6, Jer 31:28, Jer 31:40, Jer 42:10, Dan 7:8
Reciprocal: Num 33:56 – General Jos 23:13 – until ye perish 1Ki 14:15 – this good land 2Ki 24:3 – remove them Ecc 3:12 – but Jer 10:18 – I will Jer 16:13 – will I Eze 21:17 – and I Hos 9:3 – shall not Hos 9:6 – they Hos 10:10 – in my Amo 9:4 – set 1Co 1:28 – to bring
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Deu 28:63. The Lord will rejoice over you, to destroy you His just indignation against you will be so great, that it will be a pleasure to him to take vengeance on you. For though he doth not delight in the death of a sinner in itself, yet he doth delight in glorifying his justice upon incorrigible transgressors, seeing the exercise of all his attributes must needs please him, else he were not perfectly happy. And ye shall be plucked from off the land, &c. This was fulfilled when the king of Assyria carried the ten tribes into captivity, and planted other nations in their stead; and when the king of Babylon carried away the other two tribes; and especially when the Romans took away their place and nation, not to mention other captivities and transportations of them. Afterward, when the Emperor Adrian had subdued the rebellious Jews, he published an edict, forbidding them, upon pain of death, to set foot in Jerusalem, or even to approach the country round about. Tertullian and Jerome say, they were prohibited from entering Judea. From that time to this their country hath been in the possession of foreign lords and masters, few of the Jews dwelling in it, and those only of a low, servile condition.