21<\/strong>. pestilence<\/em> ] Heb. deber<\/em>, a general word (originally = death<\/em>); in J, Exo 5:3<\/span>; Exo 9:15<\/span>, Hos 13:14<\/span>, Amo 4:10<\/span>. See Baldensperger, PEFQ<\/em>, 1906, 97 ff. LXX here .<\/p>\n whither thou goest in to possess it<\/em> ] The usual phrase in the Sg. passages; see on Deu 6:1<\/span>. For the corresponding Pl. phrase see Deu 4:26<\/span>.<\/p>\n Verse 21<\/span>. The pestilence cleave unto thee<\/B><\/I>] yadbek Yehovah becha eth haddaber, the Lord shall<\/I> CEMENT the<\/I> pestilence<\/I> or plague to thee<\/I>. Sept., , The Lord will<\/I> GLUE – inseparably attach, the death unto<\/I> thee<\/I>. How dreadful a plague it must be that ravages without<\/I> intermission<\/I>, any person may conceive who has ever heard the name.<\/P> <\/p>\n 21. pestilence<\/B>some fatalepidemic. There is no reason, however, to think that the plague,which is the great modern scourge of the East, is referred to.<\/P><\/p>\n The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee<\/strong>,…. Not only to come upon them; but to continue with them:<\/p>\n until he have consumed thee from off the land whither thou goest to possess it<\/strong>; which shows that this respects not some particular seasons, when the pestilence came and continued awhile, and then ceased, as in the times of David; but when it became more general, and issued with other judgments in the utter consumption of them, as at the destruction of Jerusalem, both by the Babylonians and the Romans; at what times the pestilence raged and remained, until by that and other sore judgments the land was wholly depopulated.<\/p>\n 21. The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee. He now proceeds to diseases which are as it were the lictors of God; and finally, His executioners, if men pertinaciously continue in their ungodliness. He does not, therefore, merely declare that He will send the pestilence, but that He will cause it to cleave to them, and when it shall have once laid hold of them, that it shall be impossible to remove it. It might also be translated, The Lord shall cause that the pestilence should seize thee; but with the same meaning, viz., that the pestilence should be fixed, or glued ( agglutinatam) upon them, until it should consume them in the Holy Land itself. He adds phthisis, or consumption, which disease emaciates the body, and gradually exhausts its juices. It is superfluous to speak particularly of the other diseases, only let us learn that, whilst the multitude of diseases is almost innumerable, they are all so many ministers ( satellites) prepared to execute God’s vengeance. It is true, indeed, that diseases are contracted in various ways, and especially by intemperance; still, this does not prevent God from smiting the transgressors of the Law with them, although no natural cause may be apparent. He adds war, which He designates by the name of “the sword,” but of this curse He will soon speak more fully. <\/p>\n He then unfolds in more distinct detail what He had before adverted to with respect to the curse on the produce of the land. And, first, He names two blights of the corn, which destroy it just as it is ripening, and snatch the bread, as it were, out of men’s mouths; for dryness (238) is not here used for all want of moisture in the soil, but for that emptying of the ears, which is caused by the east wind. Mildew occurs from the sudden heat of the sun, if it strikes upon the corn when moistened with cold dew. Now, although these evils arise from natural causes, still God, the Author of nature, in His supreme power, so controls the atmosphere, that its unwholesomeness is His undoubted scourge. (239) <\/p>\n (238) “ Ariditas. ” — Lat. “Blasting.” — A. V. ; “ i. e. , (says Ainsworth,) of corn and fruit with a dry wind, 2Kg 19:26<\/span>, for the original word signifieth dryness; and such was the east wind that blasted in those parts, Gen 41:6<\/span>. Therefore the Greek translateth it corruption with wind. ” <\/p>\n (239) “Un certain signe de son ire;” a certain sign of His wrath. — Fr. <\/p>\n (21) The pestilence.<\/strong>One of Gods four sore judgments to be sent upon Jerusalem (Eze. 14:19-21<\/span>).<\/p>\n Until he have consumed thee from off the land.From Deu. 28:21-35<\/span>, inclusive, we seem to be reading of the gradual consumption of Israel in the land of promise before any actual captivity.<\/p>\n The Second Sixfold Curse ( Deu 28:21-29<\/strong><\/span><\/strong> ).<\/strong> <\/p>\n This is now followed by a further sixfold curse, with each of the six, commencing (in EVV, in MT it comes second with the verb coming first for emphasis) with Yahweh’s name. <\/p>\n Whereas the first curses where on their daily lives and mainly affected the fruitfulness of their crops and herds, resulting from famine conditions, these further curses range wider covering pestilence, disease, and sword. The series contains six detailed curses. Note that we have here also a carefully constructed chiastic structure. Pestilence and disease (Deu 28:21-22<\/span>), sword (Deu 28:22<\/span>), famine (Deu 28:22-23<\/span>), famine (Deu 28:24<\/span>), sword (Deu 28:25-26<\/span>), pestilence and disease (Deu 28:27<\/span>). <\/p>\n The personal aspect of these judgments is now outlined in these six statements as all attributed to Yahweh. They will be smitten with pestilence, with various other disasters, with shortage of rain, by powerful enemies, with the boils of Egypt, and with madness, blindness and despair. <\/p>\n The catastrophes mentioned include those regularly described as judgments, plague, disease, famine, and sword (compare 1Ki 8:37<\/span>; 2Ch 20:9<\/span>; Isa 51:19<\/span>; Jer 14:12<\/span>; Jer 21:9<\/span>; Jer 24:10<\/span>; Jer 27:8<\/span>; Jer 29:18<\/span>; Jer 38:2<\/span>; Jer 42:17<\/span>; Jer 42:22<\/span>; Jer 44:13<\/span>; Eze 5:17<\/span>; Eze 6:12<\/span>; Eze 12:16<\/span>; Eze 14:21<\/span>; <\/p>\n Deu 28:21<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n ‘<\/strong> Yahweh will make the pestilence cleave to you, until he has consumed you from off the land, to which you go in to possess it.’ <\/p>\n The first main curse sent by Yahweh will be ‘destroying pestilence’, a plague of epidemic proportions. Such plagues have from time to time smitten the world and decimated populations. It will ‘cleave to them’ (emphasised by its place in the sentence) so that they are unable to shrug it off until they are consumed off the land (compare Lev 26:25<\/span>; Num 14:12<\/span> and see Exo 9:3<\/span>; Exo 9:15<\/span>). <\/p>\n Deu 28:22-23<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n ‘<\/strong> Yahweh will smite you with consumption, and with burning fever, and with inflammation, and with fiery heat, and with the sword (or ‘drought’), and with blasting, and with mildew; and they will pursue you until you perish, and your heaven that is over your head will be bronze, and the earth that is under you will be iron.’ <\/p>\n This is then followed by a sevenfold description of disasters; consumption (Lev 26:16<\/span>), fever (Lev 26:16<\/span>), inflammation , fiery heat, drought, scorching (1Ki 8:37<\/span>; 2Ki 19:26<\/span>) and mildew (Amo 4:9<\/span>; Hag 2:17<\/span>). The first four suggest unpleasant human diseases which cause high temperatures, not necessarily individual diseases but a spread of diseases which have these symptoms, the last three are disasters which affect plant life. Drought (the translation resulting from repointing from chereb to choreb to fit the threefold pattern. The vowels were not a part of the original text. But see below for a defence of chereb) comes from lack of rain, scorching from the sirocco which sweeps in from the desert, mildew is a form of plant disease. All these things would be their lot until finally they perished from the earth either through disease or starvation (contrast the opposite blessings in Deu 28:8<\/span>). The heavens would be hard and unyielding, with the sun shining remorselessly in the sky, and the earth would be caked like the hardest stuff known to man (compare Lev 26:19<\/span>). In the parallel in Deu 28:39-40<\/span> specific examples are given <\/p>\n However, while the repointing to choreb fits the threefold pattern it can be argued that ‘sword’ (chereb – which LXX agrees with) fits better the following verses where after the sirocco (Deu 28:24<\/span>) come the enemy and thus the sword (Deu 28:25-26<\/span>), followed by disease (Deu 28:27<\/span>) and then affliction and confusion (Deu 28:28-29<\/span>), a reversing trend to the descriptions above. Thus we should probably retain ‘sword’. <\/p>\n Deu 28:24<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n ‘<\/strong> Yahweh will make the rain of your land powder, and dust from heaven shall come down on you, until you are destroyed.’ <\/p>\n Under Yahweh’s hand, instead of raining water the heavens would rain powder and dust. This may have in mind the sirocco on a huge scale sweeping sand in from the desert. And this would continue until they were destroyed. This in huge contrast with the regular covenant promises of rain (contrast Deu 28:12<\/span>). Dust will come down from heaven instead of the rain. ‘Dust from heaven’ is a contrasting parallel to the heaven giving rain from God’s treasure house (Deu 28:12<\/span>). And this will destroy them for it will destroy their vegetation. The parallel Deu 28:38<\/span> (according to the analysis) reveals their vegetation as being destroyed by locusts, an even more devastating curse. <\/p>\n Deu 28:25-26<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n ‘<\/strong> Yahweh will cause you to be smitten before your enemies. You will go out one way against them, and will flee seven ways before them, and you will be tossed to and fro (or ‘will be an object of horror’) among all the kingdoms of the earth, and your dead body will be food to all birds of the heavens, and to the beasts of the earth, and there will be none to frighten them away.’ <\/p>\n Yahweh will also cause them to be smitten by their enemies. Central to the covenant had been His driving their enemies from before them (contrast Deu 28:7<\/span>). That will now be reversed. He will drive their enemies towards them. Note the contrast with Deu 28:7<\/span>. It will now not be their enemies who will be scattered ‘seven ways’ after marching confidently forward, but they themselves. <\/p>\n And they will be ‘tossed to and from among the nations’ like something unwanted by anyone, or alternatively ‘will be an object of horror’ to them (the basic verb means ‘to move, to tremble’, compare its use in Eze 23:46<\/span>), and their bodies will be thrown to the scavengers, and there they will be left to be torn apart, for there will be no one interested enough to scare them away and bury the body. Instead of having dominion over the beasts and the birds (Gen 1:28<\/span>), the beasts and birds will eat them up (Psa 79:2<\/span>; Jer 7:33<\/span>; Jer 12:9<\/span>; Eze 39:17-20<\/span>; Rev 19:17-18<\/span>). They will be totally alone and deserted, especially by Yahweh. He will not care what happens to their bodies. Being unburied was seen in those days as a fate worse than death. <\/p>\n The translation as ‘object of horror’ would fit better with the parallel in the analysis in Deu 28:37<\/span> ‘an astonishment, a proverb and a byword’ where the threefoldness intensified the curse. <\/p>\n Deu 28:27<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n ‘<\/strong> Yahweh will smite you with the boil of Egypt, and with plague boils (or ‘tumours’), and with the scurvy (or ‘eczema’, etc.), and with the itch (or scabies, etc.), of which you cannot be healed.’ <\/p>\n The boil of Egypt was an unpleasant disease which they had known from Egypt and which was infamous (Exo 9:9-11<\/span>; compare Lev 13:18-23<\/span>). A similar disease is identified in an Egyptian medical text. Plague boils indicated the presence of the plague among them, compare Deu 28:21<\/span> (also 1Sa 8:11-17<\/span> for what probably represented plague boils). For scurvy (or eczema, etc.), compare Lev 21:20<\/span>; Lev 22:22<\/span>. The itch may represent scabies, and other similar skin diseases. We must not look for individually identified diseases, but diseases described by their symptoms. Note the final comment, ‘from which you cannot be healed’. The constant emphasis is on the unpleasantness of the diseases and the permanency of their fate. We can contrast here Deu 8:4<\/span> where they had been kept even from foot diseases in the wilderness. <\/p>\n In the parallel Deu 28:35<\/span> in the analysis the boils will smite knees and legs and ‘from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head’, an intensification of the curse. Yahweh would smite them with clinical depression and schizophrenia producing insanity, both of which are regularly the product of trauma, especially childhood trauma, and with blindness, and with delusions. The traumas of life resulting from Yahweh’s desertion, and the evil living resulting from their rebellion, would have their inevitable consequences. Some have connected this with widespread syphilis which would result from consorting with temple prostitutes, but this must be considered doubtful. The picture is one of abject helplessness and defencelessness, groping their way even in day time, not prospering as they had under the covenant (compare Deu 28:8<\/span>; Deu 28:12<\/span>), and being prey to every robber with none to defend them. We are intended to contrast their previous state when Yahweh had been their protector and they had not needed to fear.<\/p>\n God’s instruction had warned against taking advantage of people’s blindness (Deu 27:18<\/span>; Lev 19:14<\/span>), but now advantage would be taken of them, for they would not be among a people who feared Yahweh. There is here a reversal of covenant blessing. <\/p>\n The blindness and its effects are emphasised. But there is also a spiritual impact. They are also blind towards God. They have turned from the light and are thus now in darkness. <\/p>\n Ver. <\/em><\/strong>21. <\/strong>The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee<\/em><\/strong><\/strong> That is, infect thee in an incurable manner. It is not without design that Moses makes use of the word cleave: <\/em>experience has fully proved, that the corpuscles of the pestilence cleave very closely to wool, linen, skins, hair, feathers; and that by the import of these merchandises, this dreadful malady is easily transmitted from one place to another. See Scheuchzer’s Physique Sacree on the place. The author of the book, intitled, Schebeth Jehuda, <\/em>says, that, after having been almost wholly exterminated by war, those of the Jews who fled for refuge into Spain, in the time of Alphonso, were, in great part, consumed by the pestilence; which some regarded as a completion of this prophesy. We may refer, however, to various other times when the Jews were thus afflicted by God; especially the last siege of Jerusalem. See 2Sa 24:15<\/span>. <\/span>Jer 14:12<\/span>. <\/span>Eze 5:12<\/span>. <\/span>Amo 4:10<\/span>; Amo 4:13<\/span>. <\/p>\n Deu 28:21 The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it.<\/p>\n Ver. 21. The Lord shall make the pestilence.<\/strong> ] Which Hippocrates calls T , as the falling sickness is called Morbus sacer,<\/em> as more immediately sent of God.<\/p>\n pestilence. Probably true Oriental plague. <\/p>\n land = soil. Hebrew. ‘adamah. <\/p>\n Exo 5:3, Lev 26:25, Num 14:12, Num 16:46-49, Num 25:9, 2Sa 24:15, Jer 15:2, Jer 16:4, Jer 21:6, Jer 21:7, Jer 24:10, Mat 26:7 <\/p>\n Reciprocal: Lev 26:16 – consumption 1Ki 8:37 – in the land famine 2Ch 6:28 – if there be dearth Eze 14:19 – if I Mic 6:13 – I make<\/p>\n Deu 28:21-24. Shall make the pestilence cleave to thee Sometimes Divine Providence shall scourge you by one calamity, and sometimes by another, and they will cut off your people in great numbers. Thy heaven shall be brass Dry, and shut up from giving rain or dew. The earth iron Exceeding hard through drought, and barren. The rain of thy land powder and dust As unprofitable to thy ground or seed as if it were only so much dust. Or rather, by reason of long droughts, dust blown up into the air by winds shall fall in showers instead of rain.<\/p>\n The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it. 21. pestilence ] Heb. deber, a general word (originally = death); in J, Exo 5:3; Exo 9:15, Hos 13:14, Amo 4:10. See Baldensperger, PEFQ, 1906, 97 ff. LXX here . whither … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 28:21”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5641\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"