In this chapter Moses enlarges on the blessings and the curses which belong, the one to the doers, the other to the transgressors of the law; the blessings, Deu 28:1; the curses, some of which concern individual persons, others the whole nation and body of people, and that both under the former and present dispensations, and which had their fulfilment in their former captivities, and more especially in their present dispersion, Deu 28:15.
to observe and to do all his commandments, which I command thee this day; for without observing them to do them, hearing them would be to little purpose, and they were all of them to be observed and done, the lesser and weightier matters of the law as they were commanded by Moses in the name of the Lord, and as they would be taught, explained, and enforced by the prophets:
that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: as they were in the times of David and Solomon; See Gill on Deu 26:19.
if thou shall hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God; obedience to the law being the condition of their coming and continuance; for only temporal blessings in the land of Canaan are here intended, as follow.
and blessed shalt thou be in the field; in the country villages, and in all rural employments, in sowing and planting, as the same writer observes; in all kinds of husbandry, in the culture of the fields for corn, and of vineyards and oliveyards; all should prosper and succeed, and bring forth fruit abundantly.
and the fruit of thy ground; of their gardens, orchards, and fields; grass for the cattle, and the wheat, barley, vines, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates for the use of men:
and the fruit of thy cattle; which being distinguished from oxen and sheep in the following clause, must be understood of camels and asses, which were used for the carriage both of persons and burdens, and were very serviceable, and were a considerable part of their substance in those countries; see Job 1:3,
the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep; of their cows and oxen, and of their sheep and goats, which were very increasing creatures, and in the increase of which much of their outward happiness lay; see Psa 144:13.
and thy store; what remained, and was laid up in their barns, cellars, and storehouses, for future use, or in proper places for seed.
they shall come out against thee one way: in a body, all together, in large numbers, marching in great order, to give them battle:
and flee before thee seven ways; be entirely routed, and flee some one way, and some another, even every way they could take to make their escape. The phrase is expressive of an entire victory, and of a complete rout and dispersion of an enemy.
and in all thou settest thine hand unto; in all their manufactures, occupations, and trades, in which they were employed, and in the culture of their vines, olives, and other fruit trees:
and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee; with health and long life in it, and with an abundance of all good things, it being a land flowing with milk and honey.
as he hath sworn unto thee: and to their fathers; see Deu 7:12,
if thou shall keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways; by which tenure they held the land of Canaan, and their settlement and continuance in it, and enjoyment of all the good things thereof; see Isa 1:19.
and they shall be afraid of thee; as not only the Canaanites were, but all other nations; see Deu 11:25.
in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground: increase their children, cattle, and substance, as before, Deu 28:4,
in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee; the land of Canaan, often thus described.
"there are four keys in the hand of the Lord of the whole world, which he does not deliver into the hands of any prince; the keys of life, and of the grave, and of food, and of rain:"
the heaven, to give the rain unto thy land in its season; that is, he will open the heaven, where his good treasure of rain is laid up, and bring it forth or, the land of Canaan for the enriching of it; or will open the windows thereof, and pour down the blessing; see Mal 3:10; and that at the proper time, both in autumn and spring, the one is called the former, and the other the latter rain; the one was in Marchesvan, or October, and the other in Nisan, or March, as the Targum of Jonathan; the former rain for the fitting the earth for seed, or for watering it when sown, and the latter for the plumping of it before harvest:
and to bless all the work of thine hand; in agriculture, for without the blessing of rain, all the labour of the husbandman would be to little purpose:
and thou shall lend unto many nations, and thou shall not borrow; See Gill on Deu 15:16. The connection of these words with what goes before may lead to observe this sense of them, that they should furnish other countries with corn, and not need any of theirs; see Eze 27:17.
and thou shalt be above only, and thou shall not be beneath; which explains what is meant by head and tail, being uppermost and lowermost, as the head is the upper part, and the tail the lower part of a creature; the one is more honourable, the other vile: the sense is, that they should be superior to other people in honour and dignity, and not below them, or vassals to them:
if that thou hearken to the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day to observe and to do them; which is the condition on which all this happiness depended.
to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them; which to do was to break the first and principal table of the law, than which nothing was more abominable and provoking to God.
to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day; both moral and ceremonial:
that all these curses shall come upon thee; from the hand of God, certainly, suddenly, and unawares:
and overtake thee; pursuing after thee, will come up to thee, and seize upon thee, though they may seem to move slowly; see Zac 5:3; namely, the curses which follow. Manasseh Ben Israel (f) divides them into two parts, the first from hence to Deu 28:45; which respects the destruction of the first temple, and the things that went before or related to that; and the second from thence to the end of the chapter, which he thinks refers to the destruction of the second temple, and their present case and circumstances; and it must be owned that for the most part the distinction may seem to hold good; what is prophesied of that should befall the Jews for their disobedience being more remarkably and distinctly fulfilled in the one than in the other; yet there are things in the whole which respect both, or that were fulfilled, some under one dispensation, and some under another, and some that were fulfilled in both; but chiefly and more manifestly at and since their dispersion by the Romans.
(f) De Termino Vitae, l. 3. sect. 3. p. 126.
vexation; trouble, distress, and anguish of spirit:
and rebuke; this may well be considered as a rebuke and correction in Providence for sins committed, to awaken to a sense and acknowledgment of them, and to repentance for them:
in all that thou settest thine hand to do; nothing done should prosper, to relieve them under their pressing wants, a curse attending all their efforts, and so sad disappointment follows; and all as a just rebuke for their many sins: and this would be their case more or less:
until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; through famine, and want of the common necessaries of life; as at the sieges of Samaria and Jerusalem, by the kings of Syria, Assyria, and Babylon:
because of the wickedness of thy doings, because thou hast forsaken me; their several immoralities and impieties, and particularly their idolatry, which was a forsaking the worship of the true God, and following idols; an iniquity to be punished by the judge, and of all things the most provoking to the Lord.
until he have consumed thee from off the land whither thou goest to possess it; 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.
and with a fever; a hot burning disease, which dries up the radical moisture, consumes it, and so threatens with death; of which there are various sorts, and some very pestilential and mortal Jarchi and Aben Ezra interpret it of a fire in the face, by which they seem to mean what is called St. Anthony's fire:
and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning; either in the inward parts, as an inflammation of the lungs; or in the outward parts, as carbuncles, burning ulcers, and the like:
and with the sword; in the margin it is, "with drought"; so Aben Ezra interprets the word, which seems better to suit with what it is in company with; and designs either drought in human bodies, occasioned by fevers, inflammations, and extreme burnings; or in the earth, through the force of the sun, and want of rain, which render the earth barren and unfruitful, and so cause a famine:
and with blasting and with mildew; whereby the corn that is sown, and springs up, comes to nothing, being blasted by east winds, or turns pale and yellow by the mildew, and so withers away; the consequence of which is want of food, and so destruction and ruin; see Amo 4:9,
and they shall pursue thee until thou perish; follow hard after them, and come so close one after another upon them, until they are utterly destroyed.
and the earth that is under thee shall be iron; or like iron, hard and impenetrable, into which the plough and spade will not enter; nor anything spring out of it, for want of rain and dew to moisten and soften it. The same is said in Lev 26:19; only there is an inversion of the figures; there the heaven is said to be as iron, and the earth like brass, but signify the same thing.
from heaven shall it come down upon thee until thou be destroyed; that is, from the air, up to which the dust is carried by the wind, and then let fall in vast quantities, like showers, which are very destructive.
thou shall go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them; march out against them in a body, promising themselves victory, but be utterly routed; so that they shall flee every way they can for their safety; see Deu 28:7,
and shall be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth; this shows that Manasseh's case Kg2 21:1, observed Deu 28:15; will not strictly and entirely hold good, nor is there any necessity to adhere closely to it; it is enough that the things threatened and prophesied of were at one time or another fulfilled in these people; for neither the ten tribes, when taken captive by Shalmaneser, were carried into all the kingdoms of the earth, only to some particular places mentioned in Kg2 17:6; nor the two tribes by Nebuchadnezzar, who were carried by him to Babylon, and returned from thence again at the end of seventy years; but this was exactly fulfilled at their last destruction by the Romans, when they were sent by them into various countries, and have been ever since scattered about in each of the nations of the world. And yet it must be owned that Strabo (g), who wrote before the last destruction of them, affirms, that it was not easy to find any place in the world which had not received them, and was not occupied by them.
(g) Apud Joseph. Antiqu. l. 14. c. 7. sect. 2.
and no man shall fray them away; the fowls and the beasts; none of their friends being left to do it, and their enemies would not show so much respect to them, and care of them.
(h) Shebat Judahm sive Hist. Jud. a Gentio, sect. 46. p. 312.
and with the emerods; or haemorrhoids, the piles, a disease of the fundament, attended sometimes with ulcers there; see Sa1 5:9,
and with the scab and with the itch: the one moist, the other dry, and both very distressing:
whereof thou canst not be healed; by any art of men; which shows these to be uncommon ones, and from the immediate hand of God.
(i) Apud Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. vol. 3. p. 426, 427. (k) Relation of a Voyage to Egypt, p. 35, 36.
and blindness; not of body, but of mind; with judicial blindness and hardness of heart:
and astonishment of heart; at the miserable condition they and their families should be in.
and thou shall not prosper in thy ways; in any steps they may take to extricate themselves out of their difficulties, distresses, and calamities, or to bring themselves into easy and comfortable circumstances; to get wealth and riches, and honour and esteem with men; but, on the contrary, become forlorn and miserable, poor and wretched, mean and despicable:
and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore; continually, every day, all the days of their lives, oppressed with taxes and tributes, with mulcts and fines, and spoiled of their goods and substance under one pretence or another; which has been generally their case in Popish countries; for this seems not to refer to the Babylonish captivity, where they built houses, and dwelt in them, and planted gardens, and ate the fruit of them; and in the peace of cities had peace themselves, Jer 29:5,
and no man shall save thee; from the oppressions, exactions, and spoils of their enemies, nor deliver them out of their hands; whereas in process of time they had deliverance and salvation from the Babylonish captivity, by the means of Cyrus king of Persia.
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 Lev 19:23; See Gill on Deu 20:6.
thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored unto thee; no leave shall be asked to take it, but without their consent, and against their will, it should be taken away by the soldiers to carry them and their burdens, and it may be the booty and spoil of them, and never returned more:
thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shall have none to rescue them; not given them by themselves, but they should be suffered to fall into their hands, and they should never be able to get them out again, nor any for them. These, strictly and literally taken, suppose them to be in their own land, when those things would be done, where they were possessed of farms, and fields, cattle, being much employed in husbandry; but they may be put for any kind of substance they would be possessed of, which they should be stripped of under one pretence or another; which has been frequently their case in their present dispersion in several countries, and in ours; when Popish princes have wanted money, they have made very exorbitant demands on the Jews in their countries, and sadly squeezed and oppressed them, and who were not able to resist them, and never had any restoration made to them.
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.
and thou shall be only oppressed and crushed always; this seems best to agree with their present case; for in their former captivities they were not always oppressed and crushed, but had respite and deliverance; See Gill on Deu 28:29.
(m) Ib. (Shebet Judah, sive Hist. Jud.) sect. 34, 36. p. 214, 215, 216, 217. (n) See Bishop Patrick in loc. and Dr. Newton (Bishop of Bristol) on Prophecies, vol. 1. Dissert. 7. sect. 14. p. 195, 196.
from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head; and so be filled with them, as Job was with his boils and ulcers.
unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; the land of Babylon, which was at a distance from them, and is represented in Scripture as afar off, Jer 5:15; and which the Jews, not being a trading people, or dealing in merchandise in foreign parts, were unacquainted with:
and there shall thou serve other gods, wood and stone; which they were obliged to do in Babylon, of which it seems best to understand it; for though it may be interpreted of their compliance with the image worship of the Papists in their present condition, as the former clause may be of their rulers and governors, included in the name of king, carried captive by the Romans; who were a nation as little, if not less known than the Babylonians: but the former sense seems to suit best here, as this does with Deu 28:64; where the language is somewhat different, and very appropriate. The Targum of Jonathan is,"shall pay tribute to those that worship idols of wood and stone.''
a proverb and a byword among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee; both for the wickedness committed by them, and for the ill usage of them by the nations among whom they should be, as they were in the Babylonish captivity; see Jer 24:9; and now are, it being common to say,"do you think I am a Jew?''or,"none but a Jew would have done such a thing.''
and shall gather but little in at harvest; little springing up, or not coming to perfection, being blighted and blasted, and so yielded but a small crop; see Hag 1:9; and chiefly for the following reason:
for the locust shall consume it; which is a great destroyer of the fruits of the earth; see Joe 1:4.
but shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes; so far from drinking of the wine of them, that they should not be able to gather any grapes from them:
for the worms shall eat them; a sort of worms pernicious to vines, which the Greeks call "ipes", or "ikes" (o); and the Latins "convolvuli" and "volvoces", as Pliny (p).
(o) See Bochart. Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 4. c. 27. col. 622, 623. (p) Nat. Hist. l. 17. c. 28.
but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; nor any other relations, friends, guests, as was usual at entertainments; see Psa 23:5; for the phrase "thyself" is not in the text. The reason why they should not anoint is, because they would have no oil to anoint with:
for thine olive shall cast his fruit; before it is ripe, by one means or another, as by winds, or blasting and mildew; see Amo 4:9.
for they shall go into captivity; as when the ten tribes were carried captive by Shalmaneser, and the two tribes by Nebuchadnezzar, and all the people of the Jews by the Romans.
(q) "et non erunt tibi", Pagninus, Montanus.
and thou shall come down, very low; into a very mean condition, to be in great subjection, a vassal and a slave; see Psa 106:41; and much more when reduced by the Romans, and sent to the mines in Egypt.
(r) De Termino Vitae, l. 3. sect. 3. p. 128.
he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail; he shall be ruler and governor, and thou shalt be subject to him; see Deu 28:13.
and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee till thou be destroyed; which though they would endeavour to flee from and escape, should not be able, since they would follow them so closely and swiftly, and overtake them, and seize upon them; see Deu 28:15,
because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee; to which disobedience all the curses are to be imputed that go before or follow after.
and upon thy seed for ever; this shows that these curses, said to be upon them, not only refer to those that came upon them at and in the Babylonish captivity, but to those that came upon them at their destruction by the Romans, and which have continued on them nineteen hundred years; and how much longer they will continue none can say: it will be their case, until new heavens and a new earth are created, or there will be a new state of things, at least with them; when they shall be converted to the Lord, and all Israel saved; see Isa 65:17; and it may be observed, that the ten tribes carried captive never returned.
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.
in hunger and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all good things; being destitute of food, and drink and raiment, and the common necessaries of life, and so in famishing and starving circumstances:
and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck; bring them into a state of subjection to their enemies, which would be intolerable to them, and from which they would not be able to free themselves, any more than to break an iron yoke; which, as it agrees with the Babylonish captivity, and their subjection in that state, see Jer 28:13; so more especially with their bondage under the Romans, who are the legs of iron in Nebuchadnezzar's image, and the fourth beast with great iron teeth in Daniel's vision, Dan 2:33, and this yoke was to continue
until he have destroyed thee; the Jews were under the Roman yoke, Roman governors being set over them, and Judea made a Roman province many years before the destruction of their nation, city, and temple, by them.
as swift as the eagle flieth; which may respect not so much the swiftness of this creature, the words which convey the idea being a supplement of the text, as the force with which it flies when in sight of its prey, and hastes unto it and falls upon it, which is irresistible; and this is the sense of the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, and is what is ascribed to the eagle by other writers (w). Now though this figure is used of the Chaldeans and Babylonians, Jer 4:13; it agrees full as well or better with the Romans, because of their swiftness in coming from distant parts, and because of the force and impetus with which they invaded Judea, besieged Jerusalem, and attacked the Jews everywhere; and besides, the eagle was borne on the standard in the Roman army (x):
a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; which, though it is also said of the language of the Chaldean nation, Jer 5:15; yet as the Chaldee and Hebrew languages were only dialects of one and the same language, common to the eastern nations, the Chaldee language, though on account of termination of words, pronunciation, and other things, might be difficult, and hard to be understood by the Jews, yet must be much more easy to understand than the Roman language, so widely different from theirs.
(s) "----In ultimos orbis Britannos", Horat. Carmin. l. 1. Ode 35. (t) De Termino Vitae, l. 3. sect. 3. p. 129. (u) T. Hieros. Succah, fol. 55. 2. (w) Vid. Homer. Iliad. 21. l. 252. (x) Vid. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 4.
which shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favour to the young: cruel, unmerciful, and uncompassionate, to persons of whatsoever age or sex; which, as it was the character of the Chaldeans, Ch2 36:17; so of the Romans, who especially showed no mercy to the Jews, as Josephus (z), who was an eyewitness, testifies."The Romans (says he) showed no mercy to any age, out of hatred to the nation (of the Jews), and in remembrance of the injuries done to Cestius;''one of their governors, when among them. And in another place he says (a),"the Romans, remembering what they suffered in the siege, spared none, and showed no mercy.''
(y) "fortem faciebus", Montanus; "robustam facie", Vatablus. (z) De Bello Jud. l. 3. c. 7. sect. 1. (a) Ibid. sect. 34.
and the fruit of thy land; their wheat, barley, figs, grapes, pomegranates, olives, and dates:
until thou be destroyed; the land of Judea, and all the increase of it: this being before said, Deu 28:31; and here repeated, shows that the same should be fulfilled at different times, as by the Chaldeans, so by the Romans; whose nation, or army, with their general at the head of them, may be more especially here intended by "he", that should eat up their fruit until utter destruction was brought upon them:
which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee; all being consumed by the Roman army. There is a promise and prophecy, that though this would be the case, as it has been, there shall be a time when it shall be so no more; see Isa 62:8.
until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst,
throughout all thy land; the Jews had several cities well fenced and strongly fortified, besides Jerusalem, which was fortified both by art and nature, and in which they greatly put their trust and confidence; but these were broken down, particularly by the battering rams of the Romans:
and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, throughout all thy land,
which the Lord thy God hath given thee; this is repeated for the certainty of it, and that it might be taken notice of, and abate their trust and confidence in their outward strength. Now all this was fulfilled, partly in the siege of Samaria by the king of Assyria, who went through all the land of the ten tribes, Kg2 17:5; and in Sennacherib's taking the fenced cities of Judah, Kg2 18:13; and in the siege of Jerusalem, and breaking down the walls of it by Nebuchadnezzar, Kg2 25:10; and, last of all, in the siege of Jerusalem, and battering down the walls of it, by the Romans; at which time also all their strong and fenced cities throughout the land were taken and demolished.
the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God hath given thee; which is an aggravation of the cruel and inhuman fact:
in the siege, and in the straitness wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee; this shows the cause of it, a famine by reason of the closeness of the siege, so that no provisions could be brought in for their relief; and all within being eaten up, and everything that was eatable, even the most nauseous and disagreeable, they would be led on to this strange, unheard of, and barbarous action, eating their own children. This was fulfilled in the siege of Samaria, Kg2 6:25; and in the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, Lam 2:10 and again in the Apocrypha:"Moreover he hath delivered them to be in subjection to all the kingdoms that are round about us, to be as a reproach and desolation among all the people round about, where the Lord hath scattered them.'' (Baruch 2:4)and in the siege of the same city by the Romans; of which an instance will be hereafter given.
his eye shall be evil towards his brother, and towards the wife of his bosom, and towards the remnant of his children which he shall leave; that is, he shall begrudge his brother, who is so nearly related to him, the least bit of food; yea, his wife, he dearly loved, and is one flesh with him, his other self, and even his children, which are parts of himself, such of them as were left not eaten by him; or his eye should be evil upon then, he should look with an evil eye on them, determining within himself to kill and eat them next. Though the particular instance in which his eye would be evil to them follows, yet no doubt there are other instances in which his eye would be evil towards them, as there were at the siege of Jerusalem, and have been since. Josephus (b) says,"that in every house where there was any appearance of food (or anything that looked like it, that had the shadow of it) there was a battle; and the dearest friends fought with one another, snatching away from each other, the miserable supports of life;''as the husband from his wife and children, and the wife from her husband and children; see more in Deu 28:56; and, in later times, we told by the Jewish historian (c), that wrote an account of their sufferings and distresses since their dispersion, that at Fez the Jews sold their children for slaves for bread.
(b) De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 3. sect. 3. (c) Shebet Judah, sive Hist. Jud. p. 326.
because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in the straitness wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates; every creature being eaten up, dogs, cats, &c. and whatsoever else could be any ways made food of; as the dung of beasts, belts, shoes, the leather on shields, &c. as Josephus (d) says they did eat; and this being the case, nothing eatable remaining, therefore his heart would be hardened against his nearest relations, and not allow them the least part with him, even of what was so shocking and unnatural.
(d) De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 3. sect. 3.
which would not venture to set her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness; for fear of taking cold, or defiling her feet:
her eye shall be evil towards the husband of her bosom, and towards her son, and towards her daughter; begrudge them every bit they eat, and restrain food from them as much as in her lies, and even snatch it out of their mouths; so Josephus (e) relates, that"women snatched the food out of the mouths of their husbands, and sons out of the mouths of their fathers; and, what is most miserable, mothers out of the mouths of their infants.''
(e) De Bello Jud. l. 5. c. l0. sect. 3.
and towards her children which she shall bear; that is, have an evil eye towards them, to eat them as follows:
for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates; that is, eat her children, being reduced to the utmost extremity, being in want of all things, having nothing at all to abate her sharp hunger; which, and nothing else, could incline her, and prevail upon her to do an action so monstrously horrid: and which she would do in the most private and secret manner; both lest others should partake with her, as well as being conscious of the foulness and blackness of the crime, that would not by any means bear the light; and all this owing to the closeness of the siege, and the unspeakable distress they should be in through it. For the illustration of this, take the following story as related by Josephus (f);"a woman, whose name was Mary, that lived beyond Jordan, illustrious for her descent and riches fled with the multitude to Jerusalem when besieged carrying with her her substance, and what food she could get that were left to her by the spoilers; where being pressed with famine, she took her sucking child, killed it boiled it, and ate half of it, and then laid up the rest, and covered it; and when the seditious party entered the house, they smelt it, and demanded her food, threatening to kill her if she did not deliver it; which when she brought forth, declaring what she had done, they were struck with horror; to whom she said, this is my son, and this my own deed; eat, for I have eaten; be not more tender or softer than a woman, and more sympathizing or more pitiful than a mother.''All the ideas that this prophecy of Moses conveys are to be met with in this account; as of a woman well bred and delicate, reduced to the utmost distress, and wanting all the necessaries of life, killing her tender infant, a sucking babe, eating it secretly, and laying up the rest covered for another time. If Moses had lived to have known the fact committed, as Josephus did, he could not have expressed it well in stronger and clearer terms than he has done. This is a most amazing instance of a prophecy delivered out two thousand years or more before the fact was done, and of the exact accomplishment of it; and if the observation of a learned critic (g) can be established, that the first word of this verse should be and so be rendered, "and she shall boil that which cometh out from between her feet, even her children which she shall bear", the fulfilment of the prophecy will appear still more exact, both at the siege of Samaria, Kg2 6:20; and of Jerusalem, as in the above relation of Josephus.
(f) De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 3. sect. 4. (g) Dr. Kennicot's State of the Hebrew Text, Dissert. 1. p. 421.
that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name of the Lord thy God; or that it might appear that the fear of God was before their eyes, and in their hearts, by their obedience to his law; that they had a proper awe and reverence of him, who is glorious in his titles and attributes, and whose name Jehovah is holy and reverend; and who, as the covenant God of his people, is to, be feared for his goodness sake.
and the plagues of thy seed; for they were to continue, as they have done, With their posterity, age after age:
even great plagues, and of long continuance; great as to quality and quantity, and firm, sure, lasting, and durable; the word used is rendered "sure" in Isa 55:3; sure by prophecy and in the event; and which when inflicted remained, as they have 1700 years; all which might be believed as certain, or what would certainly come to pass, and be depended on:
and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance; besides those diseases mentioned Deu 28:27; or however others including them.
which thou wast afraid of; when living among them, lest they should catch them of them, or they should be inflicted on them by the hand of God:
and they shall cleave unto thee; not only should come upon them, but continue with them; they should not easily get rid of them, or be cured of them.
them will the Lord bring upon thee until thou be destroyed; the Jews themselves (h) own this has been fulfilled on them.
(h) Shebet Judah, p. 318.
whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; and, as it is sometimes said, as the sand of the sea, as was promised to Abraham, Gen 15:5; and was fulfilled in the days of Solomon Kg1 4:20,
because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the Lord thy God; in his law, and by his prophets; and especially by the voice of the true Messiah, in his everlasting Gospel; of whom it is said, "today if ye will hear his voice"; &c. Heb 3:7.
(i) De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 9. sect. 3. (k) See Dr. Newton (Bp. of Bristol) on Prophecies, vol. 1. Dissert. 7. sect. 6. p. 186. (l) Shebet Judah, sect. 49. p. 316.
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.
and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone: it may be observed, that the phrase, "which either thou nor fathers have known", is fitly added here, which is not used of them, Deu 28:36; and well agrees with the idols of the Papists, their images of the Virgin Mary, and saints departed, made of wood and stone, which were such the fathers of the Jews never knew; just as it is said of the host, the consecrated wafer, the breaden god honoured by antichrist, that it is "a god who his fathers knew not", Dan 11:38; the apostles and ancient fathers of the church. Now in Popish countries the Jews have often been prevailed upon to change, or at least dissemble their religion, and embrace Popery: and have worshipped images of wood and stone. The author of the history of their calamities and sufferings owns this;"multitudes (he says (p)) in Spain and Portugal forsook the law of Moses, and joined the Papists, pretending at least to be of their religion.''
He makes mention of sixteen thousand at one time (q), and some, he say (r),"that were driven out of Spain, came into Italy, where the young men pressed with famine could not bear it, and changed their religion, and began to worship images that they might have to satisfy their hunger; and the Papists used to go about with a crucifix in one hand, and a piece of bread in the other, promising the bread to those that would worship the crucifix; and so many famishing persons fo