Ch. 28 Enforcement of Blessings and Curses

With no title this discourse is clearly a continuation of ch. 26, but whether through Deuteronomy 27:9 f. or not is uncertain.

The contents are the blessings and curses which shall follow respectively on Israel’s observance and neglect of the Law; already announced in Deuteronomy 11:26-28, Deuteronomy 27:12 f. Parallel conclusions are found to the Codes of E and H; Exodus 23:20-33, Leviticus 26:3-45.

Driver justly remarks that ch. 28 shows ‘no appreciable literary dependence’ on the former of these; and ‘though the thought in Leviticus 24 is in several instances parallel to that in Deuteronomy 28, and here and there one of the two chapters even appears to contain a verbal reminiscence of the other (cp. Deuteronomy 28:22-23; Deuteronomy 28:53; Deuteronomy 28:65 b with Leviticus 26:16; Leviticus 26:19; Leviticus 26:29; Leviticus 26:16 respectively), the treatment in the two cases is different, and the phraseology, in so far as it is characteristic, is almost entirely distinct, Leviticus 26 representing affinities with Ezekiel, Deuteronomy 28 with Jeremiah; in fact the two chapters represent two independent elaborations of the same theme.’

It is not easy to account for the structure of ch. 28. The Blessings in Deuteronomy 28:1-14 find their antitheses within the first section on the Curses, Deuteronomy 27:15-26, but these are elaborated to a far greater degree than the Blessings, and are further developed in two additional sections, Deuteronomy 28:47-57 and Deuteronomy 28:58-68, cleanly separate in form from what precedes them and from each other. For the grounds of this analysis and for signs within some of the sections of smaller expansions see the notes below.

Most striking is the way in which the Discourse after predicting Israel’s ultimate exile swings back to describe calamities to the people while still on their own land. The captivity in Deuteronomy 28:32 is only partial, and Israel itself is still at home lamenting it. But after the exile of the nation and the king is foretold in Deuteronomy 28:36 f, Deuteronomy 28:38 ff. return to the aggravation of the evil conditions inflicted on the people in its own land till it be destroyed (among them once more, Deuteronomy 28:41 as in Deuteronomy 28:32, the captivity of its sons and daughters). Deuteronomy 28:47-57 are a gruesome description of the siege of Israel’s cities by a foreign invader; but Deuteronomy 28:58-62 repeat the curses of plague, already threatened, which shall continue till thou be destroyed. Then with a change to the Pl. address comes another prediction of banishment (Deuteronomy 28:63) and, with a return to the Sg., a poignant description of sufferings in exile (Deuteronomy 28:64-67), rising at last to the climax (the most terrible thing D could threaten) of a return to Egypt, the house of bondmen, where however Israelites shall now not be worth purchase as slaves (Deuteronomy 28:68).

That there are some Later intrusions or displacements can hardly be denied; e.g. Deuteronomy 28:35 and Deuteronomy 28:41. That the curses are far more elaborated than the blessings, and that, if within Deuteronomy 28:15-46, Deuteronomy 28:26-26 be removed, the parallel with the blessings in Deuteronomy 28:1-14 becomes much closer, might be reasonably held as proofs of later expansions which also include Deuteronomy 28:48-68. But this must remain more or less uncertain in view of the discursive style of D which so often returns on itself, as well as in view of the predominance of threat over promise in pre-exilic prophecy.

The curses which affect the land and the people while in possession of it can hardly be so late as the Exile. But also, in the opinion of the present writer, there is not in the threats of invasion, nor even in those of exile, anything that conflicts with a pre-exilic date. These threats have all sufficient foundation in previous experiences of Israel. And it may be fairly argued that had Deuteronomy 28:58-68 been written after the Exile it could hardly have contained the threat of the flight of the people by ships to Egypt to sell themselves there. Nor is there in the Discourse any such promise of restoration to the exiled people, being penitent, as is found in Deuteronomy 4:20-40 and is taken there as a proof of an exilic date. In D’s own absolute manner the exile of Israel is regarded as final. The whole Discourse therefore may well be pre-exilic.

The style throughout is that of D, though as we should expect from the subject, there are terms and phrases not used elsewhere by D nor indeed in the O.T.

Finally, it is clear from 2 Kings 22:13 and Jeremiah 11:3 that some such terrible curses were appended to the Book of the Law discovered in the Temple in 621; which as we have seen was at least the Code of D.

Therefore certainly in part, and possibly in whole, this Discourse belongs to D. Cp. Kuenen, Hex. § 7, 21 (2), ‘not to any appreciable extent interpolated.’ On the other side Staerk and Steuernagel find the ch. a compilation from many sources, some of them late; and so to a smaller extent Bertholet.

The designations of Israel’s God are interesting: 27 times Jehovah only and almost always when some action (mostly of judgement) is attributed to Him; 13 times the deuteron. Jehovah thy God and this almost always in connection with the people’s duty to His Law and Service or with His gift of the land to them. The distinction is on the whole logical.

1. For the connection see on Deuteronomy 27:9 f. Parallels in Deuteronomy 11:13, Deuteronomy 15:5.

set thee on high] See on Deuteronomy 26:19.

1–14. The Blessings

Parallels in Deuteronomy 7:12-24, Deuteronomy 11:13-15; Deuteronomy 11:22-25. On the assurance of material blessings as the consequence of obedience to the commandments of God see the word of Jesus, Matthew 6:33.

2. overtake] This vb. is used of the avenger, Deuteronomy 19:6. A man’s goodness as well as his sin is sure to find him out, even when he does not expect this: see Matthew 25:37.

3–6. Six forms of blessing, each introd. by the pass. part, of the vb. to bless. They cover Israel’s life: in town and field, in their offspring, crops and cattle, annual harvests and daily bread, all their movement out and in. The structure of the first two and last three is uniform: with 3 accents. The longer third, Deuteronomy 28:4, has been expanded; fruit of thy cattle does not appear in LXX nor in the parallel Deuteronomy 28:18, and is probably a gloss from Deuteronomy 28:11.

4. Cp. Deuteronomy 7:13, and notes there on increase and young.

5. basket] See on Deuteronomy 26:2.

kneading-bowl] See Dri. on Exodus 8:3. Cp. mill, Deuteronomy 24:6.

6. Cp. Deuteronomy 31:2, Joshua 14:11, 1 Kings 3:7, Psalm 121:8.

7. smitten before thee] See Deuteronomy 1:42.

8. shall command] Heb. has the jussive, command; it is uncertain which we should read; upon thee, lit. with thee.

barns] Only here and Proverbs 3:10. Cp. above, Deuteronomy 15:10.

and he shall bless thee] LXX (except some cursives) omits.

9. holy] See Deuteronomy 7:6, and note on Holiness, p. 108. Here (as the context shows) the meaning is not ethical, but = set apart for Himself, therefore inviolate; cp. Jeremiah 2:3.

if thou shalt keep] Rather, for (ex hypothese) thou wilt be keeping. Cp. Dri.; Marti.: in case thou shalt. So there is no need to omit the clause with Steuern. and Staerk.

10. thou art called by the name of the Lord] Lit. the name of Jehovah is called over thee, as that of thine owner. Other instances of the figure in 2 Samuel 12:28, Amos 9:12, Jeremiah 7:10 f., Deuteronomy 14:9, Deuteronomy 15:16, etc., Isaiah 13:19.

11. make thee plenteous for good] Lit. make thee to have an excess, or surplus, of prosperity—through the fruit of thy body, etc.

12. his good treasury the heaven] As in R.V. marg. Cp. Genesis 1:7; Genesis 7:11; Genesis 8:2; Job 38:22 (treasuries of snow and hail); Jeremiah 10:13; Book of Enoch, 60:11–22. On the rain see Deuteronomy 11:11; Deuteronomy 11:17; on the work of thine hand, i.e. in the field, see Deuteronomy 14:29.

and thou shalt lend, etc.] See on Deuteronomy 15:6.

13. the head, and not the tail] Isaiah 9:14; Isaiah 19:15.

only] Heb. raḳ; see on Deuteronomy 10:15. Here = nothing but.

if thou shalt] Rather (as in Deuteronomy 28:9), for thou wilt, or in case thou shalt.

to observe and to do] See on Deuteronomy 4:6, Deuteronomy 5:32.

14. turn aside, etc.] Deuteronomy 5:32. For you read thee. Sam., Gk., Syr. go after other gods] Deuteronomy 6:14, Deuteronomy 8:19, Deuteronomy 13:2 (3).

15–20. For the terminology see notes on Deuteronomy 28:1-7.

20a forms with 25 a clear antithesis to Deuteronomy 28:7, but is more elaborate than the latter. For cursing cp. Malachi 2:2; Malachi 3:9; for discomfiture see on Deuteronomy 7:23; rebuke is found only here. On for to do (lit. which thou shalt do) see Deuteronomy 14:29; until thou be destroyed, cp. Deuteronomy 28:24; Deuteronomy 28:45; Deuteronomy 28:51; Deuteronomy 28:61, Deuteronomy 7:23.

20b (from and until thou perish) is taken by some as an expansion. On perish quickly see Deuteronomy 4:16, Deuteronomy 11:17; for evil of thy doings cp. Hosea 9:15, Isaiah 1:16, Jeremiah 4:4 + Jeremiah 4:17 times. Forsaken me, yet Moses is the speaker, cp. Deuteronomy 7:4.

15–46. The Curses

The opening Deuteronomy 28:15-20, correspond to the blessings in Deuteronomy 28:1-7, except that there are no antitheses to Deuteronomy 28:1 b and Deuteronomy 28:2 b, and that the curse on basket and kneading-bowl precedes that on fruit of thy body, etc. Then the Discourse leaves the limits it had observed in the remainder of the blessings, Deuteronomy 28:8-14, and while here and there it gives the exact contrast of these blessings (cp. Deuteronomy 28:23 f. with Deuteronomy 28:12 a, Deuteronomy 28:25 with Deuteronomy 28:7 b, Deuteronomy 28:37 and Deuteronomy 28:46 with Deuteronomy 28:10, Deuteronomy 28:43 f. with Deuteronomy 28:12 b, Deuteronomy 28:13 a), the rest is a detailed antithesis to the summary blessing in 11; and diseases, calamities to man and beast, failures of seed and harvest, losses of children and property, and even exile, are set forth in detail.

The opinion that Deuteronomy 28:26-37 and Deuteronomy 28:41 are later additions is plausible, not because they contain predictions of exile but because they elaborate the rest; and this rest, Deuteronomy 28:21-25 (or 26), Deuteronomy 28:38-40 and Deuteronomy 28:42-46, more nearly corresponds to Deuteronomy 28:8-14. In view of the repeating style of D it is impossible to say whether some even of those vv. are original or expansions; there are no sufficient grounds for the detailed analysis by Steuernagel.

21. pestilence] Heb. deber, a general word (originally = death); in J, Exodus 5:3; Exodus 9:15, Hosea 13:14, Amos 4:10. See Baldensperger, PEFQ, 1906, 97 ff. LXX here θάνατος.

whither thou goest in to possess it] The usual phrase in the Sg. passages; see on Deuteronomy 6:1. For the corresponding Pl. phrase see Deuteronomy 4:26.

22. Seven Plagues, four on men, and three on their crops. On the former see Leviticus 26:16, and consult A. Macalister, art. ‘Medicine’ in Hastings’ D.B.

consumption] Heb. shaḥepheth; from the meaning of the corr. Ar. saḥaf, ‘to affect with consumption of the lungs,’ this is usually conceived as phthisis, but Macalister, from the connection here, thinks more likely a wasting fever of the Mediterranean or Malta type. LXX ἀπορία.

fever] Heb. ḳaddaḥath, lit. kindling, LXX πυρετὸς; cp. Luke 4:38, John 4:52. ‘May be malarial fever’ (Macalister).

inflammation] Heb. dalléḳeth, lit. burning, LXX ῥῖγος. ‘Possibly … some form of ague,’ but ‘perhaps indeed typhoid’ (Macalister).

fiery heat] Heb. ḥarḥur, lit. burning or parchedness, LXX ἐρεθισμός, ‘irritation’; ‘such as erysipelas, only this is not very common in Palestine. It might be one of the exanthemata’ (Macalister).

the sword] Heb. ḥereb, LXX A F, etc., φόνος, LXX B, etc., omit. But with Sam., Vulg. and R.V. marg. we may read ḥoreb, dryness; either (as in the similarly emended text of Zechariah 11:17, cp. Job 30:30) a withering of the body, or, in harmony with the following, drought of the earth.

blasting] Heb. shiddaphôn, mostly the effect of the Sirocco (see Jerusalem, i. pp. 12, 20 f.). Hence the LXX ἀνεμοφθορία.

mildew] Heb. yeraḳôn, wanness, lividness; LXX ὤχρα.

23. Cp. Leviticus 26:19 : heaven as iron, earth as brass.

24. The Sirocco (Sherḳiyeh), as the present writer has more than once encountered it in Judaea, brings up a fog of dust as dense and fine as a sea-mist, but very destructive. Until thou be destroyed, see Deuteronomy 28:20.

25. See on Deuteronomy 28:7; Deuteronomy 28:20 a.

tossed to and fro] Rather, for a trembling or a horror (Heb. leza‘avah). So the v. does not necessarily imply exile. Cp. Jeremiah 15:4; Jeremiah 24:9; Jeremiah 29:18; Jeremiah 34:17.

26. Jeremiah 7:33; cp. Jeremiah 16:4, Jeremiah 19:7, Jeremiah 34:20.

27. the boil of Egypt] Cp. P, Exodus 9:9 with Driver’s note. One of the skin-diseases common in Egypt. Boil, Heb. sheḥîn; Eg. sḥn, ‘an abscess.’ Some think of small-pox, others of elephantiasis. But it may be the bubonic plague; see next note.

emerods] LXX ἕλκος Αἰγ. εἰς τὴν ἕδραν. Rather, as R.V. marg., tumours; Heb. ‘ophalim, swellings. Probably the buboes of the bubonic plague (so Macalister). On this see HGHL, 157 ff.

scurvy] Heb. garab (Ar. garab = mange), Leviticus 21:20; Leviticus 22:22; LXX ψώρα ἀγρία, Vulg. scabies. ‘Favus’ (Macalister).

itch] Heb. ḥeres, Leviticus 21:20, LXX κνήφη, Vulg. prurigo.

28. Cp. Zechariah 12:4; astonishment, better, dismay.

29. The mental weakness and even infatuation which possess nations and individuals physically debilitated lead to their oppression by stronger peoples; the details of which are illustrated in the next Deuteronomy 28:30-34.

30. Cp. Deuteronomy 20:5-7. The Heb. text employs a more violent term.

32. Judah suffered from a large deportation of her people by Sennacherib in 701. On any of the conflicting estimates of the deportations under Nebuchadrezzar, there must have remained in the land a majority of the people, lamenting, as this v. describes, the exile of the rest. See Jerusalem, ii. 266 ff.

hand] Many MSS read hands; cp. Nehemiah 5:5.

33. thou knowest not] So of the land of the invading nation, Jeremiah 14:18; Jeremiah 15:14; Jeremiah 17:4; Jeremiah 22:28.

34. Cp. Deuteronomy 28:28; mad, rather driven mad.

35 breaks the connection between Deuteronomy 28:34; Deuteronomy 28:36, and is more in place after 27, q.v. on boil. Here sore boil on knees and legs points to the ‘joint-leprosy,’ a species of elephantiasis; cp. Job 2:7 f., Deuteronomy 7:3-6, Deuteronomy 17:7, Deuteronomy 19:17; Deuteronomy 19:20, Deuteronomy 30:17.

36. The Lord bring thee] The Heb. vb. is a jussive.

thy king] The first Jewish king to be deported seems to have been Jehoiakin in 597 b.c., 2 Kings 24:8 ff. But cp. 2 Chronicles 33:10-13 on Manasseh; and for the probable fact underlying this statement see Jerusalem, ii. 184.

there shalt thou serve other gods] See Deuteronomy 28:64, and Deuteronomy 4:28.

37. a proverb] Rather, a taunt.

byword] Only here, Jeremiah 24:9, 1 Kings 9:7, 2 Chronicles 7:20; lit. the object of biting remarks.

shall lead thee away] So in Deuteronomy 4:27.

38. Here the Discourse returns to Israel’s misfortunes on their own land, and the connection seems to be with Deuteronomy 28:15-24 (or 25), to which Deuteronomy 28:38-44 are more or less parallel.

38–40. Consumption of corn by locusts and of grapes by worms, and casting of olives. For these products see on Deuteronomy 7:13. Locust, Heb. ’arbeh, properly locust-swarm. Worm, Heb. tola‘ath; the grub which ruins vines, Gk. ἴψ or ἶξ (Strabo, xiii. i. 64), Lat. convolvulus (Pliny, H.N. xvii. 47), is the wine-weevil (Knobel). On cast see on Deuteronomy 7:1.

41 breaks the connection between Deuteronomy 28:40; Deuteronomy 28:42, and is out of place; cp. Deuteronomy 28:32.

42. locust] Heb. ṣelaṣal, from the rustling of its wings.

43, 44. The antithesis to 12b, 13a (q.v.).

45, 46. Return to the keynote of the section (cp. Deuteronomy 28:15), and obvious conclusion to the curses which may originally have closed here.

for a sign and for a wonder] See on Deuteronomy 4:34.

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, Deuteronomy 16:11; Deuteronomy 16:14 f. (be altogether joyful), Deuteronomy 26:11; cp. Isaiah 65:13 f.

by reason of the abundance, etc.] Cp. Deuteronomy 6:10-12, Deuteronomy 8:11-18.

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.

48. a yoke of iron] Jeremiah 28:14.

49. from far, etc.] Isaiah 5:26 of Assyrians, Jeremiah 5:15 of Babylonians (though perhaps originally of Scythians).

as the vulture swoopeth] See on Deuteronomy 14:12 f.; cp. Hosea 8:1 of Assyrians; Habakkuk 1:8, Jeremiah 48:40; Jeremiah 49:22 of Babylonians.

whose tongue thou shalt not understand] Lit. hear; Jeremiah 5:15 of Babylonians, cp. Isaiah 28:11 of Assyrians (and Deuteronomy 33:9).

50. fierce countenance] Lit. strong, hard or inflexible. So Daniel 8:23 of Antiochus Epiphanes. Cp. Ezekiel 2:4; Ezekiel 3:7. On regard the person see on Deuteronomy 1:17.

51. See Deuteronomy 28:4; Deuteronomy 28:18; Deuteronomy 28:20; Deuteronomy 28:24. All but a few LXX codd. omit until thou be destroyed.

52. in all thy gates] Deuteronomy 12:17; come down, Deuteronomy 20:20; wherein thou trustedst, so Jeremiah 5:17.

53. And thou shalt eat, etc.] Cp. Leviticus 26:29, Ezekiel 5:10, and for instances of this horror 2 Kings 6:28 f., Lamentations 2:20; Lamentations 4:10.

in the siege and in the straitness] A Refrain as in Deuteronomy 28:55; Deuteronomy 28:57. Similarly Jeremiah 19:9, along with the eating of children as here.

54. The man that is the most tender among you, and the very most delicate] or dainty. The same adjs. in Isaiah 47:1.

his eye shall be evil] See on Deuteronomy 15:9.

56. The most tender and most delicate woman among you] Almost as in Deuteronomy 28:54.

which would not adventure] Rather, who had never ventured or tried (for the vb. see on Deuteronomy 4:34), having been accustomed to be carried.

57. young one] Rather as in R.V. marg. The objects in this v. are under the same predicate as those in Deuteronomy 28:56 but with a difference. To those she shall grudge a share of her awful food; these she shall devour.

58. observe to do] See on Deuteronomy 28:1.

all the words of this law] Heb. of this Tôrah, see on Deuteronomy 1:5, Deuteronomy 31:9. In Deuteronomy 17:19, Deuteronomy 29:29 (28), Deuteronomy 31:12, Deuteronomy 32:46, with the same, or a similar, formula preceding; also in Deuteronomy 27:3; Deuteronomy 27:8; Deuteronomy 27:26.

that are written in this book] Cp. Deuteronomy 28:61, Deuteronomy 17:18, Deuteronomy 29:20 f., Deuteronomy 29:27 (Deuteronomy 29:19 f., Deuteronomy 29:26), Deuteronomy 30:10. The Law, therefore, was already written down. As pointed out in the note on Deuteronomy 17:18, such a statement may well have belonged to the original D, discovered in the Temple in 621; but it is not compatible with the other representation, hitherto prevalent, that the exhortations and laws were spoken by Moses, nor with the statement in Deuteronomy 31:9, that he wrote the law when this discourse was finished. As Driver says, this v. ‘betrays the fact that Deuteronomy was from the first a written book.’

fear this glorious and fearful name] Cp. Nehemiah 9:5, Psalm 72:19, 1 Chronicles 29:13, Isaiah 63:12. In J, Exodus 33:18 God’s glory is parallel to His Name. For fear this name see Micah 6:9 (on one reading), Malachi 4:2, Isaiah 59:19, Psalm 61:5 (6). Cp. Leviticus 24:11. This list (containing as it does Micah 6:9) is not sufficient to prove, as Berth, suggests, a late date for our passage.

58–68. Still Further Development of the Curses

After a fresh statement of the condition on which they will be inflicted, viz. Israel’s disobedience to the law (Deuteronomy 28:58), diseases are again threatened with the sore diminution of the people (Deuteronomy 28:59-62); and their banishment is predicted and utter despair (Deuteronomy 28:63-67). God shall bring them again to Egypt, where when they seek to sell themselves no man shall buy them (Deuteronomy 28:68).—In the substance of this section there is nothing incompatible with a pre-exilic date or with the ideas and principles of D. But some of the phraseology may possibly be post-exilic.

59. plagues] As in Deuteronomy 28:61, Deuteronomy 29:22 (21), Leviticus 26:21. In Deuteronomy 25:3 the word is used of stripes. In Deuteronomy 26:8 another word is used for plague.

wonderful] Extraordinary or exceptional.

of long continuance] Lit. faithful, sure, assured, usually in a moral sense; but in 1 Samuel 25:28 of an assured house or dynasty; and in Isaiah 33:6, Jeremiah 15:18 (of unfailing waters). Cp. below Deuteronomy 28:66.

60. diseases of Egypt] As in Deuteronomy 7:15; cp. above Deuteronomy 28:27. On cleave cp. Deuteronomy 28:21.

61. every sickness, etc.] Cp. Jeremiah 6:7.

the book of this law] Heb. this Tôrah (see Deuteronomy 1:5, Deuteronomy 31:9) Elsewhere (Deuteronomy 29:21 (20), Deuteronomy 30:10, Deuteronomy 31:26, Joshua 1:8) this book of the law.

until thou be destroyed] Deuteronomy 28:20; Deuteronomy 28:24; Deuteronomy 28:45; Deuteronomy 28:51.

62, 63. The only vv. in this ch. (except Deuteronomy 28:68 b) in which the Pl. address occurs. The text, including the change to Sg. in the final clauses of both vv., is on the whole confirmed by LXX. Sam., some LXX codd. and Luc. give Deuteronomy 28:62 b in Pl. The change to Pl. is explicable logically in Deuteronomy 28:62, where the number of the people is being dealt with; but this reason does not account for the Pl. in Deuteronomy 28:63. The Sg., whither thou goest in to possess it, is characteristic of the Sg passages, and therefore is not due to the attraction of the Sg. in the next v.

63. rejoiced over you, etc.] Cp. Deuteronomy 8:16, Deuteronomy 30:9. Rejoice or exult, found only in exilic or post-exilic passages.

to multiply you] See on Deuteronomy 1:10, Deuteronomy 7:13.

rejoice … to destroy you] This rhetorical figure is characteristic of the deuteronomic style. Contrast Hosea 11:8 f.

64. Cp. Deuteronomy 4:27 f., in the Pl. address. From the one end, etc., Deuteronomy 13:7 (8). On other gods, etc., Deuteronomy 13:6 (7); wood and stone, Deuteronomy 4:28.

65. shalt thou find no ease] The vb. is found only in Jeremiah 31:2; Jeremiah 47:6; Jeremiah 50:34, Isaiah 52:4; its substantive in Isaiah 28:12.

no rest, etc.] Genesis 8:9.

a quaking heart] The vb. occurs in Deuteronomy 2:25.

failing of eyes] With disappointment of hope: cp. Deuteronomy 28:32 and Lamentations 2:11; Lamentations 4:17.

pining of soul] Faintness of longing or of life; Heb. nephesh means either.

66. and thy life shall be hanging before thee] Shall be in suspense, as on a thread. As indicated later in the v., thou shalt have no assurance of thy life. The vb is the same as that whose part. is rendered of long continuance in Deuteronomy 28:59. Cp. Job 24:22, R.V. marg.

67. Cp. Job 7:4 and above Deuteronomy 28:34.

There were two sides to Israel’s life in exile. Jeremiah (Jeremiah 29:4 ff.) advised the exiles in Babylon to settle down quietly into their new conditions and prosper as they could. This many of them did so thoroughly that it was difficult, if not impossible, to move them to return to Judaea. But a passage like Psalms 137 gives the other side, which this section of D predicts in such terrible detail. On the whole, it seems that the section was written previous to the Babylonian Exile. There is nothing in it hostile to a pre-exilic date.

68. into Egypt] A startling climax but one very natural to D, which has dwelt so frequently on the evils endured by Israel in the house of bondmen (see on Deuteronomy 6:12, and cp. Deuteronomy 17:16). Even Hosea (Hosea 8:13) had predicted a return to Egypt as a punishment for Israel’s sins. Therefore here again there is no datum incompatible with a pre-exilic authorship. Vatke (Einl. 385) sees in this v. proof of a date subsequent to the defeat of Josiah by Egypt at Megiddo.

69. Editorial Note

This v. along with the next definitely divides the addresses which precede and follow it. To which does it belong? These may refer to either.

By some (Knob., Kuen., Westph., Dri., Moore, Robinson) it is taken as the subscription to the preceding discourse and original to D, on the grounds that words of the covenant = terms of the covenant, and is more applicable to the laws, Deuteronomy 28:12-26 (with the attached blessings and curses in 28) than to the general exhortations of Deuteronomy 28:29 f. By others (Ew., Dillm., Addis, Steuern., Berth., Oxf. Hex., Cullen) the v. is taken as the superscription to the following discourse on these grounds, that there are no subscriptions elsewhere in Deut., that the language is not D’s, that D does not use covenant of the law-giving in Moab, but that the idea of this as a covenant prevails in 29 (Deuteronomy 28:9; Deuteronomy 28:12; Deuteronomy 28:14).

Neither opinion is wholly right; for probably the v. belonged originally neither to what precedes nor to what follows it. Steuern.’s interpretation of words of the covenant as words spoken at the close or settlement of this—‘the sermon on the conclusion of the covenant’—is in itself forced and is contradicted by Deuteronomy 29:9, which says that Israel are to keep and to do the words of the covenant, vbs. applied elsewhere to the laws given in Moab, the statutes and judgements. Therefore Deuteronomy 29:1 clearly refers to the contents of D’s law-book, 12–26. But it cannot be original to this. For it has children of Israel (as has the editorial Deuteronomy 4:44 ff. q.v.) instead of D’s all Israel; and its word for besides is one which appears only in later Heb. writings, save for the doubtful exception of Deuteronomy 4:35 (which possibly is also late). Moreover the following discourse has already a superscription.