Deuteronomy 28:36

The LORD shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(36) Thee, and thy king that thou shalt set over thee.—Comp. Deuteronomy 17:14. The former passage is not the only one in which Moses shows his fore knowledge that Israel would have a king. But could any later writer have concealed his knowledge that there were two kingdoms, or have avoided all allusion to the throne of David in passages like these?

Several kings went into captivity. Jehoahaz was taken to Egypt; Jeconiah and Zedekiah to Babylon. Hoshea’s fate is not recorded in Scripture; but he was taken (apparently) with Samaria by the Assyrians.

Shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.—See Note on Deuteronomy 4:28.

Benson Commentary

Deuteronomy 28:36. The Lord shall bring thee and thy king — The calamity shall be universal; even thy king shall not be able to avoid it, much less his subjects, who have far less advantage and opportunity for escape; he who should protect or rescue them shall be lost with them. This was partly fulfilled when Jehoiachin was carried captive to Babylon, with his mother, wives, officers, and the mighty of the land, 2 Kings 24:15; and afterward Zedekiah, 2 Kings 25:7; Jeremiah 52:11. For the Assyrians were a people, though not quite unknown to the Jews, in Moses’s time, yet with whom they had but little intercourse. But it was more especially accomplished in their last dispersion by the Romans, a nation which neither they nor their fathers knew. There thou shalt serve other gods, wood and stone — So that what formerly was their choice and delight should now become their plague and misery. And this, doubtless, was the condition of many Israelites under the Assyrian and Babylonish captivities, being either influenced by the example and counsels of their conquerors, or compelled by their tyranny to practise this idolatry. And Bishop Newton on this passage proves, by authentic testimonies, that “it has been common for Jews in Popish countries to comply with the idolatrous worship of the Church of Rome, and to bow down to stocks and stones, rather than that their effects should be seized and confiscated.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

28:15-44 If we do not keep God's commandments, we not only come short of the blessing promised, but we lay ourselves under the curse, which includes all misery, as the blessing all happiness. Observe the justice of this curse. It is not a curse causeless, or for some light cause. The extent and power of this curse. Wherever the sinner goes, the curse of God follows; wherever he is, it rests upon him. Whatever he has is under a curse. All his enjoyments are made bitter; he cannot take any true comfort in them, for the wrath of God mixes itself with them. Many judgments are here stated, which would be the fruits of the curse, and with which God would punish the people of the Jews, for their apostacy and disobedience. We may observe the fulfilling of these threatenings in their present state. To complete their misery, it is threatened that by these troubles they should be bereaved of all comfort and hope, and left to utter despair. Those who walk by sight, and not by faith, are in danger of losing reason itself, when every thing about them looks frightful.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the marginal references for the fulfillment of these judgments.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

36. The Lord shall bring thee, and thy king, &c.—This shows how widespread would be the national calamity; and at the same time how hopeless, when he who should have been their defender shared the captive fate of his subjects.

there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone—The Hebrew exiles, with some honorable exceptions, were seduced or compelled into idolatry in the Assyrian and Babylonish captivities (Jer 44:17-19). Thus, the sin to which they had too often betrayed a perverse fondness, a deep-rooted propensity, became their punishment and their misery.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Thee and thy king: the calamity shall be both universal, which even thy king shall not be able to avoid, much less the subjects, who have far less advantage and opportunity for escape; and irrecoverable, because he who should protect or rescue them is lost with them. See Lamentations 4:20.

There shalt thou serve other gods; either being corrupted by their examples and counsels, or compelled to it by their tyranny. So what formerly was their choice and delight now becomes their plague and misery. And this doubtless was the condition of many Israelites under the Assyrian and Babylonish captivities, as we may gather from Jeremiah 44:17-19, and other places, though many of them kept themselves free from that infection.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the Lord shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shall set over thee,.... This was fulfilled both in Jehoiachin and in Zedekiah, kings of Judah, who were carried captive to Babylon, by Nebuchadnezzar, 2 Kings 24:15,

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, Jeremiah 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 Deuteronomy 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.''

Geneva Study Bible

The LORD shall bring thee, and thy {p} king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.

(p) As he did Manasseh, Joiakim, Zedekiah and others.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

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.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 36, 37. - As a consequence, God would bring them under subjection to a foreign power, and they should be made to serve other gods, wood and stone (Deuteronomy 4:28), and would become an object of horror, a proverb, and a byword among the nations (cf. 1 Kings 9:7; Jeremiah 24:9). Yen. 38. - Even in their own land the curse would overtake them and rest upon them in all their interests and relations. Deuteronomy 28:36

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The loss of their spiritual character would be followed by the dissolution of the covenant fellowship. This thought connects Deuteronomy 28:36 with Deuteronomy 28:35, and not the thought that Israel being afflicted with leprosy would be obliged to go into captivity, and in this state would become an object of abhorrence to the heathen (Schultz). The Lord would bring the nation and its king to a foreign nation that it did not know, and thrust them into bondage, so that it would be obliged to serve other gods - wood and stone (vid., Deuteronomy 4:28), - and would become an object of disgust, a proverb, and a byword to all nations whither God should drive it (vid., 1 Kings 9:7; Jeremiah 24:9).