Deuteronomy 28
McGeeCHAPTER 28THEME: Israel’s pre-written historyThis chapter continues the section regarding the future of Israel. Moses pronounces the conditional part of the covenant. The people of Israel would be blessed only as they obeyed God. Their disobedience would bring curses, which are spelled out for them here. Then we have one of the most remarkable passages of Scripture which gives their pre-written history in the land before they had even set foot on it. There are three prophecies of their dispossessionall have been fulfilled. There are three prophecies of their restorationtwo have been fulfilled. Israel’s third return to the land is yet future.
Deuteronomy 28:1
“If thou shalt hearken diligently"notice the great big “if.” This is a conditional part of the covenant. They are going to be blessed only as they obey God.
Deuteronomy 28:3
As you read this, perhaps you are struck by the fact that there are twelve curses pronounced but there are only six blessings. If you want to know why this is so, I’ll tell you where we pick up the rest of the blessings. Our Lord stood on the mount and delivered what is called the Sermon on the Mount. How did He begin it? “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mat_5:3)then the other beatitudes follow. Beginning His message like this would make the instructed Israelite listen. He was hearing of the blessings which would come to them even after their long, checkered history. At that time they had already experienced captivity twice, and they were yet to go into another captivity that would scatter them throughout the entire earth. There is the promise of an abundance of blessing if they will obey.
Deuteronomy 28:13
Now he returns to the curses and mentions that they all rest upon this matter of an “if.”
Deuteronomy 28:15
Again we see that this is conditional. Now we come to one of the most remarkable passages of Scripture. It is the history of Israel in the land, pre-written. Scripture prophesied concerning Israel’s being dispossessed out of the land three times and regathered into the land three times. There are to be three dispossessions and three regatherings of Israel. The first of these was prophesied by God to Abraham. “Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years…. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again …(Gen_15:13, Gen_15:16). They went down into Egypt for 430 years; then God brought them out of Egypt. That is what we are following now in Deuteronomy. They are on the east bank of the Jordan River, and God is bringing them back to the land for the first regathering. In the Book of Joshua, we will find them entering into the land, and in the Book of Judges we will find them settled in the land, which is a complete and literal fulfillment. Now, before they have even entered the land, the second time they are to be put out of the land is mentioned here. This is a very remarkable chapter.
Deuteronomy 28:32
This verse was accurately fulfilled in Judah’s last king, Zedekiah, whose sons were slain before him; then his eyes were put out. Blind and helpless, he was carried away into Babylonian captivity.
Deuteronomy 28:35
This was to be the Babylonian captivity which is now a matter of history. We have the record. We will learn of it later in our study of the Bible where we will read more prohecies about it and then will actually see it come to pass in both Kings and Chronicles. Why did all this happen to them? It was because of their disobedience. God had given them the “if’s.” God said, “If you obey, you will be blessed. If you disobey, you will be put out of the land.” Israel was regathered from the Babylonian captivity. Their return to the land is recorded in Ezra and Nehemiah. The prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi tell of their return to the land. So then, this is the second prophecy concerning their return to the land. This has been literally fulfilled. The third scattering of Israel was the result of being conquered by Rome. This is described prophetically.
Deuteronomy 28:48
Here in my study I have two volumes of Flavius Josephus’ history in which he tells about the coming of the Romans under Titus. Rome, known as the iron kingdom, fulfilled the prediction. “He shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck.”
Deuteronomy 28:49
Rome, coming all the way from the West, spoke a language that was entirely different from Hebrew. Our English is based on Latin and the European languages, but Hebrew is a language that is related to the Asian and African and Oriental languages. It is altogether different. God says the conquerors would be people “whose tongue thou shalt not understand.” It is interesting that Rome carried standards bearing the emblem of the eagle. I am of the opinion that many an instructed Israelite, when he looked over the battlements of the wall and saw the standards of Titus with an eagle on them, said, “This is it!”
Deuteronomy 28:50
Josephus tells in his history how mothers were forced to give up their babies, and the flesh of the babies was eaten. The people died, and their corpses collected inside the city. They had to throw them over the wall. May I say to you that this prophecy was literally fulfilled. And now the Jewish people are scattered throughout the world.
Deuteronomy 28:64
They have never returned from that dispersion. That has yet to be fulfilled. There are three prophecies of dispossessions. There are three prophecies that they will return. They have returned twice. They have not returned the third time. So we have six prophecies. Five of them have been literally fulfilled. What do you think about the sixth one? I can tell you what I think about it. I think it will be literally fulfilled. It is yet to come in the future.
Deuteronomy 28:65
How literally all this has been fulfilled in the persecutions of the Jews down through the centuries! This is all the consequence of their continued disobedience. They have no rest, and they have a trembling heart. In the morning they wish for evening, and in the evening they wish for morning. How sad. God is true to His Word, friends. What a lesson there is in that for us. This should move us to tell the gospel to these people who are dispossessed from the land. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is for Jew and Gentile alike, and it is for the “obedience to the faith among all nations” (Rom_1:5).