The Second Series of Curses (Deuteronomy 28:47-57).
The curses in this second series can be analysed as follows in the words of Moses:
a Because you did not serve Yahweh your God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things (Deuteronomy 28:47).
b Therefore will you each (thou) serve your enemies that Yahweh will send against you, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things, and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck, until He has destroyed you.
c Yahweh will bring a nation against you from far, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flies, a nation whose tongue you will not understand, a nation of fierce countenance, who will not regard the person of the old, nor show favour to the young (Deuteronomy 28:48-50).
d And they will eat the fruit of your cattle, and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; who also will not leave you grain, new wine, or oil, the increase of your cattle, or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish (Deuteronomy 28:51).
e And they will besiege you in all your gates, until your high and fortified walls come down, in which you trust, throughout all your land (Deuteronomy 28:52 a).
e And they will besiege you in all your gates throughout all your land, which Yahweh your God has given you (Deuteronomy 28:52 b).
d And you will each eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, whom Yahweh your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies will distress you (Deuteronomy 28:53).
c The man who is gentle among you, and very caring, his eye will be evil towards his brother, and towards the wife of his bosom, and towards the remnant of his children whom he has remaining, so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat, because he has nothing left him, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you in all your gates.
b The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not adventure to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicacy and tenderness, her eye will be evil towards the husband of her bosom, and towards her son, and towards her daughter, and towards her young one who comes out from between her feet, and towards her children whom she will bear, for she will eat them for want of all things, secretly, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you in your gates (Deuteronomy 28:54-57).
a If you will not observe to do all the words of this law which are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and fearful name, YAHWEH YOUR GOD (Deuteronomy 28:58).
Note that in ‘a' it will be because they did not serve Yahweh their God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things, and in the parallel it was if they would not observe to do all the words of this law which are written in this book, that they may fear this glorious and fearful name Yahweh their God. In ‘b' they will each (thou) serve their enemies whom Yahweh will send against them, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things, and He will put a yoke of iron on their neck, until He has destroyed them, and in the parallel each man will eat his children without giving any of the meat to any others of his family (because he is so hungry) in the siege and distress with which their enemy will distress them in their cities. In ‘c' Yahweh will bring against them a nation of fierce countenance, who will not regard the person of the old, nor show favour to the young, and in the parallel the tender and delicate woman will be so wrought on that she will eat young and old in order to survive. In ‘d' the enemy will eat the fruit of their cattle, and in the parallel they themselves will eat the fruit of their own body. In ‘e' ‘they will besiege you' with its consequences parallels ‘they will besiege you' with its consequence.
Note also the repetition in Deuteronomy 28:55; Deuteronomy 28:57 of ‘in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you in your gates'. This repetition in the second half of a chiasmus is typical of the Pentateuch and occurs in Exodus 18:21-22 a with Exodus 18:25-26 a and Numbers in Numbers 18:4 with Numbers 18:7, and Numbers 18:23 with Numbers 18:24; and elsewhere in Deuteronomy in Deuteronomy 2:21 with Deuteronomy 2:22), a pointer to unity of authorship.
Introduction.
‘ Because you did not serve Yahweh your God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things, therefore will you serve your enemies that Yahweh will send against you, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things, and he will put a yoke of iron on your neck, until he has destroyed you.'
The cursing is now taken up again. The purpose of this lengthy treatment and constant repetition in different ways was in order that the point may not be easily forgotten. It is the sign of an adequate preacher that he represents things in different ways so that they will not be forgotten.
The main point being made here is that they had had the opportunity of serving Yahweh in joyfulness and gladness of heart, abundantly provided for, and abundantly blessed. But they had refused. And now the opposite would come on them. Instead of the joyous service of Yahweh, they would be slaves of their enemies, they would hunger and thirst, they would be without proper clothing and made to walk naked in order to shame them (compare Isaiah 20:4), and they would have an iron yoke around their neck. Their condition would be even worse than that from which they had been delivered when they had been in bondage in Egypt. And this would go on until at last they had been destroyed.
The yoke of iron was particularly expressive. Such yokes would have been known in Egypt, purchased from the Hittites. But they were comparatively rare and would have been looked on as something wonderful and to be feared. They were inescapable. You could break a yoke of wood, but not one of iron. And it was excessively heavy and chafing.