The Third Series of Curses (Deuteronomy 28:59-68).
The sixfold pattern here is not quite so apparent (there is always the danger of seeking to fit the text into a pre-prepared straitjacket). It is certainly more complicated here, but what has preceded suggests that we should seek such a pattern here too, to make up seven sixfold patterns, the number of divine completeness.
This is the ultimate in curses. In the final analysis they will be removed from the land, as they had removed the nations of Canaan from the land. This had to be so, for their permission to be in the land was dependent on obedience to the covenant which had granted them the land. It would be the final fulfilment of all the warnings that Yahweh had given them (compare Leviticus 26:33-39).
The final six curses will result in dreadful diseases (see Deuteronomy 28:22; Deuteronomy 28:27; Deuteronomy 28:35; Leviticus 26:16; Leviticus 26:21; Leviticus 26:25; compare Exodus 32:35; Numbers 11:33; Numbers 14:12; Numbers 25:8-9), decimation of their numbers (Deuteronomy 4:27; Leviticus 26:21-22), destruction and removal from the land (Deuteronomy 4:26; Deuteronomy 6:15; Deuteronomy 7:4; Deuteronomy 8:19-20; Deuteronomy 11:17), scattering among the peoples (Deuteronomy 4:27; Deuteronomy 32:26; Leviticus 26:33), total lack of rest (Leviticus 26:36; Leviticus 26:39 contrast Deuteronomy 12:9-10) and finally a return to bondage in Egypt (compare Hosea 8:13; Hosea 9:3).
Analysis in the words of Moses;
a Then Yahweh will make your plagues wonderful, and the plagues of your seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance. And he will bring on you again all the diseases of Egypt, which you were afraid of, and they will cleave to you. Also every sickness, and every plague, which are not written in the book of this law, those will Yahweh bring upon you, until you are destroyed (Deuteronomy 28:59-61).
b And you will be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven for multitude, because you did not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God (Deuteronomy 28:62-63).
c And Yahweh will scatter you among all peoples, from the one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth, and there you will serve other gods, which you have not known, you nor your fathers, even wood and stone (Deuteronomy 28:64).
c And among these nations you will find no ease, and there will be no rest for the sole of your foot (Deuteronomy 28:65 a).
b But Yahweh will give you there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and pining of soul, and your life will hang in doubt before you, and you will fear night and day, and will have no assurance of your life. In the morning you will say, “Would that it were even!” and at even you will say, “Would that it were morning!” for the fear of your heart which you will fear, and for the sight of your eyes which you will see (Deuteronomy 28:65-67).
a And Yahweh will bring you into Egypt again with ships, by the way of which I said to you, “You shall see it no more again,” and there you will sell yourselves to your enemies for bondsmen and for bondswomen, and no man will buy you (Deuteronomy 28:68).
Note in ‘a' that He will bring on them the diseases of Egypt and in the parallel they will again be bondsmen in Egypt. These were the two most vivid bad memories of life in Egypt. In ‘b. they will be left few in number and in the parallel we have a vivid description of how that will come about. In ‘c' they will be scattered among all people and will serve other gods, and in the parallel among these nations they will find no ease and no rest for their feet (the consequence of serving other gods).
‘ Then Yahweh will make your plagues wonderful, and the plagues of your seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance. And he will bring on you again all the diseases of Egypt, which you were afraid of, and they will cleave to you. Also every sickness, and every plague, which are not written in the book of this law, those will Yahweh bring upon you, until you are destroyed.'
The level of disease that would come on them would be extremely high for they would be His judgments and he would have withdrawn His protection. He would bring on them ‘extraordinary plagues', and on their children He would bring great plagues, long continuing plagues, and long continuing sore sicknesses. The purpose is to bring out the awful consequences of sin. Much of the disease in the world is due to sin, not as a direct judgment, but as the result of the way men live and act. For this bringing of disease contrast Deuteronomy 7:15; Exodus 15:26; and for the plagues of Egypt compare Exodus 9:9-14).
“All the diseases of Egypt, which you were afraid of.” There were many diseases in Egypt of which they had been afraid, including among many others tuberculosis, trachoma causing blindness, elephantisis, and severe boils (Exodus 9:9). The boil of Egypt was an unpleasant disease which they had known from Egypt and which was infamous (Exodus 9:9-11; compare Leviticus 13:18-23). A similar disease is identified in an Egyptian medical text. They would not only suffer from these diseases but they would ‘cleave to them'. They would be permanent.
“Which are not written in the book of this law (instruction).” This implies instruction already in writing and must indicate at least the basis of the Pentateuch in writing at this time.
‘ And you (ye) will be left few in number, whereas you (ye) were as the stars of heaven for multitude, because you (thou) did not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God.'
In Deuteronomy 1:10; Deuteronomy 10:22 he had boasted how Yahweh had multiplied them. Now he warns that He would decimate them. Growing in numbers was a part of the covenant made with their fathers (Genesis 12:2; Genesis 22:17; Genesis 26:4; Genesis 26:24). It was a proof of Yahweh's blessing. But to desert the covenant would result in decimation. We have only to think of what is described in the curses to recognise how this would be so. Yet hidden within this threat is a promise. In destroying them there would be a small remnant remaining (compare Isaiah 6:13).
‘ And it will come about, that, as Yahweh rejoiced over you (ye) to do you (ye) good, and to multiply you (ye), so Yahweh will rejoice over you (ye) to cause you (ye) to perish, and to destroy you (ye), and you (ye) shall be plucked from off the land to which you go in order to possess it.'
The contrast is made between what Yahweh had done and longed to do for them, and what He would do because of their rebellion. He had rejoiced over them, it had been His good pleasure to do them good, He had multiplied them. But because of what they would have become He would rejoice in causing them to perish and destroying them. There is a real sense in which God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He would prefer that they turned from their wickedness and lived. But what was righteous in Him could only rejoice in the destruction of those who were the causes of sin when there was no hope of repentance. Thus some would perish, some would be destroyed, and some would be plucked from the land which Yahweh had given them to possess. For that possession had depended on obedience.
This would be no rush decision. Later history testifies to His forbearance and longsuffering. But eventually He would do it if He had to.
‘ And Yahweh will scatter you (thee) among all peoples, from the one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth, and there you will serve other gods, which you have not known, you nor your fathers, even wood and stone.'
And when they were plucked from the land they would be scattered among the nations, among ‘all peoples', from one end of earth to the other. The picture is of widespread distribution far exceeding that of Assyria and Babylon. It is general rather than specific. And there they would throw themselves into idolatry, serving many gods, so lost to all that they had once believed in would they be. They would become like the Canaanites whom they should have driven out.
This did indeed happen to many. And that was why many never came back. They were scattered by many things, captivity, fear, necessity, the sad state of the land, and they ended up among many nations in total apostasy. The picture is the reversal of all the hopes that they had as they listened to Moses. It must have appeared surreal.
‘ And among these nations you will find no ease, and there will be no rest for the sole of your foot, but Yahweh will give you there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and pining of soul, and your life will hang in doubt before you, and you will fear night and day, and will have no assurance of your life. In the morning you will say, “Would that it were even!” and at even you will say, “Would that it were morning!” for the fear of your heart which you will fear, and for the sight of your eyes which you will see.'
But let them be assured of this. They would find no rest (contrast Deuteronomy 3:20; Deuteronomy 12:9; Deuteronomy 25:19; Exodus 33:14; Joshua 1:13; Judges 3:11, etc.). There would be no ease, no rest for the sole of their feet, no rest for their hearts and minds. Their hearts would tremble, their eyes would fail because of their distress, their souls would pine, their lives would be in the balances. Day and night they would be afraid, and they would far for their lives. In the morning they would long for the evening, and in the evening they would long for the morning, so terrible would their lives be, because of what their hearts feared, and because of what their eyes saw. They would have lost the covenant rest which God had promised them.
‘ And Yahweh will bring you into Egypt again with ships, by the way of which I said to you, “You shall see it no more again,” and there you (ye) will sell yourselves (ye) to your enemies for bondsmen and for bondswomen, and no man will buy you.'
And finally they would ‘return to Egypt'. Yahweh will do what the king must not do (Deuteronomy 17:16). Here was the ultimate curse. They would be back to the place from which they had been delivered from slavery and they would not even be wanted as slaves.
Now it is clear from what has been said that all these things could not apply to all the people. Least of all this when so many had been scattered among the nations. It is rather the significance that was in mind. Many of them would be returned whence they came. The deliverance would be reversed. ‘By the way that you came' does not under this interpretation mean a strict using of the ways previously travelled but arrival at the same place from which they had originally set out, Egypt.
Moses knew that a common way to travel from Egypt in order to avoid the hardships of the way was by ship along the coast, but he probably had little knowledge of the difficulties of the Palestine coastline. He did, however, know that much trade along the coast took place by ship. The thought is not of general trade but rather of their being in such desperation that they would travel there in order to sell themselves into slavery. Slaves would often be delivered to Egypt by ship. Yahweh had said that they would see it no more. But that had depended on obedience. It would be a different matter now.
Alternately it has been suggested that based on Ugaritic evidence ‘with ships' should be rather translated as ‘casually'. Then the thought would be that they literally returned by the way that they had come with little forethought, in order to sell themselves as slaves in Egypt, or that they were dragged there by traders who cared little.
But, whichever be the case, so poor would be their condition that no one would buy them. They would simply be dispensable. This would be the final ignominy. They would be so valueless that they would not even be wanted as slaves in Egypt.
A little thought will demonstrate that this had to be said by Moses at this time. No one in the future would ever have seen this as the ultimate curse. And to no one else but Israel then would it have had the same impact.
It should be pointed out that this is not intended to be prophecy. It is in fact describing what could happen in any century BC. Famine, pestilence and war were commonplace, sieges constantly took place. We only relate it to later centuries because we have records of what happened then and see it in that light. But to Moses it was simply the inevitable result of the losing of the protection of Yahweh and the incurring of His anger, and the consequence of their disobedience in incurring the loss of the gift of the land as the Canaanite had before them. The choice was simple. Remaining within the covenant and enjoying all that God had in store for them as His people, or turning from the covenant and facing the inevitable consequences of rejection.
‘ These are the words of the covenant which Yahweh commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.'
With these words Moses' great speech, which began at Deuteronomy 5:1, finishes. It is stated as portraying a covenant which parallels that given at Horeb. It is not a replacement. The two are to be seen as one, as his first introduction demonstrated. For it was fully based on what happened at Sinai (Deuteronomy 5). This may also be the colophon on the tablet or papyrus on which it was written.