seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Deuteronomy 28:25 The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth. 26 Your carcasses will be food for all the birds and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away. 27 The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. 28 The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind. 29 At midday you will grope about like a blind person in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue you.
Here's the easy English commentary.
Moses knew that the Israelites were not very faithful. He warns them what would happen. If they are not faithful, their enemies will defeat them. Nobody will bury the people who have died. Birds will eat their bodies. The Israelites will have many diseases that nobody can cure. The Israelites will not know what to do. They will be like blind people. Their enemies will take the Israelites’ wives, their property and their children. They will not be able to stop their enemies. The worst thing will be that the enemies will take the Israelites out of their country. They will make the Israelites serve false gods. People make these false gods out of wood and stone. All that happened to Israel in 721 B.C. And it happened to Judah in 598 B.C. Psalm 137:1-3 describes how their enemies laughed at them. ‘Our enemies demanded songs of joy. “Sing to us one of the songs from Zion.” ’
Verses 28 and 29 seem to stand out this morning. I went to GodVine to get this commentary.
The Lord shall smite thee with madness - שגעון shiggaon, distraction, so that thou shalt not know what to do.
And blindness - עורון ivvaron, blindness, both physical and mental; the גרב garab, (Deuteronomy 28:27), destroying their eyes, and the judgments of God confounding their understandings.
Astonishment - תמהון timmahon, stupidity and amazement. By the just judgments of God they were so completely confounded, as not to discern the means by which they might prevent or remove their calamities, and to adopt those which led directly to their ruin. How true is the ancient saying, Quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat! "Those whom God is determined to destroy, he first infatuates." But this applies not exclusively to the poor Jews: how miserably infatuated have the powers of the continent of Europe been, in all their councils and measures, for several years past! And what is the result? They have fallen - most deplorably fallen!
And blindness - עורון ivvaron, blindness, both physical and mental; the גרב garab, (Deuteronomy 28:27), destroying their eyes, and the judgments of God confounding their understandings.
Astonishment - תמהון timmahon, stupidity and amazement. By the just judgments of God they were so completely confounded, as not to discern the means by which they might prevent or remove their calamities, and to adopt those which led directly to their ruin. How true is the ancient saying, Quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat! "Those whom God is determined to destroy, he first infatuates." But this applies not exclusively to the poor Jews: how miserably infatuated have the powers of the continent of Europe been, in all their councils and measures, for several years past! And what is the result? They have fallen - most deplorably fallen!
Thou shalt be only oppressed, etc. - Perhaps no people under the sun have been more oppressed and spoiled than the rebellious Jews. Indeed, this has been their portion, with but little intermission, for nearly 1,800 years. And still they grope at noon day, as the blind gropeth in darkness - they do not yet discover, notwithstanding the effulgence of the light by which they are encompassed, that the rejection of their own Messiah is the cause of all their calamities.
Last night, August 21st, the President was in Phoenix. On the local news, there was a story about people who gathered in a church to show their love for one another. Here's a link to the story. I cried when I saw the televised story. People were pouring into the church.... which is good and normal right? What made me cry though was a banner hanging on a pillar in the brick and mortar church where this peaceful assembly took place.... "Protect our Trans Troops". Where are we? What is going on?
Reading Deuteronomy 28 while all this is going on.... it's a bit rough.
