The pestilence (דֶּבֶר deber) could be something like bubonic plague, which afflicted both people and animals with fever and delirium. 20b).”Īt the beginning of the judgments, Moses said, “The LORD will make the pestilence cling to you until He has consumed you from the land where you are entering to possess it” (Deut 28:21). 20a), but man invites it by his deeds (v. Having forgotten the commandments of God, the people would inevitably commit evil deeds and bring upon their own heads disaster. According to Craigie, “The root cause of the disaster would be forgetfulness the people would forget God, and in forgetting God they would forget his commandments. God’s judgment would come because of Israel’s choice to forsake the Lord and to pursue a life of evil deeds. The word send translates the Hebrew verb שָׁלַח shalach which in this passage means to “send out, forth, send on a mission.” The form of the verb is intensive (Piel), which means the curse will be relentless in its pursuit. Moses said, “The LORD will send upon you curses, confusion, and rebuke, in all you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken Me” (Deut 28:20). Moses gave an overarching summary statement of all God would do to Israel if they pursued evil and forsook Him. Daniel Block states, “By means of a seemingly endless catalogue of secondary agents of doom, Moses warns that Yahweh will marshal every conceivable agent of destruction against His people.” God is offering a theological understanding of Israel’s circumstances and experiences should they break their covenant with Yahweh and not abide by His directives. Moses informed his people that the curses would pursue them in stages until they were destroyed (Deut 28:20-22, 24, 45, 48, 51, 61). What follows in Deuteronomy 28:20-68 spelled out God’s curses in specific detail and were intended to produce a healthy fear in the Israelite who might be tempted to turn away from the Lord and His clear directives. 19 Cursed shall you be when you come in and cursed shall you be when you go out" (Deut 28:16-19). 18 Cursed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. 17 Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. "Cursed shall you be in the city and cursed shall you be in the country. The curses would reverse all God’s blessings and would overtake His people wherever they were. The seriousness of God’s covenant with His people is illustrated by the threat of a curse on any who violate it (Deut 28:60, 61)." Jeremiah, in despair, cursed the man who brought news of his birth (Jer 20:14, 15). God cursed the serpent and the ground after the sin of Adam and Eve (Gen 3:14, 17). It wishes or prays for ill or injury on a person or an object. They were to abide by “all His commandments and His statutes”, and failure to do so would bring God’s curses. The responsibility fell upon Israel to abide by the terms of the covenant. Having already presented God’s blessings for obedience (Deut 28:1-14), Moses turned to the cursing section of the covenant, saying, “But it shall come about, if you do not obey the LORD your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you” (Deut 28:15). Payment is always required for our services, but don’t worry - we’ll never ask you for money.Deuteronomy 28:15-46 - The Lord’s Cursings Of course, we use the word “volunteer” loosely. We’ll make them surrender totally to our will, force them into absolute obedience while we punish them for the crime of tormenting you. With just one word from you, our special volunteer staff will happily lay a complex trap for the individual who causes you so much frustration, and exact sweet revenge on the troublemaker for you, turning their life into exactly the kind of living hell you want.
You know the feeling - through no fault of your own, your every step is hindered by the actions of someone who’s been born onto this Earth just to trip you up? I’m sure that at one time or another, you’ve felt frustrated by the actions of a certain troublesome individual, who always seems to make your life more difficult. Welcome, one and all, to our little Agency.