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Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Deuteronomy 28:49

A nation - from far - Probably the Romans. As the eagle flieth - The very animal on all the Roman standards. The Roman eagle is proverbial. Whose tongue thou shalt not understand - The Latin language, than which none was more foreign to the structure and idiom of the Hebrew. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Deuteronomy 28:45

Verse 45 45.Moreover, all these curses shall come upon thee. He not only confirms what he has already said, but takes away all hope of alleviation, since God’s scourges shall not cease until they have repented. He declares that all the curses shall come upon them; for although they are not always congregated into a single band, still it is true that God pays the wages of the transgressors of His Law with this multitude of miseries which Moses has recounted. By the word pursue, he takes away all... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Deuteronomy 28:49

Verse 49 49.The Lord shall bring a nation against them from far. He enforces the same threatenings in different words, viz., that unknown and barbarous enemies should come, who shall attack them with great impetuosity and violence. And still further to aggravate their cruelty, He says that their language shall be a strange one; for, when there can be no oral communication, there is no room for entreaties, which sometimes awaken the most savage to mercy. But Jeremiah shews that this was... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 28:15-48

The curse. Like the blessing, the curse is a reality. It cleaves to the sinner, pursues him, hunts him down, ruins and slays him ( Deuteronomy 28:45 ). Does some one say, "An exploded superstition"? If so, it is a superstition in the belief of which mankind has shown itself singularly unanimous. View its reality as attested: 1. By conscience . The criminal cannot divest himself of the belief that avenging powers are following on his track. 2. By experience . "Rarely,"... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 28:15-68

The curse . In case of disobedience and apostasy, not only would the blessing be withheld, but a curse would descend, blighting, destructive, and ruinous. As the blessing was set forth in six announcements ( Deuteronomy 28:3-6 ), the curse is proclaimed in form and number corresponding ( Deuteronomy 28:16-19 ). The curse thus appears as the exact counterpart of the blessing. The different forms in which the threatened curse should break forth are then detailed in five groups. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 28:15-68

Love veiled in frown. Probably many may think that this is one of the most awful chapters in the Word of God. Certainly we are not aware of any other in which there is such a long succession of warnings, increasing in terror as they advance. In fact, Matthew Henry tells us of a wicked man who was so enraged at reading this chapter that he tore the leaf out of his Bible! Impotent rage! Impotent as if, when a man dreaded an eclipse of the sun, he were to tear up the announcements thereof. ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 28:15-68

A nation becoming a beacon. If Mount Gerizim had the weight cf. the people on the side of the blessing, Mount Ebal had certainly the weight of the deliverance. No wonder the Law was to be written on its rocky tablets, since the major part of the Law consists in such denunciation of possible disobedience as might serve to render it improbable. As Dr. Arnold has said, "As if, too, warning were far more required than encouragement, we find that the blessings promised for obedience bear a... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 28:35-46

Third group . Moses reverts to the calamities already threatened ( Deuteronomy 28:27 ), for the purpose of leading on the thought that, as such diseases separated the sufferer from the society of his fellows, so Israel should be separated from God and brought under the dominion of strangers as a punishment for rebellion and apostasy. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 28:45-68

The remoter consequences of rebellion. The evil if uncured aggravates itself—develops new symptoms; and as the evil grows, so misery increases likewise. The man of God foresees a yet further stage of misery in the distant future. His predictions of woe plainly point to the domination of the Roman eagles, and to the miseries consequent upon the final dispersion of the Jews. To the eye of God's prophet the long procession of coming woes is clearly revealed—a series of miseries stretching... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 28:46

These curses would be for a sign and for a wonder, exciting astonishment and dismay in the beholder, and showing that it was indeed the hand of God that was upon the rebellious nation. Forever. This, though it may imply the final and utter rejection of Israel as a nation, does not preclude the hope of restoration of a part of Israel as individuals, or as a remnant remaining in or returning to faith and obedience (cf. Isaiah 10:22 ; Isaiah 6:13 ; Romans 9:27 ; Romans 11:5 ). read more

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