Commentaria in Deuteronomium
56. The tender and delicate woman, who could not go upon the ground, nor set down her foot for softness and tenderness, shall envy her husband who lieth in her bosom, over the flesh of her son, and of her daughter, 57. And the filth of the afterbirths, that come forth from between her thighs, and over the children that are born the same hour; for they shall eat them secretly for the want of all things in the siege and distress, wherewith thy enemy shall oppress thee within thy gates. 58. If thou wilt not keep and fulfil all the words of this law, that are written in this volume, and fear his glorious and terrible name, that is, the Lord thy God; 59. The Lord shall increase thy plagues, and the plagues of thy seed, plagues great and lasting, infirmities grievous and perpetual, 60. And he will bring back upon thee all the afflictions of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of, and they shall stick fast to thee. 61. Moreover the Lord will bring upon thee all the diseases and plagues that are not written in the volume of this law, till he consume thee; 62. And you shall remain few in number, who before were as the stars of heaven for multitude, because thou heardest not the voice of the Lord thy God.
63. And as the Lord rejoiced upon you before, doing you good, and multiplying you: so he will rejoice destroying and bringing you to nought, so that you shall be removed from the land which thou shalt go in to possess. 64. The Lord shall scatter thee among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other: and there thou shalt serve strange gods, which thou and thy fathers know not, wood and stone. 65. Neither shalt thou be quiet even in those nations, nor shall there be any rest for the sole of thy foot. For the Lord will give thee there a fearful heart, and languishing eyes, and a soul consumed with pensiveness. 66. And thy life shall be as it were hanging before thee. Thou shalt fear night and day, and shalt not trust thy life. 67. In the morning thou shalt say: Who will grant me evening? and at evening: Who will grant me morning? for the fearfulness of thy heart, wherewith thou shalt be terrified, and for those things which thou shalt see with thy eyes. 68. The Lord shall bring thee again with ships into Egypt, by the way whereof he said to thee that thou shouldst see it no more. There shalt thou be sold to thy enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.
Vers. 1. THE LORD THY GOD WILL MAKE THEE HIGHER THAN ALL THE NATIONS, so that thou mayest surpass them all, in happiness, in wealth, in honour, in strength, in dominion.
IN THE FIELD—as if to say: Thou shalt abound in all necessaries, in town and country alike; for to bless here is to do good. God’s blessing is real, not verbal, nor courtly; it signifies and brings every prosperity, of body, of soul, and of fortune. Whence follows:
Vers. 4. BLESSED SHALL BE THE FRUIT OF THY WOMB, AND THE FRUIT OF THY GROUND—that is, thou shalt abound in children and in the fruits of thy land, and likewise in cattle.
Vers. 5. BLESSED SHALL BE THY BARNS.—The Chaldee and later translators render it, blessed thy baskets; but the Septuagint agree with our translator. The Hebrew word, then, signifies a repository, whether a basket, a storehouse or a barn. The sense is: Thou shalt abound in grain and bread, so that there shall be much left over, which thou mayest give out to the poor; for this is what he adds, saying: “And blessed thy stores”; for blessing signifies plenty and abundance, as I said on 2 Corinthians.
Vers. 6. BLESSED SHALT THOU BE COMING IN AND GOING OUT.—Thy entrance into any place, and likewise thy going out, shall be happy and fortunate, because God will direct thee in all things. So we see holy men directed by God in all things, and all their acts having happy issues, in whom is fulfilled that of Psalm i: “And all whatsoever he shall do shall prosper.”
Vers. 9. THE LORD WILL RAISE THEE UP TO BE A HOLY PEOPLE TO HIMSELF—as if to say: God will make thee to be, and to be called, a holy people, the people of God, peculiarly devoted to him, who in turn will defend thee as his people, advance thee and make thee glorious.
Vers. 10. AND ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE EARTH SHALL SEE THAT THE NAME OF THE LORD IS INVOCATED UPON THEE (as if to say: They shall see that thou art called by the name of God, or art called, and art, the people of God, and that God shows himself to be thy God by protecting thee and increasing thy fortunes, whence all) SHALL FEAR THEE;—for this is what it signifies in Scripture that the name of someone is invocated upon another, as is plain from Ecclesiasticus xxxvi, and elsewhere.
Vers. 12. THE LORD WILL OPEN HIS EXCELLENT TREASURE, THE HEAVEN, THAT IT MAY GIVE RAIN.—“Heaven,” that is, the air, is here called the treasure of God: because in it, as in a storehouse inscrutable to us, God has laid up the rain, through which all the good things of the earth come forth.
So the air is called the treasure of the winds, Psalm cxxxiv, 7: “Who bringeth forth winds out of his stores”;
and likewise of hail and snow, Job xxxviii, 22. So the abyss of the sea and of the waters, because it is inscrutable and impenetrable to God, is called the treasure of God, Psalm xxxii, 7, the deepest waters.
AND THOU SHALT LEND (that is, thou shalt be able to give a loan, out of thy wealth and plenty) TO MANY NATIONS, AND SHALT BORROW OF NO MAN (that is, take a loan)—because thou shalt be pressed by no necessity, since thou shalt abound at home in all things. So the Hebrew, the Septuagint and the Chaldee, which renders it, thou shalt lend to many nations, and thyself shalt receive a loan from no one. God therefore does not here permit or command usury, as the Jews understand it. For the Hebrew word lava means not usury, but a loan. The same word is in verse 44, where again our translator renders it, thou shalt lend.
Vers. 13. THE LORD SHALL MAKE THEE THE HEAD, AND NOT THE TAIL, AND THOU SHALT BE ALWAYS ABOVE, AND NOT BENEATH—as if to say: God will make thee everywhere and always first, not last; ruling over others, not subject.
So Theodoret, Question 34.
Vers. 15 and 16. IF THOU WILT NOT HEAR (obey) THE VOICE OF THE LORD THY GOD, etc., CURSED SHALT THOU BE IN THE CITY, CURSED IN THE FIELD—as if to say: Thou shalt be wretched and unfortunate, and things of town and country alike shall fail thee. Thus far Moses has reckoned the goods to be given to those who keep the law of God; here by contrast he reckons the many evils that shall befall those who violate the law of God. Let preachers press these things upon sinners: for these evils are the type and forerunner of the evils and punishments of hell.
Vers. 20. THE LORD SHALL SEND UPON THEE FAMINE AND HUNGER.—In the Hebrew, he shall send upon thee cursing and confusion, or a terrible uproar, in which all things are full of disturbance. But by these words both our translator and the Septuagint understood famine and hunger: for to carnal men, such as the Jews were, this seems the greatest curse and confusion.
the Septuagint render it consumption, which is the effect of God’s rebuke, that all thy works be lost, destroyed and consumed; it is a metonymy.
Vers. 22. THE LORD STRIKE THEE, etc., WITH COLD—so also the Septuagint; wherefore the Hebrew word dalac is of contrary signification: for elsewhere it commonly means burning and persecution. Whence the Chaldee and later translators here render, for cold, with burning.
AND HEAT.—The Chaldee and later translators render it, and with the sword: for they read chereb; but our translator, with other points, reads choreb, that is, drought, heat.
AND WITH BLASTING.—Blasting is a disease of the crops, which arises when an east wind enters the ears of corn, so that they cannot ripen, but are eaten away, wasted and dried up; it is also called mildew.
Vers. 23. BE THE HEAVEN THAT IS OVER THEE OF BRASS (that is, let it not rain the shower that waters the sown fields, but be hard and dry like brass), AND THE GROUND THOU TREADEST ON OF IRON—so that it cannot be ploughed, and consequently bear no fruit, just as if it were iron.
Vers. 24. THE LORD GIVE THEE DUST FOR RAIN UPON THY LAND—that is, in place of rain let dust fall, or sulphurous ash; as if to say: Let the heat be so great that in place of rain burning dust descends from heaven, stirred up by the force of the winds and carried aloft.
Vers. 27. THE LORD STRIKE THEE WITH THE ULCER OF EGYPT (such as he inflicted on the Egyptians by Moses, Exodus ix, 10), AND THE PART OF THY BODY BY WHICH THE DUNG IS CAST OUT, etc.—In the Hebrew, may he strike thee with infirmities of the seat, such as hemorrhoids, piles and like diseases.