Deuteronomy 28 Footnotes

28:20 The perishing of Israel must be understood in terms of her removal from the land (as is clear from v. 21), not a final and ultimate annihilation. That would contradict God’s covenant promises elsewhere (Gn 17:7,13; Ps 105:9-10).

28:26 The curses listed here and in the following verses are stated in graphic and, no doubt, hyperbolic terms to emphasize the enormity of Israel’s sin and the punishment that must ensue, should she prove unfaithful. These punishments did not all take place, nor did they occur at all times, though the Bible records many examples of their fulfillment. They are representative of the kinds of judgments Israel could expect if she were to be disobedient to God’s covenant.

28:30 These curses are, in part, the reversal of what would befall the corrupt Canaanites in Israel’s occupation of the land (30:19). That curses such as these would befall the guilty by no means justifies their propriety, morally or legally. These are not reflections of the character of God, but reveal what can occur when he permits such human actions as instruments of his judgment.

28:36 The reference to a king does not prove that Deuteronomy was written in the period of the monarchy, as the critical view holds. It affirms prophetically what God had already promised to the patriarchs, that a line of kings would issue from them (Gn 17:6,16).

28:53 The allegation that resorting to cannibalism reflects a primitive ethic not worthy of a “high religion” or a “cultured people” fails to understand that this gruesome practice is hardly being sanctioned here. The point is exactly the opposite; consuming one’s offspring is so out of keeping with civilized behavior that it provides a shocking example of the result of covenant disobedience. In the reign of Jehoram, a faithless king of Israel, an incident of this kind did occur during a famine brought about by siege (2Kg 6:25-29).