But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken to
the
voice of the Lord thy God
As directed, exhorted, and encouraged to, ( Deuteronomy
28:1 )
to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes,
which I
command thee this day;
both moral and ceremonial:
that all these curses shall come upon thee;
from the hand of God, certainly, suddenly, and unawares:
and overtake thee;
pursuing after thee, will come up to thee, and seize upon thee,
though they may seem to move slowly; see ( Zechariah
5:3 Zechariah
5:4 ) ; namely, the curses which follow. Manasseh Ben Israel
F6 divides them into two parts, the
first from hence to ( Deuteronomy
28:45 ) ; which respects the destruction of the first temple,
and the things that went before or related to that; and the
second from thence to the end of the chapter, which he thinks
refers to the destruction of the second temple, and their present
case and circumstances; and it must be owned that for the most
part the distinction may seem to hold good; what is prophesied of
that should befall the Jews for their disobedience being more
remarkably and distinctly fulfilled in the one than in the other;
yet there are things in the whole which respect both, or that
were fulfilled, some under one dispensation, and some under
another, and some that were fulfilled in both; but chiefly and
more manifestly at and since their dispersion by the Romans.