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Commentary on Deuteronomy 28 verses 15–44
Having viewed the bright side of the cloud, which is towards the obedient, we have now presented to us the dark side, which is towards the disobedient. If we do not keep God's commandments, we not only come short of the blessing promised, but we lay ourselves under the curse, which is as comprehensive of all misery as the blessing is of all happiness. Observe,
I. The equity of this curse. It is not a curse causeless, nor for some light cause; God seeks not occasion against us, nor is he apt to quarrel with us. That which is here mentioned as bringing the curse is, 1. Despising God, refusing to hearken to his voice (Deu 28:15), which bespeaks the highest contempt imaginable, as if what he said were not worth the heeding, or we were not under any obligation to him. 2. Disobeying him, not doing his commandments, or not observing to do them. None fall under his curse but those that rebel against his command. 3. Deserting him. "It is because of the wickedness of thy doings, not only whereby thou hast slighted me, but whereby thou hast forsaken me," Deu 28:20. God never casts us off till we first cast him off. It intimates that their idolatry, by which they forsook the true God for false gods, would be their destroying sin more than any other.
II. The extent and efficacy of this curse.
1.In general, it is declared, "All these curses shall come upon thee from above, and shall overtake thee; though thou endeavour to escape them, it is to no purpose to attempt it, they shall follow thee whithersoever thou goest, and seize thee, overtake thee, and overcome thee," Deu 28:15. It is said of the sinner, when God's wrath is in pursuit of him, that he would fain flee out of his hand (Job 27:22), but he cannot; if he flee from the iron weapon, yet the bow of steel shall reach him and strike him through. There is no running from God but by running to him, no fleeing from his justice but by fleeing to his mercy. See Psa 21:7, Psa 21:8. (1.) Wherever the sinner goes, the curse of God follows him; wherever he is, it rests upon him. He is cursed in the city and in the field, Deu 28:16. The strength of the city cannot shelter him from it, the pleasant air of the country is no fence against these pestilential steams. He is cursed (Deu 28:19) when he comes in, for the curse is upon the house of the wicked (Pro 3:33), and he is cursed when he goes out, for he cannot leave that curse behind him, nor get rid of it, which has entered into his bowels like water and like oil into his bones. (2.). Whatever he has is under a curse: Cursed is the ground for his sake, and all that is on it, or comes out of it, and so he is cursed from the ground, as Cain, Gen 4:11. The basket and store are cursed, Deu 28:17, Deu 28:18. All his enjoyments being forfeited by him are in a manner forbidden to him, as cursed things, which he has no title to. To those whose mind and conscience are defiled every thing else is so, Tit 1:15. They are all embittered to him; he cannot take any true comfort in them, for the wrath of God mixes itself with them, and he is so far from having any security of the continuance of them that, if his eyes be open, he may see them all condemned and ready to be confiscated, and with them all his joys and all his hopes gone for ever. (3.) Whatever he does is under a curse too. It is a curse in all that he sets his hand to (Deu 28:20), a constant disappointment, which those are subject to that set their hearts upon the world, and expect their happiness in it, and which cannot but be a constant vexation. This curse is just the reverse of the blessing in the former part of the chapter. Thus whatever bliss there is in heaven there is not only the want of it, but the contrary to it, in hell. Isa 65:13, My servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry.
2.Many particular judgments are here enumerated, which would be the fruits of the curse, and with which God would punish the people of the Jews for their apostasy and disobedience. These judgments threatened are of divers kinds, for God has many arrows in his quiver, four sore judgments (Eze 14:21), and many more. They are represented as very terrible, and the descriptions of them are exceedingly lively and affecting, that men, knowing these terrors of the Lord, might, if possible, be persuaded. The threatenings of the same judgment are several times repeated, that they might make the more deep and lasting impressions, and to intimate that, if men persisted in their disobedience, the judgment which they thought was over, and of which they said, "Surely the bitterness of it is past," would return with double force; for when God judges he will overcome. (1.) Bodily diseases are here threatened, that they should be epidemical in their land. These God sometimes makes use of for the chastisement and improvement of his own people. Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. But here they are threatened to be brought upon his enemies as tokens of his wrath, and designed for their ruin. So that according to the temper of our spirits, under sickness, accordingly it is to us a blessing or a curse. But, whatever sickness may be to particular persons, it is certain that epidemical diseases raging among a people are national judgments, and are so to be accounted. He here threatens, [1.] Painful diseases (Deu 28:35), a sore botch, beginning in the legs and knees, but spreading, like Job's boils, from heat to foot. [2.] Shameful diseases (v. 27), the botch of Egypt (such boils and blains as the Egyptians had been plagued with, when God brought Israel from among them), and the emerods and scab, vile diseases, the just punishment of those who by sin had made themselves vile. [3.] Mortal diseases, the pestilence (v. 21), the consumption (put for all chronical diseases), and the fever (for all acute diseases), v. 22. See Lev 26:16. And all incurable, Deu 28:27. (2.) Famine, and scarcity of provisions; and this, [1.] For want of rain (Deu 28:23, Deu 28:24): Thy heaven over thy head, that part that is over thy land, shall be as dry as brass, while the heavens over other countries shall distil their dews; and, when the heaven is as brass, the earth of course will be as iron, so hard and unfruitful. Instead of rain, the dust shall be blown out of the highways into the field, and spoil the little that there is of the fruits of the earth. [2.] By destroying insects. The locust should destroy the corn, so that they should not have so much as their seed again, Deu 28:38, Deu 28:42. And the fruit of the vine, which should make glad their hearts, should all be worm-eaten, Deu 28:39. and the olive, some way or other, should be made to cast its fruit, Deu 28:40. The heathen use many superstitious customs in honour of their idol-gods for preserving the fruits of the earth; but Moses tells Israel that the only way they had to preserve them was to keep God's commandments; for he is a God that will not be sported with, like their idols, but will be served in spirit and truth. This threatening we find fulfilled in Israel, Kg1 17:1; Jer 14:1, etc.; Joe 1:4. (3.) That they should be smitten before their enemies in war, who, it is likely, would be the more cruel to them, when they had them at their mercy, for the severity they had used against the nations of Canaan, which their neighbours in after-ages would be apt to remember against them, Deu 28:25. It would make their flight the more shameful, and the more grievous, that they might have triumphed over their enemies if they had but been faithful to their God. The carcases of those that were slain in war, or died in captivity among strangers, should be meat for the fowls (Deu 28:26); and an Israelite, having forfeited the favour of his God, should have so little humanity shown him as that no man should drive them away, so odious would God's curse make him to all mankind. (4.) That they should be infatuated in all their counsels, so as not to discern their own interest, nor bring any thing to pass for the public good: The Lord shall smite thee with madness and blindness, Deu 28:28, Deu 28:29. Note, God's judgments can reach the minds of men to fill them with darkness and horror, as well as their bodies and estates; and those are the sorest of all judgments which make men a terror to themselves, and their own destroyers. That which they contrived to secure themselves by should still turn to their prejudice. Thus we often find that the allies they confided in distressed them and strengthened them not, Ch2 28:20. Those that will not walk in God's counsels are justly left to be ruined by their own; and those that are wilfully blind to their duty deserve to be made blind to their interest, and, seeing they loved darkness rather than light, let them grope at noon-day as in the dark. (5.) That they should be plundered of all their enjoyments, stripped of all by the proud and imperious conqueror, such as Benhadad was to Ahab, Kg1 20:5, Kg1 20:6. Not only their houses and vineyards should be taken from them, but their wives and children, Deu 28:30, Deu 28:32. Their dearest comforts, which they took most pleasure in, and promised themselves most from, should be the entertainment and triumph of their enemies. As they had dwelt in houses which they built not, and eaten of vineyards which they planted not (Deu 6:10, Deu 6:11), so others should do by them. Their oxen, asses, and sheep, like Job's, should be taken away before their eyes, and they should not be able to recover them, v. 31. And all the fruit of their land and labours should be devoured and eaten up by the enemy; so that they and theirs would want necessaries, while their enemies were revelling with that which they had laboured for. (6.) That they should be carried captives into a far country; nay, into all the kingdoms of the earth, v. 25. Their sons and daughters, whom they promised themselves comfort in, should go into captivity (v. 41), and they themselves at length, and their king in whom they promised themselves safety and settlement, v. 36. This was fully accomplished when the ten tribes first were carried captive into Assyria (Kg2 17:6), and not long after the two tribes into Babylon, and two of their kings, Kg2 24:14, Kg2 24:15; Kg2 25:7, Kg2 25:21. That which is mentioned as an aggravation of their captivity is that they should go into an unknown country, the language and customs of which would be very uncouth, and their treatment among them barbarous, and there they should serve other gods, that is, be compelled to do so by their enemies, as they were in Babylon, Dan 3:6. Note, God often makes men's sin their punishment, and chooses their delusions. You shall serve other gods, that is, "You shall serve those that do serve them;" a nation is often in scripture called by the name of its gods, as Jer 48:7. They had made idolaters their associates, and now god made idolaters their oppressors. (7.) That those who remained should be insulted and tyrannized over by strangers, Deu 28:43, Deu 28:44. So the ten tribes were by the colonies which the king of Assyria sent to take possession of their land, Kg2 17:24. Or this may be meant of the gradual encroachments which the strangers within their gates should make upon them, so as insensibly to worm them out of their estates. We read of the fulfilling of this, Hos 7:9, Strangers have devoured his strength. Foreigners ate the bread out of the mouths of trueborn Israelites, by which they were justly chastised for introducing strange gods. (8.) That their reputation among their neighbours should be quite sunk, and those that had been a name, and a praise, should be an astonishment, a proverb, and a by-word, Deu 28:37. Some have observed the fulfilling of this threatening in their present state; for, when we would express the most perfidious and barbarous treatment, we say, None but a Jew would have done so. Thus is sin a reproach to any people. (9.) To complete their misery, it is threatened that they should be put quite out of the possession of their minds by all these troubles (Deu 28:34): Thou shalt be mad for the sight of thy eyes, that is, quite bereaved of all comfort and hope, and abandoned to utter despair. Those that walk by sight, and not by faith, are in danger of losing reason itself, when every thing about them looks frightful; and their condition is woeful indeed that are mad for the sight of their eyes.
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SUMMARY
Deuteronomy 28:40 delivers a stark and poignant curse within the covenant stipulations for Israel, detailing how widespread olive trees would fail to yield their fruit, resulting in a profound lack of oil for anointing. This agricultural judgment vividly symbolizes the futility, barrenness, and deprivation that would befall a disobedient nation, stripping away their joy, prosperity, and even the basic means of sustenance, thereby underscoring the severe and tangible consequences of breaking faith with God.
CONTEXT
Literary Context: This verse is strategically placed within the climactic twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy, which serves as the powerful conclusion to Moses' second major discourse. Following a comprehensive exposition of the covenant law, Deuteronomy 28 meticulously outlines the abundant blessings promised for obedience to God's commands (Deuteronomy 28:1-14) and the escalating, severe curses for disobedience (Deuteronomy 28:15-68). Deuteronomy 28:40 is situated firmly within the curses section, specifically among a series of agricultural judgments (e.g., Deuteronomy 28:38-40) that directly undermine the nation's economic stability and daily existence. It is part of a broader divine pattern where God's blessing, typically manifested in bountiful harvests, is withdrawn, and the very means of sustenance become a source of profound frustration and pervasive lack.
Historical & Cultural Context: In ancient Israel, the olive tree was an exceptionally vital agricultural crop, alongside grain and grapes, forming the essential triad of staple foods and resources. Olive oil was indispensable for daily life, serving as a primary source of food, fuel for lamps, a base for medicines, a cosmetic for skin and hair, and, significantly, for anointing in religious, social, and celebratory contexts. Prosperity and well-being were intrinsically linked to bountiful harvests, and the ability to produce and utilize oil was a clear sign of blessing and joy, as beautifully illustrated in passages like Psalm 23:5 and Psalm 104:15. The curse articulated in Deuteronomy 28:40, therefore, speaks to a profound and devastating agricultural failure: despite the physical presence of olive trees, their fruit would prematurely drop, rendering them utterly useless. This would inevitably lead to severe economic hardship, a pervasive lack of light in homes, and, most poignantly, the inability to engage in practices associated with joy, comfort, and celebration, thereby plunging the people into a state of mourning and distress.
Key Themes: Deuteronomy 28:40 powerfully reinforces several central themes woven throughout the book of Deuteronomy and the broader Pentateuch. The most prominent is Divine Judgment and Consequences, vividly illustrating God's unwavering commitment to His covenant, both in terms of blessing for obedience and discipline for disobedience. Disobedience is shown to have direct, tangible repercussions, even manifesting in natural phenomena like widespread crop failure. Another crucial theme is the Futility of Human Labor Apart from Divine Blessing. The verse starkly highlights that effort invested in cultivation would yield no reward, standing in sharp contrast to the promised blessings on labor found in Deuteronomy 28:8. This speaks to a profound sense of frustration and lack, where the very means of sustenance are present but rendered utterly useless. Finally, the verse underscores the Loss of Joy and Prosperity, as the inability to anoint oneself with oil directly signifies a state of distress and the absence of the abundance and celebration typically associated with a thriving, blessed society. These themes collectively emphasize the absolute necessity of covenant faithfulness for the well-being and flourishing of the nation.
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Deuteronomy 28:40 masterfully employs several potent literary devices to convey its message of judgment and futility. Irony is prominent, as the initial statement that the people "shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts" sets up a stark contrast with the subsequent inability to benefit from them, creating a sense of frustrated expectation and a cruel paradox. The olive oil itself functions as rich Symbolism, representing not only sustenance, economic prosperity, and light, but also joy, health, and celebration in ancient Israelite culture. Its absence, therefore, powerfully symbolizes a profound state of distress, deprivation, and mourning. The phrase "cast [his fruit]" serves as a vivid Metonymy, where the action of the tree (prematurely dropping its fruit) stands for the complete failure of the harvest and the subsequent lack of oil. The implied widespread nature of this curse across "all thy coasts" also suggests a degree of Hyperbole, emphasizing the comprehensive, inescapable, and devastating impact of God's judgment on a disobedient nation.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Deuteronomy 28:40 powerfully illustrates the principle of divine retribution within the Old Covenant framework, where material blessings and curses were direct and tangible consequences of covenant faithfulness or disobedience. It underscores God's absolute sovereignty over creation, demonstrating that even natural phenomena like crop yields are ultimately under His control and can be instruments of His judgment or blessing. The verse highlights the profound futility of human effort when God's favor is withdrawn, emphasizing that true prosperity, joy, and fruitfulness are ultimately gifts from the Lord, not merely the result of human labor or ingenuity. This curse serves as a stark reminder that a life lived in rebellion against God will inevitably lead to barrenness, frustration, and a lack of true fulfillment, mirroring the spiritual barrenness that results from persistent sin.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
While the specific agricultural curse of Deuteronomy 28:40 belongs to the Old Covenant's conditional relationship with Israel, its underlying spiritual principles offer profound and timeless insights for believers today. The verse serves as a potent reminder that our actions, particularly our posture of obedience or disobedience toward God, have tangible consequences in our lives, even if not always in the same literal forms. Just as the Israelites had olive trees but no usable fruit, we can possess spiritual gifts, knowledge, opportunities, or even outward appearances of faith, yet experience a profound "barrenness" or futility if our hearts and lives are not genuinely aligned with God's will. This can manifest as a lack of spiritual fruit (such as love, joy, peace, patience), a pervasive sense of frustration or futility in our endeavors, or an absence of the deep, abiding joy that comes from walking closely with Christ. The passage calls us to soberly examine areas where we might be striving in our own strength or neglecting God's commands, potentially leading to a spiritual "casting of fruit" where our efforts yield no lasting spiritual harvest. It compels us to recognize God's absolute sovereignty over all aspects of our lives and to earnestly seek His blessing through genuine repentance, humble submission, and faithful obedience, understanding that true flourishing and spiritual fruitfulness come from Him alone.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why was the olive tree specifically mentioned in this curse?
Answer: The olive tree was an incredibly significant crop in ancient Israel, forming a cornerstone of their economy and daily life. Olive oil was used for food, lighting, medicine, cosmetics, and, importantly, for anointing in contexts of joy, celebration, and hospitality. By specifically targeting the olive harvest, the curse in Deuteronomy 28:40 struck at multiple vital aspects of Israelite existence simultaneously. It ensured not only severe economic hardship and a lack of basic necessities but also the symbolic removal of joy, comfort, and celebration, plunging the people into a state of deep distress and deprivation. The presence of the trees but the absence of usable fruit made the judgment particularly poignant, highlighting the utter futility of their labor and the direct, undeniable hand of God in their misfortune.
Does this agricultural curse apply to believers today?
Answer: While the specific, literal agricultural curses outlined in Deuteronomy 28 were part of the Old Covenant's conditional blessings and judgments upon the nation of Israel, the underlying spiritual principles remain profoundly relevant for New Covenant believers. We are not under the Mosaic Law in the same way (as clarified in Romans 6:14), and our salvation is not earned by obedience but received by grace through faith. However, the timeless principle that sin has consequences, and that a life out of alignment with God's will can lead to spiritual barrenness, futility, and a lack of true joy, still holds true. Just as the olive trees produced no fruit for disobedient Israel, a life of disobedience can hinder spiritual fruitfulness in a believer (as taught in John 15:5). The verse serves as a powerful illustration of God's sovereignty and the enduring importance of seeking His blessing through faithful obedience, recognizing that true joy, abundance, and spiritual fruitfulness come from Him, not merely from our own efforts.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Deuteronomy 28:40, with its vivid depiction of barren olive trees and the inability to anoint oneself with oil, powerfully foreshadows humanity's spiritual condition apart from Christ. Under the Old Covenant, the curse for disobedience highlighted humanity's inherent inability to perfectly obey God's law, leading to a life of futility, spiritual barrenness, and a profound lack of true joy and flourishing. However, Jesus Christ, the ultimate fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets, entered this cursed existence. He became a curse for us, taking upon Himself the full weight of God's judgment for sin, as Galatians 3:13 declares, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us." Through His perfect obedience and sacrificial death on the cross, He transformed barrenness into abundant fruitfulness. He is the true Vine, and those who abide in Him will bear much fruit, a spiritual harvest that is not subject to the futility of the curse (John 15:5). Furthermore, the "oil" that was denied under the curse finds its ultimate fulfillment in the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the "oil of gladness" that Christ received and pours out on His people (Hebrews 1:9). In Christ, we are no longer destined for a life of wasted effort and joylessness; instead, we are empowered by the Spirit to produce the abundant fruit of righteousness (Galatians 5:22-23), experiencing true spiritual prosperity and the anointing of God's transformative presence.