The Pulpit Commentary — Deuteronomy — Section 418

teo118 in goods; literally, shall make thee to of the received text, and there is no reas,m al,oundfor good; i.e. shall not only give thee why it should be departed from, more nbunclo.nce, but co.nee it to redouncl to thy especially as drought is threatened in the folicity. verse tho.t follows. Blasting and with mil- Ver. 12.-His good treasure; equivalent to dew; diseases that attack the grain ( Amoa his freasnre-hou,e, i.e. heaven, whence bless- iv. 9); the fo,·mer (J\~7~, from ~~1!1, to scorch, in" ehoulcl be pourecl out upon them (cf. eh. to blast) a withering or scorching of the x{14; Lev. xxvi. 4, 5). He woulcl eo fructify co.rs caused by the east wind (Gen. xii. 2:J •; their ground, nnd so bless their toil in cul- the latter (Jip;i:, from p:,;, to be yellowish) tivatin" it, that they should become rich, the effect produced by a hot wind, which and h~ o.ble to lend to other nations, o.nd turns the ears yellow, so that they are ren- not need to borrow. dered unproductive. Ver. 13. -They should be manifestly Ven 23, 21.-Terrible drought is here superior to other nations, heading them threatened; no rain should fall ( cf. Lev. and being above them, their leader and xxvi. 19); but instead thereof dust, both not their subject or follower ( cf. Iso.. ix. 13). light as powder and heavy as sand, should Note the contrast in vers. 43, 44. fall upon them. 'fhe allusion is probably Ver. 14.-(Cf. eh. v. 29; xi. 28.) Moses to those c!oade of dust and sand which ends as he began, by reminding them that often fill the air in Palestine, when the heat the condition of enjoying the blessing was is intense and there has been no rain for obedience to the Divine Law, o.nd steadfast & season ; the wind then becomes a vehe- adherence to the course in which they were ment sirocco, and the o.ir is filled with sand called to walk. o.nd dust, and is like the glowing heat et Vera. 15-63.-Th,e curse. In case of the mouth of a furnace (Robinson, 'Bib. disobedience and apostacy, not only would Res.,' ii. 123; Thomson, 'Land o.nd the the blessing be withheld, but a curse would Book,' ii. 311). descend, blighting, destructive, and ruinous. Vers. 25, 26.-Utter defeat in battle As the blessing was set forth in six an- (the opposite of the blessing promised, ver. nouncements (vers. 3-6), the curse is pro- 7) o.nd dispersion among the nations are claimed in fOl'm and number corresponding threatened, with the utmost indignity to (vers. 16-19). The curse thus appears as those who were slain, in their bodies being the exact counterpart of the blessing. The left unbnried to be devonred by birds of different forms in which the threatened prey o.nd wild beasts (cf. 1 Kings xiv. 11; curse should break forth are ihen detailed Ps. lx.xi.x. 2; Jer. vii. 33; xvi. 4, etc.). in five groups. Shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of Vera. 2O-26.-First group. The curse the earth; literally, shalt be a tossing to shoulu come upon them in various forms and fro to all the kingdoms, etc. ; " a ball for of evil, filling them with terror and dismay, all the kingdoms to play with" (Schultz; and threatening them with utter rnin (cf. cf. 2 Chron. x.xix. 8; Jer. xv. 4; x..riv. 9; Mai. ii. 2). x.xi.x. 18, etc.). Ver. 20.-Vexation; rather, consternation; Vars. :17-3!.-Second group. The Lord the deadly confusion with which God con- should o.fllict them with various loathsome founds his enemies. The so.me word is used diseo.ses, \'8X them with humiliating and in eh. vii. 23; 1 Sam. xiv, 20. Rebuke; mortifying calamities, and give them over rather, threatening. to be plundered and oppressed by tlieir Vera. 21, 22.-The afflictive visitations enemies. here named are such as destroy life; but Ver. 27.-Botoh of Egypt; the form of the distinctive characte1· of each it is not leprosy peculiar to Egypt (Exod. ix. 9, etc.), easy exactly to define. The pestilence is elephantiasis, "lEgypti peculiare malum" probo.bly e. generic t0rm for any fatal epi- (Pliny, •Nat. Hist.,' xxvi. l-5). Emerods; demic. In the LXX. it is usually repre- tumours, probably piles (cf. l Sam. v.). sonted by the genero.l word ecl.vciTos, deo.th. Soab; probably some kind of malignant Consumption; litero.lly, wasting; the desig- scurvy. ltoh ; of this there are various nation of any species of tu.bes or muro.smus. kinds common in Egypt and Syria. Fever (nR,7,", from P~1, to be parched, to VArs. 28, 29.-Besides bodily ailments, glow); inflammation (icii;,i:i, from ,~~. to mento.l diseo.ses should c0me upon them- insanity, incapacity, confusiGn of mind, so burn); burning fever (nr:i~R, from n:ip,, to that even at midday they should grope as kindle): differentspeciesofpyrexia, the dis- 11 blind me.n gropes, i.e. under the most tinction between which has not been deter- fo.vouro.ble circumstances they should be mined. The sword. Instoad of ::i:;ir;i, sword, the unable to find the right po.th, to hit on the Vulgate, Arabic, o.nd Samaritan adopt the right o.nd safe course. It is of mental reading ::i7n, heat, drought (Gen. xxxi. 40); blindness that the word is h0re 11118d ( cf. but all the other versions support the re11ding Isa. xiii. 19; Lam. iv. 14; Zeph. i. 17;  430 'l'IlE BOOK 01<' DEUTEHONOMY. [en. xxvm. 1-08.