Deuteronomy 28:54
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The most gentle and refined man among you will begrudge his brother, the wife he embraces, and the rest of his children who have survived,
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
This chapter is a very large exposition of two words in the foregoing chapter, the blessing and the curse. Those were pronounced blessed in general that were obedient, and those cursed that were disobedient; but, because generals are not so affecting, Moses here descends to particulars, and describes the blessing and the curse, not in their fountains (these are out of sight, and therefore the most considerable, yet least considered, the favour of God the spring of all the blessings, and the wrath of God the spring of all the curses), but in their streams, the sensible effects of the blessing and the curse, for they are real things and have real effects. I. He describes the blessings that should come upon them if they were obedient; personal, family, and especially national, for in that capacity especially they are here treated with (Deu 28:1-14). II. He more largely describes the curses which would come upon them if they were disobedient; such as would be, I. Their extreme vexation (v. 15-44). 2. Their utter ruin and destruction at last (v. 45-68). This chapter is much to the same purport with Lev. 26, setting before them life and death, good and evil; and the promise, in the close of that chapter, of their restoration, upon their repentance, is here likewise more largely repeated, ch. 30. Thus, as they had precept upon precept in the repetition of the law, so they had line upon line in the repetition of the promises and threatenings. And these are both there and here delivered, not only as sanctions of the law, what should be conditionally, but as predictions of the event, what would be certainly, that for a while the people of Israel would be happy in their obedience, but that at length they would be undone by their disobedience; and therefore it is said (Deu 30:1) th…
Open source ↗28:54 A tenderhearted man was sheltered from the dark and disgusting side of life. He had never experienced the horrors that would befall him.
Open source ↗Cross-references
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Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought in your heart: “The seventh year, the year of release, is near,” so that you look upon your poor brother begrudgingly and give him nothing. He will cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
Do I not have the right to do as I please with what is mine? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (which neither you nor your fathers have known,
A stingy man hastens after wealth and does not know that poverty awaits him.
Do not rely on a friend; do not trust in a companion. Seal the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms.
Do not eat the bread of a stingy man, and do not crave his delicacies;
but the poor man had nothing except one small ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food and drank from his cup; it slept in his arms and was like a daughter to him.
As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
“Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the son of her womb? Even if she could forget, I will not forget you!