Deuteronomy chapter 28

vs 21

The harshness, the venom of this verse is just palpable. Not cool at all.

vs 22

I feel like withering after just reading this verse. God takes obedience so seriously that he is not above causing epic amounts of pain and grief to people. God is not afraid of using pain against us. And yet he still loves us. Love is about more than the ceasing of pain. Utilitarians are wrong. Hedonists are wrong. Humanitarians are wrong. These verses prove it.

vs 23

At first I thought the ground would be iron, like it would be hard to dig. That would suck. But then, what does a bronze sky mean? That it will be really hot? I'm not sure. If it was referring to the colours of the sky and ground, this might mean something to a farming community that I am unaware of. In any case, the metallic references probably mean unyielding, unforgiving.

vs 24

The thought of this just makes me sick. I would rather drown in a flood of Noahic proportions than live in a land of plague, scorching heat and dust rain.

vs 25

Not a thing of horror because of great power. No, a thing of great horror like a deformed person or a large massacre is a great horror. Israel would be so easily defeated that people would shake their heads in shame.

vs 26

Dishonour even in death, at not being buried, but being eaten by birds.

vs 27

I didn't know Egypt had specific boils. I guess he's talking about boils similar to those afflicting Egypt during the plagues. There's a turn up for the books.

vs 28

How madness and confusion of mind are different I can't quite tell. Perhaps madness is more of an emotional disturbance? In any case, it's an awful thing to inflict on a people as punishment. But God does do it - what about Nebuchadnezzar?

vs 29

I'm utterly depressed. This list of curses is so bad - would I seriously agree to this? If there was even a chance of these things being inflicted on me as a punishment, because I signed up to it, would I sign on the dotted line?

But that's the thing, isn't it - you don't actually get a choice. This is the element of the Mozaic covenant that is most like a suzerain-vassal treaty. You don't actually get to choose to be a part of it - you can't "opt out" of government law and order and other interventions. The government puts itself over the people, and it sets out promises it makes (that encourage you about the value of having it there at all) and sets out what it expects of its citizens. You can't opt out of citizenship without opting out of living there at all. And this is God, not a king - you can emigrate to avoid a king. Jonah shows us you can't emigrate to avoid God.

vs 30

And yet the list goes on. This next part seems to be describing the taking away of the land, and of its privileges, by some sort of foreign power. This is punishment at the hands of another nation, rather than directly from God (or via nature, if you like) through plagues and blindness and madness and cursing of the soil.