Deuteronomy chapter 28

vs 61

Just in case you think that you can complain when you get some new, special disaster.

vs 62

That's a pretty key summary of it, although it leaves out all the suffering before the death.

vs 63

Not only will you suffer and die, but it will please God just as much to destroy you (because of your rebellion) as it did for him to bless you (because of your obedience.)

That's a verse worth remembering. The fact is that most of us don't like disciplining people, or punishing them. We probably think it's sadistic to enjoy it. Now I know that God doesn't say that he enjoys this, exactly. But he is pleased with it. He is pleased, no doubt, because it is his will that those who disobey are punished.

God's will, before it is anything else, is his will. It's always right, because God is righteous, he is righteousness. Whatever we think about it is not even secondary, it's tertiary. If we think it's wrong, it is us who need to change.

vs 64

They will be disconnected from the land of promise. And then they will be disconnected from God, worshippinhg idols.

vs 65

But God won't be disconnected from them. His hand stretches far, and he will be working in them the whole time. They won't be able to settle in the lands they are driven into. They can't escape God - or to put it a nicer way, even after all this he is still interested in them.

vs 66

Unfortunately for them, sometimes it's better not to have God's eyes on you. The torture of the curses infects their very lives, so that those left from death are burdened with their lives.

vs 67

They will live in fear, and they will experience and witness horrible things. What is really terrible is that they will be witnessing these things from the inside - they will actually be trying to worship the foreign gods and obey their practices in an effort to stand out less. At least you can take heart that you righteously oppose something, if you aren't trying to emulate it.

Again, the Jews actually learned their lesson and didn't do this, as far as I know. As for North kingdom Israel, hard to say.

vs 68

I was going to say that this never happened, but those familiar with the exile story will know that a small group of Jewish refugees did flee to Egypt. They probably did become poor there, and may have even offered themselves into slavery. What an awful place to be for the people of God.