EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
21.
pestilence] Heb.
deber, a general word (originally =
death); in J,
Exodus 5:3;
Exodus 9:15,
Hosea 13:14,
Amos 4:10. See Baldensperger,
PEFQ, 1906, 97 ff. LXX here
θάνατος.
whither thou goest in to possess it] The usual phrase in the Sg. passages; see on
Deuteronomy 6:1. For the corresponding Pl. phrase see
Deuteronomy 4:26.
Verses 21, 22. - The afflictive visitations here named are such as destroy life; but the distinctive character of each it is not easy exactly to define.
The pestilence is probably a generic term for any fatal epidemic. In the LXX. it is usually represented by the general word
Odoacer, death.
Consumption; literally,
wasting; the designation of any species of tabes or marasmus.
Fever (
דַּלֶּקֶת, from
דָּלַק, to be parched, to glow);
inflammation (
חַחְתֻר, from
חָרַר, to burn);
burning fever (
קַדַּחַת, from
קָדַח, to kindle): different species of pyrexia, the distinction between which has not been determined.
The sword. Instead of
חֶרֶב, sword, the Vulgate, Arabic, and Samaritan adopt the reading
חֹרֶב, heat, drought (
Genesis 31:40); but all the other versions support the reading of the received text, and there is no reason why it should be departed from, more especially as drought is threatened in the verse that follows.
Blasting and with mildew; diseases that attack the grain (
Amos 4:9); the former (
שִׁדָּפון, from
שָׁדַּפ, to scorch, to blast) a withering or scorching of the ears caused by the east wind (
Genesis 41:23); the latter (
יֵרָקון, from
יָרַק, to be yellowish) the effect produced by a hot wind, which turns the ears yellow, so that they are rendered unproductive. Deuteronomy 28:21
The first view, in which the bursting of the threatened curse upon the disobedient people is proclaimed in all its forms. First of all, quite generally in
Deuteronomy 28:20. "The Lord will send the curse against thee, consternation and threatening in every undertaking of thy hand which thou carriest out (see
Deuteronomy 12:7), till thou be destroyed, till thou perish quickly, because of the wickedness of thy doings, because thou hast forsaken Me." The three words, מארה, מהוּמה, and מגערת, are synonymous, and are connected together to strengthen the thought. מארה, curse or malediction; המּהוּמה, the consternation produced by the curse of God, namely, the confusion with which God smites His foes (see at
Deuteronomy 7:23); המּגערה is the threatening word of the divine wrath. - Then
Deuteronomy 28:21. in detail. "The Lord will make the pestilence fasten upon (cleave to) thee, till He hath destroyed thee out of the land...to smite thee with giddiness and fever (cf.
Leviticus 26:16), inflammation, burning, and sword, blasting of corn, and mildew (of the seed);" seven diseases therefore (seven as the stamp of the words of God), whilst pestilence in particular is mentioned first, as the most terrible enemy of life. דּלּקת, from דּלק to burn, and חרחר, from חרר to glow, signify inflammatory diseases, burning fevers; the distinction between these and קדּחת cannot be determined. Instead of חרב, the sword as the instrument of death, used to designate slaughter and death, the Vulgate, Arabic, and Samaritan have adopted the reading חרב, aestus, heat (
Genesis 31:40), or drought, according to which there would be four evils mentioned by which human life is attacked, and three which are injurious to the corn. But as the lxx, Jon., Syr., and others read חרב, this alteration is very questionable, especially as the reading can be fully defended in this connection; and one objection to the alteration is, that drought is threatened for the first time in
Deuteronomy 28:23,
Deuteronomy 28:24. שׁדּפון, from שׁדף to singe or blacken, and ירקון, from ירק to be yellowish, refer to two diseases which attack the corn: the former to the withering or burning of the ears, caused by the east wind (
Genesis 41:23); the other to the effect produced by a warm wind in Arabia, by which the green ears are turned yellow, so that they bear no grains of corn.
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