DEUTERONOMY LESSON 31


     We will begin this lesson in Deuteronomy 28:38 "Thou shalt carry
much seed out into the field, and shalt gather [but] little in; for
the locust shall consume it."

     In the last lesson, we began the long list of terrible curses
that came to those who were unfaithful to God. This is saying, even if
they try really hard to get a large crop by planting much seed, the
crop will not only fail, but the little that comes up, will be eaten
of locusts.

     Deuteronomy 28:39 "Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress [them],
but shalt neither drink [of] the wine, nor gather [the grapes]; for
the worms shall eat them."

     They were known for their beautiful vineyards, but they, too,
will fail. One thing all of this lets us know is that when the wrath
of God is upon a people, nothing works for them.

     Deuteronomy 28:40 "Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy
coasts, but thou shalt not anoint [thyself] with the oil; for thine
olive shall cast [his fruit]."

     This is saying, that the age old olive trees do not die, but the
olives are not usable. Olive oil was used as anointing oil, because it
symbolizes the Holy Spirit of God. To look at this Scripture from a
spiritual standpoint, we would realize that the Spirit of God was no
longer with them.

     Deuteronomy 28:41 "Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou
shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity."

     This comes true during the attack of Babylon on Israel. They will
be carried to Babylon in chains. There is no greater hurt that a
parent can have, than to know your sons and daughters are captives of
another land.

     Deuteronomy 28:42 "All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the
locust consume."

     The locust does not leave anything, when they have been through,
but perhaps, the roots.

     Deuteronomy 28:43 "The stranger that [is] within thee shall get
up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low."

     This is speaking of a time, when the stranger will rule over the
natives of the land.

     Deuteronomy 28:44 "He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend
to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail."

     They knew what it was to be the tail, because that is exactly
what they were during their captivity in Egypt. The Egyptians were the
head over them. This, alone, should cause them to stay loyal to God.

     Deuteronomy 28:45 "Moreover all these curses shall come upon
thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be
destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the LORD thy
God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded
thee:"

     These terrible things do not come on them, because God does not
love them, but because they did not keep His commandments and
statutes.  They were not faithful to the LORD.

     Deuteronomy 28:46 "And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for
a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever."

     Their blessings were only, if they were faithful to God and kept
His commandments. The curse will continue on, until a generation turns
to God and keeps those commandments.

     Deuteronomy 28:47 "Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God
with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all
[things];"

     There could be joy and gladness for the abundance of blessings
God wants to shower on them. He will not force them upon them,
however.  They have the choice to follow Him, and be blessed, or to
follow after false gods, and be cursed.

     Deuteronomy 28:48 "Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which
the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in
nakedness, and in want of all [things]: and he shall put a yoke of
iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee."

     In most of the Prophetic books, like Jeremiah, we see these very
things prophesied that did come true. When God's blessings are removed
from Israel, they are vulnerable to attack from all the nations. Their
strength lies in the LORD, and when they don't have that, they are
weak. They will be slaves to their captives, and will do without
things they had taken for granted, like food and drink.

     Deuteronomy 28:49 "The LORD shall bring a nation against thee
from far, from the end of the earth, [as swift] as the eagle flieth; a
nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;"

     The Chaldeans and the Assyrians are just two countries that
attacked Israel under these very circumstances. Probably, the worst
they suffered, was from the Romans. Whenever they turned their backs
on God and went to false gods, God chastised them by letting their
enemies take them.

     Deuteronomy 28:50 "A nation of fierce countenance, which shall
not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young:"

     As I said, their fiercest attack was by the Romans, and they did
show no mercy upon them.

     Deuteronomy 28:51 "And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and
the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which [also] shall not
leave thee [either] corn, wine, or oil, [or] the increase of thy kine,
or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee."

     Their enemy showed no mercy upon them at all. Israel's rebellion
against God, turning away from the One True God, brought all of their
troubles upon them. These evil nations, which came against Israel, had
no mercy at all on anyone, young or old. They did not care, if they
starved to death, or not.

     Deuteronomy 28:52 "And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates,
until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst,
throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates
throughout all thy land, which the LORD thy God hath given thee."

     This, also, happens more than once. It is a perfect description
of the Babylonian attack on Israel. Jeremiah chapter 21 verses 4
through 7 tells of such an attack, when God is helping the enemies of
Israel.

     Deuteronomy 28:53 "And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own
body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy
God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith
thine enemies shall distress thee:"

     This is saying, things will be so terrible, they will practice
cannibalism on their own children. Leviticus 26:29 "And ye shall eat
the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat."
Jeremiah 19:9 "And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons
and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the
flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their
enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them."  As
terrible as this warning is, you can see that it did happen.

     Deuteronomy 28:54 "[So that] the man [that is] tender among you,
and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and
toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children
which he shall leave:"

     Jeremiah 47:3 "At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his
strong [horses], at the rushing of his chariots, [and at] the rumbling
of his wheels, the fathers shall not look back to [their] children for
feebleness of hands;"

     Deuteronomy 28:55 "So that he will not give to any of them of the
flesh of his children whom he shall eat: because he hath nothing left
him in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall
distress thee in all thy gates."

     This speaks of a time of such great distress, that the man thinks
of nothing, but survival.

     Deuteronomy 28:56 "The tender and delicate woman among you, which
would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for
delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband
of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter,"

     It is an unnatural thing for a woman to turn against her husband
and her children. This is speaking of a woman, who had been raised in
luxury and with every advantage, turning to not much more than an
animal's behavior.

     Deuteronomy 28:57 "And toward her young one that cometh out from
between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for
she shall eat them for want of all [things] secretly in the siege and
straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates."

     I cannot imagine anything being terrible enough for a mother to
eat her young. This had to be something so terrible, it is beyond our
comprehension.

     Deuteronomy 28:58 "If thou wilt not observe to do all the words
of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this
glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD;"

     The book of the law is what they are to obey. The fear is a
reverence. The warnings He has given them, over and over, are for
their good. He encourages them to remember who He Is. "THE LORD THY
GOD" is a proclamation of who He Is. All of the above warnings are to
open their eyes to the reality of who He is. God, has not, and will
not, reject them. He is the Eternal One who exists.

     Deuteronomy 28:59 "Then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful,
and the plagues of thy seed, [even] great plagues, and of long
continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance."

     The sad thing is, they reject Him. If they do reject Him,
plagues, worse than they have ever imagined, will come. These plagues
will be against their crops, but also, against their bodies. The
plague will not go away. Plagues that come from God in the form of
sickness have no earthly cure. Only God can stop that plague.

     Deuteronomy 28:60 "Moreover he will bring upon thee all the
diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave
unto thee."

     In this case, Egypt symbolizes the sinful world. One of the
promises, if they kept God's commandments, was they would not have the
diseases of Egypt. The reverse is true, if they do not keep His
commandments. A.I.D.S. is an example of the type of plague this is
speaking of.

     Deuteronomy 28:61 "Also every sickness, and every plague, which
[is] not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring
upon thee, until thou be destroyed."

     This is speaking of strange new diseases, that they had never
heard of before. If they do not repent and turn to God, they will die
of these diseases.

     Deuteronomy 28:62 "And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye
were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not
obey the voice of the LORD thy God."

     God always keeps a remnant. The Babylonian captivity left them
few in number. The worst instance of this, is when Noah, his wife, his
three sons, and their wives were the only people saved in the flood.
God started all over with these 8 people. God will wipe out the
masses, if they are unfaithful to Him.

     Deuteronomy 28:63 "And it shall come to pass, [that] as the LORD
rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD
will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and
ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess
it."

     Jacob took seventy people into Egypt with him, and about three
million came out. This is saying, that God can take that three
million, and reduce them down to seventy, again. The unfaithful will
not remain in the land God had promised them.

     Deuteronomy 28:64 "And the LORD shall scatter thee among all
people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there
thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have
known, [even] wood and stone."

     There are several times in history, when this very thing
happened. In fact, the Jews are scattered today all over the world.
They are beginning to re-gather in Israel now. In Babylon, they did
worship false gods of wood and stone.

     Deuteronomy 28:65 "And among these nations shalt thou find no
ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall
give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of
mind:"

     It is so sad for a person to be uprooted from his homeland, and
live in a strange land, with strange gods. He is never at peace until
he is returned home again.

     Deuteronomy 28:66 "And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee;
and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of
thy life:"

     Hitler is supposed to have killed 1/6 of all the Jews in World
War 2. They, certainly, were not safe in the foreign land. This is one
of the fulfillments of the verse above.
     Deuteronomy 28:67 "In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it
were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for
the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight
of thine eyes which thou shalt see."

     There will be much to fear, day and night. The fear that comes
with uncertainty is spoken of here. There are things that are better
than death. To have this type of fear, would cause a person to die a
thousand deaths.

     Deuteronomy 28:68 "And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again
with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no
more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen
and bondwomen, and no man shall buy [you]."

     The Jews have been hated and rejected, even in our land, by some
people. Egypt, in the verse above, is speaking of the world, not
specifically Egypt. The exodus out of Egypt was the birth of a nation.
Such a happening, as the one mentioned above, would be their death.
This speaks of slavery, wherever it happens.


































                        Deuteronomy 31 Questions


1.  They shall carry much seed out in the field, but shall gather
    little in; why?
2.  What happens to the vineyards?
3.  Why is olive oil used for anointing?
4.  Why will they not enjoy their sons and daughters?
5.  Who will rule over them?
6.  Why did they know what it was to be the tail?
7.  Why will all of these curses come upon them?
8.  What are the two choices of these people?
9.  What would be the condition of these people in captivity?
10. When God's blessings are removed, what does that do to Israel?
11. What had they taken for granted before?
12. Who were some of the nations, that came against them?
13. What was a sign of the fierceness of the nation, that came against
    them?
14. What happens to the walls of their cities?
15. What chapter of Jeremiah tells of this very thing?
16. What terrible practice does verse 53 say, they will do when things
    are the worst?
17. Quote Jeremiah chapter 19 verse 9.
18. What does Jeremiah chapter 47 verse 3 say, the father does to the
    children?
19. What is verse 55 speaking of?
20. What is meant by a tender and delicate woman?
21. What had her behavior become?
22. The author finds what hard to believe?
23. Who is their God?
24. He is the Eternal One who __________.
25. What kind of plagues come on them, when they reject God?
26. What are the diseases of Egypt speaking of?
27. What, in our society, is an example of the plague in verse 60?
28. What kind of diseases is verse 61 speaking of?
29. God always kept a ____________.
30. The worst instance of God killing nearly everyone, and keeping a
    remnant is when?
31. What shall God's people do in the nations, where they are
    scattered?
32. Hitler killed about _____ of the Jews?
33. The exodus out of Egypt was the _________ of a nation.