Charles Ellicott Commentary Deuteronomy 28

Deuteronomy 28:1–14. BLESSINGS OF OBEDIENCE.

Will set thee on high. —Literally, will make you Most High, using a name of God, as in Deuteronomy 26:19.

Compare what is said of Jerusalem: She (Jerusalem) shall be called Jehovah-Tzidkenu (Jeremiah 33:16), and the name of the city from that day shall be Jehovah-Shammah (Ezekiel 48:35), and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God (Revelation 3:12), and His Name shall be in their foreheads (Revelation 22:4).

And overtake you. —A beautiful expression, i.e., shall come home to you, and impress the heart with the thought of God’s love and of His promises, even when it is least expected. . My words and my statutes, did they not take hold of (i.e., overtake) your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us ... so hath he dealt with us. The opposite is true also of the curses (Deuteronomy 28:15).

Your basket—(Only here and in Deuteronomy 28:17, and Deuteronomy 26:2; Deuteronomy 26:4)—i.e., the portion which is brought out for the present occasion. Your store, that which is left, and put away for future use.

But this view is based on the Septuagint translation of the word for “store.” All the Targums, and all the Jewish commentators I have been able to consult, and the lexicons also, take a different view.

The word is identical in form with that used for “kneading troughs” in Exodus 8:3 and Exodus 12:34. And so the contrast is taken to be either:

1. between firstfruits in their natural condition (Deuteronomy 26:2) and the dough offered when already prepared for food, as in the wave-loaves (Leviticus 23:17); or
2. between the basket in which the corn is carried and the receptacle for the meal or dough, or (as Rashi takes it) between the vessel for things moist and the vessel for things dry.

But the view taken by the Septuagint is as old as any, and the contrast indicated by “basket” and “store” is simpler and more comprehensive than that which is drawn from a reference to the details of the law. The Authorized Version is, therefore, distinctly to be preferred, in my opinion. There are other technical reasons, which cannot be given here.

When you come in ... and when you go out. — These words may apply to the details of life, or they may have a further meaning, as the eisodus of Christ was His entrance into this world’s labour, and His exodus His departure (Acts 13:24; Luke 9:31). Rashi says, “So that your departure from the world shall be like your entrance into it, sinless.” (The Jews, as a whole, do not believe in original sin.)

And flee before you seven ways. — “So is the custom of those who are terrified, to flee, scattering in every direction” (Rashi). See the story of the flight of the Midianites (Judges 7:21–22), and of the Syrians (2 Kings 7:7).