Deuteronomy 28:18, commentary and pictures

The verse pronounces a curse upon children and upon the produce of the land, cattle and sheep, in direct contrast to the abundance promised for obedience. It stands among the blessings for obedience and curses for transgression that Moses read to Israel, declaring a covenant of mercy conditioned on diligently hearkening to God's voice and keeping His commandments and statutes. These losses and afflictions come through disobedience and departing from God's way, and through continued transgression the curse grows heavier and broader until it rests upon the earth itself, upon man, cattle, beasts, fish, trees and all vegetation. Together with Exodus 15 it teaches that disease of every kind comes from breaking down the barriers God erected to preserve health and holiness, with the waters of Marah showing that God will relieve perplexities and cure the evils of the heart for those who look to Him and do His will. Because of transgression God has cursed the herds of the field so that disease in cattle corrupts the blood and sows corruption in men, making flesh and milk unsafe and leaving safety only in abandoning meat entirely, while sin against one's own family clings to children like leprosy unless met by wholehearted obedience under God's shield of protection.

Words and Warning Context

The curse falls on human offspring, for the fruit of the body means children, and on the fruit or produce of the land, on the increase of cattle or kine, and on the flocks of sheep. Disobedience brings this loss and diminishing upon family and field and livestock, in direct contrast to the abundance and blessing promised for obedience. When Israel disobeyed God's commands and transgressed, these very things — children, crops, cattle, and sheep — would be cursed.

The saying belongs to the blessings promised for obedience and the curses threatened for transgression that Moses read to Israel. It is one part of the plain statement given in Deuteronomy 26, 27 and 28, showing that God sends prosperity or adversity according to obedience or transgression of the law represented in the ark. Its curse on children, crops, cattle, and sheep illustrates the adversity and suffering that follow disobedience.

The chapter states a covenant of mercy upon condition of diligently hearkening to the voice of the Lord God and doing what is right in His sight. The condition requires giving ear to His commandments and keeping all His statutes, doing His judgments and keeping His ordinances and statutes to walk therein. The promises of God are thus upon condition of obedience, and disobedience brings these losses and afflictions upon children, crops, cattle, and sheep. The chapter is to be read with Deuteronomy 1 to see why the Lord refused to bring the adults of the army that left Egypt into the promised land.

These directions express the principles of the law of the kingdom of God made specific, so that minds are not left in ignorance and uncertainty. They present the never-ceasing obligation of all whom God has blessed with life and health and temporal and spiritual advantages, and show that obedience is for His people's present and future good. The message has not grown weak because of age, and God's claims are just as binding now and just as fresh in importance as His gifts are fresh and continual. The curse against those who would not obey His voice was repeated by imprisoned preachers when they were threatened with further scourging unless they swore.

Cause, Growth, and Application

The losses named — children cursed, crops cursed, cattle and sheep cursed — come as the result of disobedience, transgression of God's commands and law, and departing from His will and way. Israel's own transgression left them vulnerable to their enemies. In contrast stands the abundance promised for obedience.

The curse grows heavier through continued disobedience as God's prospering hand is withdrawn, and disease and human degeneracy follow. As transgression becomes almost universal the curse is permitted to become as broad and as deep as the transgression. It has come upon the earth itself, upon man, upon cattle and beasts, upon fish of the sea, upon all flesh, upon trees and all vegetation. Human beings suffer the result of their own course in departing from God's commandments, while beasts also suffer under it.

Together with Exodus 15, the chapter teaches that disease of every stripe and type comes because human beings transgress God's law. Israel broke down the barriers God in His providence had erected to preserve them to live in health and holiness and learn obedience in their journeyings through the wilderness under Christ's special direction and sheltering preservation. The waters of Marah are the object lesson of this, representing diseases brought upon human beings because of sin and proving that God will relieve all perplexities and by His power cure the evils of the human heart for those who look to Him and do His will.

Because of transgression God pronounced a curse upon the herds of the field, so disease upon animals is becoming more common and more aggravated, with the most aggravated diseases prevalent. Disease in cattle makes meat eating dangerous, for diseased flesh sold in the markets brings disease among men as the sure result. Eating such diseased dead flesh corrupts the blood, demoralizes, plants disease in the system and sows corruption in the human organism, so that many die without understanding the cause. In a short time milk and anything coming from animal creation will not be safe to use. While meat eating has always been a curse to the human family, it is particularly a curse now, and God would bring His people where they will not touch nor taste dead flesh, with the only safety in leaving meat entirely alone.

Sin against one's own family brings the curse upon children, for the fruit of the body means children, and the stain cast upon them clings like leprosy. Those who take God at His Word and obey His commandments with a whole heart will be blessed and have Him as a shield of protection. But distrust, disobedience, and alienation from God's will and way place the sinner where the Lord cannot give divine favor.