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. 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 verse warns that if Israel fails to keep all the words of the law written in the book and to reverence the glorious and fearful name of the Lord, He will send severe and lasting plagues and painful, prolonged sicknesses upon them and upon their descendants. It belongs to the plain directions in Deuteronomy 26, 27 and 28 that set blessings for obedience against fearful consequences for disobedience, spoken by Christ from the enfolding pillar of cloud and afterward read by Moses to all the people from the book he had written. Its promises were conditional, with prosperity following obedience and adversity following transgression, so that every person must choose which outcome to face. It teaches that disease and suffering come because men break God's law and tear down the barriers He in providence set up to keep them in health and holiness and to teach them obedience. These consequences are stated as principles of the law of God's kingdom made specific and plain for the people's good, laying a never-ceasing obligation as binding and fresh now as when first given.
Setting and Wording
The verse stands in the plain directions given in Deuteronomy 26, 27 and 28, which set out the blessings of obedience and lay out the consequences of both obedience and disobedience. Those words were spoken not by man but by Christ from the enfolding pillar of cloud, commanding Israel to keep and do God's statutes and judgments with all heart and soul, to avouch the Lord to be their God, to walk in His ways, and to hearken to His voice. It was among the curses for disobedience that Moses read to all the people assembled before him from the book he had written, together with the record of their past history and the promises to them if they would be obedient. That reading reflected the law given at Sinai and kept in the ark.
The threatened punishment applies if Israel will not observe to do all the words of the law written in the book and fear the glorious and fearful name of the Lord God. What is threatened is wonderful, great plagues of long continuance and sore sicknesses of long continuance, severe and prolonged. They are to come upon the people themselves and upon their seed or descendants, as part of the curse following disobedience. Disobedience brings such severe, prolonged sickness and plagues as God's threatened curse.
The verse marks a later stage after the Exodus when excesses developed into disease. It belongs to the curse that began with the fall and grew heavier through later generations as disobedience continued, with disease increasing along with wickedness. The same truth was illustrated by the waters of Marah, representing the diseases brought upon human beings because of sin.
Lessons and Obligation
The promises to Israel were conditional on obedience, with prosperity coming through obedience and adversity through transgression of the law given at Sinai and kept in the ark. Fearful consequences of disobedience were set against the blessings of obedience, so that each person must choose which outcome will be faced. The warning of severe and lasting sicknesses belongs to that covenant warning for disobedience.
The consequences of obedience and disobedience were stated as principles of the law of the kingdom of God made specific. They were given plainly for the people's good, so that minds are not left in ignorance and uncertainty about the blessings of obedience and the curse following disobedience. The threatened severe, lasting plagues and sicknesses fall upon the people and upon their descendants as part of that curse.
Disease and suffering come because people transgress God's law. God in providence erected barriers to preserve people from disease, that they might live in health and holiness and learn obedience, and those barriers are broken down by disobedience. The warnings about diseases illustrate the consequences of breaking the protections God established for human health and holiness. The waters of Marah were an object lesson of the same truth, representing the diseases brought upon human beings because of sin.
A never-ceasing obligation rests on all whom God has blessed with life and health and advantages in temporal and spiritual things. That obligation has not grown weak because of age, but its claims are just as binding now and just as fresh in importance as God's gifts are fresh and continual.