Deuteronomy 28:65, commentary and pictures

Moses set this warning before Israel that continued disobedience would bring scattering from the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob among all peoples to serve false gods, where they would find no ease or rest but receive an anxious trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguished sorrow of mind. Their life would hang in doubt in continual fear day and night with no assurance of safety, so that they would long for morning in the evening and for evening in the morning because of the dread of the heart and the sight of the eyes. This same condition falls upon the willful sinner, as was seen in Herod after beheading John the Baptist, whose guilty conscience became his own accuser and gave him no rest night nor day under terror of God's judgment. Obedience brings blessing, prosperity, and life while disobedience brings cursing, adversity, and death, leaving every person to choose between them. Its claims lay a never-ceasing obligation as fresh and binding now as when spoken, for breaking down God's barriers brings restlessness, disease, and suffering, while hearkening to His voice preserves in health and holiness.

Scattering and Distress Foretold

Moses set the warning before Israel as one of the terrible curses, read aloud to all the assembly from the book he had written, alongside God's promises if they would be obedient and the record of their past history, because he feared they would depart from God their only helper. The promises of the chapter are conditional upon obedience, with obedience bringing blessing, prosperity, and dwelling in the land sworn to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, while disobedience brings cursing, adversity, hardship, and distress, leaving the choice between life and death, blessing and cursing. Adversity follows transgression of God's law while prosperity follows obedience, and persistent transgression brings hardship upon God's people. Together with Deuteronomy 1, the chapter shows why the adult army that left Egypt was refused entry into the promised land.

If Israel lived in disobedience, the Lord would scatter them from Canaan among all people from one end of the earth to the other to serve false gods, for they had turned from God. Their apostasy would bring punishment in scattering among foreign nations and suffering there, and their history would also include restoration to their homeland and eventual subjection to Rome. Among those nations they would find no ease and the sole of the foot would have no rest or relief. There the Lord would give a trembling anxious fearful heart, failing eyes and eyesight, and sorrowful anguished minds, as the stated consequence of refusing to obey God's law.

Their life would hang in doubt before them in continual fear day and night without assurance of life or safety. In the evening they would long for morning and in the morning long for evening because of the fear of the heart and the sight of the eyes. Israel's covenant with surrounding nations and resulting unfaithfulness brought this scattering and distress, and their recent captivity showed the fulfillment of these foretold judgments for covenant unfaithfulness. The warning stands alongside the promise that those who seek the Lord with all heart and soul will find Him. The ark itself was not a god or a source of protection apart from obedience to the law it contained.

Herod's Guilty Torment

Moses' warning of a trembling anxious heart, failing eyes, and sorrow of mind shows what a course of sin brings, and it was fulfilled in Herod after he had John the Baptist beheaded when the Lord gave him exactly that inward torment. His life hung in doubt before him in fear day and night with no assurance of life or safety, so that in the morning he wished it were evening and in the evening he wished it were morning because of the fear of his heart and the sight of his eyes. Though he appeared dignified before others, he was troubled, perplexed, anxious, terrified, and aching with guilt and fear of God's judgment when he heard of Christ's works of healing, casting out devils, and raising the dead. He became convinced that John had risen from the dead with greater power to condemn sin and avenge his death upon him and his house.

He became convinced that God was present everywhere and had witnessed the banquet-room mirth, the order to the executioner, and the exultation of Herodias. John's warning that nothing can be hidden from God spoke louder to his conscience than before, so that he trembled lest terrible punishment visit him for his sin and lived in constant fear and remorse. The verse thus gives a vivid picture of a criminal's life in which his own thoughts are his accusers. There can be no keener torture than the stings of a guilty conscience, which give no rest night nor day.

Enduring Covenant Obligation

The verse belongs to the plain statement of the blessings of obedience spoken by Christ from the pillar of cloud, in a chapter that sets out the blessings of obedience. It expresses the principles of the law of God's kingdom made specific, so that minds are not left in ignorance and uncertainty. It lays a never-ceasing obligation on all whom God has blessed with life and health and advantages in temporal and spiritual things. Its claims have not grown weak because of age, but are just as binding now and just as fresh in importance as God's gifts are fresh and continual. Transgressing God's law breaks down the barriers He erected to preserve His people from disease, bringing restlessness, disease, and suffering, while diligently hearkening to His voice and keeping His commandments and statutes preserves them in health and holiness under Christ's protection.