What is the meaning of Deuteronomy 28:27? The LORD will afflict you • The verse opens with unmistakable agency: “The LORD will afflict you.” He is not merely permitting trouble; He is actively bringing covenant discipline (Deuteronomy 28:15–22; Leviticus 26:14–16). • This warning follows a long list of blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience (Deuteronomy 28:1–14 versus 15–68). The structure reveals the seriousness with which God treats His covenant. • Hebrews 10:30 reminds us, “The Lord will judge His people.” Divine judgment is never arbitrary; it is always the righteous response to persistent rebellion. with the boils of Egypt • “Boils” immediately recall the sixth plague on Pharaoh’s land (Exodus 9:8-12). What Egypt experienced in judgment will now befall Israel if they copy Egypt’s idolatry. • Deuteronomy 7:15 had promised that God would “remove from you all sickness” and “not inflict on you the terrible diseases of Egypt”—but that promise was conditioned on obedience. • These boils symbolized public disgrace, physical misery, and the shattering of national pride (Psalm 105:26-36 recounts the plagues to underscore God’s power). with tumors • Similar lesions struck the Philistines when they captured the ark (1 Samuel 5:6, 9, 12). Tumors there produced panic and humiliation; here they picture unrelenting torment on an unrepentant people. • The progression from boils to tumors reveals intensifying judgment, echoing the escalating curses in Deuteronomy 28:22-35. • Physical brokenness mirrors spiritual rebellion—an outward sign of an inward condition (Isaiah 1:5-6). and scabs and itch • Leviticus 13-14 details skin diseases that rendered a person ceremonially unclean. Scabs and relentless itch forced sufferers outside the camp, cutting them off from worship and community (Leviticus 13:45-46). • Isaiah 3:17 uses “scabs” to describe national shame. Micah 1:9 calls Judah’s wound “incurable,” connecting bodily sores with moral decay. • The irritation never stops; instead of comfort there is constant agitation—a fitting picture of a conscience that refuses God’s rest (Isaiah 57:20-21). from which you cannot be cured • The phrase seals the severity. Like the “incurable wound” of Jeremiah 30:12-13, the judgment is beyond human remedy. No physician, ritual, or political alliance can reverse it. • 2 Chronicles 21:18-19 recounts King Jehoram’s fatal, lingering bowel disease as an example of a divinely “incurable” plague. • Yet God’s unchanging character offers hope if the people repent (2 Chronicles 7:13-14). The only cure is returning to the very One who imposed the discipline. summary Deuteronomy 28:27 warns that covenant unfaithfulness invites escalating, unavoidable physical afflictions—boils, tumors, scabs, and itch—directly sent by the LORD. Each malady recalls earlier judgments (Egypt’s plagues, Philistia’s tumors, Israel’s own purity laws) and exposes the spiritual rot of rebellion. The culminating phrase, “from which you cannot be cured,” underscores the hopelessness of relying on any solution but wholehearted repentance. In this single verse, God declares His sovereign right to judge, the certainty of His Word, and the mercy still implicit: turn back, and the Judge becomes the Healer. |
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