What is the meaning of Deuteronomy 28:67? In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ • This phrase pictures people so overwhelmed by distress that sunrise brings no hope, only the wish that the day would hurry by. • Moses is warning Israel that if they reject the LORD’s covenant, daily life will feel unbearable. Compare Job 7:3-4, where Job longs for the day to end, and Lamentations 3:6-7, where Jeremiah describes being shut out from light. • The morning, normally a symbol of renewal (Psalm 30:5), becomes a reminder that judgment is still in force. and in the evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!’ • Night offers no refuge; the misery of the day simply shifts to the darkness, so they beg for dawn. • Deuteronomy 28:66 just before our verse foretells, “Your life will hang before you in dread; night and day you will be in terror and have no assurance of your life”. • Psalm 55:4-8 shows David longing for escape “far from the tempest and storm,” illustrating how fear can make every hour intolerable. • The reversal—wanting evening in the morning and morning in the evening—emphasizes total, relentless pressure. There is no moment of relief. because of the dread in your hearts • The root problem is inward: terror that settles “in your hearts,” stealing peace and confidence. • Leviticus 26:36 predicted, “I will make their hearts so fearful…that the sound of a wind-blown leaf will put them to flight”. Internal panic is itself part of the curse. • Isaiah 57:20-21 contrasts the wicked, whose hearts are like a “tossing sea,” with the righteous who enjoy God-given peace (Philippians 4:6-7). Disobedience forfeits that peace. of the terrifying sights you will see • External events feed the inward dread: war, siege, famine, exile—exactly the calamities detailed in Deuteronomy 28:49-57. • Historical fulfillment came when invading armies besieged Samaria (2 Kings 6:24-29) and, later, Jerusalem (2 Kings 25:1-4; Luke 21:20-24). The horrifying scenes matched Moses’ prophecy. • What the eyes take in intensifies what the heart feels; without the LORD’s protective presence, fear dominates (Psalm 91:5-6 shows the opposite for those who dwell “in the shelter of the Most High”). summary Deuteronomy 28:67 paints a vivid picture of covenant curses: continuous, inescapable fear that makes people long for any time other than the present. Morning and evening both feel unbearable because inward dread, produced by conscious rebellion against God, responds to outward catastrophes that God allows. The verse warns Israel—and every reader—that true security and peace are found only in obedient, trusting relationship with the LORD who alone can guard hearts and circumstances alike. |
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