What is the meaning of Deuteronomy 28:68? The LORD will return you to Egypt in ships • The same covenant God who once declared, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Exodus 20:2), now announces a reversal. • Leaving Egypt in the Exodus meant walking through the sea on dry ground (Exodus 14:21–22). Returning “in ships” pictures the undoing of that miracle—transport back over water, not through it. • This judgement fell literally and repeatedly: Assyrian and later Roman captors loaded Israelites onto ships bound for slave markets along the Mediterranean—including Egypt—fulfilling Hosea 8:13 and Jeremiah 43:6-7. • Lesson: God’s blessings or curses hinge on covenant faithfulness (Deuteronomy 28:1-2, 15). The Lord who delivers can also discipline. by a route that I said you should never see again • At the Red Sea Moses promised, “The Egyptians you see today, you will never see again” (Exodus 14:13). Their return voids that triumph because of disobedience. • Deuteronomy 17:16 forbade any king from sending people “back to Egypt,” yet national sin would break that safeguard. • The phrase underscores that God’s warnings are precise: even the path of exile is foretold (Deuteronomy 29:24-28). There you will sell yourselves to your enemies • The desperation is self-inflicted; they seek servitude to survive. Leviticus 26:39-41 predicts this self-abandonment when hearts remain hard. • Deuteronomy 28:48 already warned, “You will serve your enemies that the LORD will send against you,” showing continuity within the curse list. • Jeremiah 42:19-22 records Judah bargaining to flee to Egypt for safety—an early taste of this prophecy. as male and female slaves • Slavery in Egypt had once defined Israel’s national misery (Exodus 1:13-14). God had redeemed them “with a mighty hand” (Deuteronomy 26:8); now the curse reinstates that very bondage. • The humiliation is total: men and women alike stripped of the freedom granted at Sinai (Deuteronomy 15:15). • Galatians 5:1 later echoes the call to “stand firm” and not return to slavery—spiritually applying the historic warning. but no one will buy you • The final blow: even when they offer themselves, the market rejects them. Value, dignity, and hope collapse together. • Deuteronomy 28:29 had said, “You will be oppressed and robbed continually, with no one to rescue you,” a theme climaxing here. • Lamentations 1:7-9 pictures Jerusalem abandoned in similar shame: “Her foes looked on and laughed at her downfall.” • Isaiah 52:3 contrasts the gospel remedy: “You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed,” showing that only divine grace can reverse such worthlessness. summary Deuteronomy 28:68 is the somber finale to the covenant curses. The God who once parted the sea now sends His people back across it in judgement, by a path He had forbidden them ever to tread again. Their desperation to sell themselves, their return to the very slavery they were rescued from, and their ultimate rejection in the marketplace all spotlight the severity of covenant breach. Yet this grim picture also magnifies the grace later offered in Christ: the Redeemer who buys back those whom sin has rendered unsellable. |
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