Deu 28:68 | KD | STEP | Last of all, Moses mentions the worst, namely, their being taken back to Egypt into ignominious slavery. “If the Exodus was the birth of the nation of God as such, return would be its death” ( Schultz ). “ In ships: ” i.e., in a way which would cut off every possibility of escape. The clause, “ by the way whereof I spake unto thee, thou shalt see it no more again, ” is not a more precise explanation of the expression “in ships,” for it was not in ships that Israel came out of Egypt, but by land, through the desert; on the contrary, it simply serves to strengthen the announcement, “The Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again,” namely, in the sense that God would cause them to take a road which they would never have been again if they had continued in faithful dependence upon the Lord. This was the way to Egypt, in reality such a return to this land as Israel ought never to have experienced, namely, a return to slavery. “ There shall ye be sold to your enemies as servants and maids, and there shall be no buyer ,” i.e., no one will buy you as slaves. This clause, which indicates the utmost contempt, is quite sufficient to overthrow the opinion of Ewald , Riehm , and others, already referred to at pp. 928, 929, namely, that this verse refers to Psammetichus, who procured some Israelitish infantry from Manasseh. Egypt is simply mentioned as a land where Israel had lived in ignominious bondage. “As a fulfilment of a certain kind, we might no doubt adduce the fact that Titus sent 17,000 adult Jews to Egypt to perform hard labour there, and had those who were under 17 years of age publicly sold (Josephus, de bell. Jud. vi. 9, 2), and also that under Hadrian Jews without number were sold at Rachel’s grave ( Jerome, ad Jer 31). But the word of God is not so contracted, that it can be limited to one single fact. The curses were fulfilled in the time of the Romans in Egypt (vid., Philo in Flacc., and leg. ad Caium ), but they were also fulfilled in a horrible manner during the middle ages (vid., Depping, die Juden im Mittelalter ); and they are still in course of fulfilment, even though they are frequently less sensibly felt” ( Schultz ). Deu 28:69 Is not the close of the address in ch. 5-28, as Schultz , Knobel , and others suppose; but the heading to ch. 29-30, which relate to the making of the covenant mentioned in this verse (vid., , ).

‏ Deuteronomy 28:68

Last of all, Moses mentions the worst, namely, their being taken back to Egypt into ignominious slavery. “If the Exodus was the birth of the nation of God as such, return would be its death” (Schultz). “In ships:” i.e., in a way which would cut off every possibility of escape. The clause, “by the way whereof I spake unto thee, thou shalt see it no more again,” is not a more precise explanation of the expression “in ships,” for it was not in ships that Israel came out of Egypt, but by land, through the desert; on the contrary, it simply serves to strengthen the announcement, “The Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again,” namely, in the sense that God would cause them to take a road which they would never have been again if they had continued in faithful dependence upon the Lord. This was the way to Egypt, in reality such a return to this land as Israel ought never to have experienced, namely, a return to slavery. “There shall ye be sold to your enemies as servants and maids, and there shall be no buyer,” i.e., no one will buy you as slaves. This clause, which indicates the utmost contempt, is quite sufficient to overthrow the opinion of Ewald, Riehm, and others, already referred to at pp. 928, 929, namely, that this verse refers to Psammetichus, who procured some Israelitish infantry from Manasseh. Egypt is simply mentioned as a land where Israel had lived in ignominious bondage. “As a fulfilment of a certain kind, we might no doubt adduce the fact that Titus sent 17,000 adult Jews to Egypt to perform hard labour there, and had those who were under 17 years of age publicly sold (Josephus,de bell. Jud. vi. 9, 2), and also that under Hadrian Jews without number were sold at Rachel’s grave (Jerome, ad Jer 31). But the word of God is not so contracted, that it can be limited to one single fact. The curses were fulfilled in the time of the Romans in Egypt (vid., Philo in Flacc., and leg. ad Caium), but they were also fulfilled in a horrible manner during the middle ages (vid., Depping, die Juden im Mittelalter); and they are still in course of fulfilment, even though they are frequently less sensibly felt” (Schultz). Deu 28:69

Is not the close of the address in ch. 5-28, as Schultz, Knobel, and others suppose; but the heading to ch. 29-30, which relate to the making of the covenant mentioned in this verse (vid., Deu 29:12, Deu 29:14).