The curses of this chapter had their fulfilment at the time of the Babylonian captivity - as well as at other times. The table below highlights some of the use made of this chapter by Jeremiah in the Lamentations.

Continuing last year's theme of noting clusters of quotations in specific books we see here Isaiah's use of three passages in Isaiah 1.

This chapter of blessings and curses is an enlargement of Leviticus 26.  In both chapters, the blessings are stated before the curses.  The curses are much longer than the blessings to punctuate the consequences of disobeying Yahweh.  Lev. 26 contains a section relating the mercy of Yahweh, but Deut. 28 does not, which makes the propositions in this chapter stand out more.  

28:65     The Jews down through the ages have tried to assimilate into the countries where they were scattered to minimise the persecution – if they were not recognised as Jews they would not be persecuted as Jews – However assimilation would not happen for Jeremiah said that the Jew would never lose his identity – Jer 30:11.

28:3 The blessing in the field is seen as being given to them who accept Jesus as their saviour – Heb 6:7. Not that we should expect that we will be prosperous farmers because we believe in Jesus. Rather the blessings relate to the future kingdom of God.

28:9   That God would establish them as His ‘holy people’ shows that even if Israel were totally faithful any blessing would come from God, not their own righteousness. Likewise the same is true of ourselves. Any Righteousness we have is conferred upon us by God because of our faith in the risen Jesus  - Rom 8:33

28:7  The way in which the enemies that come against Israel will be destroyed will be fulfilled when Jesus rules as Messiah, as the true son of David as this idea is developed in Psa 89:23. A Psalm which speaks of the fulfilment of the promises to David.

v1 First Principles>Kingdom of God>Was overturned
1. The right of Israel to be called God's Kingdom was dependent on their obedience Exo 19:5
2. If Israel was disobedient, Lev 26:14, Deut 28:15
 - Israel would be overturned by a foreign power by terrible sieges Deut 28:49,52,53,55
 - Israel would be carried away into captivity Deut 28:64-65, Lev 26:33

V49 First Principles>Kingdom of God>Was overturned>History of fulfilment
Israel was disobedient and the prophecies given here and in Lev 26:33 were fulfilled. Many passages serve as examples to show this disobedience.
Judg 1:21-36, Judg 2:11-13, Judg 3:7,12,Judg 6:1, Judg 10:6,13,14, Judg 13:1
1Kin 19:9,10,13,14, 2Kin 17:15-19, 2Chron 34:24-25
Psa 78
Isa 1:4
Jer 5:11, Jer 6:10,11, Jer 7:22-24, Jer 15:3-6, Jer 16:10-13, Jer 19:3-4, Jer 21:7, Jer 22:24,25, Jer 28:14, Jer 32:23
Eze 2:3, Eze 5:5-10, Eze 20:8
Amos 2:4,5, Zech 7:7-14
The following history demonstrates the fulfilment:
1. The conquest of the land was followed by a period of the Judges Acts 13:19,20. This ended when the people rejected God and chose a king 1Sam 8:1-22
2. Saul was made king 1Sam 9:15,16,27, 1Sam 10:1 followed by David 1Sam 6:13, Solomon 1Kin 1:32-34, 1Chron 28:5 then Rehoboam 1Kin 11:43, 2Chron 9:31.
3. During the reign of Rehoboam, the kingdom was divided into a Southern, two tribe kingdom with its capital in Jerusalem 2Chron 12:13 and a Northern ten tribe kingdom with its capital in Samaria 1Kin 12:15.
Rehoboam remained king of Judah 1Kin 12:16,18, 2Chron 10:16,17. Jeroboam became king of Israel 1Kin 12:20.
4. The Northern Kingdom ended in BC 720 during the reign of Hoshea. The ten tribes went into captivity after Samaria was beieged by Assyria for three years. (Prophesied 1Kin 14:15) 2Kin 17:5,22,23.
5. Judah (the Southern Kingdom) continued for another 200 years and the last king was Zedekiah. It was overtured three times (prophesied Eze 21:25-27), then to remain desolate for many years Hos 3:4.
 - The first overturning was in BC 606 in Jehoiakim's reign. (Prophesied Jer 27:6) 2Kin 24:2, Dan 1:1, 2Chron 36:6.
 - The second overturning was in BC 597 in Jehoiachin's reign 2Kin 4:10, 2Chron 36:10.
 - The third overturning was in BC 587 in Zedekiah's reign. (Prophesied Jer 21:7, Jer 34:2) Jer 38:28, Jer 39:1,2, Jer 52:4-5, Eze 24:1-2, 2Kin 25:2, 2Chron 36:7.
6. The Jews were taken into captivity in Babylon 2Kin 24, 2Kin 25 to last for 70 years. (Prophesied Jer 25:8,12) 2Chron 36:20-21. Jerusalem was desolate. Neh 2:12-15.
7. The restoration happened 70 years later under Zerubabel Jer 29:14, Jer 30:3. The city and the temple was rebuilt. Ezra and Nehemiah record the history and Zechariah and Haggai encouraged the builders.
8. The crucifixion of Jesus filled the cup of iniquity (Matt 23:32). Christ warned of the coming judgement Luke 19:43,44, Luke 21:20-24
For First Principles>Kingdom of God>Was overturned> go to Exo 19:5.

V.23 This verse parallels Lev 26:19 except that there the heavens are like iron and the earth is like brass (bronze).  The sense is still the same, that above and beneath shall be unforgiving to those who disobey Yahweh when He sends no rain.

V.36 This is prophetical of the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities.  Israel would reject Yahweh to become idolatrous (Jer 44:17-19).  And so, Yahweh would let them become captives to idolatrous nations.

V.49 This verse speaks of the Romans whose standards displayed the eagle.  The following verses talk about the Roman siege of Jerusalem which started in March, 70 AD and ended in September of that year. 

The Jewish historian Josephus was sent by Titus to negotiate with the Jewish defenders of the city but that was unsuccessful.  And so, Titus cut off the food and water supply to the city. The Jews were in such desperate straits that they committed cannibalism (Jer 19:9).

 Titus with his 70,000 soldiers gradually gained the upper hand until he had control of the city.  Much devastation and loss of life took place.  Josephus records that 1,100,000 civilians died in the fall of Jerusalem.

28:25 This awful curse that they would be removed into all kingdoms of the earth was fulfilled, Ezekiel says, when the Babylonians overthrew Zedekiah – Eze 22:15

Here are a couple of echoes from Proverbs 6

The Proverbs speak about the way that jealousy works in man.

Are we so jealous over our love of Christ?

The Bride speaks the words of Song 10 in Song 7:10-ch8:4.  She longs for the time when the Bridegroom is with her, but requests no one to wake Him until He is ready. The 11th Song is in Song 8:5-7  and reveals a conversation between Him and her.  The final Song, Number 12, occupies the rest of the chapter, and again is a dialogue between Christ and His bride.

8:5 In keeping with the picture of the bride coming from the wilderness ‘who is this …’ is more correctly rendered ‘who is she …’

8:6-7 There is a contrast being shown between the heat of love and the heat of jealousy. Whilst love cannot be destroyed jealousy destroys the one who manifests it.

8:7      The idea that waters cannot overcome love is seen again – Isa 43:2 - in the way in which Israel are told that their trust in God will preserve them through, amongst other things, ‘waters’.

The present bride represents Israel who was under the protection of Yahweh. Her immature sister represents the Gentiles who will grow in the knowledge of Yahweh. Her protector will be her betrothed, the Lord Jesus. Thus bride and groom - ecclesia and master - will be established.

8:1 We might think it odd that the bride would speak of her beloved as being like her brother but the likeness she is making is to the closeness between her and her brother – it is a blood relationship. Do we feel that we have such a close relationship with Jesus? After all we are his brethren – Heb 2:12

8:6 Jesus, in spirit – Isa 49:6 – speaks of making God his trust which echoes the sentiment of the bride here.

25 v.9 'willing to show the Jews a pleasure' marks the way that the authorities treated Paul during this time in his life as can be seen in the following passages Acts 25:3 12:3 24:27 Which actually reflects the way in which Pilate treated Jesus Mark 15:15

26 v.16 I know that we have made this point before but it bears making again. The disciples are told that they are witnesses to God's work with Jesus Luke 24:48 Which point they are not slow to point out in their preaching. Acts 1:8 22 2:32 3:15 4:33 5:32 10:39 41 13:31 22:15 26:16

25:9 The way in which Festus wished to please the Jews highlights that this man - a servant of Romans - was more concerned with appeasement than with truth and justice.

26:31-32 So the conclusion is that, like Jesus, the charges laid against him by the Jews are unfounded. It is important that we have the testimony of gentile rulers that this is so. No Jew can ever make the claim that the preaching of Jesus or Paul was illegal or against the state - which was the Jew's accusation. Actually it attacked their position - not what God had taught through Moses.

25:8 In answering for himself we see that Paul was not interested in seeking the best legal representation or even in using the Roman law to help him. His prime focus was the preaching of the gospel. A lawyer could not have done that for Paul.

26:31 So again the point is made that Paul had done nothing worthy of death. (23:29, 25:25 and here) - Just as Pilate said of Jesus (John 18:36, 19:4,6)

25:2-44 This is a re run of the sort of event that took place when Paul was in Jerusalem. Paul's nephew alerted to the Romans of the plot (23:16) and so the Romans would be aware of what was going on and as it had been established that Paul was a Roman (22:6) there would be great care taken over  him.

26:1 Telling us that Paul 'stretched forth the hand' seems an almost irrelevant comment. However it is not. Paul, though before the Romans, was appealing to Israel. God had said (Isa 65:2) that stretched out his hand to Israel, but they would not hear. Paul is imitating the way that God appealed to a disobedient nation.

25:6 In saying that Festus ‘tarried … more that ten days’ highlights that he was not too concerned to resolve the issue of Paul, just like all the other Romans who had been involved so far in Paul’s imprisonment.

26:4-7 Paul reasons that his countrymen know how he had behaved in the past and how he had been a faithful Jew – but none of them would testify to this as it did not suit the objectives of the Jewish authorities.

26:5 The accusation against Paul related to Jewish customs so he highlights a fact that the Jewish leaders did not want to acknowledge – that he had been brought up a strict Pharisee.

25:27   It was also unreasonable to send a man as a prisoner who had no charges laid against him. Festus shows his duplicity and desire not to disturb his relationship with the Jews in the way he responds. Doubtless the problems that Pilate had with the Jews about Jesus was well known and no other Roman ruler wanted to do down that route.

25:13 King Agrippa was, in fact, Agrippa II, the great-grandson of Herod.  He was the last in the line of the Herods.  He and Bernice were both children of Agrippa I and were carrying on an incestuous relationship at this time.  Bernice had been married a couple of times before (one marriage was to her uncle), and would be married again after her liaison with Agrippa.  Later (according to Tacitus, the Roman historian) Bernice would become Titus' mistress.                                  

26:28 Any contemplation of Agrippa's accepting Christ would have been quickly dissuaded by the self-indulgent floozie Bernice.

25:3 The murderous thoughts of the Jews continues and despite the judgement of the Romans that Paul should be judged they still sought to kill Paul.

25:21 Augustus was born in 63 BC and was called Octavius after his father. His father died while Octavius was young, and so his great uncle Julius Caesar took it upon himself to educate the young lad.

Octavius grew in power and influence.  He defeated Anthony at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and gained supreme power.  He was named Augustus Caesar.  He died in 14 AD at the age of 76.

26:10-17 Paul, by appealing to what he had done in the past, makes it clear that his change was of God for particular purpose and not some mere whim. This is not just a defence of his actions but an explanation as to why he preached to the gentiles which was the particular problem that the Jews had. It seems that they would, by and large, have been tolerant of Paul’s preaching had he not said the hope was also available to the gentiles.

THE TRUTH OR THE WAY?

It is always interesting to think about the message that was preached to the new believers through the book of Acts. Paul's summary of his teaching as he told it to Agrippa is a good example. Paul said, "So then, king Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds." (Acts 26:19-20)

Paul's message was not just an intellectual religious message that explained the fact of Jesus as the Messiah, it demanded repentance, it demanded a turning to God, and it demanded action as the things we do prove that we are living a new life. The gospel message is much more than a set of beliefs we hold to - it is a way of life. The early believers didn't refer to Christainity as "The Truth," instead they called it "The Way." The Truth implies knowledge. The Way implies action.

So what action are we putting into our life? Have we turned from our old way of life, making decisions that serve us less and God more? And do we prove daily that our repentance is still valid by the deeds we do because we are followers of Christ?

Let us live the way a follower of Christ should live.