“So that the generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you, and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which the LORD hath laid upon it;”
My Notes
What Does Deuteronomy 29:22 Mean?
"The generation to come... and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land." Moses envisions future visitors — both Israelite descendants and foreign travelers — viewing the destroyed land and asking: what happened here? The devastation will be so complete that it produces questions from observers. The land itself will testify to the judgment.
The two categories of future observers — the next generation (insiders) and the far-land stranger (outsiders) — mean the testimony is universal: everyone who sees the land will react. The judgment isn't hidden or ambiguous. It's visible to both those who inherit the history and those who encounter it for the first time.
The land's condition becomes a sermon: the plagues and sicknesses visible in the soil tell the story of what happened to the people who lived there. The geography preaches judgment. The barren land proclaims the covenant's consequences more effectively than any human voice.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What does the 'landscape' of your life testify to — blessing or judgment?
- 2.What would future generations and outside observers conclude from viewing your spiritual condition?
- 3.How does the land itself become a sermon about covenant faithfulness?
- 4.What question would an outsider ask about the condition of your 'fields'?
Devotional
Future generations and foreign travelers will look at this land and ask: what happened here? The destruction will be so visible, so complete, so obviously more than natural — that the land itself will demand an explanation.
Moses envisions a time when the covenant consequences have been fully executed and the land bears the evidence: plague-scarred, sickness-ridden, barren ground that was once milk-and-honey territory. And visitors — both descendants who know the history and foreigners who don't — will look at the devastation and ask the same question: why?
The land becomes a witness. The soil that once produced abundantly now testifies to the judgment that fell on the people who abandoned the covenant. The geography preaches what the prophets announced. The barren fields are the sermon. The scorched earth is the text. The desolation is the illustration.
The two-audience response (insiders and outsiders) means the testimony is universal: the covenant's consequences are visible to everyone, not just to the covenant community. The stranger from a far land — someone with no connection to Israel's history — can read the land's condition and draw the correct conclusion: something terrible happened here because someone broke a sacred agreement.
What does the 'land' of your life look like to outside observers? What conclusion do visitors draw from the condition of your fields? If your spiritual landscape bears the marks of covenant-keeping, it testifies to blessing. If it bears the marks of covenant-breaking, it testifies to judgment. Either way, the land preaches.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And that the whole land thereof is brimstone and salt,
and burning,.... That is, is become exceeding barren, as all…
It appears by the length of the sentences here, and by the copiousness and pungency of the expressions, that Moses, now…
plagues Or strokes, see Deu 28:59; Deu 28:61.
the sicknesses This word only here, Jer 14:18; Jer 16:4; Psa 103:3; 2Ch…