What answer is given when the nations ask why the land has suffered the Lord’s wrath?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The answer says Israel forsook the covenant made when the Lord brought its fathers out of Egypt, served and adored unfamiliar strange gods for whom it had not been assigned, and therefore suffered the written curses and removal to another land.

Chapter breakdown

These are the covenant words the Lord commanded Moses to make with Israel in Moab, besides the covenant at Horeb. Moses calls all Israel and recalls what it saw the Lord do in Egypt to Pharao, his servants, and his whole land: great trials, mighty signs, and wonders. Yet the Lord has not given them a heart to understand, eyes to see, or ears to hear up to that day. Challoner’s separate note explains this as their own fault and resistance to grace. The Lord brought them forty years through the desert without their clothes wearing out or their shoes being consumed with age. They ate no bread and drank neither wine nor strong drink, so they might know he is their God. Sehon, king of Hesebon, and Og, king of Basan, came to fight at this place; Israel killed them, took their land, and gave it to Ruben, Gad, and half Manasses. Israel must therefore keep and fulfill the covenant words so it may understand all it does.

All stand that day before the Lord: princes, tribes, elders, doctors or teachers, all Israel’s people, children, wives, the stranger living in camp, woodcutters, and water-carriers. They stand to enter the Lord’s covenant and oath made that day, so he may establish them as his people and be their God, as he said and swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moses says he makes the covenant and confirms the oaths with both those present and those absent, not just those before him.

Israel knows its residence in Egypt and passage through nations whose abominable idols it saw—wood, stone, silver, and gold. The warning concerns any man, woman, family, or tribe whose heart turns from the Lord that day to serve those gods, a root bringing gall and bitterness. Hearing the oath, such a person might bless himself inwardly, expect peace while continuing his wicked heart’s ways, and say the drunken may consume the thirsty. Challoner calls this a proverb with two possible readings. It may be the sinner flattering himself with peace and so much abundance that all thirst and want are satisfied or consumed. Or it may concern the bitter root, drunk with sin, attracting and consuming those who thirst for similar evils. The warning says the Lord will not forgive that man: wrath and jealousy will burn intensely, all the volume’s curses will fall on him, his name will be blotted from under heaven, and he will be utterly destroyed from Israel’s tribes according to the book’s law and covenant curses.

The following generation, children born afterward, and strangers from afar will see the land’s plagues and afflictions: burning with brimstone and the heat of salt, no sowing or green growth, like Sodom, Gomorrha, Adama, and Seboim, destroyed in the Lord’s wrath and indignation. All nations will ask why he did this to the land and what his great wrath means. The answer says the people forsook the covenant made with their fathers when he brought them from Egypt. They served and adored strange gods they did not know and for whom they had not been assigned. Therefore the Lord’s wrath brought all the written curses on the land, and he cast the people out in anger, wrath, and great indignation into a strange land, as seen that day.

Secret things belong to the Lord; manifest things belong to Israel and its children forever, so they may do all the law’s words. Challoner’s separate note says secret things belong to and are known to God alone. Their business is to observe what he has revealed and made known and direct their lives accordingly.

The story inside

The speech joins what Israel has seen with what future observers will ask. Moses recalls the Egyptian signs, forty-year preservation, and the defeat and land of two named kings, then calls for keeping the covenant so Israel may understand its actions. The later question about a ruined land receives an explicit answer: abandoned covenant and service to strange gods brought the curses and expulsion. Between these passages the oath warning describes a heart that expects peace while continuing wickedness. Challoner leaves two interpretations of its proverb open, rather than certifying one mechanism. The final distinction gives the revealed law a practical purpose: doing its words. These are Moses’ recollections, warnings, and prescribed explanation, not new reports of later history.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The assembled groups are named, and the oath includes present and absent people. Princes, tribes, elders, teachers, children, wives, strangers, woodcutters, and water-carriers belong to the stated assembly. The text does not limit absent people to one category.
2
The proverb’s uncertainty matters. Challoner offers either self-flattery through imagined peace and plenty or the bitter root attracting others who thirst for similar evils. Both possibilities must remain distinct from the stated warning against the man.
3
The ruined-land question has a direct answer. Forsaking the covenant and serving unfamiliar gods explain the written curses and removal. The closing verse directs Israel and its children to do the revealed law, while secret things belong to God.

Test your recall

Why does the answer say the Lord’s wrath brought all the written curses upon the land?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 21684–21719
Deuteronomy Chapter 29 The covenant is solemnly confirmed between God and his people. Threats against those that shall break it. 29:1. These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab: beside that covenant which he made with them in Horeb. 29:2. And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: You have seen all the things that the Lord did before you in the land of Egypt to Pharao, and to all his servants, and to his whole land. 29:3. The great temptations, which thy eyes have seen, those mighty signs and wonders, 29:4. And the Lord hath not given you a heart to understand, and eyes to see, and ears that may hear, unto this present day. Hath not given you, etc.... Through your own fault and because you resisted his grace. 29:5. He hath brought you forty years through the desert: your garments are not worn out, neither are the shoes of your feet consumed with age. 29:6. You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink: that you might know that I am the Lord your God. 29:7. And you came to this place: and Sehon king of Hesebon, and Og king of Basan, came out against us to fight. And we slew them. 29:8. And took their land, and delivered it for a possession to Ruben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasses. 29:9. Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and fulfil them: that you may understand all that you do.
Lines 21721–21738
29:10. You all stand this day before the Lord your God, your princes, and tribes, and ancients, and doctors, all the people of Israel, 29:11. Your children and your wives, and the stranger that abideth with thee in the camp, besides the hewers of wood, and them that bring water: 29:12. That thou mayst pass in the covenant of the Lord thy God, and in the oath which this day the Lord thy God maketh with thee. 29:13. That he may raise thee up a people to himself, and he may be thy God as he hath spoken to thee, and as he swore to thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 29:14. Neither with you only do I make this covenant, and confirm these oaths, 29:15. But with all that are present and that are absent.
Lines 21740–21770
29:16. For you know how we dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we have passed through the midst of nations, and passing through them, 29:17. You have seen their abominations and filth, that is to say, their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which they worshipped. 29:18. Lest perhaps there should be among you a man or a woman, a family or a tribe, whose heart is turned away this day from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations: and there should be among you a root bringing forth gall and bitterness. 29:19. And when he shall hear the words of this oath, he should bless himself in his heart saying: I shall have peace, and will walk on in the naughtiness of my heart: and the drunken may consume the thirsty, The drunken, etc., absumat ebria sitientem.... It is a proverbial expression, which may either be understood, as spoken by the sinner, blessing, that is, flattering himself in his sins with the imagination of peace, and so great an abundance as may satisfy, and as it were, consume all thirst and want: or it may be referred to the root of bitterness, spoken of before, which being drunken with sin may attract, and by that means consume, such as thirst after the like evils. 29:20. And the Lord should not forgive him: but his wrath and jealousy against that man should be exceedingly enkindled at that time, and all the curses that are written in this volume should light upon him: and the Lord should blot out his name from under heaven, 29:21. And utterly destroy him out of all the tribes of Israel, according to the curses that are contained in the book of this law and covenant:
Lines 21772–21797
29:22. And the following generation shall say, and the children that shall be born hereafter, and the strangers that shall come from afar, seeing the plagues of that land and the evils wherewith the Lord hath afflicted it, 29:23. Burning it with brimstone, and the heat of salt, so that it cannot be sown any more, nor any green thing grow therein, after the example of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha, Adama and Seboim, which the Lord destroyed in his wrath and indignation: 29:24. And all the nations shall say: Why hath the Lord done thus to this land? what meaneth this exceeding great heat of his wrath? 29:25. And they shall answer: Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord, which he made with their fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt: 29:26. And they have served strange gods, and adored them, whom they knew not, and for whom they had not been assigned: 29:27. Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this volume: 29:28. And he hath cast them out of their land, in anger and in wrath, and in very great indignation, and hath thrown them into a strange land, as it is seen this day.
Lines 21799–21807
29:29. Secret things to the Lord our God: things that are manifest, to us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. Secret things, etc.... As much as to say, secret things belong to, and are known to, God alone; our business must be to observe what he has revealed and manifested to us, and to direct our lives accordingly.