Prophecy Fulfilled. Are the Prophecies of Deuteronomy 28 really concerned with the Jews in Roman Times? Or could they apply to the Ten Tribes in Assyrian Exile? or the Jews in Babylonian Times?
Contents:
1. The Question
2. Rehearsals i.e. Prototypical Fulfillment of Prophecies.
3. Deuteronomy 28 and the Romans according to Nachmanides (Ramban).
4. Points from Deuteronomy 28 Particularly Applicable to the Roman Exile.
5. Assyrians and Babylonians not in Egypt at the Right Time.
6. Jews in the Roman Diaspora were often treated with contempt.
7. Jews after the Roman Diaspora were scattered and persecuted.
8. Ends of the Earth and the Eagle Symbol of Rome
9. Conclusion.
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1. The Question
jacobtoaff wrote:
Dear Mr. Davidi
I have a somewhat complex question.
In Deuteronomy 28 there is a prophecy of what would happen to the jews
if they do not live up to the standards of the torah. The Ramban says
that this represents the roman exile. In my humble opinion it
precisely does. A summary can be found at http://ohr.edu/2052.
Additional points not mentioned there are jews sold as slaves in Egypt
and antisemitism. ("mashal veshnina..")
A critic who believes that the Torah was written at the time of the
return from the Babylonian exile may say that this was written about
the Assyrian or Babylonian exile. The seventy years in Babylon have as
far as I know not been that terrible as described in Deuteronomy.
What about the Assyrian exile?
I know that you are an expert in this field and this is what I would
like to ask: can we prove to the critic(from non biblical sources)
that this was not written by the returning
jews from Babylon about the Assyrian exile a few hundred years
earlier?
(One word of caution: In Jeremiah 5:15 Babylon is described as far and
speaking a foreign language . In Deuteronomy the enemy is described as
" from the end of the earth (miktzay haaretz") and speaking a foreign
language.
I know this is not an easy task but I think this is an important issue
and to the best of my knowledge this specific question has not been
dealt with professionally in the past, . I thank you in advance for
this)
sincerely,
Jacob Toaff, MD
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2. Rehearsals i.e. Prototypical Fulfillment of Prophecies.
We understand that Prophecies often undergo a Prototypical Fulfillment. It may be that the prophecies of Deuteronomy 28 will be fulfilled fully in the End Times. This does not detract from the principle aspects of this prophecy came into play in both the Babylonian and Roman Exiles.
The Ramban (Nachmanides) is correct in saying that the Roman experience was a more complete fulfillment than the Babylonian one. We shall discuss this in more detail below.
First it is worth reviewing the concept of Prototypical Fulfillment:
The Commentator "Amos Chacham" ("Sefer Yishayahu", Daat Mikra, Jerusalem, 1984) said (p.7, free translation by Yair Davidiy):
# The Prophets spoke their words according to the need of their time and for the sake of future generations. The Sages have already said that any Prophecy that was written down, was written down for the sake of future generations. Nevertheless a great general rule for understanding the words of Prophecy at their simple level is that: Even though the Prophecy depicts that which will be in the Last Days it speaks through descriptions and symbols taken from the reality of the generation in which the Prophecy was given.
# In the last section of the Book of Isaiah it says: "WHERE IS THE HOUSE THAT YE BUILD UNTO ME?" (Isaiah 66:1). It is possible that by these words was intended the construction of the second Temple. Cyrus is recalled by his name in the Consolations of Isaiah in two consecutive verses only (44:28-45:1). Most of the verses in the Consolations of Isaiah are not concerned with Cyrus but rather with the Redemption of Israel. This will come from the Almighty and make known the greatness of God throughout the world. According to their simple meaning these prophecies were never fulfilled, not in regards to Cyrus and not concerning the eternal salvation of Israel. Nevertheless it is necessary to stress, the main points were fulfilled: As a result of the Decreed Permission of Cyrus there began the Return to Zion and the Second Temple was built. The end result was that the Children of Israel returned and inherited most of the Promised Land. Also Torah-learning and awe of the Almighty increased. Even the name of God became renowned amongst the Gentiles and many converts attached themselves to Israel. All these things had a good and beneficial influence in strengthening the power of survival of the People of Israel in the long Exile that followed the destruction of the Second Temple. In this way the complete fulfillment of the Promises in the Consolations of Isaiah was put off until the Days of Future Redemption. This is what we are hoping will come quickly in our era. It follows that what happened with the Prophecies concerning the liberation from Babylon was similar to what happened with the Predictions about Salvation from [the King of Assyria] Sancherib. Fulfillment of all the prophecies of Consolation was delayed until the future Age of Deliverance. Scripture itself hints at the possibility that the complete fulfillment of these Prophecies was liable to be put off for many days: "I THE LORD WILL HASTEN IT IN HIS TIME" [Isaiah 60:22].
Isaiah prophesied about Cyrus. Isaiah lived about 65 years before Cyrus. Some of the Prophecies concerning Cyrus were fulfilled in the person of the Persian King of that name and some were not. An analysis of the verses in question showed that Cyrus was merely meant to serve as a prototype for a figure who is destined to appear in the Latter Days.
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The case of Cyrus serves as an example.
THE PRINCIPLE OF PROTOTYPICAL REPRESENTATION HOLDS THROUGHOUT SCRIPTURE!
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3. Deuteronomy 28 and the Romans according to Nachmanides (Ramban).
Now to your question:
Deuteronomy 28 and the Romans.
We have been asked to consider the application of Deuteronomy specifically to the Roman Exile. This is the opinion of Nachmanides.
# A critic who believes that the Torah was written at the time of the return from the Babylonian exile may say that this was written about
the Assyrian or Babylonian exile. The seventy years in Babylon have as far as I know not been that terrible as described in Deuteronomy.
What about the Assyrian exile? #
The critic in question evidently does not believe in the Divine Origin of Scripture.
If it is not this point it will be another.
Whether or not the passage in question fits the Assyrian or Babylonian Exiles as well as the Roman one does not reflect on the veracity of the text.
Even if Nachmanides was wrong it would not change the fact that the Torah was given by God.
Nevertheless the question is still worth answering.
Proverbs 26:
4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly, Or you will also be like him.
5 Answer a fool as his folly deserves, That he not be wise in his own eyes.
Our answer is given further down.
First,
Let us now look at pertinent extracts from
Commentary to Deuteronomy 28
The Commentary is taken in part from the Brit-Am Biblical Commentary as given on our web-site.
[Deuteronomy 28:36] THE LORD SHALL BRING THEE, AND THY KING WHICH THOU SHALT SET OVER THEE, UNTO A NATION WHICH NEITHER THOU NOR THY FATHERS HAVE KNOWN; AND THERE SHALT THOU SERVE OTHER GODS, WOOD AND STONE.
These verses were fulfilled mainly by Judah at the time of their exile by the Babylonians and later by the Romans and their subsequent persecution by the Gentile nations.
#THY KING WHICH THOU SHALT SET OVER THEE##: The commentators point out that it says 'the king that YOU shall set over you' and not the monarch that God had appointed. This was fulfilled in Judah. The Hasmonean Kings were Priests (Cohens) of the Tribe of Levi. Their dynasty had been founded by Judah the Maccabee. They were a heroic family who saved Judah from the oppression of the Greek Seleucids. They then made themselves hereditary monarchs over Judah. They were criticized for this since Judah had received a tradition that only someone from the House of David could be rightfully king over them.
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Nachmanides says:
#THE LORD SHALL BRING THEE, AND THY KING WHICH THOU SHALT SET OVER THEE, UNTO A NATION WHICH NEITHER THOU NOR THY FATHERS HAVE KNOWN# was referring to Agripus [i.e. Herod Agrippa I was King off and on from 37 to 41CE and through 44 CE. He was the father of Herod Agrippas II] who was taken to Rome. It is also possible that the verse is referring to a previous monarch to Agrippus, namely Aristobulos who was seized by the Roman Commander and taken to Rome in chains and there he was AN ASTONISHMENT, A PROVERB, AND A BYWORD, AMONG ALL NATIONS [28:37] who had been astounded at the heroic might [of this dynasty in the past] and had now fallen down. After that Agrippus [i.e. Herod Agrippas II, 48-100 CE ] came once more into the Land with the emissary of the Roman Caesar and in the Land of Judah conquered many great cities, and thus was fulfilled the verse, #THEREFORE SHALT THOU SERVE THINE ENEMIES WHICH THE LORD SHALL SEND AGAINST THEE, IN HUNGER, AND IN THIRST# [28:48], and it says #THE LORD SHALL BRING A NATION AGAINST THEE FROM FAR# [28:49]: For Vespasian and his son Titus came into the Land with a great number of Roman soldiers and they captured all the fortified cities of Judah and oppressed them very much, as recorded in the Literature. They captured the walls of Jerusalem. There was nothing left except the Holy Temple and the Wall of the Courtyard. They were eating the flesh of their sons and daughters [28:53]. Then was fulfilled in them, #YE SHALL BE PLUCKED FROM OFF THE LAND# [28:63]. They were then taken into captivity by the Romans who took them back to Rome and by numerous other peoples who were with them [who had come with the Romans] from Greece, Egypt, Aram (Syria), and numerous others. Thus was fulfilled, #AND THE LORD SHALL SCATTER THEE AMONG ALL PEOPLE [S] [28:64]. And also, #AND THY LIFE SHALL HANG IN DOUBT BEFORE THEE# [28:66]: This was fulfilled due to our fear in exile of the Gentiles with their constant decrees against us. It is also a hint at those previous generations at the time when the Second Temple was destroyed when they were attempting to destroy them [the Jews] altogether . This is why it says straight afterwards, #AND THE LORD SHALL BRING THEE INTO EGYPT AGAIN WITH SHIPS# [28:68].
Nachmanides goes on to explain how other verses concerning the Jews in exile were also fulfilled, such as:
# AND YET FOR ALL THAT, WHEN THEY BE IN THE LAND OF THEIR ENEMIES, I WILL NOT CAST THEM AWAY, NEITHER WILL I ABHOR THEM, TO DESTROY THEM UTTERLY, AND TO BREAK MY COVENANT WITH THEM: FOR I AM THE LORD THEIR GOD.                    Â
#BUT I WILL FOR THEIR SAKES REMEMBER THE COVENANT OF THEIR ANCESTORS, WHOM I BROUGHT FORTH OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT IN THE SIGHT OF THE HEATHEN, THAT I MIGHT BE THEIR GOD: I AM THE LORD# [Leviticus 26:44-45] . Â
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70 A.D. Destruction of Jerusalem 1,100,000 Jews were killed and 97,000 taken into slavery and captivity. 115 CE Rebellion of the Jews in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Cyrene and Cyprus. Jews and Romans inflicted many barbaric atrocities on each other, causing the death of several hundreds of thousands of Romans and Jews. 132-35 CE The Bar Kochba rebellion (Bar Kochba was a false Messiah). Caused the death of 500,000 Jews; thousands were sold into slavery or taken into captivity.                  Â
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[Deuteronomy 28:37] AND THOU SHALT BECOME AN ASTONISHMENT, A PROVERB, AND A BYWORD, AMONG ALL NATIONS WHITHER THE LORD SHALLLEAD THEE.
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Roman Exile or Assyrian, or Babylonian
The verses do not fit the Assyrian Exile nor the Babylonian.
They do fit that of Rome.
See:
Scriptural Reality. Fulfillment of Prophecy in Early Jewish History
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4. Points from Deuteronomy 28 Particularly Applicable to the Roman Exile:
Being taken to Egypt in ships and sold as slaves.
Being dispersed and treated with contempt.
The Eagle Symbol of Rome.
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5. Assyrians and Babylonians not in Egypt at the Right Time.
The Assyrians and Babylonians only ruled over Egypt AFTER they had finished the Exiles.
Deuteronomy 28:68 says that the Israelites would be sold to Egypt in ships.
Deuteronomy 28:
68The Lord will bring you back in ships to Egypt, by a route that I promised you would never see again; and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.
In the Assyrian and Babylonian Exiles Israelites were not taken in ships to Egypt to be sold.
Concerning the Assyrians, Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727) began the exile of Israelites. It was continued by Shalmaneser and Sargon and also by Sennacherib.
Egypt during this period was considered an ally of Israel. Egypt may not have helped much but it did make attempts. Sennacherib drove the Egyptians (who at that time had Ethiopian rulers) out of the Middle East but he did not conquer Egypt.
The Assyrians certainly did not sell Israelites as slaves to Egypt.
Ashurbanipal (669-627 BCE)Â ruled over Egypt but this was some time after all the Israelites from the northern Kingdom of Israel had been exiled.
Concerning Babylon,
Nebuchadnezzar (604-561 BCE) destroyed the Temple and exiled the Jews to Babylon.
Wikipedia tells us:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Babylonian_Empire
# In 597 BC he [Nebuchadnezzar]Â invaded Judah and captured Jerusalem and deposed its king Jehoiachin. Egyptian and Babylonian armies fought each other for control of the near east throughout much of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, and this encouraged king Zedekiah of Judah to revolt. After an 18 month siege Jerusalem was captured in 587 BC, thousands of Jews were deported to Babylon and Solomon's Temple was razed to the ground.
Nebuchadnezzar fought the Pharaohs Psammetichus II and Apries throughout his reign, and during the reign of Pharaoh Amasis in 568 BC it is speculated that he may have set foot in Egypt itself.
By 572 Nebuchadnezzar was in full control of Babylonia, Assyria, Phoenicia, Israel, Philistinia, northern Arabia and parts of Asia Minor. #
Again Egypt itself served as an ally of Judah against Assyria. Jewish slaves were not sold into Egypt. The Bible indicates that Nebuchadnessar may have gained some control over Egypt BUT this was at a later date (Jeremiah 42:50). We have the story in Jeremiah of a small group of Jews being left in Judah AFTER the great majority of the Jews had been exiled. They slew Gedaliah the governor Nebuchanzzer had left for them, and then fled to Egypt to get away from the Babylonians.
Jeremiah 41:
17And they set out, and stopped at Geruth Chimham near Bethlehem, intending to go to Egypt 18because of the Chaldeans; for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.
The Jews  in the Roman Exiles were taken by ships to Egypt and they did cause a surfeit in the slave market just as predicted.
After the Fall of the Second Temple (70 CE) Josephus reports:
#... Of the rest, those who were over seventeen he put in chains and sent to hard labor in Egypt while greet numbers were presented by Titus to the provinces to perish in the theaters by sword or by wild beasts; those under seventeen were sold.# Josephus, "The Jewish Wars"; Book vi 9:2.
Munter -- Roman Historian
# Now that Betar had been captured, everything came under Human control, while Palestine [Judah] was reduced to a desolate mound. Captives were sold into slavery in numbers too great to count. First they were brought to the grand annual market at the Terebinth-Eloh tree in Hebron, or in the words of Hyranumous, to the Tent-Ohel of Abraham near Hebron. Each slave sold for the price of a horse. Those captives who were not sold there were brought to the market place in Azza [Gaza] which, because of the great multitudes of slaves who were sold there, was called Hadrian's market place. And those who were still not sold there were herded into ships and were taken to Egypt. Many died in transit, whether by starvation or by shipwreck, while many also were killed by cruel masters.
Munter, Primordia Eccl. Africanae, pp. 85f.,113.
# The toll of the Bar Kochba uprising was devastating both on the population and on the places of habitation. The numbers of dead were awesome, while multitudes of Jews were taken captive to fill the slave markets near and far. The slave market of the Terebinth of Hebron was particuIarly famous as a center where Jewish slaves, sent into captivity by Hadrian were sold. So many Jewish slaves were available that, recording to one report, a Jew was sold for as little as the price of a portion of horse feed. #
History of Am Yisrael in Ancient Days (Hebrew, Devir), 1971, p.321.
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6. Jews in the Roman Diaspora were often treated with contempt.
Deuteronomy 28:
37 And you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations where the Lord will drive you.
This happened after the Roman Exile. It has continued with the Jews until this very day.
It did not happen to the Israelites from the Ten Tribes. On the contrary. It also (as far we know) did not happen to the Jews who were exiled to Babylonia. We have the books of Ezekiel, Ezra, Daniel, Esther, that all deal with the Jews in the Babylonian Sphere. The Jews had their problems but at that stage do not seem to have been treated with contempt.
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7. Jews after the Roman Diaspora were scattered and persecuted.
Deuteronomy 28:
64The Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other; and there you shall serve other gods, of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known. 65Among those nations you shall find no ease, no resting-place for the sole of your foot. There the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a languishing spirit. 66Your life shall hang in doubt before you; night and day you shall be in dread, with no assurance of your life.
This happened after the Roman Empire destroyed the Second Temple and Exiled the Jews.
The Ten Tribes were not driven all over the earth neither were the Jews who were taken to Babylon.
After the Roman Exile however the Jews were scattered all over the place and persecuted wherever they went and driven from one place to another, never finding rest, just as Scripture says.
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8. Ends of the Earth and the Eagle Symbol of Rome
The Assyrians did not use an eagle as their symbol; neither did the Babylonians. The Romans did.
Deuteronomy 28:
49 The Lord will bring a nation from far away, from the end of the earth, to swoop down on you like an eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand
##FROM FAR AWAY, FROM THE END OF THE EARTH##: The Romans came from Italy bringing with them German and  other mercenaries. Roman forces appear to have been withdrawn from  Britain to deal with the Jewish revolts.Britain is at  the ends of the earth in Biblical Terminology. So too, Italy is a peninsula and also an end (Hebrew Katseh i.e. extremity) of the earth.
##swoop down on you like an eagle##: The symbol of the Roman legions was an eagle.
The Romans were compared to an eagle. The Roman Standard was in the shape of an eagle. Their eagle standard had religious significance in Roman eyes and was treated as sacred.
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9. Conclusion
The prophecies in Deuteronomy 28 may be only completely fulfilled in the future. Nevertheless similar disasters to those described did happen.
In Hebrew History three major Exiles took place:
a. The Assyrian Exile of the Ten Tribes.
b. The Babylonian Exile of the Jews.
c. The Roman Exile of the Jews.
Of these three exiles only that of the Romans fits the prophecy of Deuteronomy 28.
After the Roman Exile Jews were sold as slaves into Egypt as predicted (Deuteronomy 28: 68).
Following the Assyrian and Babylonian Exiles of Israelites and Jews they did not they loose their status and become a byword for contempt.
This happened as a result of the Roman Exile, as predicted (Deuteronomy 28: 37).
Also as result of the Assyrian and Babylonian Exiles they were not scattered all over the world. They were so scattered after the Roman Exile. In their places of Exile they continued to be persecuted and pushed from one place to another, as predicted. (Deuteronomy 28: 64). The Jews did not all worship foreign gods in their places of Exile but many of them were forced to do so. Their very state of being subject to worshippers of idols in Biblical Though was considered as close to idolatry itself.Â
Deuteronomy 28 may therefore be taken as predicting (amongst other things) the Roman Exile of the Jews. It is a proof of Prophecy and gives details whose pertinence is undeniable.
See Also:
 Assyria Compared
It is all Relative! The Conditions of Israelites from the Ten Tribes in the Assyrian ExileÂ
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