Deuteronomy 28:34

34. Cp. Deu_28:28; mad, rather driven mad.

35 breaks the connection between Deu_28:34; Deu_28:36, and is more in place after 27, q.v. on boil. Here sore boil on knees and legs points to the ‘joint-leprosy,’ a species of elephantiasis; cp. Job_2:7 f., Deu_7:3-6, Deu_17:7, Deu_19:17; Deu_19:20, Deu_30:17.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Deu 28:34 So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.

Ver. 34. So that thou shalt be mad, &c.] As Bajazet was in his iron cage; as Pope Boniface VIII was the time when shut up in St. Angelo by Sara Columnus, his mortal enemy, renting himself with his teeth, and devouring his own fingers. {a} Philip, the Spanish king, is said to have borne patiently the defeat given to his invincible armada in the year 1588, but ten years after he died of a very loathsome and incurable disease, a sore botch that seized upon him from the sole of his foot unto the top of his head; as is to be seen set down by Carol. Scribanius, "Instit. Princip.," cap. 20. {b}

{a} Turk. Hist., 116.

{b} Camd., Elis.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Deu 28:34. Thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes — Quite bereaved of all comfort and hope, and abandoned to utter despair. “Into what madness, fury, and desperation have they been pushed,” says Bishop Newton, in illustration of this prophecy, “by the cruel usage, extortions, and oppressions which they have undergone! We will allege only two similar instances, one from ancient, and one from modern history. After the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, some of the Jews took refuge in the castle of Masada, where, being closely besieged by the Romans, they, at the persuasion of Eleazar their leader, first murdered their wives and children, then ten men were chosen by lot to slay the rest; this being done, one of the ten was chosen in like manner to kill the other nine, which having executed, he set fire to the place, and then stabbed himself. There were nine hundred and sixty who perished in this miserable manner; and only two women and five boys escaped by hiding themselves in the aqueducts under ground. Such another instance we have in our English history: for in the reign of Richard I., when the people were in arms to make a general massacre of them, fifteen hundred of them seized on the city of York to defend themselves; but being besieged they offered to capitulate, and to ransom their lives with money. The offer being refused, one of them cried in despair, that it was better to die courageously for the law than to fall into the hands of the Christians. Every one immediately took his knife and stabbed his wife and children. The men afterward retired into the king’s palace, which they set on fire, in which they consumed themselves, with the palace and furniture.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And thou shall become an astonishment,.... To neighbouring nations, that shall hear of their overthrow and captivity, and that shall see the miserable condition they are brought into:

a proverb and a byword among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee; both for the wickedness committed by them, and for the ill usage of them by the nations among whom they should be, as they were in the Babylonish captivity; see Jer 24:9; and now are, it being common to say,"do you think I am a Jew?''or,"none but a Jew would have done such a thing.''

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Astonished. Hebrew, "go mad," become stupified at such a scene of misfortunes.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes - Quite put out of the possession of their own souls; quite bereaved of all comfort and hope, and abandoned to utter despair. They that walk by sight, and not by faith, are in danger of losing reason itself, when all about them looks frightful; and their condition is bad indeed, who are mad for the sight of their eyes.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.