Deuteronomy 28:23

And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(23) Thy heaven . . . shall be brass, and the earth . . . iron.—Not only in respect of the drought, but of God’s refusal to remove it. See Jeremiah 14, 15 for a most pathetic intercession for Israel under this misery, answered by the order, “Pray not for this people for their good” (Jeremiah 14:11). Only grief is permitted (Deuteronomy 28:17). Relief is not given (Deuteronomy 15:1).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

28:15-44 If we do not keep God's commandments, we not only come short of the blessing promised, but we lay ourselves under the curse, which includes all misery, as the blessing all happiness. Observe the justice of this curse. It is not a curse causeless, or for some light cause. The extent and power of this curse. Wherever the sinner goes, the curse of God follows; wherever he is, it rests upon him. Whatever he has is under a curse. All his enjoyments are made bitter; he cannot take any true comfort in them, for the wrath of God mixes itself with them. Many judgments are here stated, which would be the fruits of the curse, and with which God would punish the people of the Jews, for their apostacy and disobedience. We may observe the fulfilling of these threatenings in their present state. To complete their misery, it is threatened that by these troubles they should be bereaved of all comfort and hope, and left to utter despair. Those who walk by sight, and not by faith, are in danger of losing reason itself, when every thing about them looks frightful.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

"Blasting" denotes (compare Genesis 41:23) the result of the scorching east wind; "mildew" that of an untimely blight falling on the green ear, withering it and marring its produce.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

23. heaven … brass … earth … iron—strong Oriental figures used to describe the effects of long-continued drought. This want of regular and seasonable rain is allowed by the most intelligent observers to be one great cause of the present sterility of Palestine.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Be brass, i.e. like brass, hard and dry, and shut up from giving rain. See Leviticus 26:19.

Be iron, hard, and chapt, and barren.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the heaven that is over thy head shall be brass,.... Or like brass, not for its clearness, brightness, and splendour, or for its being spread out like a molten looking glass which was of brass, Job 37:18; but for its dryness and hardness, no moisture being in it, or passing through it; no showers of rain nor dew being let down from it:

and the earth that is under thee shall be iron; or like iron, hard and impenetrable, into which the plough and spade will not enter; nor anything spring out of it, for want of rain and dew to moisten and soften it. The same is said in Leviticus 26:19; only there is an inversion of the figures; there the heaven is said to be as iron, and the earth like brass, but signify the same thing.

Geneva Study Bible

And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be {k} brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.

(k) It will give you no more moisture than if it were of brass.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

23. Cp. Leviticus 26:19 : heaven as iron, earth as brass.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 23, 24. - Terrible drought is here threatened; no rain should fall (cf. Leviticus 26:19); but instead thereof dust, both light as powder and heavy as sand, should fall upon them. The allusion is probably to those clouds of dust and sand which often fill the air in Palestine, when the heat is intense and there has been no rain for a season; the wind then becomes a vehement sirocco, and the air is filled with sand and dust, and is like the glowing heat at the mouth of a furnace (Robinson, 'Bib. Res.,' 2:123; Thomson, 'Land and the Book,' 2:311). Deuteronomy 28:23

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

To this should be added terrible drought, without a drop of rain from heaven (cf. Leviticus 26:19). Instead of rain, dust and ashes should fall from heaven. נתן construed with a double accusative: to make the rain of the land into dust and ashes, to give it in the form of dust and ashes. When the heat is very great, the air in Palestine is often full of dust and sand, the wind assuming the form of a burning sirocco, so that the air resembles the glowing heat at the mouth of a furnace (Robinson, ii.504).