Kommentar zu Dewarim 28:22

בשחפת — This is a disease whereby one’s flesh becomes worn away and swollen.

בשחפת, with consumption; all the words in this verse refer to a variety of diseases.

יככה ה' בשפחת, “the Lord will strike you with fever, etc.” Notice that in both these verses the instigator of the affliction is the attribute of Mercy, Hashem, not the attribute of Justice, i.e. אלוקים. However, there is no question that in this instance the term Hashem is used to describe the attribute of Justice as it has been used in Genesis 6,7 when the Torah wrote (using the attribute Hashem) “I will wipe out man whom I have created.” We also find the term Hashem used to describe the attribute of Justice in Exodus 17,14 when G’d describes His intention to wipe out Amalek. By the same token, there are instances when the term אלוקים refers to the attribute of Mercy, and not as usual, to the attribute of Justice. One such instance is Genesis 8,1 ויזכר אלוקים את נח, “G’d remembered Noach.” Another such example is found in Genesis 20,17 when the Torah describes G’d as curing Avimelech and his household, employing His attribute of אלוקים. All that these examples teach, -as we have pointed out repeatedly,- is that neither attribute ever operates in an undiluted form. Each of these respective attributes of G’d contains at least minor elements of the opposite attribute at the time when G’d employs the respective attribute which is mentioned. This principle is alluded to in our verse by the otherwise redundant addition of the latter ה at the end of the word יככה. This letter reminds us of the disciplinary function even within the attribute of Mercy, i.e. Hashem. We encounter this extraneous letter ה also in Leviticus 26,18 (during the list of the afflictions) when the Torah warns of further disciplinary afflictions using the word ליסרה instead of simply ליסר. in our chapter the extra letter ה appears with all the seven categories of afflictions.

He will incite armed forces against you. Rashi is answering the question: Until this point the verse lists various kinds of illnesses, but what sort of illness is the sword? He explains that this is a separate curse, that He will incite armed forces against you. Alternatively, Rashi is answering the question how does a sword strike of its own volition [which the verse implies]?

V. 22. שחפת, verwandt mit שאב Schöpfen, שאף gieriges Luftschöpfen: Erschöpfung, Schwindsucht. חרחר von חרר durch Hitze austrocknen. ובחרב in dem Zusammenhange mit dem Vorhergehenden, dürfte hier חרב wohl kaum in der Bedeutung: Schwert zu nehmen sein. Es dürfte vielmehr in der Bedeutung von חֹרֶב Austrocknung stehen. So נהפך לשדי בחרבני קיץ סלה (Ps.32, 4). שדפון; vergl. שדופות קדים (Bereschit 41, 6).

ובחרב, “and with fiery heat;” here the word חרב is not used in the literal sense meaning “sword,” but as something derived from חורב and יובש, “dried out by excessive heart of the sun.” (Compare Ibn Ezra)

ובקדחת AND WITH FEVER — The word is similar in meaning to the verb in (Deuteronomy 32:22) “For a fire burns (קדחה) in My nostrils”. It is the heat felt by sick people, mal du feu in old French, which is a very high temperature.

קדחת,ודלקת, וחרחור, different kinds of fever.

Injury to the crops in the field. Rashi is answering the same question as before, what sort of illness is “שדפון וירקון”? And he explains that these are injurious to the crops. Until now the verse lists illnesses afflicting the body and here it list plagues that afflict the crops.

ובדלקת — This is a fever even hotter than קדחת. — All these terms denote different kinds of diseases, but of a similar character.

Targum: עד דתיבד, meaning, etc. Because according to its straightforward meaning, the verse implies that the Holy One will chase you until you are lost from Him, and someone else will find you. But this is impossible because if one is lost from the Holy One, who will find him and save him from His hand? Therefore he cites the Targum, עד דתיבד, which is an expression of annihilation from the world. Then Rashi asks that if so, why mention a description of destruction? It should have simply said עד אבוד, until annihilation? Regarding this he explains, “meaning, ‘until the annihilation of you.’” That is, if it had not written the ך' that connects the verb to speak in the second person, you might have thought the word אבד is an infinitive, like אבד תאבדון, “You must obliterate” (above 12:2), and its meaning is “until you will annihilate” something [of your own] as atonement for your sins. Therefore the Scripture adds the ך' that converts the verb to speak in the second person, so that the word אבד refers to the person spoken of, meaning, until you [yourself] are annihilated. Nevertheless, he [concludes and] explains that according to the Targum it means “until you are annihilated of yourself.” Examine this carefully. This answers what Re”m wrote, “I do not know how to resolve what Rashi first writes עד דתיבד [until the annihilation of you] and then writes עד אבוד אותך, [until you destroy], which implies that this is the explanation of עד דתיבד, but then he concludes, שתכלה מאליך, “until you are annihilated of yourself,” which can only be going according to the Targum.

ובחרחר — a disease that makes one burning hot inside the body, so that one is continually thirsting for water; in old French astrandement. The word is of the same meaning as the verbs in (Job 30:30) “My bones are burnt (חרה) because of heat”, and in (Jeremiah 6:29) “The bellows are burnt (נחר) by the fire”.

ובחרב AND WITH THE SWORD — i.e. He will bring hostile troops against you.

שדפון is the hot east-wind, hale in old French

ובשדפון ובירקון AND WITH BLASTING AND WITH MILDEW — these are diseases that afflict grain which is yet in the field (yet growing).

ירקון is drought. The symptoms are that the surface of the grain becomes pale and ultimately turns yellow; chaume in old French

עד אבדך — The Targum renders this by עד דתיבד, meaning “until you perish”, i.e. until you will perish on your own.