Comentario sobre Deuteronómio 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.