Deuteronomy 28

[Daniel 9:11] "'And (the curse) has come upon us drop by drop.'" That is, Thou hast not poured out upon us all of Thy wrath, for we should not have been able to bear it, but Thou hast poured forth a mere droplet of Thy fury, in order that we might return unto Thee once we have been immeshed in Thy snare.

"'The malediction and the curse which were written in the book of Moses, the servant of God...'" In Deuteronomy we read the curses and blessings of the Lord (Deuteronomy 27:11-28:14), which were afterwards uttered in Mount Gerizim and Ebal upon the righteous and upon the sinners.

The prosperity of a city is dependent upon the supply of goods for sale in the market. We say that a country is prosperous which produces much fruit. So also there is a certain prosperity of the soul when it has been filled with works of every kind. It is necessary first for it to be laboriously cultivated and then to be enriched by the plentiful streams of heavenly waters, so as to bear fruit thirtyfold, sixtyfold and a hundredfold and to obtain the blessing which says, "Blessed shall be your barns and blessed your stores."

The knowledge hereof the good God opens to His saints, and grants it out of His good treasury, even as the sacred Law testifies, saying, The Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee and open unto thee His good treasure. From this heavenly treasure He gives rain to His lands, to bless all the works of thy hands. By this rain is signified the utterance of the Law, which moistens the soul fruitful and fertile in good works, that it may receive the dew of Grace.

By the heaven then being brass is signified its being shut up, and refusing its use to the earth. The earth also is iron, for it witholds its produce, and with hostile rigour excludes from its fructifying soil the seeds thrown upon it, which its wont is to cherish as in the bosom of a tender mother. For when does iron bring forth fruit, when does brass melt into showers?

What is meant by "a heaven of brass"? Absolute dryness and lack of aerial waters through which the earth produces its fruits.

At times when we were in error, mired in the pride of our mind as if with our feet in the mud, we did not perceive our error because our soul was unable to see itself. Although we would look [into the mirror] each day, we would "grope around" in the dark "like blind men." Our inner mind did not possess that which is necessary for discernment.

Perhaps you have heard of the prophecy of Christ's death. You ask to learn [from Moses] what is set forth concerning the cross. Not even this is passed over. It is displayed by the holy men with great plainness. For first Moses predicts it, and that even with a loud voice, when he says, "You shall see your Life hanging before your eyes and shall not believe."

Now the mystery of this "sign" was in various ways predicted; (a "sign") in which the foundation of life was forelaid for mankind; (a "sign") in which the Jews were not to believe: just as Moses beforetime kept on announcing in Exodus, saying, "Ye shall be ejected from the land into which ye shall enter; and in those nations ye shall not be able to rest: and there shall be instabilityof the print of thy foot: and God shall give thee a wearying heart, and a pining soul, and failing eyes, that they see not: and thy life shall hang on the tree before thine eyes; and thou shalt not trust thy life.