What is the meaning of Deuteronomy 28:55? Refusing to share with any of them Deuteronomy 28:55 opens with a picture of a once-gentle man who “will not share with any of them”. Under the curse, even natural affection collapses. • Deuteronomy 28:54 reveals that this same man was formerly “tender and sensitive,” highlighting how sin’s consequences distort the most basic human instincts. • 2 Kings 6:28-29 shows a later siege in Samaria where two mothers bargained to eat their children—evidence that this prophecy came to pass. • Lamentations 4:10 laments, “With their own hands compassionate women have cooked their own children”, underscoring the severity of covenant curses. • Matthew 24:12 notes love growing cold in end-times pressures; hard hearts are the fruit of rebellion. The flesh of his children he will eat The verse proceeds, “the flesh of his children he will eat.” God is not exaggerating; He is foretelling literal cannibalism triggered by famine. • Leviticus 26:29 issues the same warning in an earlier covenant statement. • Deuteronomy 28:53 broadens it: “You will eat the flesh of your sons and daughters the LORD your God has given you.” • Jeremiah 19:9 predicts the horror again just before Babylon’s siege (“I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters”). • Historical fulfillment surfaces in 586 BC (Jeremiah 52:6) and AD 70 (Josephus records cannibalism during Rome’s siege of Jerusalem), demonstrating Scripture’s reliability. Because he has nothing left The man’s cannibalism is “because he has nothing left.” Obedience had promised abundance (Deuteronomy 28:11); disobedience guarantees absolute lack. • Deuteronomy 28:48 warns that rebels will serve enemies “in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and destitution.” • 2 Kings 25:3 notes that during Babylon’s siege “the famine in the city was severe; there was no food for the people of the land.” • Lamentations 4:9 contrasts death by sword with slow starvation: “Those slain by the sword are better off… than those stricken by famine.” In the siege and distress The setting is “the siege and distress.” Ancient warfare starved cities into surrender by cutting them off. • Deuteronomy 28:52 foretells enemies “besieging you in all your gates until your high fortified walls fall down.” • 2 Kings 6:24-25 describes siege conditions so dire that donkey heads and dove droppings were sold as food. • Luke 19:43-44 records Jesus predicting a future siege of Jerusalem, echoing Moses’ words and confirming their ongoing relevance. That your enemy will inflict on you within all your gates The misery is “inflicted” by an enemy God allows as judgment, and it happens “within all your gates,” meaning no city is exempt. • Deuteronomy 28:25 says Israel will become “an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth,” a consequence fully realized when Assyria, Babylon, and later Rome invaded. • 2 Chronicles 36:17 notes that Babylon “killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary,” bringing the curse literally inside the gates. • Luke 21:20 mirrors this: “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that her desolation is near.” summary Deuteronomy 28:55 is a sobering slice of the covenant curses: a once-kind father becomes so desperate under siege that he secretly consumes his own children and refuses to share even with family. Scripture records that these warnings were fulfilled in Israel’s history, proving God’s Word true and emphasizing the deadly seriousness of sin and covenant unfaithfulness. The verse stands as a stark reminder that departing from the LORD leads to unimaginable degradation, while obedience and trust in Him secure life and blessing. |
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