The phrase a ‘warning shot’ can be basically understood as something that proceeds the possibility of greater action! In other words, a warning of what could happen, but can still be avoided. At this point in the text this is basically what Moses is doing, when he draws a conclusion as to how these curses could happen (vs45-48).

The reasons for these curses would be simply this, a lack of obedience to the commands God was giving the people. They might have been in danger of missing the point by thinking that God was just being harsh. But that was far from the point. What these curses would do was to act as a warning to future generations of the consequences of not serving the Lord with the joy and gladness that He deserved, due to bringing a prosperity to them that they did not deserve! J.G McConville draws our attention to the way these curses operate. They are: ‘rather like prophetic oracles of judgement, which intend, not to declare judgement inevitable and fixed, but to turn people from their sins.’[1] The consequences of not going God’s way would be devastating with starvation and destruction of material possessions and Lord raising nations against them. He effectively would see to their downfall because of their disobedience. This is later confirmed in Jeremiah where the Lord says: ‘I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruit and it’s good things. But when you came in, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination.’ (Jeremiah 2:7). To sum it up, there was a danger of forgetting all the blessings that God had given them!

The theme of God raising up a nation that will eventually take the people into exile comes to the fore in verses 49-52. This nation will be so aggressive it is compared to an eagle with its swift and merciless hunting ability! It will show no pity for Israel and will ravage the land. Even the best defended cities will have their defences utterly obliterated! Some scholars have argued that this section of the book of Deuteronomy was written after the people have been exiled, in the sixth century, to Babylon. But such descriptions were common in the curses or threats that were a part of Ancient Near East Vassal Treaties.[2] Warren Wiersbe argues that that this image: ‘was meant to cover all the invasions that have brought chastening to the Jewish people, including the Roman invasion in A.D. 70.’[3] The results would be awful as the people would experience moral decline on an alarming scale. The examples we are given in verses 53-57 reach a shocking pinnacle with the example of a: ‘refined woman’(v56-57) who will eat her new born child and, if that was not bad enough, will do so secretly, without giving her husband a share of the meal! The passage here is deliberately poetic in its description as this adds to the picture of the shocking state of the people. We read of such things happening in 2 Kings 6:28-29 as a result of the people disobedience, despite the warning here!

Here again we see a reversal of blessing. We were reminded in 10:22 that the Lord had increased their number from a mere seventy that had gone down to Egypt in Joseph’s time, to being: ‘as numerous as the stars of heaven.’ Disobedience will lead to exactly the opposite. Moses makes this is clear in verse 63 by making the point that it pleased the Lord to give them prosperity, but now He will bring ruin and destruction upon them and will uproot them from the land they are entering to possess.

But we should not be surprised as we are in Romans 1:18-25 territory here. There we are told that when people reject God, He allows moral decline to follow. Such is the case here, when people eat their own children as the Bible tells us that children are a blessing from God! The picture we find in verses 58-63 is that the Lord will send plagues upon His people and their descendants.  Disaster and the illness will strike them, not unlike the plagues that came upon Egypt! As such, there is a warning to churches and Christians today to obey God’s Word or to reap the consequences that come with disobedience!

[1] J.G. MCconville, Deuteronomy, Appollos Old Testament Commentary (Leicester, Inter Varsity Press, 2002) 88. 410.
[2] John D Currid, Deuteronomy, an EP Study Commentary (Evangelical Press, Darlington, 2006) 445.
[3] Warren Wiersbe, Be Equipped, Acquiring the Tools for Spiritual Success (Colorado Springs, Cook Communication Ministries, 1999) 170.