Deuteronomy 28:56
The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter,
This verse portrays the extremity of famine in a besieged city, where a woman raised in such sheltered delicacy that she would not touch her foot to the ground turns with jealous evil eye upon her husband and children and secretly consumes her own offspring for lack of all food. It means literal starvation and suffering of every kind, in which distress destroys natural affection so that parents and children fight over scraps and snatch food from one another. It was given as a warning prophecy fourteen centuries before the fall of Jerusalem and was fulfilled under the Roman siege led by Titus, when stores were destroyed and starvation brought famine prices, gnawing of leather, and torture for hidden food. That suffering came upon Jerusalem for rejecting Christ and proudly resisting the Redeemer, and when the calamity came the Jews remembered and understood His parable of the rich man and Lazarus. It stands in Deuteronomy 26 through 28 among the plainly stated blessings of obedience and curses of disobedience, teaching that life, health, and prosperity come only upon condition of keeping God's statutes and judgments with all the heart, while transgression forfeits the promise and brings judgment.
Siege Starvation Portrayed
The verse portrays the terrible extremity of famine in a siege, where even a woman accustomed to such delicacy and tenderness that she would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground turns with an evil eye toward the husband of her bosom and toward her son and toward her daughter. The surrounding verses show the outcome for want of all things, that in the siege and straitness brought by the enemy in the gates she secretly eats her own children for lack of food. That hunger destroys natural affection, so that starvation consumes the city. It was fulfilled in the suffering of Jerusalem under the Roman siege led by Titus, resumed at Passover after stores had been destroyed, when a talent was paid for a measure of wheat, leather was gnawed, and people were tortured for hidden food.
The famine and distress mean literal famine and suffering of every kind. Parents and children fight over scraps of food and take food from one another. Mothers are driven by starvation to eat their own children.
Prophecy Fulfilled in Jerusalem
The warning was given fourteen centuries before the fall of Jerusalem. It was fulfilled in the suffering of Jerusalem under the Roman siege led by Titus, resumed at Passover after stores had been destroyed. Then starvation grew so extreme that a measure of wheat sold for a talent, people gnawed leather, and those suspected of hidden food were tortured. Hunger and the straitness brought by the enemy in the gates destroyed natural affection, so that even the woman once too tender and delicate to set the sole of her foot on the ground turned with evil eye toward the husband of her bosom and toward son and daughter and secretly ate her own children for lack of food and for want of all things.
It depicts the suffering that came upon Jerusalem when it rejected Christ. That calamity was brought upon themselves by proud resistance of the Redeemer. In that extremity starvation consumed the city with literal famine and suffering of every kind, until parents and children fought over scraps of food and took food from one another and mothers ate their own children. When that destruction came, the Jews remembered the words of Christ in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus and understood the parable.
Covenant Terms of Blessing
Deuteronomy 26 through 28 plainly state the blessings of obedience, and this verse belongs to that statement. The words are the voice of Christ from the enfolding pillar of cloud, commanding that the statutes and judgments be kept with all the heart and with all the soul. They express the principles of the law of the kingdom of God made specific, so that minds are not left in ignorance and uncertainty.
The chapter sets the blessings of obedience against the curse of disobedience, and this verse presents one of the curses and fearful results that follow disobeying God's commands. It is part of the curses promised to Israel if they disobeyed God, which Moses read to the assembled people from the book recording his instructions. The promises of God are upon condition of obedience, and must be read with Deuteronomy 1 to see why the Lord refused to bring the adults of the army that left Egypt into the promised land.
Life and blessing come only by doing God's judgments and keeping His ordinances and His statutes to walk therein, and disobedience forfeits the promise and brings judgment. It belongs to the covenant warnings that prosperity or adversity follows Israel's obedience or transgression of God's law. The ark did not itself secure prosperity, because it represented God's presence and contained His law.
It stands within God's covenant of mercy that if they diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, He will put none of the diseases brought upon the Egyptians upon them, for He is the Lord that heals them. It teaches that disease of every kind comes because of sin and transgressing the law of God, by breaking down the barriers God erected to preserve them in health and holiness and to teach obedience. The message lays a never-ceasing obligation on all whom God has blessed with life and health and temporal and spiritual advantages. It has not grown weak with age, with God's claims just as binding now and just as fresh in importance as His gifts are fresh and continual.