Deuteronomy 28:53
And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee: And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee:
When enemies besieged Israel and shut off its food, famine and desperation would drive parents to eat the flesh of their own sons and daughters. It was part of Moses' warning that keeping God's commandments brings blessing and prosperity, while breaking them brings curse and calamity. That horror fell upon Jerusalem when the Romans under Titus besieged it, leaving the people starving so that parents ate their children and family members seized the last scraps of food from one another. Jesus saw this suffering coming when Jerusalem was surrounded by its enemies, for by proudly rejecting Him as Redeemer the people brought the calamity upon themselves.
Covenant Warning and Meaning
The verse means that when enemies bring siege and straitness and cut off food, Israel would be driven by famine and desperation to eat the flesh of their own sons and daughters. It foretells that extreme hunger and suffering under the distress and deprivation of an enemy siege, with no food left, would drive parents to this horror. That warning was fulfilled in the suffering during the Roman siege of Jerusalem under Titus. It belongs to the curses Moses read to Israel, warning that disobedience brings curse and calamity while obedience brings blessing and prosperity. God's promises and judgments are conditional on keeping His commandments, with prosperity promised for obedience and curse as the consequence of rejecting them.
Together with Deuteronomy 1, the chapter explains why the adults of the army that left Egypt were refused entrance into the promised land. The chapter teaches that disease comes upon human beings through sin and transgressing God's law, breaking down the barriers He erected to preserve people in health and holiness and to teach obedience. Diligently hearkening to His voice, doing right in His sight, and keeping His commandments and statutes brings His promise to put none of the Egyptian diseases upon His obedient people, for He is the Lord who heals them. God sends prosperity or adversity according to whether His law is obeyed or transgressed, and the ark containing that law gives no protection apart from obedience.
Prophecy Fulfilled at Jerusalem
Together with verses 53-57, the verse foretells the horror of starvation that would fall on Jerusalem in siege, when distress from enemies would drive parents to eat their own children. Hunger would drive mothers to eat the bodies of their children. Parents and children and other family members would fight over and seize scraps and the last food from one another.
That warning was fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem during its siege by the Roman armies under Titus. The famine was so terrible and desperate, with food cut off by the enemy's distress, that people were driven to eat their own children. Calamity then came upon the Jews with starvation and suffering of every kind. This destruction and suffering is what Jesus foresaw when He saw Jerusalem surrounded by the Roman army. It was part of the destruction He foresaw for Jerusalem after its rejection of His salvation.
The fulfillment shows the people brought that suffering upon themselves by proud resistance of the Redeemer. When the calamity came they remembered His words in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. In that calamity they understood the parable.