Deuteronomy 28:55

55 giving to none of them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because nothing else remains to him, in the desperate straits to which the enemy siege will reduce you in all your towns.

Deuteronomy 28:55 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 28:55

So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his
children whom he shall eat
Neither give to a brother, nor to a wife, nor to any of his remaining children, the least bit of the flesh of a child he has killed and dressed for his own food; which adds to the barbarity of his action:

because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in the straitness
wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates;
every creature being eaten up, dogs, cats and whatsoever else could be any ways made food of; as the dung of beasts, belts, shoes, the leather on shields as Josephus ^F4 says they did eat; and this being the case, nothing eatable remaining, therefore his heart would be hardened against his nearest relations, and not allow them the least part with him, even of what was so shocking and unnatural.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F4 De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 3. sect. 3.

Deuteronomy 28:55 In-Context

53 In the desperate straits to which the enemy siege reduces you, you will eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your own sons and daughters whom the Lord your God has given you.

54 Even the most refined and gentle of men among you will begrudge food to his own brother, to the wife whom he embraces, and to the last of his remaining children,

55 giving to none of them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because nothing else remains to him, in the desperate straits to which the enemy siege will reduce you in all your towns.

56 She who is the most refined and gentle among you, so gentle and refined that she does not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground, will begrudge food to the husband whom she embraces, to her own son, and to her own daughter,

57 begrudging even the afterbirth that comes out from between her thighs, and the children that she bears, because she is eating them in secret for lack of anything else, in the desperate straits to which the enemy siege will reduce you in your towns.