A Summary.
The first series of curses are now summarised. There have been five sixfold curses, and it might have been felt that that was enough, but more were to come. And they would be even more terrible and be intensified. This again is typical of ancient treaties.
‘ And all these curses will come on you, and will pursue you, and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded you.'
All that has been described will come on them, and will pursue them, and will overtake them. The threefold emphasis stresses the inexorable certainty of it. Some will endure one, and some another, but all will have to endure until finally they are destroyed. And this is because they did not hear Yahweh's voice and did not keep His commandments and statutes which He had commanded them.
‘ And they will be on you for a sign and for a wonder, and on your seed for ever.'
What would happen to Israel if they forgot God would be a sign and a wonder to the nations. Indeed we read it ourselves for that very reason, and we too wonder. God speaks to us through their experiences. They warn us of the severity of His judgments on those who are not faithful to Him. They had been intended to be a sign and a wonder to the glory of God because of their deliverance from Egypt (Deuteronomy 4:34; Deuteronomy 7:19; Deuteronomy 26:8). That should have been their message to the world, the glorious message of what Yahweh had done for them. But they would have forfeited that by their disobedience. Instead they will be a sign of His displeasure, and of what happens to those who having claimed to be His people refuse to obey Him.