This hypothetical question from future Gentile observers serves to emphasize the pedagogical purpose of Israel’s judgment. By framing the question as coming from amazed nations, Moses underscores that Israel’s covenant failure will become so spectacular that even pagans will recognize divine causation and seek explanation.

The text provides the answer in verses 25-28: because Israel abandoned the covenant of the Lord, served other gods, and violated the terms established at Sinai. The Lord’s anger burned against the land, bringing upon it every curse written in the book of the Law, and He uprooted them from their land in anger and fury.

This double question captures the astonished dialogue Moses prophesies will occur among Gentile nations when they witness Israel’s covenant judgment. The first question addresses the unprecedented scope of the devastation, while the second probes its specific cause, focusing on the Hebrew ap, meaning ‘nostril’ or ‘anger,’ which vividly portrays divine wrath as physically manifest. Moses uses interrogative form rather than declarative statement to dramatize how Israel’s judgment will provoke universal wonder and inquiry. The theological weight lies in covenant pedagogy: God structures history so that even His judgments become teaching tools, demonstrating to all peoples that He governs according to moral order and covenant faithfulness.