Then Deuteronomy 28 lists the curses, these same curses we witness in the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70.
D28 is really over top! but its not prophesy... it is list of dire threats of what the Hebrews should expect if they ever dare to abandon YHWH. It like a preacher threatening his flock with tales of fire and brimstone if they sin.
They [the curses] play into the prophetic message. The reason God sends prophets to Israel is that they are not following His commands. Because they are not doing this He is going to bring the warned curses of Deuteronomy 28 upon them within a specific timeframe. Daniel is told the time frame in Daniel 9:24-27 along with other prophecies that address the very same issue.
Notice that Daniel 9:1-23 is all about how Daniel's people have broken the covenant they agreed to and Daniel is given a revelation from God about the consequences, and when.
It is interesting that the penalties for aposasy given in D28 are all earthly. Ancient Judaism had no use for an after-life in heaven or hell; YHWH gave his rewards and punishments right here on earth, during life. The Sadducees rejected after-life upto and beyond the time of Jesus, cf Mark 12;18 "18 Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question."
They are earthly events that contain a deeper spiritual meaning. The OT physical events is a mirror of a greater truth, spiritual truths that the unbeliever is usually oblivious to.
The NT explains how these pictures or types or patterns in the OT, that are physical in nature, all point to greater truths. Jesus says that the whole of the OT points to Him. What is said of God in the OT is seen of Jesus in the NT.
Jesus and the NT contain greater truths. The OT is a covenant that is a type of the NT. Jesus said in John 4:23-24
23 But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Paul reiterates this truth in 1 Corinthians 2:10-15
10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, 13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.
14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.
You, as an unbeliever, reject the things taught by the Spirit. They are foolish to you, yet they are wise. Contained in the NT is the spiritual contrast with the physical OT. One is temporary, the other is permanent. It would take me weeks to expose you to all these spiritual truths, and even then, without submitting to God you would brush them off. Jesus put it this way:
Luke 24:44 (NASB)
44 Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”
The whole OT is a revelation of who He is. It is something that the casual reader will miss because of his ignorance of the deeper things of God.
Actually, there were some who rejected the after-life and others who embrace it. Jesus understood this and identified it in His teachings.
[ Jesus Answers the Sadducees ] On that day some Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to Jesus and questioned Him,
Daniel also understood it in Daniel 12, which speaks about the afterlife.
and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued. 2 Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt...13 But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age.”
Those who are in the dust of the ground (i.e., what you would understand as dead) will be rescued and awakened. A judgment will take place and a separation will occur. Daniel himself will be rewarded at the end of this age. WHAT AGE? If you do not understand this you are going to miss an important bibilcal truth.