Ezekiel 5:10

10 As a result, fathers will eat [their] sons[a] within Jerusalem,[b] and sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments against you and scatter all your survivors to every direction of the wind.

Ezekiel 5:10 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 5:10

Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee,
&c.] Which was long ago threatened by the Lord, and prophesied of by Moses, ( Leviticus 26:27 ) ( Deuteronomy 28:53 Deuteronomy 28:55 Deuteronomy 28:57 ) ; and was fulfilled at several times in the people of Israel, as at the siege of Samaria, ( 2 Kings 6:28 2 Kings 6:29 ) ; at the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, ( Lamentations 4:10 ) ; and at the siege of the same city by Titus Vespasian, as Josephus F23 relates; for though these instances only show that mothers ate their children, yet no doubt the fathers took part with them; and if mothers, who are naturally more tender, could do this, it is much more reasonable to suppose that fathers did the same: and the sons shall eat their fathers;
this, though nowhere recorded, yet doubtless was done; it being as reasonable to think that a son might eat his father as a father his son, though both monstrously shocking: and I will execute judgments in thee;
punishments, such as pestilence, famine, and sword, after mentioned: and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds;
that is, those that remain, and are not cut off, by the above judgments, shall be carried captive into Babylon, or be dispersed in to Egypt, Ammon, Moab, and other places: this had a full accomplishment in the dispersion of the Jews into the several parts of the world, when they were destroyed by the Romans.


FOOTNOTES:

F23 De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 3. sect. 4. Ed. Hudson.

Ezekiel 5:10 In-Context

8 therefore, this is what the Lord God says: See, I am against you, [Jerusalem], and I will execute judgments within you in the sight of the nations.
9 Because of all your abominations, I will do to you what I have never done before and what I will never do again.
10 As a result, fathers will eat [their] sons within Jerusalem, and sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments against you and scatter all your survivors to every direction of the wind.
11 "Therefore, as I live"-[this is] the declaration of the Lord God -"I am going to cut [you] off and show [you] no pity, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable practices and abominations. Yes, I will not spare [you].
12 One third of your people will die by plague and be consumed by famine within you; one third will fall by the sword all around you; and I will scatter one third to every direction of the wind, and I will draw a sword [to chase] after them.

Footnotes 2

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