Deuteronomy 28:49

49 The Lord shall bring on thee a folk from far place, and from the last ends of [the] earth, into the likeness of an eagle flying with rush, of which folk thou mayest not understand their language; (The Lord shall bring against thee a nation from a far place, and from the last ends of the earth, like an eagle flying swiftly to its prey, of which nation thou shalt not understand their language;)

Deuteronomy 28:49 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 28:49

The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the
end of the earth
Now though Babylon is represented as a country distant from Judea, and said to be a nation "from far", ( Jeremiah 5:15 ) ; yet not "from the end of the earth"; as here; and though the Roman nation, strictly speaking, was not at so great a distance from Jerusalem, yet the Roman emperors, and great part of their armies brought against it, were fetched from our island of Great Britain, which in former times was reckoned the end of the earth, and the uttermost parts of the world {s}; and so Manasseh Ben Israel ^F20 interprets this nation of Rome, and observes, that Vespasian brought for his assistance many nations (or soldiers) out of England, France, Spain, and other parts of the world: and not only Vespasian was sent for from Britain to make war with the Jews, but when they rebelled, in the times of Adrian, Julius Severus, a very eminent general, was sent for from thence to quell them. And it appears to be a very ancient opinion of the Jews, that this passage is to be understood of the Romans, from what is related in one of their Talmuds ^F21: they say, that

``Trajan, being sent for by his wife to subdue the Jews, determined to come in ten days, and came in five; he came and found them (the Jews) busy in the law on that verse, "the Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far" he said unto them, what are ye busy in? they answered him, so and so; he replied to them, this is the man (meaning himself) who thought to come in ten days, and came in five; and he surrounded them with his legions, and slew them:''

[as swift] as the eagle flieth;
which may respect not so much the swiftness of this creature, the words which convey the idea being a supplement of the text, as the force with which it flies when in sight of its prey, and hastes unto it and falls upon it, which is irresistible; and this is the sense of the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, and is what is ascribed to the eagle by other writers ^F23. Now though this figure is used of the Chaldeans and Babylonians, ( Jeremiah 4:13 ) ( Lamentations 4:19 ) ( Habakkuk 1:8 ) ; it agrees full as well or better with the Romans, because of their swiftness in coming from distant parts, and because of the force and impetus with which they invaded Judea, besieged Jerusalem, and attacked the Jews everywhere; and besides, the eagle was borne on the standard in the Roman army ^F24:

a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;
which, though it is also said of the language of the Chaldean nation, ( Jeremiah 5:15 ) ; yet as the Chaldee and Hebrew languages were only dialects of one and the same language, common to the eastern nations, the Chaldee language, though on account of termination of words, pronunciation, and other things, might be difficult, and hard to be understood by the Jews, yet must be much more easy to understand than the Roman language, so widely different from theirs.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 "----In ultimos orbis Britannos", Horat. Carmin. l. 1. Ode 35.
F20 De Termino Vitae, l. 3. sect. 3. p. 129.
F21 T. Hieros. Succah, fol. 55. 2.
F23 Vid. Homer. Iliad. 21. l. 252.
F24 Vid. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 4.

Deuteronomy 28:49 In-Context

47 for thou servedest not thy Lord God in joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things that God sent thee. (for thou servedest not the Lord thy God with joy and gladness in your heart, for the abundance of all the good things that God hath sent thee.)

48 Thou shalt serve thine enemy, whom God shall send to thee, in hunger, and thirst, and in nakedness, and in poverty of all things; and he shall put an iron yoke on thy noll, till he all-break thee. (And so thou shalt serve thy enemy, whom God shall send against thee, in hunger, and thirst, and nakedness, and in the poverty of all things; and he shall put an iron yoke upon thy neck, until he all-break thee.)

49 The Lord shall bring on thee a folk from far place, and from the last ends of [the] earth, into the likeness of an eagle flying with rush, of which folk thou mayest not understand their language; (The Lord shall bring against thee a nation from a far place, and from the last ends of the earth, like an eagle flying swiftly to its prey, of which nation thou shalt not understand their language;)

50 a folk most greedy asker this shall be (they shall be a nation, or a people, of fierce countenance), that shall not give reverence to an eld man, neither have mercy upon a little child.

51 And it shall devour the fruit of thy beasts, and the fruits of thy land, till thou perishest, and this folk shall not leave to thee wheat, wine, and oil, nor droves of oxen, and flocks of sheep, till he lose thee, (And they shall devour the fruit of thy beasts, and the fruit of thy land, until thou diest, and this nation shall not leave thee any corn, or wine, or oil, or herds of oxen, or flocks of sheep, until they have completely destroyed thee,)