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.