2 Kings 6:28

2Ki 6:28 And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow.

Ver. 28. Give thy son, that we may eat him.] The like fell out among the Turks and Tartars in Hungary; {a} the Germans in Transylvania, 1604; the Tunetans in Africa; and the English here in Edward II’s time, A.D. 1316: so terrible was the famine, that horses, dogs, yea, men and children, were stolen for food; and the thieves newly brought into the jails were torn in pieces, and eaten presently, half-alive, by such as had been longer there. {b}

{a} Turk. Hist., 1060.

{b} Purch., Pilgrim., 289. Speed, 674.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ki 6:28-29. The king said, What aileth thee? — Is there any thing singular in thy case? Dost thou fare worse than thy neighbours? Truly, yes: she and one of her neighbours had made a barbarous agreement, that, all provisions failing, they should boil and eat her son first, and then her neighbour’s: hers was eaten, (who can think on it without horror?) and now her neighbour hid hers. This shocking story is a terrible effect of the divine vengeance, which Moses, about six hundred years before, had warned the Israelites would fall upon them in case of their apostacy from, and rebellion against, God; as the reader may see in the passages referred to in the margin. The same dreadful calamity befell them at two other times besides this; at the siege of Jerusalem, under Nebuchadnezzar, Lam 2:20; Eze 5:10; and that under Titus. See Joseph., Jewish War, lib. 7, c. 10.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(28) And the king said.—When she had explained what she wanted. With the hideous facts here recorded, comp. Deu_28:56, seq. Similar things were done during the sieges of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar (1Sa_4:10; Eze_5:10), and by Vespasian and Titus (Josephus, Bell. Jud. vi. 3, 4).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

28. What aileth thee?] The woman’s cry is not stopped by his answer. She has more to speak about than to ask him for food.

This woman said unto me] It would appear as if she had brought her neighbour along with her, that what she deemed justice might be done her at once. That they should be brought to such hardships and horrors as are here described had been foretold to Israel in early times (Lev_26:29; Deu_28:53-57); cf. also Lament. 2Ki_2:20; 2Ki_4:10; Eze_5:10. Josephus relates the like dreadful sufferings in the siege of Jerusalem by Titus (B. J. 6:3. 4).

my son] According to the history the children were both sons. Josephus represents only one of them as a boy.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes,.... At the horror of the fact reported, and through grief that his people were brought into such distress through famine:

and he passed by upon the wall; returning to his palace:

and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth upon his flesh; which, in token of humiliation for averting the calamities he was under, he had put there before, and now was seen through the rending of his clothes.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The king had assumed that the cry of the woman was for food. Her manner indicated that it was not so. He therefore proceeded to inquire what she wanted of him.

This woman - Both women, it would seem, were present; and the aggrieved one pointed to the other.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? Probably, as Bahr suggests, the woman explained to the king that she did not appear before him to beg food, but to claim his interposition as judge, in a case in which she considered herself to be wronged. Such an appeal the king was bound to hear; and he therefore asks," What aileth thee?" i.e. "What is thy ground of complaint?" Then she tells her story. And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. Compare the prophecy in Deuteronomy, "The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil towards the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter, and toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates". (Deu_28:56, Deu_28:57) There is historical testimony that the prophecy was three times fulfilled; viz.

(1) in Samaria on the present occasion;

(2) in Jerusalem during the last siege by Nebuchadnezzar; (Lam_4:10) and (3) in Jerusalem during the last siege by Titus (Josephus, "Bell. Jud:," 6:3. In modern sieges surrender is made before the population is driven to such straits.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.