Deuteronomy 28:49

Deu_28:49-57. CONQUEST OF ISRAEL BY A STRANGE NATION. MISERIES OF THE SIEGE.

(49) The Lord shall bring a nation against thee.—Comp. “Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the Lord: it is a mighty nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say” (Jer_5:15). In this instance the Chaldseans were intended, “that bitter and hasty nation” (Hab_1:6).

As swift as the eagle flieth.—The eagles of Rome may be alluded to here. And of the Chaldæans it is said, “They shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat” (Hab_1:8).

Whose tongue thou shalt not understand.—I am told by a learned Jewish friend that (excellent linguists as the Jews often are) hundreds of the people never attain the least acquaintance with the tongue of the countries where they are dispersed, and seem to lose the power of doing so. I have myself been surprised by more than one example, even in London, of their being wholly unable to take up the commonest matter of business when presented to them in an English way. It is not from lack of ability, but from a kind of paralysis of the understanding, except within a certain range of thought.

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

Deu 28:49 The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, [as swift] as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;

Ver. 49. As the eagle fleeth.] Swiftly, strongly, greedily, the Vulturine eagle especially.

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.

Deu 28:49. The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far — “The Chaldeans might be said to come from far, in comparison of the Moabites, Philistines, and other neighbouring nations, which used to infest Judea.” See Jer 5:15; Jer 6:22. And they are represented as pursuing them with the swiftness of eagles, Lam 4:19. But the Romans, no doubt, were chiefly intended. “They were truly brought ‘from far, from the end of the earth;’ Vespasian and Adrian, the two great conquerors and destroyers of the Jews, both coming from commanding here in Britain. The Romans too, from the rapidity of their conquests, might very well be compared to eagles, and perhaps not without an allusion to the standard of the Roman armies, which was an eagle, and their language was more unknown to the Jews than the Chaldee.” — Bishop Newton.

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

28:49 like a vulture (or eagle): This simile indicates how rapidly the enemy would come. • whose language you do not understand: Both Assyrian and Babylonian were dialects of Akkadian, a language that was related to Hebrew but vastly different in grammar, syntax, and vocabulary (see Isa 36:11-13).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far--the invasion of the Romans--"they came from far." The soldiers of the invading army were taken from France, Spain, and Britain--then considered "the end of the earth." Julius Severus, the commander, afterwards Vespasian and Hadrian, left Britain for the scene of contest. Moreover, the ensign on the standards of the Roman army was "an eagle"; and the dialects spoken by the soldiers of the different nations that composed that army were altogether unintelligible to the Jews.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 49. A nation - from far] Probably the Romans.

As the eagle flieth] The very animal on all the Roman standards. The Roman eagle is proverbial.

Whose tongue thou shalt not understand] The Latin language, than which none was more foreign to the structure and idiom of the Hebrew.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

49. from far, etc.] Isa_5:26 of Assyrians, Jer_5:15 of Babylonians (though perhaps originally of Scythians).

as the vulture swoopeth] See on Deu_14:12 f.; cp. Hos_8:1 of Assyrians; Hab_1:8, Jer_48:40; Jer_49:22 of Babylonians.

whose tongue thou shalt not understand] Lit. hear; Jer_5:15 of Babylonians, cp. Isa_28:11 of Assyrians (and Deu_33:9).

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 thou shall eat the fruit of thine body,.... Than which nothing can be more shocking and unnatural, which is explained as follows:

the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God hath given thee; which is an aggravation of the cruel and inhuman fact:

in the siege, and in the straitness wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee; this shows the cause of it, a famine by reason of the closeness of the siege, so that no provisions could be brought in for their relief; and all within being eaten up, and everything that was eatable, even the most nauseous and disagreeable, they would be led on to this strange, unheard of, and barbarous action, eating their own children. This was fulfilled in the siege of Samaria, Kg2 6:25; and in the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, Lam 2:10 and again in the Apocrypha:"Moreover he hath delivered them to be in subjection to all the kingdoms that are round about us, to be as a reproach and desolation among all the people round about, where the Lord hath scattered them.'' (Baruch 2:4)and in the siege of the same city by the Romans; of which an instance will be hereafter given.

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

Swiftly. The Chaldeans are designated in the same manner, Jeremias v. 5., and Ezechiel xvii. 3, 12. The Romans also carried an eagle, as their chief standard, and the rapidity of their conquests astonished all the world.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

As the eagle flieth, Heb. as the eagle flies, i.e. not only swiftly, as is expressed in our translation, for which the Babylonian is noted and compared to an eagle, Jer 4:13; Eze 17:3; Dan 7:4; but also fiercely and greedily, as the eagle to its prey; also strongly and irresistibly. Possibly this may be understood of the Romans, who did come

from far, from the end of the earth, more truly and literally than the Chaldeans, whose country was not far from Judea, and this may allude to the eagle, which was in their ensigns.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

49. The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far — The Assyrians, the Babylonians, and the Romans were God’s ministers to fulfil this prophecy. The language seems most applicable to the Roman power. Compare this denunciation with the history of the siege and destruction of Jerusalem as given by Josephus in his Jewish War.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 49, 50. The description here given of the enemy to whom Israel was to be subjected, applies more or less closely to all the nations whom God raised up from time to time, to invade Israel and chastise the people for their rebellion the Chaldeans (cf. Jer_48:40 Jer_49:22; Eze_17:5-7; Hab_1:6, etc.) the Assyrians, (cf. Isa_5:26 Isa_38:11 Isa_23:1-9) the Medes; (Isa_13:17, Isa_13:18) but there are features in the description which apply especially to the Romans; and the horrors delineated in the latter part of the section (vers. 52-57) carry one"s thoughts immediately to the terrible scenes which transpired during the wars of Vespasian and Titus with the Jews as narrated by Josephus ("De Bell. Jud.," 6.; see Milman, " Hist. of the Jews," bk. 16.). As the eagle flieth. The eagle was the common ensign of the legion in the Roman army; and by the Latin writers aquila (eagle) is sometimes used for a legion. (Caes., "Hisp.," 30; cf. Mat_24:28)

Vers. 49-59. The extremity of the curse.

A truly appalling description of the evils which would overtake apostate Israel; one, too, not more remarkable for the sustained vehemence and energy of its thought and diction, than for the minuteness and literality with which its predictions have been fulfilled.

I THE PROPHECY IN THE LIGHT OF ITS FULFILLMENT. The wonderfulness of these predictions is not removed by any date we may assign to the Book of Deuteronomy. For:

1. It is certain that the Assyrian and Chaldean invasions to which a reference is no doubt included (Jer_4:13 Jer_5:15) fell far short of what was necessary for their complete fulfillment.

(1) The Babylonian Captivity was only of seventy years" duration.

(2) The Jews returned and remained long afterwards in possession of their land.

2. It is equally certain that, in the subsequent conquest of the nation by the Romans, with the dispersion that followed; the rod which lasts to our own day, every feature in the prophecy has been exhaustively fulfilled.

(1) The Romans agree better than either Assyrians or Chaldeans with the description or the foreign foes in vers. 49, 50.

(2) The sufferings of the siege (vers. 52-57) had their literal fulfillment in the Roman wars, and especially in the siege of Jerusalem under Titus (cf. Josephus, "Wars of the Jews," bk. 5:10, 3; 6:3, 3, 4; 6:8, 2).

(3) "Hundreds of thousands were sold as slaves" (cf. ver. 68); "and the whole people were cast forth as wanderers among the Gentiles; and they have ever since remained a nation of exiles, unsettled, harassed, and oppressed, in many instances most cruelly, not only by pagans and Mohammedans, but also (to our shame be it spoken) by Christian nations; and still remaining a distinct people, though without a home" (Whately, "Evidences").

(4) "To serve other gods" may mean no more than to be banished from the territory of Jehovah, and to dwell in and be compelled to conform to the laws of a country where other gods are recognized. (cf. 1Sa_26:17) It is also true that, to shield themselves from persecution, the Jews have too often been willing to dissemble and conform to worships which their hearts abhorred (saint and image worship: adoration of the host, etc.); while in idolatrous countries their religion is frequently so corrupted as to be scarcely recognizable. The Beni-Israel, near Bombay, eg. remain a distinct people, but, together with Jehovah, worship the gods of the Hindus. Predictions

(1) so minute,

(2) so extensive in their range, yet

(3) so exhaustively verified by events, cannot be ascribed to accident, but constitute an irrefragable proof of the inspiration that dictated them.

Their fulfillment converts the very unbelief and rejection of the Jews into a powerful argument for Christianity.

II LESSONS FROM THE PROPHECY.

1. The severity of God. If the fulfillment of these predictions teaches anything, it is that God will not shrink from the punishment of sin. We shudder as we read the details of these curses wonderful.... great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance" (ver. 59), and ask ourselves, Can God really tolerate the sight of, not to say inflict, such incredible sufferings? Yet we find that not one of these curses failed of its accomplishment. So solemn a fact bids the sinner pause and ponder his chance of escaping in the great "day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God". (Rom_2:5)

2. The self-ruinous character of sin. The fulfillment of these threatenings was largely, though not wholly, brought about by simply giving sin scope to work out its own evil results. The bitterest element in retribution must be the feeling which the sinner has of self-wrought ruin. "He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption". (Gal_6:8) Like water, which, left to itself, will not cease running till it has found its level; like a clock, which, left to itself, will not cease going till it has run itself completely down; like a tree, which, left to grow, cannot but bring forth its appropriate fruit; so sin has a level to seek, a course to ran, a fruit to mature, and "the end of those things is death". J.O. (Rom_6:21)

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

General Information:

Moses speaks to the Israelites as if they were one man, so the words "you" and "your" here are singular. (See: Forms of You)

from far away, from the ends of the earth

These two phrases mean the same thing and emphasize that the enemy will come from a nation that is very far away from Israel. (See: Doublet)

from the ends of the earth

This is an idiom. AT: "from places that you know nothing about" (See: Idiom)

like an eagle flies to its victim

This means the enemy will come suddenly and the Israelites will not be able to stop them. (See: Simile)

a nation with a fierce face that does not respect the aged and does not show favor

The word "nation" is a metonym for the people of that nation. AT: "a nation whose people have fierce expressions, who do not respect the aged and do not show favor" (See: Metonymy)

until you are destroyed

This can be stated in active form. AT: "until they destroy you" or "until they leave you with nothing" (See: Active or Passive)

translationWords

nation

earth

eagle

understand

cow

fruit

grain

wine

oil

flocks

perish

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

כאשר ידאה הנשר [THE LORD WILL BRING A NATION AGAINST YOU FROM AFAR], AS THE EAGLE SWOOPS DOWN — i.e. suddenly, and by a successful march, and its horses will be swift.

לא תשמע לשנו means, a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand. Similar is, (Genesis 41:15) “You understand (תשמע) a dream to interpret it”, and so, too, (Genesis 42:23) “that Joseph understood (שמע)”; entendre in old French

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.