Deuteronomy 28:56

Deu 28:56 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 toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter,

Ver. 56. The tender and delicate.] These threatenings were tanquam in speculo conspicuae, literally and punctually fulfilled upon the Jews at the last destruction of Jerusalem, at which time wrath came upon them to the utmost. {2Th 2:6-13}

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 28:56-57. The tender and delicate woman — shall eat her children — secretly — Not in order to escape the infamy of the action, but lest others should have a share with her. In the siege and straitness — This was fulfilled about six hundred years after the time of Moses, among the Israelites, when Samaria was besieged by the king of Syria, and two women agreed together, the one to give up her son to be boiled and eaten that day, and the other to deliver up her son to be dressed and eaten the next, and one of them was eaten accordingly, 2Ki 6:28. It was fulfilled again about nine hundred years after Moses, in the siege of Jerusalem, before the Babylonish captivity, Bar 2:1-3; Lam 4:10. And again it was fulfilled above one thousand five hundred years after Moses, in the last siege of Jerusalem by Titus; Josephus informing us particularly of a noble woman’s killing and eating her own sucking child; and she did it, as Moses says she should do it, secretly; for, according to Josephus, when she had boiled and eaten half, she covered up the rest, and kept it for another time. At so many different times, and distant periods, hath this prophecy been fulfilled, to the perpetual reproach of the Jewish nation; for never was the like done, either by Greek or barbarian. See the fruit of being abandoned of God! Nothing is too barbarous for such to do.

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

28:56 not . . . touch the ground: This woman was so fastidious that she avoided walking barefoot on the soil.

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

As came to pass in the days of Joram king of Israel, 2 Kings 6:20, and when the Romans besieged Jerusalem.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 56. The tender and delicate woman] This was literally fulfilled when Jerusalem was besieged by the Romans; a woman named Mary, of a noble family, driven to distraction by famine, boiled and ate her own child! See a similar case 2Kg 6:29; and See Clarke on Le 26:29.

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

(56) The tender and delicate woman.—This was fulfilled to the very letter in the case of Mary of Beth-ezob in the siege of Jerusalem by Titus. The story is told with horrible minuteness by Josephus, and again by Eusebius in his Church History. The secrecy of the deed was one of its horrors.

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

56. The most tender and most delicate woman among you] Almost as in Deu_28:54.

which would not adventure] Rather, who had never ventured or tried (for the vb. see on Deu_4:34), having been accustomed to be carried.

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.

Moreover, he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt,.... All that in a way of judgment were brought upon the Egyptians for refusing to let Israel go; or all such diseases as were peculiar to them, and common among them, as the leprosy, the itch, ulcers, &c.

which thou wast afraid of; when living among them, lest they should catch them of them, or they should be inflicted on them by the hand of God:

and they shall cleave unto thee; not only should come upon them, but continue with them; they should not easily get rid of them, or be cured of them.

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

Envy. Hebrew, "her eye shall be evil towards the husband of her bosom," &c. (Haydock)

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).

Evil, i.e. unmerciful: she will desire or design their destruction for her food.

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

So intense should be the hunger, that the delicate and sensitive woman, brought up in luxury, and who would not set her foot on the ground lest she should be fatigued by the exertion or offended by coming in contact with the base soil, but when she went abroad must be carried in a litter or borne by a camel or an ass, even she should break through all restraints of delicacy and affection, and would secretly devour the very infant she had borne during the siege.

Vers. 56, 57. The delicate lady.

Isa_3:16-26 The queens of select society have little reason to be vain of their excessive and artificial delicacy. They need not pride themselves in it, or think that it entitles them to look haughtily on others. For

I DELICACY IS NOT CHARACTER. It is consistent with a vain, light, scornful, wicked disposition. The tender and delicate lady in this verse is one of the enemies of God. The purest types of female character avoid those extravagances of delicacy which, indulged in, become second nature. Character alone entities to respect. To be vain of beauty or breeding, when the heart is false and the life untrue to God, is to be vain of an ornamented husk within which lies rottenness. only noble to be good.

II DELICACY IS AN ACCIDENT OF FORTUNE. It is adventitious an accident of position. Born in another sphere, she who boasts of it would not have had it. It is the product of artificial conditions, of which she reaps the benefit, but which she had no part in creating. It is not gained by her own exertions, or attributable to her worth or merit. If she values it, let her at least not despise others. She might have been the cottager, the cottager the lady.

III DELICACY IS VALUELESS WHEN FORTUNE CEASES TO SMILE ON ITS POSSESSOR. No change of circumstances can rob of its value the possession of knowledge, talents, virtue, good breeding, or refinement. These will grace the humblest home, will prove a passport to respect in any society. It is different with the fastidious and excessive delicacy of the belle. So entirely is this an appendage of a certain social position that, when that is gone, it perishes like a crushed flower. The admirers of the delicate lady have deserted her. She is treated with coldness, even rudeness. No one so helpless, so dependent, as she. She shone, like the moon, in a reflected brightness, and, foolishly inconsiderate, gloried in it as something of her own.

IV DELICACY MAY BE COMPELLED TO STOOP TO THE BITTEREST DEGRADATIONS. This is the lesson of the verses before us, and we need not dwell upon it. But the thought of such possibilities should quell pride and awaken awe. The depths of want and woe to which the most delicately nurtured may sink, are only paralleled by the possibilities of joy that lie hidden in the most wretched souls, if they will but forsake sin and give themselves up to Jesus and the guidance of his Spirit. J.O.

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

Evil - Unmerciful: she will desire or design their destruction for her food.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

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)

The tender and delicate woman among you ... tenderness—she

"The tender and delicate woman among you ... tenderness—even she." Moses is saying that not only those one would expect to eat their children, but even women of noble birth and normally very gentle, whom one would never expect to eat their children, will eat their children. The word "you" here is singular. (See: Forms of You)

who would not venture to put the bottom of her foot on the ground for delicateness and tenderness

Moses is exaggerating. He is emphasizing that this noble woman is so rich and lives in such luxury that she would not allow herself to get dirty. (See: Hyperbole and Generalization)

for delicateness and tenderness

The abstract nouns "delicateness" and "tenderness" can be stated as adjectives. AT: "because she is so delicate and tender" (See: Abstract Nouns)

within your city gates

Here "city gates" represents the cities themselves. AT: "within your cities" (See: Synecdoche)

translationWords

envy

son

children

siege

adversary

gate

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

תרע עינה באיש חיקה ובבנה ובבתה HER EYE SHALL BE EVIL TOWARDS THE HUSBAND OF HER BOSOM, AND TOWARDS HER SON, AND TOWARDS HER DAUGHTER — i.e. the adult sons and daughters,

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.