Ezekiel 5:10

Eze 5:10 Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds.

Ver. 10. Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons.] See this fulfilled in the pitiful mothers; {Lam 4:10} and may it be thought, saith one, that their hungry husbands shared not with them in those viands? Oh, the severity of God. Cavebis, si pavebis.

And the whole remnant of thee will I scatter.] A miserably dejected people the Jews are to this day, banished out of the world, as it were, by a common consent of nations.

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.

Eze 5:10-11. The fathers shall eat the sons, &c. — Fathers eating their children, and children their fathers, expresses the height of misery, and the most grievous famine. We have sufficient proof that such instances happened in the Jewish nation amidst their more than common calamities. Josephus relates some instances of parents eating their children during the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans; and we have further evidence of such horrid acts having been done by them in the extremity of famine, from the texts referred to in the margin. And the whole remnant of them will I scatter, &c. — This is another judgment threatened against them by Moses, and remarkably fulfilled in this their last dispersion, in which they are to be found in every part of the known world, and yet live everywhere like strangers only upon sufferance: see note on Deu 28:64. Because thou hast defiled my sanctuary — Hast profaned my temple by placing idols in it, and worshipping them. With all thy detestable things, and all thine abominations — These are expressions of the same signification, denoting idols. Therefore will I also diminish thee — Will make thee of less account, and take from thee all honours as thou hast from me, as much as lay in thy power: or, as some interpret the clause, I will cut off or destroy, by diminishing, (as the word גרעis used Num 27:4,) without showing any pity or compassion. See the margin.

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

5:10 Parents will eat their own children: This horrific prospect was an anticipated consequence of famine (see 2 Kgs 6:26-30), and one of the curses of disobedience (see Lev 26:29).

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

fathers . . . eat . . . sons--alluding to Moses words (Lev 26:29; Deu 28:53), with the additional sad feature, that "the sons should eat their fathers" (see Kg2 6:28; Jer 19:9; Lam 2:20; Lam 4:10).

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 10. The fathers shall eat the sons] Though we have not this fact so particularly stated in history, yet we cannot doubt of it, considering the extremities to which they were reduced during the siege. The same is referred to by Jeremiah, La 4:10. Even the women, who were remarkable for kindness and humanity, boiled their own children, and ate them during the siege.

Will I scatter into all the winds.] Disperse you, by captivity, among all the nations of the earth.

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

He says, then, fathers shall eat their sons in the midst of you, and this was certainly fulfilled: for Jeremiah speaks of women, but he comprehends men also. (Lamentations 4:10.) For he says that women are tender-hearted, he does not say mothers merely, but that they were humane beyond others; but we know that maternal affection is more tender. But when mothers and those tender ones devour their children, that was the final portent. Now he adds, I will execute, therefore, (for the copula here ought to be resolved into the expletive particle,) judgments against thee That is, in this manner I will really show myself a judge, and I will scatter all thy remnants unto all winds. He signifies that there should be such dispersion, that no body or name of the people should remain. But that hope might cherish and sustain the Jews, if any name and body of the people had been left. But when God pronounces that they should be offscourings to be scattered to every wind, he takes away all hope of restoration for the present at least. We know that there was a certain number left, but such destruction was necessarily threatened before God gave any hope of his mercy. When he says, to any wind, he signifies in any quarter whatever. For as one or another wind blows so the dust is carried, and the offscourings are dispersed in all directions. It follows —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

10. the fathers shall eat the sons] Neither is this, as it might be, a generality merely to suggest severe straitness. Lam_4:10, “The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children, they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.” See the story 2Ki_6:24-29; cf. Lev_26:29; Deu_28:53; Jer_19:9; Lam_2:20.

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.

Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee,.... Which was long ago threatened by the Lord, and prophesied of by Moses, Lev 26:27; and was fulfilled at several times in the people of Israel, as at the siege of Samaria, Kg2 6:28; at the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, Lam 4:10; and at the siege of the same city by Titus Vespasian, as Josephus (w) 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.

(w) De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 3. sect. 4. Ed. Hudson.

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

Fathers. This is not specified in history. Famine prevailed, 4 Kings xxv. 3.; and we find something similar, Lamentations iv. 10., (Calmet) and Baruch ii. (Worthington) --- It is probable, therefore, that these threats were realized. (Theodoret) (Deuteronomy xxviii. 53.) --- Scatter. Literally, "winnow." (Haydock) --- The Jewish nation was never again all together in the promised land.

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).

And this explains what is above threatened. No history I know of that does mention any thing like this; barbarous Indians sell one another, and some report (as I take it) that children among them unnaturally murder aged parents, but they eat them not.

In the midst of thee; it may intimate their doing this publicly.

The whole remnant will I scatter: this was verified when they were fetched away who were left at the departure of the besiegers, and when the very small remnant with Johanan fled into Egypt.

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

10. Fathers shall eat the sons, etc. — This shows the awfulness of the famine during the siege (2Ki_6:24-29; Lam_4:10; Lev_26:29; Jer_19:9).

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

The fathers shall eat their sons, etc. An echo from Lev_26:29 and Deu_28:53. The words of Jer_19:9 and Lam_4:10 imply that horrors such as these occurred during the siege of the city by the Chaldeans, as they had occurred before in the siege of Samaria, (2Ki_6:28, 2Ki_6:29) and were to occur afterwards in that by the Romans (Josephus, "Bell Jud:," 6:4. The whole remnant, etc. (comp. ver. 2).

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

Scatter - This was verified when they were fetched away, who were left at the departure of the besiegers, and when the very small remnant with Johanan fled into Egypt.

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