Leviticus 26:29

Lev 26:29 And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.

Ver. 29. And ye shall eat.] As they did. {2Ki 6:29 Lam 4:19} Pone pretium humanae corni, was once heard openly proclaimed at Rome in the reign of Honorius the Emperor. A hard case indeed. Here in England, in Edward II’s time, anno 1316, there was so terrible a famine, that horses, dogs, yea, men and children, were stolen for food, and the thieves newly brought into the jail were torn in pieces, and eaten presently half alive, by such as had been longer there. {a}

{a} Alsted, Chron. Speed’s Hist.

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.

Lev 26:29. Ye shall eat the flesh of your sons — Through extreme hunger. This is the very utmost calamity that could come upon a people. See it described at large, and in the most lively colours, Deu 28:53-57. It was fulfilled, first in the siege of Samaria, 2Ki 6:29; next in the siege of Jerusalem before the Babylonish captivity, Lam 4:10; and finally, in the last destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans.

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

26:29 Starvation would so pervade the land that when a child died of hunger, he or she would be eaten, in pagan fashion, by the others in the family (Deut 28:53-57; see 2 Kgs 6:24-31; Lam 2:20; cp. 2 Kgs 3:27).

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

ye shall eat the flesh of your sons--The revolting picture was actually exhibited at the siege of Samaria, at the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar (Lam 4:10), and at the destruction of that city by the Romans. (See on Deu 28:53).

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 29. Ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, &c.] This was literally fulfilled at the siege of Jerusalem. Josephus, WARS of the Jews, book vii., chap. ii., gives us a particular instance in dreadful detail of a woman named Mary, who, in the extremity of the famine during the siege, killed her sucking child, roasted, and had eaten part of it when discovered by the soldiers! See this threatened, Jer 19:9.

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

(29) And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons.—The harrowing scene here described is also depicted in Deu_28:53-57. This prediction actually came to pass at the siege of Samaria by the Syrians (2Ki_6:28-29), and at the siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldæans, which Jeremiah thus bewails, “the hands of pitiful women have sodden their own children, they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people” (Lam_4:10; comp. also Jer_19:9; Eze_5:10; Zec_11:9, &c.). This also happened at the siege of Jerusalem by Titus. A woman named Mary killed her infant child and boiled it during the height of the famine, and after she had eaten part of it, the soldiers found the rest in her house.

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

29. Cp. Deu_28:53; Jer_19:9, and, for the fulfilment of the prophet’s words, Lam_4:10.

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 I will destroy your high places,.... Which Jarchi interprets of towers and palaces; but Aben Ezra of the place of sacrifices; for on high places, hills and mountains, they used to build altars, and there offer sacrifices, in imitation of the Heathens; See Gill on Eze 6:13,

and cut down your images; called Chammanim, either from Ham, the son of Noah, the first introducer of idolatrous worship after the flood, as some have thought; or from Jupiter Ammon, worshipped in Egypt, from whence the Jews might have these images; or rather from Chammah, the sun, so called from its heat; so Jarchi says, there were a sort of idols placed on the roofs of houses, and because they were set in the sun, they were called by this name; and Kimchi (s) observes they were made of wood, and made by the worshippers of the sun, see Kg2 23:11; but Aben Ezra is of opinion that these were temples built for the worship of the sun, which is the most early sort of idolatry that appeared in the world, to which Job may be thought to refer, Job 31:26. Some take these to be the or "fire hearths", which Strabo (t) described as large enclosures, in the midst of which was an altar, where the (Persian) Magi kept their fire that never went out, which was an emblem of the sun they worshipped; and these, he says, were in the temples of Anaitis and Omanus, and where the statue of the latter was in great pomp; which idol seems to have its name from the word in the text; and these are fitly added to the high places, because on such, as Herodotus (u) says, the Persians used to worship:

and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols; or "dunghill gods" (w); such as the beetle, the Egyptians worshipped, signifying that they and their idols should be destroyed together:

and my soul shall abhor you; the reverse of Lev 26:6; and by comparing it with that, this may signify the removal of the divine Presence from them, as a token of his abhorrence of them; and so Jarchi and Aben Ezra interpret it.

(s) Sepher Shorash. rad. & (t) Geograph. l. 15. p. 504. (u) Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 131. (w) "stercoreorum deorum vestrorum", Junius & Trernellius, Piscator, Drusius.

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

Daughters. To such extremities were the Jews reduced, at the sieges of Samaria and Jerusalem. (4 Kings vi. 28; Lamentations iv. 10.; Josephus, Jewish Wars vii. 8.)

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).

Through extreme hunger. See Lam 4:10.

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

29. Ye shall eat the flesh of your sons — This awful prediction was literally fulfilled in the siege of Jerusalem by Titus and the Roman army. Mary of Perea, a woman of high birth and great wealth, was so maddened by hunger that she killed, roasted, and ate one half of her sucking child. See Josephus, book vi, chap. Lev_3:4.

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

The flesh of your sons - Through extreme hunger. See Lam. iv, 10.

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

I will destroy ... cut down ... throw your corpses

Because God would send an army to do these things, he speaks as if he would do them. AT: "I will send an enemy army to destroy ... cut down ... throw your corpses" (See: Metonymy)

your corpses

"your dead bodies"

the corpses of your idols

God speaks of idols not being alive as if they had been alive and then died. AT: "your lifeless idols" (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

flesh

high place

incense

altar

false god

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