Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary: Deuteronomy
Ver. 56. Envy. Hebrew, "her eye shall be evil towards the husband of her bosom," &c. (Haydock)
Ver. 57. And the filth, &c. They will eat the child just born, through extreme hunger, Lamentations ii. 20. The Chaldean, Septuagint, &c., agree with the Vulgate, which conveys an idea of the most horrible distress. (Calmet) --- Indeed it is so horrible and disgusting, that we find no vestiges in history of the completion of the prophecy, taken in this sense. Some, therefore, explain the original: "And her feast, or dressed meat, (shall be) between her feet, even of her own children, which she shall bring forth." (Bate, p. 71.; Parkhurst on itsoth.) Others believe that the Hebrew is corrupted by the insertion of b before another b, in children; and by the transposition or addition of i in the first word; so that to translate, with the generality of interpreters, "She shall grudge every bit, or her eye shall be evil towards her husband, and towards her son, and towards her daughter, and towards her afterbirth....and towards her sons which she shall have brought forth," seems absurd enough. For if the woman's eye be evil towards her son, and towards her afterbirth, (which, however, is incapable of depriving her of food) what need of repeating, and towards her sons? Yet the present construction requires this translation; though it is obvious that the woman must have been actuated in a different manner, with respect to these different things, as all allow that she was afraid lest those who were grown up, how dear soever to her, might deprive her of her abominable food, while her eye was evil towards her afterbirth, (or secundines, if the word ssolithe can have this meaning) because she was designing to eat it privately. The Septuagint translate Korion, "the skin," or Chorion, "a little girl," (Houbigant) unless (Haydock) the former word may rather have this signification. Hill. --- The Arabic deviates a little from the Hebrew, "She will deny her husband, her son, and her daughter, her secundines, which fall from her." If, therefore, the two corrections proposed by Houbigant, and approved by Kennicott, (who produces for one of them (ubnie) the authority of the oldest Hebrew manuscript in England) be admitted, all will be clear and conformable to the event. "56. Her eye shall be evil towards....her son, and towards her daughter. 57. And she shall boil, (ubossilthe, instead of ubossolithe) that which cometh out from between her feet, even her children, (ubnie, not ubobnie) which she shall bear; for she shall eat them, for want of all things, secretly."
This prophetical and terrible denunciation was realized in the siege of Samaria, when two women agreed to eat their own children, one of whom was actually boiled, and the very word here in dispute is used, 4 Kings vi. 29. (Kennicott) --- And in the last siege of Jerusalem, we read (Josephus, [Antiquities?] vii. 8,) of a mother killing her own child, to satisfy the cravings of hunger and rage against the rioters who had repeatedly plundered her house. Her name was Mary. She also boiled her suckling infant, and actually devoured a part of it. (Haydock)
Ver. 59. Increase. Hebrew, distinguish, or render thy plagues wonderful. (Calmet) --- Perpetual. Hebrew, "lasting." (Haydock) See ver. 27.
Ver. 65. Fearful, dejected, distrustful. The Jews are under continual alarms. (Calmet)
Ver. 66. Thy life, being in danger from all sides. The Fathers explain this verse of the behaviour of the Jews towards their Messias, who was crucified before their eyes; and still they will not believe in him, though he is their life, (chap. xxx. 20,) the way, the truth, and the life, John xiv. 6., and i. 4. (St. Leo; St. Augustine, contra Faustus xvi. 22, &c.) (Haydock)
Ver. 68. With ships, so that thou wilt have no means of escaping by flight. (Menochius) --- The Romans had a fleet in the Mediterranean, with which they would probably convey the captives into Egypt. Josephus (Antiquities xii. 2, &c., and Jewish Wars vii. 16,) informs us, that many of the Jews had been conveyed into that country after Jerusalem had been ruined by the Chaldeans; (Calmet) and after it was at last destroyed by the Romans, some of "those who were above 17 years of age, were sent thither in chains to work at the public works;" others were reserved to grace the victor's triumph, or "to be destroyed by the sword, or by wild beasts in the theatres, while those who were under 17, were sold. During the time that Fronto was making the selection, 12,000 were starved to death, either by the cruelty of their keepers, or because they refused food; the multitudes causing it to be very scarce. In the course of the war 97,000 were taken prisoners, and in the siege 1,100,000 perished. For then the whole nation was shut up in prison, as it were by fate, and the city was besieged when full of inhabitants," at the feast of the Passover; "so that the number of those whom the Romans slew publicly, or took prisoners, was greater than ever was destroyed," at once, "by the fury of man, or by the wrath of God." (Ibid.[Josephus, Jewish Wars?] chap. xvii.) Pompey had carried away many captives into Egypt about 120 years before. Pharao Sesac took and pillaged the city, under Roboam, 2 Paralipomenon xii. 2. --- That. Hebrew, "by the way concerning which I spoke to thee (that is, by returning back, through this wilderness, as thou formerly desiredst,) thou shalt see it no more." --- Set to sale, (vendêris,) literally, "shall be sold." After the Jews had been sold, their new masters could not find any to take them off their hands. (Haydock) --- Buy you. Protestants, "there ye shall be sold....and no man shall buy you." "Can a man be sold without being bought? Whereas if the verb hithmaccartem was rendered, and ye shall offer yourselves for sale, the sense would be proper, and expressive of the most bitter sufferings." (Kennicott) --- Hegesippus (v. 47,) says, "there were many to be sold, but few purchasers; because the Romans disdained receiving the Jews as slaves, nor were there any Jews left to redeem their countrymen."
Bible Text & Cross-references:
Many blessings are promised to the observers of God's commandments: and curses threatened to transgressors.
1 Now *if thou wilt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, to do and keep all his commandments, which I command thee this day, the Lord thy God will make thee higher than all the nations that are on the earth.
2 And all these blessings shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: yet so if thou hear his precepts.
3 Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed in the field.
4 Blessed shall be the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the droves of thy herds, and the folds of thy sheep.
5 Blessed shall be thy barns, and blessed thy stores.
6 Blessed shalt thou be coming in and going out.
7 The Lord shall cause thy enemies, that rise up against thee, to fall down before thy face: one way shall they come out against thee, and seven ways shall they flee before thee.
8 The Lord will send forth a blessing upon thy storehouses, and upon all the works of thy hands: and will bless thee in the land that thou shalt receive.
9 The Lord will raise thee up to be a holy people to himself, as he swore to thee: if thou keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways.
10 And all the people of the earth shall see that the name of the Lord is invocated upon thee, and they shall fear thee.
11 The Lord will make thee abound with all goods, with the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy cattle, with the fruit of thy land, which the Lord swore to thy fathers that he would give thee.
12 The Lord will open his excellent treasure, the heaven, that it may give rain in due season: and he will bless all the works of thy hands. And thou shalt lend to many nations, and shalt not borrow of any one.
13 And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail: and thou shalt be always above, and not beneath: yet so if thou wilt hear the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, and keep and do them,
14 And turn not away from them, neither to the right hand, nor to the left, nor follow strange gods, nor worship them.
15 *But if thou wilt not hear the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep, and to do all his commandments and ceremonies, which I command thee this day, all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee.
16 Cursed shalt thou be in the city, cursed in the field.
17 Cursed shall be thy barn, and cursed thy stores.
18 Cursed shall be the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy ground, the herds of thy oxen, and the flocks of thy sheep.