Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 28:26
And thy carcass shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall frighten [them] away.
26. Jer 7:33; cp. Jer 16:4, Jer 19:7, Jer 34:20.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And thy carcass shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth,…. Which was always reckoned a very grievous calamity, have no other burial than in the bowels of beasts and birds; and was the case of many of the Jews in the Antiochian persecution, Ps 79:2; and in a treatise of theirs h, which relates their many afflictions and sufferings in their present captivity, speaking of a persecution of them in Spain, in the Jewish year 5172, it is reported, how that those that fled to avoid punishment were killed in the fields, where their carcasses lying unburied became a prey to beasts:
and no man shall fray [them] away; the fowls and the beasts; none of their friends being left to do it, and their enemies would not show so much respect to them, and care of them.
h Shebat Judahm sive Hist. Jud. a Gentio, sect. 46. p. 312.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
26. And thy carcase shall be meat. The punishment is here doubled by the disgrace which is added to death; for it is ignominious to be deprived of burial, and justly reckoned amongst the curses of God; whilst it is a sign of His paternal favor that we should be distinguished from the brutes, inasmuch as the rites of burial arouse us to the hope of resurrection and everlasting life. Wherefore, on the contrary, God deprives of burial those whom He curses. But as we have said that punishments affecting the body are common to the pious and the reprobate, so also we must think of being deprived of sepulture, since it sometimes happens that the reprobate are honorably buried, as Christ relates of the luxurious Dives, (Luk 16:22,) whilst the bodies of the pious are ignominiously cast a prey for birds and beasts; as the Prophet complains in Psa 79:2. Still such an interchange does not prevent God from avenging the contempt of His Law by this mode of punishment, as by pestilence, famine, or sword.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(26) And thy carcase shall be meat.Repeated in Jer. 7:33, and to be fulfilled in Tophet, when they had buried until there was no more room. (Comp. also Jer. 15:3.)
No man shall fray (i.e., frighten) them away.Not even a woman like Rizpah, who at the foot of the gallows watched her childrens bodies for half the year, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night (2Sa. 21:10). There shall be no one to do it.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
26. Meat unto all fowls of the air The corpses of the slain in battle would be food for birds and beasts. The ancients looked with dread upon the idea of the body lying unburied. Comp. Jer 7:33; also 1Ki 14:11.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Ver. 26. Thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air “Your conquerors shall not only transplant you into distant countries, but shall make such terrible slaughter of you, that the carcases of vast numbers shall be exposed in the streets, and lie, like those of beasts, without burial.” Nothing was accounted a greater calamity among the ancients, than to have their bodies lie exposed to be devoured by birds and beasts: this is what Jeremiah calls being buried with the burial of an ass, ch. Deu 22:19 and the Psalmist bewails it as one of the sorest judgments which had befallen his nation; Psa 79:2-3. How far this terrible threatening was fulfilled in the Babylonish captivity, will appear on consulting the pathetic descriptions of that calamity in the book of Lamentations; where it is often declared, that those judgments inflicted upon them were in consequence of their breach of God’s covenant. See Lam 1:14; Lam 1:18; Lam 2:17; Lam 2:21; Lam 4:6; Lam 4:13, &c. and Matthew 24.
38 which has reference to the like calamity in their destruction by the Romans.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Deu 28:26 And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray [them] away.
Ver. 26. And thy carcass shall be meat. ] Thou shalt want the honour of honest burial; which the Jews accounted worse than death, Ecc 6:3 and the Gentiles extreme misery.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
thy carcase. Septuagint hoi nekroi, with article, denoting corpses as distinct from the people who are dead.
unto all fowls. Some codices, with Samaritan Pentateuch, Targum of Onkelos, Septuagint, and Syriac, read “for the bird”.
fray = frighten (Old English).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
1Sa 17:44-46, Psa 79:1-3, Isa 34:3, Jer 7:33, Jer 8:1, Jer 16:4, Jer 19:7, Jer 34:20, Eze 39:17-20
Reciprocal: Lev 20:22 – spue you 1Sa 17:46 – carcases Isa 56:9 – General Jer 15:3 – I will Amo 4:10 – the stink Rev 19:18 – ye
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
28:26 And thy {m} carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray [them] away.
(m) You will be cursed both in your life and in your death: for the burial is a testimony of the resurrection a sign you will lack because of your wickedness.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
In the second view the outlook is worse. Israel would suffer physical distresses, and her enemies would plunder and oppress her. As freedom from Egypt came to epitomize God’s grace, so return to Egyptian conditions represented His judgment (Deu 28:27).