Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 28:57
And toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all [things] secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.
57. young one ] Rather as in R.V. marg. The objects in this v. are under the same predicate as those in Deu 28:56 but with a difference. To those she shall grudge a share of her awful food; these she shall devour.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 57. Toward her young one – and toward her children which she shall bear] There seems to be a species of tautology in the two clauses of this verse, which may be prevented by translating the last word, shilyathah, literally, her secondines, which is the meaning of the Arabic [Arabic] sala, not badly understood by the Septuagint, , the chorion or exterior membrane, which invests the foetus in the womb; and still better translated by Luther, [Anglo-Saxon] the after-birth; which saying of Moses strongly marks the deepest distress, when the mother is represented as feeling the most poignant regret that her child was brought forth into such a state of suffering and death; and 2dly, that it was likely, from the favourable circumstances after the birth, that she herself should survive her inlaying. No words can more forcibly depict the miseries of those dreadful times. On this ground I see no absolute need for Kennicott’s criticism, who, instead of ubeshilyathah, against her secondines, reads ubashelah, and she shall boll, and translates the 56th and 57th verses as follows: “The tender and delicate woman among you, who 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. 57. And she shall boil that which cometh out from between her feet, even her children, which she shall bear, for she shall eat them, for want of all things, secretly.” These words, says he, being prophetical, are fulfilled in 2Kg 6:29, for we read there that two women of Samaria having agreed to eat their own children, one was actually boiled, where the very same word, bashal is used. See Kennicott’s Dissertations, 1Ch 11:11, &c., p. 421.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Her young one, Heb. after-birth; that which was loathsome to behold, will now be pleasant to eat; and together with it she shall eat the child which was wrapt up in it, and may be included in this expression.
Which she shall bear, or, which she shall have born, i.e. her more grown children.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet,…. Or her secundine, “her afterbirth”, as in the margin of our Bibles; so the Targum of Jonathan and Aben Ezra interpret it. The latter describes it,
“the place of the fetus, while it abides in the womb of its mother;”
the membrane in which the child is wrapped; and it is suggested that, as nauseous as that is, the delicate woman should eat it, and then the newborn child that was wrapped in it; so Jarchi interprets it, little children; though it seems to be distinguished from the children she bears or brings forth in the next clause:
and towards her children which she shall bear; that is, have an evil eye towards them, to eat them as follows:
for she shall eat them for want of all [things] secretly in the siege and straitness wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates; that is, eat her children, being reduced to the utmost extremity, being in want of all things, having nothing at all to abate her sharp hunger; which, and nothing else, could incline her, and prevail upon her to do an action so monstrously horrid: and which she would do in the most private and secret manner; both lest others should partake with her, as well as being conscious of the foulness and blackness of the crime, that would not by any means bear the light; and all this owing to the closeness of the siege, and the unspeakable distress they should be in through it. For the illustration of this, take the following story as related by Josephus f;
“a woman, whose name was Mary, that lived beyond Jordan, illustrious for her descent and riches fled with the multitude to Jerusalem when besieged carrying with her her substance, and what food she could get that were left to her by the spoilers; where being pressed with famine, she took her sucking child, killed it boiled it, and ate half of it, and then laid up the rest, and covered it; and when the seditious party entered the house, they smelt it, and demanded her food, threatening to kill her if she did not deliver it; which when she brought forth, declaring what she had done, they were struck with horror; to whom she said, this is my son, and this my own deed; eat, for I have eaten; be not more tender or softer than a woman, and more sympathizing or more pitiful than a mother.”
All the ideas that this prophecy of Moses conveys are to be met with in this account; as of a woman well bred and delicate, reduced to the utmost distress, and wanting all the necessaries of life, killing her tender infant, a sucking babe, eating it secretly, and laying up the rest covered for another time. If Moses had lived to have known the fact committed, as Josephus did, he could not have expressed it well in stronger and clearer terms than he has done. This is a most amazing instance of a prophecy delivered out two thousand years or more before the fact was done, and of the exact accomplishment of it; and if the observation of a learned critic g can be established, that the first word of this verse should be , and so be rendered, “and she shall boil that which cometh out from between her feet, even her children which she shall bear”, the fulfilment of the prophecy will appear still more exact, both at the siege of Samaria, 2Ki 6:20; and of Jerusalem, as in the above relation of Josephus.
f De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 3. sect. 4. g Dr. Kennicot’s State of the Hebrew Text, Dissert. 1. p. 421.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Ver. 57. And towards her young one, &c. For a critical discussion of this passage, we refer to Houbigant’s note on the place, and to his Prolegomena, p. 35. He renders it, and she shall boil that which cometh, &c. even her infants, whom she shall spare that she may eat them secretly for want, &c.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Deu 28:57 And toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all [things] secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.
Ver. 57. And toward her young one. ] Heb., Her after birth, which she shall devour, and the child together with it.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
young one: Heb. after-birth
cometh out: Gen 49:10, Isa 49:15
for she shall: Deu 28:53
Reciprocal: Job 39:16 – as Isa 47:1 – thou shalt Lam 4:10 – in Hos 9:11 – from the womb Mic 1:16 – thy delicate Mar 13:17 – General Luk 21:23 – woe
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
28:57 And toward her {t} young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all [things] secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.
(t) Hunger will so bite her, that she will be ready to eat her child before it is delivered.