Lamentations 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.
Original Language Analysis
Cross References
Historical Context
This wasn't hyperbole or metaphor but historical reality. 2 Kings 6:24-29 records an earlier instance during Samaria's siege by Syria: two women agreed to eat their sons, but after consuming one, the other hid her son, leading to public outcry. Josephus records similar events during Jerusalem's AD 70 siege by Rome: a wealthy woman named Mary killed, cooked, and ate her infant, offering half to soldiers who discovered the act. The extremity of these accounts confirms that sustained siege warfare created conditions so desperate that maternal instinct was overridden by starvation. Archaeological evidence from ancient sieges shows signs of extreme food deprivation—gnawed bones, evidence of consuming normally inedible materials. The fulfillment of Deuteronomy 28's curse wasn't divine cruelty but covenant faithfulness—God always does what He promises, whether blessing or curse. This horrible reality shows why treating God's warnings lightly is foolish and dangerous.
Questions for Reflection
- How does the literal fulfillment of Deuteronomy 28:53-57 demonstrate that God's warnings must be taken with utmost seriousness?
- What does this ultimate breakdown of natural motherly love teach about sin's power to corrupt and destroy every good thing when judgment falls?
- How should awareness of judgment's severity affect our evangelism urgency and our own pursuit of holiness?
Analysis & Commentary
The most horrific verse: "The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people" (yedei nashim rakhaniyot bishlu yaldeihen hayu le-varoth lamo be-shever bat-ami, יְדֵי נָשִׁים רַחֲמָנִיּוֹת בִּשְּׁלוּ יַלְדֵיהֶן הָיוּ לְבָרוֹת לָמוֹ בְּשֶׁבֶר בַּת־עַמִּי). The term rachamaniyot (רַחֲמָנִיּוֹת, "pitiful, compassionate") comes from the same root as God's compassion—making the contrast unbearable. Women naturally tender and maternal boiled their own children for food. This literally fulfilled Deuteronomy 28:53-57's curse: 'thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and thy daughters...in the siege.' Leviticus 26:29 threatened the same: 'ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.' This represents ultimate covenant curse—the complete inversion of natural order, maternal love becoming horrific necessity. It demonstrates sin's trajectory: what seems impossible (eating one's children) becomes reality when covenant protection is removed and judgment unfolds fully.