Punishment in the fifth degree. Ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. We find that this threat was fulfilled in Samaria (2혻Kings 6:28), and in Jerusalem at the time both of the earlier siege by the Chaldaeans, and of the later siege by the Romans. And I will destroy your high places. By high places is meant the tops of hills or eminences chosen for worship, whether of Jehovah (see 6:26; 1혻Kings 3:2; 2혻Kings 12:3; 1혻Chronicles 21:26), or of false gods. The high places intended hero are the spots where the "sun-images" were erected (see 2혻Chronicles 14:5; Isaiah 17:8; Ezekiel 6:4)?봞nd cut down your images, and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols?봳hat is, they should roll in the dust together. And I will make your cities waste?봞s Samaria and Jerusalem?봞nd bring your sanctuaries unto desolation,?봟y the sanctuaries, which are to be desolated, is meant all the consecrated things: the holy of holies, the holy place, the court, the ark, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt sacrifice?봞nd I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours?봲o in Jeremiah 6:20, "To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet" (cf. Isaiah 1:11-15). And I will bring the land into desolation (cf. Jeremiah 9:11): and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it (cf. Ezekiel 5:15). And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you. See Jeremiah 9:16, "I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them."
The land had not participated in the sins of its inhabitants. The latter had thought that, by the neglect of the sabbatical years, they had enriched themselves by the fruits of those years which would otherwise have been wasted. The result was that they lost the land altogether for a period equal to that during which it ought to have kept sabbath, and the land "as long as she lay desolate kept sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years" (2혻Chronicles 36:21). From the entrance into the holy land until the Babylonish Captivity there elapsed eight hundred and sixty-three years, in which time there ought to have been kept one hundred and twenty-three sabbatical years. As only seventy are made up by the duration of the Captivity, it may be concluded that fifty-three sabbatical years were observed by the Israelites; but this conclusion is very doubtful. It is more likely that seventy, being a multiple of the sacred number seven, was regarded as sufficient to purge all previous neglects, whatever they might have been.