And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the Lord,.... Or four families x, and these very devouring ones; that is, four sorts of punishment; and so the Targum,
"four evil punishments;''
which are after mentioned. These are represented as under God, and at his beck and command; servants of his, that go and come at his pleasure, and do his will; and as being over men, and having power and authority to kill and to destroy by a divine commission:
the sword to slay: the first and chief of the four families or punishments, which had a commission from the Lord to sheath itself in his people, the Jews; even the sword of the enemy, the Chaldeans, drawn against them by a divine order and appointment:
and the dogs to tear; the carcasses of those that are slain with the sword: or "to draw" y; as the word signifies; it being the usual way of dogs to draw and drag the flesh about they are feeding on; this is another of the four families, and a very voracious one it is:
and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy; or "to eat, and to corrupt", the bodies of those that are slain by the sword. The meaning is, that such should not have a burial, but should be the food of fowls and wild beasts: these are the other two destroying families, which have their commission from the Lord for such service.
x ארבע משפחות "quatuor familias, [sive] cognationes", Vatablus, Tigurine version, Calvin. y לסחוב "ad trahendum", Calvin, Pagninus, Montanus, Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Schmidt so Ben Melech,