The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low.
The stranger that is within thee shall get above thee very high. This was fulfilled in the subsequent history of Israel; as appears, for instance, in the prosperity of "the stranger" (Judges 2:14; 1 Samuel 13:10), and in the striking contrast between the days of Solomon, when the weight of gold (silver being nothing accounted of) which came to the king in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents, and those of Jehoiakim, when Pharaoh-necho, having by conquest become "the head" of Judea, could impose only a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold, which, small as it was, could with difficulty be raised by an impoverished people.
'Doubtless in those days, and many which followed them, the proud stranger frequently lent to the oppressed Jew of that which had been his own, but the Jew did not lend to him. There is no record of the Jews becoming great moneylenders so long as they remained in the land of Israel, subject to foreign powers; and this is what is directly referred to, Deuteronomy 28:40; Deuteronomy 28:42; and the assault of the Roman armies is not alluded to until Deuteronomy 28:49.
There are, however, other prophetic scriptures referring more particularly to the latter or Roman captivity of Israel, and their general dispersion throughout the world, in which hints are given of their obtaining a certain influence among the nations of the earth; particularly Isaiah 60:9, which shows that the Jews would become remarkable for the possession of gold and silver, which, it may be presumed, was to be obtained by commerce, moneylending, or other means whereby wealth is usually accumulated. But though there is a large and influential body of merchants and bankers, the nation is still withered under the course that is written in this book. Taken as a whole, they are a very poor and suffering people; in the land of their fathers the stranger is still "the head;" they receive as a favour, when they receive it at all, that which was formerly their own by right; and although matters are somewhat improved of late years, they are still subject to various forms of injustice and oppression ('Jewish Intelligence,' Nov., 1861, pp. 290-293).