Then he will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Verse 51. Shall cut him asunder. This kind of punishment was anciently practised. Sometimes it was done by the sword, sometimes by saws. It was practised among the Chaldeans, and among the Hebrews, . It was also practised by the Egyptians and Romans. It is not, perhaps, here to be taken literally, but signifies that the wicked servant should be severely punished. Hypocrites. .
And shall cut him asunder, and appoint [him] his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (y) That is, from the rest, or will cut him into two pieces, which was a most cruel kind of punishment: with which, as Justin Martyr witnesses, Isaiah the Prophet was executed by the Jews: the same kind of punishment we read of in and .