Matthew Poole and continuators on Isaiah 9:20

20 And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm .

Every one shall greedily and violently seise upon any Provisions that come in his way. Which implies, either great Scarcity, or insatiable Covetousness, as is manifest from the next Clause.

Either, 1. properly; so it notes extreme Famine: in which case men are apt to eat their own Flesh. Compare Ier. 19. 9. Or, 2. metaphorically, which seems best to suit with the following Verse, the Flesh of his Brethren by Nation and Religion, which are as it were our own Flesh, and are so called Isa. 58. 7. Zech. 11. 9. and consequently, the Flesh of their Arm, is in a manner the Flesh of our own Arm. And one Tribe was to another as an Arm, i. e. a Support or Strength, which is called an arm, 2 Chron. 32. 8. Ier. 17. 5. and elsewhere.

Marginal references: Heb. cut.; Chap. 49. 26.