249、“尽其一生的日子吃尘土”表示他们的感官部分变成这样：它只能靠肉体和尘世之物活着，也就是说，它变得如地狱一般。这从圣言中“尘土”的含义清楚可知，如弥迦书：
求你牧养你的民，像往古之日一样。列族看见，就必为自己的一切势力惭愧；他们必舔食尘土，如蛇一样，又如地上爬行的蛇，战战兢兢地出他们的营寨。（弥迦书7:14，16-17）
“往古之日”表示上古教会；“列族”表示那些信靠自我的人，论到这些人，经上说他们“必舔食尘土，如蛇一样”。
诗篇：
野蛮人必在神面前下拜，祂的仇敌必舔食尘土。（诗篇72:9）
“野蛮人”和“仇敌”表示那些只关注尘世和世俗事物的人。以赛亚书：
尘土必作蛇的食物。（以赛亚书65:25）
由于“尘土”表示那些不关注属灵和属天事物，只关注肉体和尘世事物的人，所以主吩咐门徒，如果他们所进的那城或那家不配得的，他们“就把脚上的尘土跺下去”（马太福音10:14）。“尘土”表示被刑罚并类似地狱之物，对此，详情可参看3:19。
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]249. Eating dirt all the days of its life means that the sensory plane became incapable of living on anything but what was bodily and earthly, so that it turned hellish. This can likewise be seen from the symbolism of dirt or dust in the Word. In Micah, for instance:
Pasture your people as in the days of old. The nations will see and will be ashamed of all their power. They will lick dust like the snake, and like the slitherers of the earth they will be rattled out of their enclosures. (Micah 7:14, 16-17)
The days of old stand for the earliest church. The nations stand for those who trust in their own abilities, of whom it says that they lick dust like snakes. In David:
Before God the barbarians will bow down, and his enemies will lick dust. (Psalms 72:9)
Barbarians and enemies stand for those who focus only on earthly and worldly considerations. In Isaiah:
Snakes — dirt will be their bread. (Isaiah 65:25)
Since dirt symbolized those who did not have their eye turned in a spiritual and heavenly direction but in a bodily and earthly one, the Lord ordered his disciples to shake off the dust of their feet if a town or a household was unworthy (Matthew 10:14).
For dirt as a symbol of what is damned and hellish, see more at verse 19 [278].
Potts(1905-1910) 249
249. That to "eat dust all the days of its life" signifies that their sensuous part became such that it could not live from anything except that which is of the body and the earth, that is to say, that it became infernal, is evident also from the signification of "dust" in the Word; as in Micah:
Feed thy people as in the days of eternity. The nations shall see and shall blush at all their might; they shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall be shaken out of their holds like creeping things [serpentes] of the earth (Micah 7:14, 16-17). "The "days of eternity" mean the Most Ancient Church; the "nations" those who trust in their Own, of whom it is predicated that "they shall lick the dust like a serpent." In David:
Barbarians shall bow themselves before God, and His enemies shall lick the dust (Ps. 72:9). "Barbarians" and "enemies" are those who regard only earthly and worldly things. In Isaiah:
Dust shall be the serpent's bread (Isa. 65:25). As "dust" signifies those who do not regard spiritual and celestial things, but only what is corporeal and earthly, therefore the Lord enjoined His disciples that if the city or house into which they entered was not worthy, they should "shake off the dust of their feet" (Matt. 10:14). (That "dust" signifies what is condemned and infernal, will be further shown at verse 19.)
Elliott(1983-1999) 249
249. 'Eating dust all the days of its life' means that the sensory part had become such as could live from nothing else than the bodily and the earthly, and so had become hellish. This too is clear from the meaning of 'dust' in the Word, as in Micah 7:14,16, 17.
Shepherd Your people as in the days of eternity. The nations will see and be ashamed at all their might, they will lick the dust like serpents of the earth they will be shifted from their strongholds.
'Days of eternity' stands for the Most Ancient Church, 'nations' for people who put their trust in the proprium, who are referred to as 'licking dust like a serpent'. In David,
Barbarians will bow down before God, and His enemies lick the dust. Ps 72:9.'Barbarians' and 'enemies' stand for those who look solely to earthly and worldly things. In Isaiah,
Serpents, dust will be their bread. Isa 65:25.
Because 'dust' meant people who did not look to spiritual and celestial things but to bodily and earthly, the Lord commanded the disciples to shake the dust off their feet if a city or house was not worthy, Matthew 10:14. For more on 'dust' meaning that which is condemned and hellish, see at verse 19.
Latin(1748-1756) 249
249. Quod per 'pulverem comedere omnibus diebus vitae' significatur quod sensuale ita factum, ut ex alio quam ex corporeo et terrestri vivere non posset, ita infernale, constat quoque es significatione pulveris in Verbo, ut apud Micham, Pasce populum Tuum...juxta dies aeternitatis,...videbunt gentes et erubescent ab omni potentia sua,...lambent pulverem sicut serpens, et sicut serpentes terrae commovebuntur e clausuris suis, vii 14, 16, 17;'dies aeternitatis' pro Antiquissima Ecclesia, 'gentes' pro iis qui fidunt proprio, de quibus praedicatur 'lambere pulverem sicut serpens': apud Davidem, Coram Deo incurvabunt se barbari, et hostes illius pulverem lambent, Ps. lxxii 9;
'barbari et hostes' pro iis qui solum terrestria et mundana spectant: apud Esaiam, Serpentes, pulvis panis, lxv 25:
quia 'pulvis' significabat eos qui non {x}spiritualia et caelestia sed corporea et terrestria spectarent, a Domino mandatum discipulis ut Si urbs aut domus non digna esset, excuterent pulverem pedum suorum, Matth. x 14. Quod 'pulvis' significet damnatum et infernale, videantur plura ad vers. 19.