(a) By which he means Syria.

(b) God's anger will remain upon their chief city, and not spare even as much as that.

(c) When the Jews will convert and repent, then God will destroy their enemies.

(d) That is, by Damascus: meaning, that Harnath or Antiochia would be under the same rod and plague.

(e) He secretly shows the cause of their destruction, because they deceived all others by their craft and subtilty, which they cloaked with this name of wisdom.

(f) Though those of Tyre think themselves invincible by reason of the sea that surrounds them, yet they will not escape God's judgments.

(g) Meaning, that all would be destroyed, save a very few, that would remain as strangers.

(h) He promises to deliver the Jews when he will take vengeance on their enemies for their cruelty, and the wrongs they did to them.

(i) As the Jebusites had been destroyed, so would Ekron and all the Philistines.

(k) He shows that God's power alone will be sufficient to defend his Church against all adversaries, be they ever so cruel, or assert their power ever so often.

(l) That is, God has now seen the great injuries and afflictions with which they have been afflicted by their enemies.

(m) That is, he has righteousness and salvation in himself for the use and benefit of his Church.

(n) Which declares that they should not look for such a king as would be glorious in the eyes of man, but should be poor, and yet in himself have all power to deliver his own: and this is meant of Christ, as in Mt 21:5.

(o) No power of man or creature will be able to stop this kingdom of Christ, and he will peaceably govern them by his word.

(p) That is, from the Red Sea, to the Sea called Syriacum: and by these places which the Jews knew, he meant an infinite space and area over the whole world.

(q) That is, from the Euphrates.

(r) Meaning Jerusalem, or the Church which is saved by the blood of Christ, of which the blood of the sacrifices was a figure. And it is here called the covenant of the Church, because God made it with his Church: and left it with them because of the love that he had for them.

(s) God shows that he will deliver his Church out of all dangers, no matter how great they may seem.

(t) That is, into the holy land where the city and the temple are, where God will defend you.

(u) Meaning the faithful, who seemed to be in danger of their enemies on every side, and yet lived in hope that God would restore them to liberty.

(x) That is, double benefits and prosperity, in respect of that which your fathers enjoyed from David's time to the captivity.

(y) I will make Judah and Ephraim, that is, my whole Church, victorious against all enemies, which he here means by the Greeks.

(z) He promises that the Jews will destroy their enemies, and have abundance and excess of all things, as there is abundance on the altar when the sacrifice is offered. And these things are not to move them to excess, but to sobriety, and a thankful remembrance of God's great liberality.

(a) The faithful will be preserved, and reverenced by all, that their very enemies will be compelled to esteem them: for God's glory will shine in them, as Josephus declares of Alexander the great when he met Jadi the high priest.