Ver. 1. He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face] Nebuchadnessar the elder, that maul of the whole earth, Jeremiah 50:23, that brake, and dispersed the nations, as a maul or great hammer doth the hardest stones. See how like a right Pyrgopolynices he vaunteth of his valour and victories, Isaiah 10:8-12. So Demetrius was surnamed Poliorcetes, the destroyer of cities; Attilas called himself Orbis flagellum, the scourge of the world. Julius Caesar was Fulmen belli, the thunderbolt of war; he had taken in his time a thousand towns, conquered three hundred nations, took prisoner one million of men, and slain as many. These were dissipatores indeed, and dashers in pieces, rods of God’s wrath; and this they took to be a main piece of their silly glory. How much more honour was it to Augustine to be styled Haereticorum malleus, the hammer of heretics! and to Mr Hildersam, to be Schismaticorum malleus, the maul of schismatics! and lastly, to Luther, that he could thus say of himself: “ Pestis eram virus, moriens ero mors tua papa! ” “I living, stopped Rome’s breath, and dead, will be Rome’s death!” Is come up before thy face] Nineveh lay high, and those that went thither were said to go up, Hosea 8:9. Nebuchadnezzar is said here to be come up, to it long before he did (which set forth God’s omniscience: “Known to him are all his works from the beginning of the world,” Acts 15:18 Ps 139:2; and present to him are all things, both past and future), and to come up before Nineveh’s face; who thought none dared have been so bold as to look her in the face. But though she had been a terror, yet now she is a scorn; as was likewise Ephraim, when he offended in Baal, Hosea 13:1. [See Trapp on “Ho 13:1”] Keep the munition, watch the way, &c.] Ironice omma, q.d. Do all this if you think it will do any good. But it is all to no purpose; you are an undone people, your enemies are above fear and you below hope: you have hitherto delighted in war, you shall now have enough of it; you have troubled the world with your arms and armies, now you shall meet with your match, a people terrible from the beginning. Up, therefore, and do your utmost; neglect nothing that may serve for your necessary defence; but it will not be: for “except the Lord keep the city the watchman waketh but in vain,” Psalms 127:1. trans. and fig. after L. malleus. (Often, like hammer, scourge, applied to a person as the irresistible foe or the terrible oppressor of some person, class, or institution.) Obs. ŒD
Ver. 2. For the Lord hath turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel] Both the ten tribes carried captive already and the other two (vexed by Sennacherib’s invasion) have taken their turns, and have had their part of bitter affliction; and shalt thou, O Nineveh, altogether escape unpunished? Never think it. Especially since thou hast exceeded thy commission, and exercised an unheard of cruelty upon God’s people; for he was but a little displeased, but ye have helped forward the affliction, Zechariah 1:15. [See Trapp on “Zec 1:5”] For the emptiers have emptied them out] The Assyrians have spoiled and pillaged till they have left neither men nor means behind them; such clean work they have made, sweeping all before them, like a sweeping rain that leaveth no food, Proverbs 28:3. Omnia corradunt et converrunt. And marred their vine branches] That is, their sons and their daughters, saith Lyra; their cities and villages, say others; like a malicious vinedresser, that not only cuts off the luxurious or barren branches, but pulls up the young sprouts by the roots, and so mars the vineyard. The Assyrians endeavoured utterly to destroy the whole seed of Abraham without any mercy or compassion; and this undid them. The jealous and just God cannot bear with such boars out of the wood, that waste his vines, Psalms 80:13.
Ver. 3. The shield of his mighty men is made red] Panoplia terrorem auget. All was red (a colour much affected by the Medes, Persians, and Chaldees), to show that they were a sanguinary nation, and not more gold thirsty (Isaiah 13:17) than blood thirsty (Herodot., Dioed. Sic., Xenophon, Curtius). The valiant men are in scarlet] A colour affected by martial men, that would seem to fear no colours. The Lacedaemonians used it much when they went to fight: that if they should be wounded their blood might not appear upon their apparel, for the discouragement of themselves and encouragement of the enemy by such a sight. The Romish cardinals are clothed in scarlet, and are created by a red hat which the Pope giveth them, in a token that they should be ready to shed their blood for the Catholic faith; which if they should do (as never any of them yet did) they would be no better than the devil’s martyrs; since it is the cause, and not the punishment, that maketh a true martyr. A Tyburn tippet (as plain Mr Latimer was wont to speak) would well become those scarlet fathers; who, like bells, will be never well tuned till well hanged; for their blood guiltlness and soul murder especially. In the kingdom of Naples there were two notable thieves (the one named Pater Noster, the other Ave Maria) who at various times had murdered one hundred and sixteen men, and were therefore deservedly put to a cruel death (Rainold. de Idol. Rom. praefat.). But nothing so cruel as the Pope and his conclave deserve, for their sending of so many souls daily to that great red dragon; red with the blood of souls which he hath swallowed, as St Peter hath it, 1 Peter 5:8 Re 12:3. The chariots shall be with flaming torches] Those currus falcati, chariots armed with scythes and hooks, with and in which they were wont to fight: these shall be with flaming torches carried along in them, either to light them fighting by night, or else to fire the enemies’ houses, and to terrify their hearts. And the fir trees shall be terribly shaken] With the rattling of the chariots and clattering of the armour. In a bloody fight between Amurath, the third King of Turks, and Lazarus, Despot of Servia, the noise of warlike weapons, the neighing of horses, and outcries of men were so terrible and great, that the wild beasts in the woods stood astonished therewith, the trees seemed to be shaken; and the Turkish histories, to express the terror of the day, vainly say, that the angels in heaven, amazed with that hideous noise, for that time forgot the heavenly hymns, &c. The word here rendered terribly shaken is rather Chaldee than Hebrew; as spoken of the Chaldees coming against Nineveh.