Ezekiel 14:17 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

He is Lord of hosts, and hath the militia of all the world in his hand, the sword is the right of the King of kings. Bring a sword; raise war, and send enemies to invade it. That land; what land soever it be. Go through the land: though inanimate things have not ears to hear, yet God speaks of them sometimes as if they had ears to hear, and understanding to discern; hereby intimating to us his overruling power, wisdom, justice, and sovereignty. So that I cut off man: men cut off men in war, yet here God takes it to himself, he doth it by men. And beast: though wars chiefly destroy men, yet the beasts of the field go to wreck too, the beasts that are serviceable in wars are waste, as horses and beasts of burden. The Eastern nations have brought store of camels and many elephants into the wars; beside the slaughter of these in fight, the spoiler wasting his enemy doth often destroy whole herds and flocks.