I will spread My net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven.
The fowler of retribution
Trans. “As they go, I spread My net over them, I bring them down as fowls of the heavens.” As they go to Egypt or Asshur, seeking help in their difficulties. Here the work of retribution is spoken of as the work of the fowler. It includes two things.
I. Entrapment. The retributive providence of God’ employed the Assyrians as a net, which so ensnared the Israelites that they could not escape. How often in the history of the world is this retributive entrapment witnessed! Illustrate--Joseph’s brethren. Crucifixion of Christ. Luther at Wattburg. Bunyan at Bedford. The net that entangled sinners is not manufactured in heaven, it is made on earth, made by themselves.
II. Abasement. However high up they may tower in their ambitious work, retribution has missiles to bring them down. There are men who, in their worldly prosperity, pride, and ambition, soar like the eagles high up in heaven above all the rest. An ancient philosopher, being” asked what Jupiter does in the highest heaven, replied, “He pulls down the haughty, and exalts the humble.” (Homilist.)
Self-dependence humiliated
The dove brought down from its almost viewless height, fluttering weakly, helplessly, and hopelessly under those same meshes, is a picture of the self-dependent spirit humiliated, overwhelmed by inevitable evils, against which it impotently struggles, from which it seems to see its escape, but by which it is held as fast as if it lay motionless in iron. (E. B. Pusey, D. D.)