And, behold, the whole family is risen against thine handmaid, and they said, Deliver him that smote his brother, that we may kill him, for the life of his brother whom he slew; and we will destroy the heir also: and so they shall quench my coal which is left, and shall not leave to my husband [neither] name nor remainder upon the earth.
Ver. 7. And we will destroy the heir also.] That the inheritance may be ours. They pretend zeal for justice: but self swayed them.
And so they shall quench my coal which is left.] Which though it cast not much heat, yet if utterly extinct, I am lost. An elegant metaphor used also by Plato, Lucretius, and other heathen authors.