All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.
Ver. 10. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword] The flagitious, presumptuous persons, that bless themselves when I curse them, saying, We shall have peace, though we walk every man in the imagination of his heart, and take his full swing in sin, Deuteronomy 29:19. Such sinners in Zion, Isaiah 33:14, such sacrificing Sodomites, Isaiah 1:10, such profligate professors shall die by the sword; either by the hand of the enemy, or, which is worse, gladio spiritali, saith Mercer, by the spiritual sword, being blinded and rejected by God; so that their preservation is but a reservation to a greater mischief. Whereas, on the other side, some of God's elect might in a common calamity perish by the sword, but then (Josiah-like) they died in peace, though they fell in battle; their death was right precious in the sight of the Lord, and a plentiful amends made them in heaven.
Which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us] Or, for our sakes, by our default, Begnadenu propter nos. If affliction do find us out, yet we have not deserved it; common occurrences we cannot be against. Thus the wicked man "flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful," Psalms 36:2. "In all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin," Hosea 12:8. "Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned," Jeremiah 2:35 .