And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years:
Ver. 9. And they that dwell.] Hyperbolical expressions; though the Jews hold otherwise. See on Ezekiel 39:1 .
Shall set on fire and burn the weapons.] Do not the Church's champions so at this day, ever since they proclaimed and proved the Pope to be that antichrist; burning up his weapons - his false doctrines and heresies - by the fire of God's Word, and giving their bodies to be burned for the testimony of Jesus?
And they shall burn them with fire seven years,] i.e., Diutissime et saepissime! Most long and most often. This seven years is not yet out. The Jesuits say Satan sent Luther, and God sent them to withstand him. But there is a succession of Luthers to find them work enough still, and to burn up their weapons that the churches may be at rest.