Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle [that] hasteth to eat.
Ver. 8. Their horses also are swifter than the leopards] Or panthers, famous for their swiftness; whence the proverb, Panthera velocior (see Plin. i. 10, viii. 17). The horse is so swift in service that the Persians (as Pausanias hath it) dedicated him to their god, the Sun; as the swiftest creature to the swiftest god, ωσπερ το ταχιστον τω ταχυτατω θεων. See Job 41:20 Proverbs 21:31 .
And are more fierce than the evening wolves] Heb. More sharp-set, after that they have been held hunger bitten and empty all the day long. See Virg. Aeneid. ix. 59, &c.; Oppian. i. 3. Homo homini lupus, One man (left to himself) is a wolf, nay, a devil to another. The metaphor is here taken from sharpest swords, which quickly cut.
And their horsemen shall spread themselves] With incredible swiftness, which in war is most necessary and useful, as Julius Caesar experienced, and we in our late commotions.
And their horsemen shall come from far] The Jews were secure of the Chaldeans, as being far remote; but that shall be no hindrance.
They shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat] In singulis verbis pondus est, saith Drusius, here each word hath its weight; for he that hasteth on his way is said to fly, and the eagle is swifter of flight than any bird, and especially when she hasteth to eat, Job 9:26. Of the eagle's swiftness why and whence, see Ambrose, Hexam. l. i. c. 14.