He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken [it].
Ver. 8. He will swallow up death in victory.] As the fire swalloweth the fuel, or as Moses' serpent swallowed up the sorcerers' serpents. The kisses of Christ's mouth have sucked out the sting of death from a justified believer; so that his heart doth live for ever, as Psa 22:6 and if so, then in death itself; which made Cyprian receive the sentence of death with a Deo gratias; as did also Bradford, and many more martyrs; accounting the days of their death their birthdays, and welcoming them accordingly. Jerome insults over death as disarmed and devoured: Illius morte tu mortua es: devorasti, et devorata es, &c. Ever since death ran through the veins of Jesus Christ, who is life essential, it is destroyed or swallowed up; like as the bee dieth when she hath left her sting in the wound. a Hence St Paul doth so crow over death, and, as it were, called it craven. 1Co 15:55-57
And the Lord God will wipe away.] A metaphor from a mother.
And the rebuke of his people.] Or, The reproach, their afflictions and persecutions, for which the world reproacheth them.
a Animasque in valnere ponunt. - Virg.