Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases [were] torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand [is] stretched out still.
Ver. 25. Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled.] For contempt of the law, but especially of the gospel, "wrath came upon" that wretched people of the Jews "to the utmost," 1Th 2:16 or until the end, as some read it. They are to this day a people of God's wrath and curse, and become a woeful example of that rule, Atrocia delicta puniuntur atrocibus poenis, Heinous sins bring heavy punishments. This desolation of theirs (as Daniel prophesieth, Dan 9:27) shall continue to the end.
And he hath stretched forth his hand against them.] His mighty hand, as St James hath it, wherewith he oft leaveth bloody wales on the backs of the best when they provoke, but crusheth the wicked in pieces, and crumbleth them to shreds.
And hath smitten them.] Revenge is the next effect of anger.
And the hills did tremble,] a i.e., The highest among them; or, literally, the senseless hills seemed sensible of so great displeasure.
And their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets.] What havoc there was made of men at the last destruction of Jerusalem, Josephus, Egesippus, Orosius, and Eusebius fully tell us. What with the extremity of famine, what with the fury of the sword, and what with sickness during the siege, there perished about 600,000 able men; or, as others say, 1,100,000, besides 97,000 carried captive. Titus, the Roman general, seeing the infinite number of carcases of the Jews cast out unburied without the walls of the city was much grieved, and took God to witness that he was not the author of that calamity, but that the fault was altogether in those stubborn Jews, that held out the city against him. b
For all this his anger is not turned away.] With those "froward ones God will show himself froward," Psa 18:26 and not give place to their pertinacity, till they have enough of it. It must be a humble submission that pacifieth God's wrath.
a Hyperbole.
b Josephus.