For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained [but] wounded men among them, [yet] should they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire.
Ver. 10. For though ye had smitten.] Pro auxesi adiecit hyperbolen; he useth a hyperbolic supposition for illustration.
And there remained but wounded men among them.] God cannot be without a staff to beat a rebel. Virum malum vel mus mordet, saith the proverb; A mouse will bite a bad man. Milez Cobelitz, a Christian soldier, sore wounded and all bloody, seeing Amurath, the great Turk, viewing the dead bodies after a victory, rose up out of a heap of slain men, and making toward the conqueror, as if he would have craved his life of him, suddenly stabbed him in the bottom of his belly with a short dagger which he had under his coat, and so slew him. a
Yet should they rise every man in his tent.] It is God who strengtheneth or weakeneth the arm of either party. Eze 30:24 Those that fight against spiritual wickedness in their own strength are sure to be foiled; and although the unclean spirit may seem to be cast out, yet he will return to his old house, and bring seven worse with him. Mat 12:43-45
a Turkish History, 200.