And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the LORD of hosts.
Ver. 3. And death shall be chosen rather than life.] Vae victis. Alas O survivers, they being captives, and sorely oppressed, shall sing that doleful ditty,
“ O terque quaterque beati
Queis ante ora patrum, Solymae sub moenibus altis
Contigit oppetere. ”
Oh how happy were they that perished during the siege, or in the surprisal of the city! Life indeed is sweet, as we say; and man is a life loving creature, said that heathen; but it may happen that life shall be a burden and a bitterness. How oft doth Job unwish it, and how fain would Elijah have been rid of it! So little cause is there that any good man should be either fond of life, or afraid of death.