Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.
Ver. 19. To whom alone the earth was given] Noah and his pious posterity (as was above noted), whom Methodius and other ancients call, Mundi chiliarchos, the lords of the whole world, given them by the possessor of heaven and earth, as Melchisedek first called God, Genesis 14:19, and from him Abraham, another prince of God, Genesis 22:3, as those heathens acknowledged him, and heir of the whole world, Rom 4:13 As for Melchisedek (commonly taken to be Shem), he was king in Salem, and no stranger, that is, no enemy, molested him; no, not those great spoilers, Chedorlaomer and his accomplices; these never meddled with Melchisedek and his subjects (probably out of respect to his wisdom and holiness, for which he was famous), no, not when, marching against the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, they wasted and smote all the neighbour countries. So true of his subjects and territories was that which followeth here,
And no stranger passed among them] viz. In a hostile way, in a warlike manner, Neh 4:15 Some read, No strange thing passeth among them; as not the devouring sword, so neither the pestilence that walketh in darkness nor the destruction that wasteth at noonday, Psalms 91:6. Such as was the reign of Ferdinando III, king of Spain, for five and thirty years' time. In quibus nec fames nec pestes fuit ni regno, saith Lopez, wherein there happened neither famine nor pestilence (Gloss. in Prolog. par. 1).