They that come after [him] shall be astonied at his day, as they that went before were affrighted.
Ver. 20. They that come after him shall be astonied at his day] Future ages, hearing the relation of his dismal destruction, shall stand aghast, as if they beheld the dirty ruins of some once beautiful city. Happy they, if in good earnest they could make that good use of it which Herodotus, the historian, saith men should make of the overthrow of Troy; viz. to take notice thereby that great sinners must look for great punishments from God, Tων μεγαλων αδικηματων μεγαλιε εισι και αι τιμωριαι παρα του Yεου (Herod.). But Ham and his posterity were little the better for the deluge in their days, nor the adjacent countries for Sodom's downhill.
As they that went before were affrighted] sc. His contemporaries and eyewitnesses of his calamity apprehended horror, so the Hebrew hath it, they took a fright; which yet was little to the purpose without faith and repentance; and unless their hearts fell down when their hairs stood upright.