He shall flee from the iron weapon, [and] the bow of steel shall strike him through.
Ver. 24. He shall flee from the iron weapon] i.e. While he seeks to shun one mischief he shall fall into another; and when he thinks to run from death he runs to it. God, who can do what be will with his own bare hand, is here brought in, after the manner of men with sword and bow, to show that both at home and afar off he can tame his rebels. Neither boots it any man to stand out with God, or to seek to save himself by fight or flight; since he is that "King, against whom there is no rising up," Proverbs 30:31, and if he be angry, no other helps can relieve us. Brass and iron can fence me against an arrow or a sword, but if I were to be cast into a furnace of fire, it would help to torment me, if into a pit of water, to sink me. Now our God is a consuming fire, and his breath a stream of brimstone, Isaiah 30:33. "Submit yourselves therefore to God," James 4:7. Humble yourselves therefore under his mighty hand, and ho shall lift you up in due season, 1 Peter 5:6. To run in to God is the way to escape him; as to close and get in with him that would strike you doth avoid the blow.
And the bow of steel shall strike him through] Or, shall change him; that is, kill him. Death is our great change, and to the wicked a dismal change; for they shall be killed with death, Revelation 2:23. Then Balaam and his bribes, Balthasar and his bowls, Dives and his dishes, Herod and his harlots, the usurer and his bills, the merchant and his measures, &c., shall part asunder for ever. But that is not the worst of it. The word here used signifieth excision, or cutting off, and hence that of Bathsheba, Proverbs 31:8, Beni chaloph, children of destruction, answerable to that of our Saviour, John 17:12. A son or child of perdition, that is, a man devoted to utter destruction.