O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field.
Ver. 19. O Lord, to thee will I cry] I will, though others will not. I have called upon others to cry mightily unto thee, and to meet thee by repentance; but they, tanquam monstra marina, as so many sea monsters, pass by my words with a deaf ear, they refuse to return. "Thy hand is lifted up" in threatening, and will fall down in punishing, but "they will not see," Isaiah 26:11, they will not search, they will not have their eyes (like the windows in Solomon's temple) broad inward, 1 Kings 6:4; the eyes of their minds are as ill set (for this matter) as the eyes of their bodies, they see not what is within. But whatever they do, "my soul shall weep in secret for their pride, and mine eyes shall weep sore," &c., Jeremiah 13:17, for their insensibleness of their misery.
For the fire hath devoured the pastures] That is, the immoderate scorching heat of the season. See Psa 83:14 Jeremiah 17:6. Or the blasting wind, as Lyra expounds it; or the locusts, as Drusius, or God (who is a consuming fire), by any, or all these instruments of his wrath, as Tarnovius.
And the flame hath burnt all the trees of the field] This was dreadful, but yet nothing to that conflagratio mundi, spoken of by St Peter, 2 Peter 3:12, "when the heavens being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements melt with fervent heat" on the heads of the wicked; who shall give a terrible account, with the world all on a light fire about their ears.