Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence [against] the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
Ver. 19. Egypt shall be a desolation] By Egypt and Edom are meant all Christ's adversaries, whether they be professed open enemies, as were the Egyptians, or false brethren, as the Edomites. Romists have been both, and shall therefore be desolated, Revelation 17:16; cf. Revelation 11:8 .
For the violence against the children of Judah] From the very cradle of the Church, Exodus 1:8,14, yea, sooner; for Esau in the very womb jostled his brother Jacob, and offered violence against him, that he might lose no time.
Because they have shed innocent blood in the land] The saints' blood is called innocent blood, 1. Because their sins are remitted; 2. Because they are causelessly killed. And this is a landdesolating sin. The innocent blood spilt by Manasseh brought the captivity: the Marian times, our late troubles. The blood of the martyrs, shed by Turk and Pope (whom the Jewish doctors understand by Egypt and Edom here), shall be the ruin of them both.