They compassed me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.
Ver. 12. They compassed me about like bees] Like so many swarms of bees, which, being angered,
- Venenum
Morsibus inspirant, et spicula caeca relinquunt
Affixae venis, animasque in vulnere ponunt
(Virgil)
Bees, to be revenged, lose their stings, and therewith their lives, or, at least, they become drones ever after (Aristot.). Wicked men are no less spiteful; they care not to undo themselves, so they may wrong the saints; yea, they are not unlike the scorpion, of which Pliny saith, that there is not one minute wherein it doth not put forth the sting.
They are quenched (or kindled) as the fire of thorns] Which is quickly kindled, and as quickly quenched, leaving no coals behind it. See Ecclesiastes 7:6. Ex spinis non fiunt carbones (Kimchi). The enemies of the Church may make a blaze, but they are but a blast.