He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet.
Ver. 3. He shall subdue the people under us] This was typified in the government of the Israelites, then ascendant in David's days, but fulfilled when Christ rode abroad on his white horse, the apostles, conquering and to conquer, Revelation 6:2 Quando Britannorum inaccessa Romanis loca Christo patuerint, as Tertullian hath it: Christ subdued the Britons and others, whom the victorious Romans could never come at. The Chaldee hath it, He shall kill the people under us, sc. with the sword of the Spirit, the word; "when the law came, sin revived, and I died," Romans 7:9. The Hebrew is, He shall speak the people under us; that is, he shall, by the preaching of the gospel, powerfully persuade Japhet to dwell in the tents of Shem, Genesis 9:27. Tremellius rendereth it, Cogit in caulam populos, he gathereth the people into the fold, viz. that, there may be one sheepfold and one shepherd, as Joh 10:16 Ephesians 2:14 (Jun. ex Aben Ezra, and R. Judah).
And the nations under our feet] Hence the Jews to this day dream (as did also the disciples, soured with their leaven) of an earthly kingdom, wherein the Messiah at his coming shall subdue the nations, and distribute their provinces and wealth among his Jews. But Christ's kingdom is of another nature, and the nations are already subdued to the Church, which remaineth one and the same, although the Jews be as branches broken off, and others set in their place. Romans 11:24. Besides, by the nations under the Jews' feet is meant (say some) that the Gentiles should be scholars, and the Jews schoolmasters, as it were, unto them; for so sitting under the feet, or at the feet, signifieth in Scripture, Act 22:3 Luk 10:39 2 Kings 2:5. The teacher was called Joshebh, or sitter; the scholar Mithabbek, or one that lieth along in the dust, in token of his humble subjection. And in this sense Seneca somewhere saith, that the basest of people (meaning the Jews) gave laws unto all the world.