And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Ver. 2. And he laid hold on the dragon] Revelation 12:7; Revelation 12:9. He took him in a field fight, and since then till now we have heard little of him, more than that he substituted the beast, Re. xiii., whose destruction being declared, the prophecy returns to show the judgment of the dragon.
And bound him] From the open slaughtering of the saints, as he had done by the heathen emperors; or, from molesting and mischiefing of God's people, otherwise he is not bound one hour, Job 1:6-12 1 Peter 5:8. And how his vicegerent the beast hath bestirred him during the thousand years, who knows not?
A thousand years] Hos explicate fateor trepide me aggredi, saith Pareus. He begins the thousand at the destruction of the temple, A.D. 73, and so it ends in Pope Hildebrand, who stepped into that chair of pestilence, A. D. 1073. Others begin it at the birth of Christ, and end in Sylvester II. Others at Christ's passion, and end in Benedict IX. But they do best, in my opinion, that begin at Constantine and end in Boniface VIII, who is of his own said to have entered like a fox, reigned as a lion, and died as a dog. He excommunicated the French king, and published this decree, that the Bishop of Rome ought to be judged of none, although he should carry innumerable souls with him to hell.