And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
Ver. 9. And they went up] As a flood, Ezekiel 8:9; Ezekiel 8:16 .
And compassed] As resolved that none should escape them, Psalms 118:11,12; 2 Kings 6:14,15; 2 Kings 25:1 .
The camp of the saints] The Church militant.
And the beloved city] The New Jerusalem, Revelation 21:2; "The dearly beloved of God's soul," Jeremiah 12:7; or, "God's dearly beloved soul," την ψυχην την ηγαπημενην, as the Septuagint render it. (Spec. Europ.) For present the Turk is the bridle that holds in the pope with all his followers from any universal proceeding against the Protestants; who herein are greatly advantaged above them, in that their opposites lie between them and the Turk; or in that their countries, coasting so much as they do toward the north (as Denmark, Switzerland, &c.), are out of his way, and no part of his present aim. Italy is the mark he shoots at. And when once he shall rise against the true Church, fire from heaven shall devour him.