For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
Ver. 2. For I will gather all nations] The Romans, that styled and held themselves lords of all nations, and who had levied a mighty army out of all nations to fight against Jerusalem. See Joseph. B. J. III 1, 3. Or Gog and Magog, with all his armies and associates, Ezekiel 37:4,6, shall compass the beloved city, Revelation 20:8,9. See Zechariah 14:1. See Trapp on " Zec 14:1 " Would any man take the Church's picture? then let him, saith Luther, paint a silly poor maid sitting in a wood or wilderness, and compassed about with hungry lions, wolves, boars, and bears, &c., and in the midst of a great many furious men assaulting her every moment; let him give her, say I, that of Martial for her motto,
“ In me omnis terraeque, aviumque, marisque rapina est. ”
And the city shall be taken] Non tamen ad exitium, sed ad exercitium. Not yet for destruction but for a lesson. I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage (saith the Lord, Jer 12:7). I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies. At which times there is usually, as at Athens when taken by Sulla, ανελεης σφαγη, a bloody butchery.
And the houses rifled] As at the sack of Constantinople by the Turks; where the soldiers are said to have divided money among themselves by whole hatfulls; and were therewith so enriched, that it is a proverb among them to this day, if any grow suddenly rich, to say, he hath been at the sacking of Constantinople. The Emperor had in vain many times with tears requested to have borrowed money of his covetous subjects, to have been employed in the defence of the city; but they would still swear that they had it not, as men grown poor for want of trade; which, in few days after, their enemies found in such abundance, that they wondered at their wealth, and derided their folly, that possessing so much, they would bestow so little in the defence of themselves and their country.
And the women ravished] These are the common calamities of war; in the lawless violence whereof those three commandments, "Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal," as they are ranked together in the law, so they are usually violated together; hence Isaiah 13:16 "Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished." The Irish rebels bound the husband to the bedpost while they abused his wife before his face. In the time of King Edward III the French soldiers at Winchelsea, in Sussex, took their lustful turns upon a beautiful woman in the Church, and at the time of divine service, until they had turned her out of the world, as a learned man phraseth it, Donec mulier fatigata spiritum exhalaret While a weary woman to breath out her life. (Walsing.).
And half of the city shall go forth into captivity] An evil, an only evil, threatened Deuteronomy 28:15,68, and fulfilled to the utmost upon this nation, so shamelessly, so lawlessly wicked, as can hardly be peered or paralleled. I have noted before, that this their last captivity and dispersion is such, as that one of their own Rabbis concludeth from thence that their Messiah must needs be come, and they must needs suffer so much for killing him. They used to say that there is still an ounce of the golden calf in all their public calamities. There is another thing lieth more heavily upon them to this day, were they but sensible of it. Let us be sending up, and sighing out for them that of the Psalmist, "Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the Lord bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad," Psalms 14:7 .
And the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city] A remnant shall be reserved, as it were for royal use; whether a third part, as Zechariah 13:8, or a half, as here, it is not much material; in numeris non est anxie laborendum, saith Calvin here; for the direct number it is neither here nor there, as we say. God shall reserve unto himself a set and select number. He who comforteth those that are cast down speaketh this to his, for encouragement. The Church may be shaken, not shivered; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed, 2 Corinthians 4:9 .